Perilous Games (Gray Tower Book 3)

by J. M. Brister

  “What?” His exclamation revealed that he had no idea what had gone on between her and Paul. “Baby, I…didn’t know.”

  “Well, he doesn’t like to brag about it, and I don’t like telling people that I wasn’t good enough to hold my fiancé’s attention,” she bit out.

  She already had enough self-esteem issues over the last four years, and she wasn’t comfortable with bringing up that her ex-fiancé had chosen someone else over her.

  “Ashlen…” His voice drifted off for a moment before he told her again, “Baby, I didn’t know…”

  She folded her arms across her chest and said, “Well, now you know.”

  Ashlen wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. She was feeling so low at this point that she wanted him to leave. Tears started to involuntarily shed down her face. She was a complete and utter mess.

  It was then that Mercer got out of his chair, reached across to her, and pressed his lips down on hers.

  Chapter 29

  At first, Ashlen wanted to slap Mercer right then and there. How dare he make her feel like shit and then come back and pull this! Yet, the warmth of his body hovering over hers and the sensual feeling of his lips pressed down on hers made her so weak that she didn’t have the strength. Instead, she moved her lips against his and wrapped her arms around his body, savoring the feeling. After a few long, heated moments, Mercer pulled away from her, his eyes still steadily watching her. Her whole body felt like complete mush after he had finished with her.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” She whispered, her heart still hammering from his kiss.

  “Because I want you to know that you are the most beautiful, gorgeous, desirable woman I have ever known,” he told her firmly. “And that Anderson was a fucking idiot for hurting you.”

  “You hurt me too,” she told him quietly.

  And he had. The way he had made her feel when he had rescued her from Marino's thugs and carried her out from that hellhole had made her feel special. When he had stayed with her throughout her whole hospital stay, she had thought that he had honestly cared for her—that he might even love her. She had been so wrong.

  “I know I did, baby,” he told her. “I know I might not ever be able to make things up to you, but at least give me the chance to try.”

  Ashlen wanted him so badly that it hurt. She loved him; she would always love him. He had explained himself, but she still wished he hadn’t made things so darned difficult.

  Still, she wanted to take this chance. Maybe she would get hurt? Maybe she wouldn’t? It didn’t matter right now. All she wanted was Mercer.

  “Okay,” she murmured. “You can try. But I still don’t understand why you thought you weren’t ‘good enough’ for me. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  He let out a long hiss of breath and said, “Ash, please hear me out. I’ve never met a woman like you before. You’re smart, beautiful, sexy, funny, sassy—everything a man could ask for. I just felt like I couldn’t give you what you needed. Hell, I didn’t think I wanted what you needed. A relationship sounded impossible to me with my job, and I just didn’t think I could swing it. But then I realized that there are tons of men and women at Gray Tower who have families and do just fine.

  “Look, I want to be able to support you. I want to be a good husband and father. Baby, everything I told you at your hotel in Charlotte was a lie. I didn’t know how to tell you what I felt then, but I need to tell you now. I love you more than anything I’ve ever known.”

  His words were so shocking that she didn’t know what to do, so she stood up to try and regroup. Her legs felt weak, and she almost stumbled right where she stood. He was there to hold her steady. Strong arms held her as she wept into his solid chest. She felt so fragile that she didn’t know what to do.

  “I know you have every reason to throw me from your life, but I swear, if you still want me, I will make life so good for you. I promise.”

  It only took a few moments for Ashlen to respond. She was so shocked at first that she couldn’t do anything. She just stood there frozen in Mercer’s arms on her back patio. Then, she finally found the strength to respond.

  “Mercer, I love you,” she whispered, her body trembling. “Please don’t ever leave me again.”

  Before she even knew it, he had swept her right off her feet and was carrying her inside her house. She was amazed at the ease that he carried her.

  “Baby, I will never hurt you again. I swear to you: I will never leave you.”

  Ashlen seemed to melt in his arms as he carried her to her bedroom. Her head was spinning violently. He had such an effect on her that she just melted against him as he brought her to her bedroom and laid her down on top of her covers.

  He peeled off her clothes slowly and gently, seemingly savoring the experience. She watched in fascination as he tugged off her shirt and jeans and then looked appreciatively as he surveyed her in her bra and panties

  “You are so fucking beautiful,” he breathed as he unclasped her bra and then tugged off her panties.

  The way he looked at her made her feel so beautiful, yet he was still fully dressed. She immediately began to tug off his shirt, but he halted her for a moment with his pants until he set his handgun on her nightstand which was holstered to his side. Then, his pants slid off easily.

  Once his boxers had been pulled and his cock had sprung out, he lowered himself on top of her and began heated kisses across her neck and down her chest. His mouth felt so good on her skin. She panted and moaned at the feeling. This had been something that she had yearned for during that long month apart. She honestly hadn’t thought that this would ever happen again.

  “Baby, I thought of nothing but doing this to you for the last month,” he mumbled as he continued kissing down her chest and to her stomach.

  His kisses moved farther and farther down until he was caressing her clit with his mouth. Her body bucked against his lips as a wave of pleasure filled her.

