by Maisey Yates
Until they were both lost in the fog of pleasure. Until she was panting. Begging.
Until the only sound in the room was their bodies, slapping against each other, their breathing, harsh and broken. It was the middle of the day, and he hadn’t taken her on a date. Hadn’t given her anything but an orgasm. And he couldn’t even feel guilty about it.
He had spent all those days in the dark. Counting the hours until nothing. Until the end. He had been given a life sentence. And with that there was almost no hope. Just a small possibility they’d find a body—as horrendous as that would be—and exonerate him. He had felt guilty hoping for that, even for a moment. But something. Anything to prove his innocence.
That had been his life. And he had been prepared for it to be the rest of his life.
And now, somehow, he was here. With her.
Inside Faith’s body, the sunlight streaming in through the windows.
Blinded by the light, by his pleasure, by his need.
This was more than he had imagined having a chance to feel ever again. And he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt anything like this. Like this heat and hunger that roared in his gut, through his veins.
He opened his eyes and looked at her, forced himself to continue watching her even as his orgasm burst through him like a flame.
It was like looking at hope.
Not just a sliver of it, but full and real. Possibilities he had never imagined could be there for him.
He had come from a jail cell and had intended to ask this woman to build a house for him, and instead...
They were screwing in the middle of the afternoon.
And something about it felt like the first real step toward freedom he’d taken since being released from prison.
She arched beneath him, gasping at her pleasure, her internal muscles gripping him as she came. He roared out his own release, grasping her tightly against his body as he slammed into her one last time.
And as he held her close against his chest, in a bed he should never have taken her to, he let go of the ideas of right and wrong. What she deserved. What he could give.
Because what had happened between them just now was like nothing he’d ever experienced on earth. And it wouldn’t be forever. It couldn’t be.
But if it was freedom for him, maybe it could be that for her, too.
Maybe...
Just for a little while, he could be something good for her.
And as he stared down at her lovely face, he ignored the hollow feeling in his chest that asked: Even if he knew he was bad for her, would he be able to turn away now?
He knew the answer.
He held her close, pressed her cheek against his chest, against his thundering heartbeat.
And she pressed her hand over the knife wound on his midsection.
Oh, yes. He knew the answer.
Nine
By the time Faith woke up, the sun was low in the sky, and she was wrapped around Levi, her hand splayed on his chest. He was not asleep.
“I was wondering when you might wake up.”
She blinked sleepily. “What time is it?”
“About five o’clock.”
“Shit!” She jerked, as if she was going to scramble out of bed, and then she fell back, laying down her head on his shoulder. “I’m supposed to have dinner with my parents tonight.”
“What time?”
“Six. But Isaiah and Joshua are going to pester me about where I was. Poppy probably won’t let me off, either. My sister-in-law. She works in the office. She’s the one who—”
“Former assistant,” Levi said.
“Yes. Also, she’s pregnant right now and you know how pregnant women have a heightened sense of smell?” she asked.
“Um...”
“Well, she does. But I think more for shenanigans than anything else.”
“Shenanigans?” he repeated, his tone incredulous. “Are we engaging in shenanigans?”
“You know what I mean,” she huffed.
“When are you going to tell them?”
She blinked. “About...this?”
“Not this specifically,” he said, waving his arm over the two of them to indicate their bodies. “But the design project. They’re going to have to know eventually.”
“Oh, do they?” She tapped her chin. “I was figuring I could engage in some kind of elaborate money-laundering situation and hide it from them forever.”
“Well, that will impact on my ability to do a magazine spread with my new house. My new life as a nonconvict. As a free man.”
“Right. I forgot.”
“The best revenge is living well. Mostly because any other kind of revenge is probably going to land me back in prison.”
“Isn’t that like...double jeopardy at this point?”
“Are you encouraging me to commit murder?”
“Not encouraging you. I just... On a technicality...”
“I’m not going to do anything that results in a body count,” he said drily. “Don’t worry. But I would really like my ex to see everything I’m buying with the money that she can’t have. If she can’t end up in prison, then she’s going to end up sad and alone, and with nothing. That might sound harsh to you...”
“It doesn’t,” Faith said, her voice small. “I can’t imagine caring about someone like that and being betrayed. I can’t imagine being in prison for five days, much less five years. She deserves...” She looked down, at his beautiful body, at the scar that marred his skin. “She deserves to think about it. What she could have had. What she gave away. Endlessly. She deserves that. I am so...sorry.”
