WE ARE ONE: Volume Two

by Jewel, Bella

  “Holy shit. Shouldn’t they have asked if one of us had a heart condition before turning this into an acid trip?” I bellowed over the music.

  Vesper didn’t reply. Her attention was on the ceiling as the announcer cut through the crash of a drum set and yelled, “Three, two, one…go!”

  I stood there, being the gentleman and waiting for her to take off running. I’d give her a head start. I would even let her shoot me first.

  But that wasn’t what happened.

  Not at all.

  The damn veterinarian who hid her tears when told abuse of animals and had nerves of steel when sewing up a partially severed leg turned squarely to me, smiled, raised her gun, and fired.

  My target made a death wheezing whine while hers made a victory trumpet. Blowing me a kiss, she said, “Whoops, one to me.” Turning on her heel, she sprinted away, yelling, “Oh, and I just stole your balls. Pussy!” Her laughter was a pure aphrodisiac.

  Fuck, this was a bad idea.

  If I caught her—when I caught her—I didn’t know how my self-control would be.

  I had no idea what just happened.

  Did that seriously just play out? Did the overly cautious, totally stuck up business owner just school me?

  I’d been in trouble the moment I set eyes on her.

  Now I was fucking smitten.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Vesper

  WHAT THE HELL AM I doing?

  I’d never been so carefree and idiotic. I felt like a moron as I dashed left, then right down a maze of black walls with glow-in-the-dark graffiti as strobe lights blinded me.

  It was a sensory overload but not the reason my heart galloped in my chest.

  It was because of him.

  He’d refused to tell me where he was taking me. At the time, it had pissed me off but now, I was glad. There was no way I would’ve agreed to this stupidity but my God it was liberating.

  I hadn’t been this silly in decades. I hadn’t been silly period. Being an only child meant I was more adult than kid from the moment I could speak. My mum was strict and tolerated perfection while my dad was under her thumb and never spoke otherwise.

  Ryder was a cyclone in my quaint carefully rowed field. He’d just decimated my neat little cabbage patch, but I didn’t care in the slightest.

  “I’m gonna find you, Ves!” His voice shouted over the boom of a guitar.

  A manic giggle fell from my lips as I careened around a wedge wall and slammed to a stop in front of a metal staircase. Without thinking, I took the steps two at a time, able to see the floor between the open weaved metal construction.

  The moment I was on the bridge, I charged back the way I’d come, looking below, seeking my prey.

  He thought he could win?

  No way.

  Not going to happen.

  It took a few moments, but I found him prowling like a cheetah around a corner, his gun high like a marine in a real war, his face splattered with pink and green laser beams from the crazy light show above.

  Crouching down, I put my gun through the slats of the metal bridge and fired at the red bulls-eye on his spine.

  Immediately, my vest trumpeted and his wheezed.

  “Ah, shit. What the hell?!” He spun around, looking down the alleyway he’d stalked down.

  When he couldn’t see me, I slapped a hand over my mouth to hold my giggles.

  But then, he looked up.

  We made eye contact.

  My heart stopped.

  Oh, no.

  “Ah, there you are, my little Vet.”

  I squeaked and darted to my right, running along the bridge—not knowing if it was a dead end or freedom.

  “I’m going to catch you!” Ryder’s shouts merged with a cymbal crash and tambourine jingle. “And when I do, I’m going to take something I’ve wanted to take for months!”

  I slammed to a stop. What the crap did that mean?

  Was I safe here with him? He could do bad things to me and no one would know. No one would hear me scream.

  For God’s sake, he took you home and bought you soup. If he was a secret psychopath, I think he would’ve chosen that particular moment to molest you.

  Then again, I had been sick and gross. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted a transference of germs.

  My mind raced, demented with the noise and lights.

  Then the bridge juddered beneath my toes and I knew—just knew—he’d found the staircase and was only a few seconds behind me.

  I flew.