  “I’m going to give you so many fucking orgasms tonight,” he whispered between her thighs.

  He licked down the center of her pussy and gave her entrance some attention before finding his way back up to her clit. It was there that he began his onslaught of sucking right on the little nub. Ashlen gasped and began moving her hips rhythmically into his mouth, desperately seeking release.

  Her orgasm began slowly building as he sucked and laved on her clit, his hands running up and down her legs. Finally, in a burst of pleasure, she felt her release. She cried out and gripped his head, and she rode out the waves of her orgasm.

  A few long, pleasure-filled moments later, and she couldn’t stand it anymore. She needed him closer.

  “I need you inside of me now,” she whispered.

  Ashlen needed the feel of him being as close as he possibly could to her. She needed him to fill the loneliness that had been the past month.

  Mercer moved back up her body, smiled, and said, “Baby, I’ll do anything you want.”

  He slowly crawled on top of her, positioning himself above her. Before he entered her, he trailed soft kisses down her neck to her collar bone and then along her chest. When he found her breasts, he gave each nipple attention, sucking on each until she felt like she was going crazy.

  “I’m going to kiss every damned inch of you,” he murmured into her skin.

  He is going to make me orgasm multiple times, she realized.

  Mercer went further down her belly, circling his tongue around her belly button. Then, he moved along to her inner thighs. She could feel another orgasm building, though she wasn’t sure how. She was so tender between her thighs.

  “You’re a tease,” she gasped.

  “Yeah,” he said, his voice low. “But I want you to know exactly how much I’ve missed you.”

  Suddenly, he stopped kissing her body and hitched her legs up to his hips. He positioned himself above her, an impressive erection raring to go, and pushed into her in one thrust. She moaned at the fullness, butterflies suddenly g
oing in her stomach. Ashlen had dreamed of him being inside of her again. She had wanted it so badly, and now it was happening.

  She felt herself melting into him as he began thrusting deeply. They were hard, purposeful thrusts, and he stared down at her as if she was the most desirable woman in the world. Sweat beaded along his chest and forehead, and he continued thrust after delicious thrust until her head was spinning. She was so close, and she could tell he was too as his pace quickened.

  Finally, with one last powerful thrust, he emptied himself into her. It was enough to push her over the edge. Waves of pleasure radiated in her clit, and her body shuddered.

  They lay like that for a while. He began kissing her again, his cock still in her, semi-hard. She felt positively giddy with contentment. When she began to feel him get hard, she smiled.

  “Again?”

  “Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  And then he began his onslaught again.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Afterward, Mercer lay next to Ashlen, her body cuddled up next to his. He never had imagined himself as someone who would cuddle but being around Ashlen had been changing a lot of things for him. Just being able to hold her in his arms felt so good, and the fact that they had just made love twice had put him over the top.

  Of course, he was now the happiest man on the face of the earth. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought that she would take him back. It was a second chance that he knew he didn’t deserve, but he was getting it anyhow. He stroked her hair, and she smiled, nestling her head closer to his body.

  She trailed gentle circles around the scarred part of his body. He liked it though he couldn’t feel a damned thing. Maybe he should be honest and just tell her?

  “My nerves are fried on that side. I can’t feel anything.”

  “Oh,” she said, sounding disappointed. “Then why let me do it?”

  “Because I like watching you do it.”

  She smiled.

  “Alright then,” she said, reaching over to kiss him on the scarred side of his cheek.

  A sudden urge to tell her more overwhelmed him—something he had only shared with Jack. What the hell had come over him?

  “I lost two men when I received these scars,” he said softly.

  “Mercer…” She whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  “For the longest time, I wanted to kill myself and go with them as punishment for surviving. I almost did if it hadn’t been for Jack Hunter and Gray Tower.”

  Tears pricked Ashlen’s eyes as she processed the information.

  “I’m…I’m glad you didn’t,” she finally said.

  “Me too,” he admitted. “Though I spent way too much time being emotionally shut down. You seemed to have lit a fire under me—so to speak.”

  She grinned and kissed him again.

  “You have to understand that Gray Tower is everything to me,” he continued. “I have to be there working if we want to make this happen.”

  “Where’s it located?”

  “Virginia.”

  “I always wanted to move to Virginia,” she said with a smirk.

  A smile slowly spread across his face.

  “I suppose since you’re a blogger, you can write wherever you want, huh?”

  Ashlen shifted slightly, sitting up and crossing her arms over her bare breasts. She looked tense and troubled.

  “Well…” She began. “I’m going to end my blog.”

  The news was a shock to him.

  “What do you mean you’re going to end it? You’re a wonderful writer. As much as I teased you about it when we first met, I was impressed by what you wrote.”

  “Oh, well, thank you. First off, my heart isn’t into it anymore. Plus, I guess I’m not single anymore. And most importantly, I got a book deal from what happened last month.”

  Mercer sat there stunned.

  “A book deal? That’s…that’s great. Congratulations. But…are you allowed to write about it? Wouldn’t the FBI and Gray Tower shut it down before you can publish?”

  “My publisher called the FBI and talked to them. I have to tip-toe around everything, and they have the final say on the book. Same thing with Gray Tower. I talked to Jack, and he was very supportive.”