“I don’t need your pity,” he said.
“Just my body?” She wiggled closer to him, experimenting with the idea that she, too, could maybe be a vixen.
“I do like your body,” he said slowly. “When are you going to tell your brothers about the job?”
“You know what? I’ll do it tonight.”
“Sounds pretty good. Do it when you have your parents to act as a buffer.”
She grinned. “Basically.”
She didn’t want to leave him. Didn’t want to leave this. She hesitated, holding the words in until her heart was pounding in her ears. Until she felt light-headed.
“Levi... We have a limited amount of time together. It will only be until the design project is finished. And I don’t want to go all clingy on you, but I would like to... Can I come back tonight?”
He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, his bare back facing her. Without thinking, she reached out, tracing the border of the bird’s wing that stretched around to his spine.
“Sure,” he said. “If you really want to.”
“For sex,” she said. “But it might be late when we’re finished. So maybe I’ll sleep here?”
“If you want to sleep here, Faith, that’s fine. Just don’t get any ideas about it.”
“I won’t. I’ll bring an overnight bag and I won’t unpack it. My toothbrush will stay in my bag. It won’t touch your sink.”
“Why the hell would I care about that?”
He looked almost comically confused. On that hard, sculpted face, confusion was a strange sight.
“I don’t know. There were some girls in college who used to talk about how guys got weird about toothbrushes. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I mean... Not that you’re my boyfriend. But... I’m sorry. I’m speaking figuratively.”
“Calm down,” he said, gripping her chin and staring her right in the eyes. He dropped a kiss on her mouth, and instantly, she settled. “You don’t need to work this hard with me. What we have is simple. We both know the rules, right?”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“Then I don’t want you to overthink it. Because I definitely don’t want you overthinking things when we’re i
n bed together.”
She felt a weight roll off her shoulders, and her entire body sagged. “Sometimes I think I don’t know how to...not overthink.”
“Why is that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been doing it for most of my life.”
He looked at her. Not moving. Like a predator poised to pounce. Those blue eyes were far too insightful for her liking. “Does it ever feel like prison?”
She frowned. “Does what ever feel like prison?”
“The success you have. You couldn’t have imagined that you would be experiencing this kind of demand at your age.”
“I really don’t know how to answer that. Nobody sentenced me to anything, Levi, and I can walk away from it at any time.”
“Is your family rich, Faith?”
She laughed. “No. We didn’t grow up with anything. I only went to private school because I got a scholarship. Joshua didn’t even get to go to college. He didn’t have the grades to earn a scholarship or anything. My parents couldn’t afford it—”
“All the money in your family—this entire company—it centers around you.”
“Yes,” she said softly.
He made a scoffing sound. “No wonder you were a virgin.”
“What does my virginity have to do with anything?”
“Have you done something for yourself? Ever?”
“I mean, in fairness, Levi, it’s my...gift. My talent. My dream, I guess, that made us successful. It centers around me. Isaiah and Joshua fill in the holes with what they do well, but they could do what they do well at any kind of company. The architectural aspect... That’s me. They’re enabling me to do what I love.”
“And you’re enabling everyone to benefit from your talents. That they’re supporting your talent doesn’t make them sacrificial. It makes them smart. I’m not putting your brothers down. In their position I would do the same. But what bears pointing out is that whether you realize it or not, you’ve gotten yourself stuck in the center of a spider’s web, honey. No wonder you feel trapped sometimes.”
They didn’t speak about anything serious while she got ready. She dodged a whole lot of groping on his end while she tried to pull on her clothes, and ended up almost collapsing in a fit of giggles as she fought to get her skirt back on and cover her ass while he attempted to keep his hand on her body.
But she thought about what he said the entire time, and all the way over to her parents’ house. His observation made it seem... Well, like she really should fight harder for the things she wanted. Should worry less about what Joshua and Isaiah felt about her association with Levi. Personally or professionally.
Though, she wasn’t going to bring up any of the personal stuff.
Levi was right. The business, her career—all of this had turned into a monster she hadn’t seen coming. It was a great monster. One that funded a lifestyle she had never imagined could be hers. Though, it was a lifestyle she was almost too busy to enjoy. And if that was going to be the case...
Why shouldn’t she take on projects that interested her?