  My feet clanged on the metal as I headed left at a fork and darted down another set of stairs to vanish into a small tepee that smelled faintly of marihuana and had a glow-in-the-dark painting in the shape of Professor Einstein.

  I huddled in the dark, waiting for him to either shoot me or appear in the entrance where I’d shoot him.

  He did neither.

  Arms wrapped around me from behind.

  I screamed.

  His lips landed on my ear. “It’s me.”

  I froze as his gun clattered to the floor and he spun me around. Breathing hard, he yanked away my weapon and tossed it with his. “Gotcha.”

  I trembled.

  I didn’t know why he hadn’t shot me. This wasn’t part of the game. But I couldn’t speak as he walked me backward and backward, faster and faster until my spine slammed against Einstein's nose and grabbed my wrists, yanking them above my head.

  I groaned as his lower half pressed against mine, welding his hard cock against my legs, driving his thigh against my clit. “Tell me now if this is a problem and I’ll stop.”

  I shivered as his nose grazed my cheek. His teeth nipped at my jaw. “I thought I could go slow with you. I thought I could wait until after the game, take you for a nice meal—even though you told me not to—and then kiss you sweetly when I dropped you off home.”

  His voice changed to a deep rasp. “But that was before you shot me. Twice. That was before you ran away from me and activated cave man urges I didn’t know I had.”

  His breath scorched my skin as he pressed a kiss on my throat. “So, Vesper. What’s it gonna be? Can I kiss you?” He rocked his hips, pressing me harder against the wall.

  I didn’t have control over my body anymore. All I felt was heat and pulsating deep in my core that matched the mayhem music around us.

  “Can I taste you before I go out of my fucking mind?” His growl made me drenched.

  Who was this man? He’d successfully hidden this sexuality beneath cute pickup lines, impatient quips, and caring stares of a man who rescued dogs as a hobby. I’d seen hints of an opinionated asshole at the beginning when he was surly and expected his commands to be obeyed.

  But I would never have guessed being with him would be like this.

  Like every dream come true.

  “I need an answer, Ves,” he grunted, his teeth teasing my ear lobe. “Can I? Jesus, tell me I can kiss you.”

  Vocabulary wasn’t something I could achieve in my current condition.

  So a nod would have to do.

  The moment my chin tilted up then down, it was over.

  Not just the game but also my life as I knew it.

  “Thank Christ for that.” His lips fastened on mine—hot and heavy and wet.

  His fingers lashed tighter around my wrists, holding me firm as he forced my head to crash against Einstein's nose and accept a nasty, feral, hot-as-hell kiss.

  This wasn’t a first kiss.

  This was something explosive. This was dangerous, and it brought things out of me I didn’t know existed.

  Instead of yielding to him and playing the meek, sensible girl I’d been all my life, I fought back. My mouth opened wide as his tongue teased my lips, giving him full entry with no refusal.

  His groan ricocheted into my chest as he pressed his entire body against mine. His thigh rocked, giving my clit delicious friction as his erection dug harder and hotter into my hipbone.

  Having him lose himself in this dark, maniacal w
orld allowed me to do the same. I shed my skin of Vesper Fairfax—co-owner and perfect student—and became a sexual minx instead.

  I tugged where he held my wrists, forcing him to give me slack.

  His fingers unlocked as his grip skated down my body to join with his other hand which cupped my face. He held my cheeks prisoner as my own hands snarled over his body, digging into the ridges of his spine, crushing him closer, then dropping to knead his ass.

  I didn’t let embarrassment or questions fill my head.

  I just let myself live.

  I let myself feel.

  And if that meant we were nothing more than dry-humping, sexually frustrated strangers kissing like horny teenagers, then I was fine with that.

  I cried out as his hands dropped from my cheeks to fasten on my breasts. The black lace bra I wore beneath my top felt like barbwire around my sensitive flesh as my body begged for him to strip me, bite me, take me.

  My brain turned off.