  The news hit Mercer like a ton of bricks. She had been in contact with Jack, and he hadn’t said a word to him? What the fucking shit was that?

  “That fucking asshole,” Mercer muttered under his breath.

  Ashlen looked startled and asked, “Is everything okay?”

  “Jack never told me that he was in contact with you.”

  “Oh. Would that have changed anything?”

  “I don’t know to be honest. Look, I’m here now. That’s all that matters, and I know that I should have been there for you this past month. It must have been hell trying to process everything that happened to you.”

  “Yes, you should have,” she whispered, tears beginning to well up in her eyes again.

  “Listen, baby, I promise that I’m never going to leave you again, okay?”

  Ashlen nodded and clung even closer to Mercer’s body. He gently ran his fingertips up and down her arms, trying to comfort her the best that he could.

  “I’m sorry for the way I treated you,” he told her. “I acted like a complete asshole toward you, and you got the brunt of my anger a lot of the time. I was just frustrated that I…felt things for you that I hadn’t experienced in a long time.”

  “I understand,” she said. “And apology accepted.”

  They sat in silence for a moment before Mercer said, “I know it’s late, but I’m starving. How about I whip us up something to eat?”

  She smiled and said, “I would love that.”

  They both dressed, Mercer holstering his weapon again. Did he carry it with him everywhere? She spent some time in the bathroom washing the mascara that had smudged all over her face from crying.

  When she returned, something felt off. It was the same feeling that she had experienced when she had first met Mercer in her bedroom. Something caught her eye in her peripheral vision. She turned sharply and saw a man in the corner of her bedroom, pointing a handgun at her.

  “Agent Rodriguez,” she breathed.

  Chapter 30

  Agent Rodriguez stood there, his face stone. Ashlen was paralyzed with fear. Despite being Paul’s partner at the FBI, she knew without a doubt that he was here to kill her.

  “Please don’t,” she whispered. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Cole, but I do,” he replied. “I have debts that I have to repay, and you and your uncle have caused a lot of trouble. Marino sends his regards.”

  “You’re on his payroll?” She stammered. “How? You don’t even live near him.”

  Keep him talking, she told herself. Mercer will realize something is wrong and come and get me.

  “He has eyes and ears everywhere. Now, shut up, and let’s get this over with.”

  He aimed the gun at her.

  I’m dead, she thought. After all of this, I’m dead after all.

  Ashlen closed her eyes.

  BAM.

  BAM. BAM.

  She jumped at the echoing sounds, expecting to be slammed back by a bullet. When it didn’t happen, she opened them, her body tense and her breathing ragged.

  Mercer stood at the doorway, gun pointed toward Rodriguez’s body, which was slumped on the floor. Rodriguez was dead, his chest bloodied to the point that it was pooling on her bedroom floor.

  “Sorry I took so long, but when I heard him blabbing about being on Marino’s payroll, I let him talk,” Mercer said nonchalantly.

  Ashlen tried to walk over to him, but her knees gave out. He caught her before she tumbled to the floor.

  “Hey, you alright?” He said huskily.

  “No,” she told him honestly.

  “I figured. Let’s get you out of this room, and I’ll call Gray Tower and the FB
I to clean up this fucking mess.”

  Ashlen walked unsteadily out into the hallway with Mercer supporting her. When they got to her living room, the realization suddenly dawned on her.

  “He was the leak!” She exclaimed.

  “Yeah, I figured as much,” Mercer replied. “As soon as he showed up at your house, I knew he was behind all of the funny business. Think about it: He was the one who pulled you out into the hallway right before you were abducted. It was a coordinated setup. They bashed his head to make it look like he wasn’t involved.”

  It all made perfect sense now, but Ashlen wished that she didn’t have to go through this ordeal to figure it all out.

  “You’re shaking,” Mercer noted and sat her down on the couch. “You’re in shock.”

  He grabbed some throw blankets and wrapped her up. Sitting next to her, he started making phone calls. She didn’t hear half of what he said. Her ears were ringing from the gunfire. She felt sick to her stomach.

  When he was done with his phone calls, he told her, “They’re sending a Gray Tower representative over. Unfortunately, the closest person happens to be a high-level recruiter. I’m certain that she can handle herself in this role though. She’s about a half-hour away. I’ll wait a few and then call the FBI. I’d prefer it if Gray Tower was here first to represent me. Plus, I need my boss to make some phone calls to smooth things over. This should get interesting. I just killed a federal agent.”

  It was then that Ashlen started freaking out. She began to hyperventilate.

  “Breathe, baby. Breathe.”

  His soothing words helped, and she began to calm down.

  “You’re…you’re not going to go to jail, are you?” She asked suddenly panicked about their future.

  “Hell no,” Mercer told her. “Besides the fact that he was going to kill you, Gray Tower will always get me out of a pinch.”

  “Oh, okay,” she said, suddenly relieved.

  The last thing she wanted was for him to get in trouble for saving her life. Again.

  What a whirlwind she had been in during the last month. Perhaps Mercer was right, and she was in shock? She was freaking out at the slightest things.