  My hands shot between us. I cupped his balls with one hand and caressed his hard length with the other.

  “Holy fuck.” He thrust into my hands. “What the hell are you doing to me?”

  He kissed me harder, yanking my straight hair as if I deserved a lesson for shocking him and touching what he told me I was allowed to touch.

  And then, he was gone.

  His heat was ripped away, his mouth, his passion.

  I stood there gasping like a stupid out-of-water puffer fish as he paced in the small space, yanking his hands over his face and into his hair. His cock strained against his jeans, visible as the strobe lights continued to disorientate us.

  “What the hell was that?” he asked, his face white but eyes so black with lust they clenched my stomach and made me ten times wetter. “Who the hell are you?”

  I swallowed, rubbing my bruised and sore lips from his assault, revelling in the sensual pain. “You just said hell three times.”

  He slammed to stop. “What?”

  “Nothing.” I copied him and fluffed my hair, trying to repair the damage.

  “That’s all you have to say after a kiss like that?” He planted himself in front of me. “Is that normal for you?”

  The rock n’ roll music didn’t let up. This was not a conversation for this place. However, I couldn’t deny I’d never been kissed like that. “No, that wasn’t normal.”

  “That’s it?” His forehead furrowed. “All you have to say?”

  I splayed my hands. “I don’t know what you want me to say?”

  “How about ‘wow’ or ‘holy shit?’ I need to know you felt what I just did. I’m going out of my goddamn mind.” He paced again. “If you felt the same, I don’t understand how you can be so calm. I feel like you’ve destroyed me. And if you can do that with one kiss…what the fuck is going to happen when we sleep together?”

  “I’m not calm.”

  I’m freaking the freak out.

  It was our first kiss and yet things had happened on a crazy deep level.

  “I think—let’s get out of here, okay?” I was sick of yelling. If he wanted to talk about this, we could, but not in this thumping tomb.

  Ryder pinched the bridge of his nose. “Part of me wants to take you right here, to climb inside you and see just how good it is between us. The other part of me wants to shoot you twice just to even the score, but most of me wants to go somewhere private and finish what we just started.”

  My breathing picked up as my body melted even more.

  It was me who approached him this time.

  I placed my hand over his heart—the rhythm matched mine. “In that case. Let’s go.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ryder

  JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH.

  I wasn’t a praying man, but I didn’t have the words for what just happened. What did just happen? Did I seriously kiss her and end up almost coming just by dry humping her leg?

  I’d expected a shy response. A timid tongue stroke. A gentle moan. I thought I’d have to take her hand and put it onto the cock I’d told her multiple times she could touch. However, that was definitely not the case.

  I wasn’t prepared for the she-devil who attacked me just as hungrily as I attacked her.

  Her lips had been bloody handcuffs, her tongue the best tripping acid.

  Instead of letting me hold her and do what I wanted—she fought back and touched me in return.

  Goddammit, I couldn’t control myself around her—couldn’t control my thoughts, my heart, or rationality.

  I traced a shallow cut on the flesh above my butt where she’d yanked up my t-shirt to scratch my back. Her nails had been sharp; she hadn’t sheathed them.

  She’s a bloody hellcat.

  That thought both terrified and electrified.

  I’d wanted to get her into bed before. Now, I could barely walk and talk like a normal man without losing all coherent thought and throwing her against a wall.

  Fucking her wouldn’t just be pleasure. It would be life changing.

  “Your place or mine?” Even my voice was off—gruff and crackly.

  She sat stiff in the front seat of my car. She hadn’t tried to touch me; didn’t even look at me as we’d made our way back to the entrance of Tag Team Target and shed our bulls-eye and weapons.

  The kid had taken one look at us and decided not to say anything about how fast our session had ended or the fact that Vesper had won two to nil.

  He was smart.

  Vesper’s pulse hammered in her neck as I stopped for a traffic light. The roar of the Mustang that I’d splashed out and bought last year deafened the impatient voice of my desire.

  She took her time answering. In my head, doubts started swirling.

  My shoulders rolled as another second ticked past. I answered for her:

  I’m tired, maybe another night.

  You know what? This was a mistake. No one should experience a kiss like that. It’s too dangerous.

  I don’t want to see you again.

  So my jaw dropped when her gaze met mine. The baby blue of her irises were now navy with smouldering lust. “Which is closer?”

  I’d already thought of this. “Yours.”

  “Mine it is.”

  My foot pressed on the gas before my brain even told it to. Somehow, my cock had overridden my inner processor, deciding it would be faster to bypass my command and take charge instead.

  We didn’t say another word as I drove safely (but as fast as the speed limit permitted) to her tiny apartment in one of the few duplexes in town. I would’ve much preferred to take her back to my place. Then again, it wasn’t the lap of luxury with ladders, paint buckets, and tools all over the place.

  At least hers had functioning doors and locks.

  No, hers is better.

  For now.

  The journey took forever, but finally I slammed into the guest parking space outside her building and unbuckled. I didn’t look at her. I couldn’t. If I did, I’d grab her nape and yank her lips to mine.

  Launching myself from the car, I let her unbuckle before opening the passenger door and made sure I kept a safe distance between us.

  No matter how much air resided however, the crackle of awareness and spark of electricity built like a storm from her to me.

  Slamming her door and pressing the central lock on my keys, we headed up the garden path, through the front security door, up the staircases to her apartment, and edged around each other until we were both safely ensconced in her home.

  I took a few steps into her lounge while she threw the deadbolt and chain home.

  The cat leapt from the couch and tore into the bedroom.

  The kitchen light switched on then dimmed, casting the room in romantic shadow.

  I turned to face her as she took a step toward me.

  Uncertainty and nervousness tried to butt its way into the sexual mist we’d lived in since I found her hiding in that damn tepee. But by some unspoken agreement, we didn’t let it change our d
irection.

  There were no awkward questions. No small talk or offer of a drink. No comment about the weather or if this was still want we wanted.

  We knew this was what we wanted.

  Everything else didn’t fucking matter.

  Taking another step toward me, she murmured, “I can finally talk at a normal decibel and not have to scream.” She rubbed her throat, stealing all my attention and locking it on her neck. “My throat is still a little scratchy from the flu.”

  Remembering her sickness a few days ago did nothing to cool my libido. Unashamedly, I rearranged my cock. I didn’t care that I was touching myself in front of her.

  I think we were passed that stage. Flew past it actually—we’d shot past go and didn’t bother collecting two hundred dollars.

  “Oh yeah, you have things you want to say?” My voice strained. I had no idea why I hadn’t attacked her yet, but for some reason, I enjoyed the way she stalked me.

  She nodded, biting her lip. “Plenty to say.”

  My heart leapt into my mouth. “Like what?”

  Once again, I waited for her to be coy and avoid the question but she locked eyes. “Like how good your cock felt in my hands.” Her gaze dropped to where my erection lurched in my trousers like a dog yanked to heel. “When you told me I could touch it, I wanted to tell you there would never be a chance. I told myself I didn’t want to touch it. That I would never ever want to do that.”

  My hearing faltered as my heart formed its own brass band and made me pant. “And now? I take it you’ve changed your mind?”

  She smiled. “Changed my mind? Oh, I’ve changed my mind all right.” Crossing the final feet between us, she whispered, “I’ve decided I want to taste it.”

  Oh, sweet Jesus.

  I snapped.

  Grabbing her by the back of the neck, I wrenched her forward. Instead of squirming or pulling away, her fingers dug into my t-shirt and jerked me as hard as I jerked her.

  Our lips crashed together, our tongues fighting for supremacy before we’d even wrapped arms around each other.

  She moaned.

  I groaned.

  Our kiss became a warzone as our head’s danced, tongues licked, lips bruised.