That was the thing. Levi had interested her from the beginning, and the only reason she had hesitated was because Joshua and Isaiah were going to be dicks about her interest and she knew it.
She pulled up to her parents’ small, yellow farmhouse and sat in the driveway for a moment.
She wished Levi was with her. Although she had no reason to bring him. And the very idea of that large, hard man in this place seemed...impossible. Like a god coming down from Mount Olympus to hang out at the mall.
She got out of the car and walked up to the front porch, opened the door and walked straight inside. A rush of familiarity hit her, that familiar scent of her mother’s pot roast. That deep sense of home that could only ever be attached to this place. Where she had grown up. Where she’d longed to be while at boarding school, where she had ached to return for Christmases, spring breaks and summers.
Everyone was already there. Devlin and his wife, Mia. Joshua, Danielle and their son Riley. Isaiah and Poppy.
Faith was the only one who stood alone. And suddenly, it didn’t feel so familiar anymore.
Maybe because she was different.
Because she had left part of herself in that bed with Levi.
Or maybe because everyone else was a couple.
All she knew was that she felt like a half standing there and it was an entirely unpleasant feeling.
“Hi,” Faith said.
“Where have you been?” Joshua asked. “You left the office around lunchtime the other day and I haven’t seen you since.”
“You say that like it’s news to me,” she said drily. “I had some things to take care of.”
Her mom came out of the kitchen and wrapped Faith in a hug. “What things? What are you up to?” She pressed a kiss to Faith’s cheek. “More brilliance?”
Her dad followed, giving Faith a hug and a kiss and moving to his favorite chair that put him at the head of the seating arrangement.
“I don’t know.” Faith rubbed her arm, suddenly feeling like she was fifteen and being asked to discuss her report card. “Not especially. Just... I picked up another project.”
“What project?” Isaiah asked, frowning.
“You didn’t consult me about the schedule first,” Poppy said.
“I can handle it,” Faith said. “It’s fine.”
“This is normally the kind of thing you consult us on,” Joshua said, frowning.
“Yes. And I didn’t this time. I took a job that interested me. And I had a feeling you wouldn’t be very supportive about it. So I did it alone. And it’s too late to quit, because I already have an agreement. I’m already working on the project, actually.”
“Is that why you were behind on sending me those estimates?” Isaiah asked. As if this error was proof positive they were actually correct, and she couldn’t handle all this on her own.
“Yes,” she said. “Probably. But, you know, I’m the one who does the design. And I should be able to take on projects that interest me. And turn down things that don’t.”
“Are we making you do things you don’t like?”
“No. It’s just... The whole mass-production thing we’re doing, that’s fine. But I don’t need to be as involved in that. I did some basic designs, but my role in that is done. At this point it’s standardized, and what interests me is the weird stuff. The imaginative stuff.”
“I’m glad you enjoy that part of it. It’s what makes you good. It’s what got us where we are.”
“I know. I mean...” Everyone was staring at her and she felt strange admitting how secure she was in her talent. But she wasn’t a fifteen-year-old explaining a report card. She was a grown woman explaining what she wanted to do with the hours in her day, confident in her area of expertise. “You can’t get where I’m at without being confident. But what I’m less confident about is whether or not you two are going to listen to me when I say I know what I want to do.”
“Of course we listen to you.”
She sucked in a sharp breath and faced down Joshua and Isaiah. “I took a design job for Levi Tucker.”
Isaiah frowned. “Why do I know that name?”
It was Devlin who stood up, and crossed large, tattooed arms over his broad chest. “Because he’s a convict,” he said. “He was accused of murdering his wife.”
“Who isn’t dead,” Faith pointed out. “So, I would suggest that’s a pretty solid case against him being a murderer.”
“Still.”
Mia spoke tentatively. “I mean, the whole situation is so...suspicious, though,” she said softly. “I mean...what woman would run from her husband if he was a good guy?”
“Yes,” Faith said, sighing heavily, “I’ve heard that line of concern before. But the fact of the matter is, I’ve actually met him.” She felt like
she did a very valiant job of not choking on her tongue when she said that. “And he’s...fine. I wouldn’t say he’s a nice guy, but certainly he’s decent enough to work with.”
“I don’t like it,” Devlin said. “I think you might be too young to fully understand all the implications.”
Anger poured into her veins like a hot shot of whiskey, going straight to her head. “Do not give me that shit,” she said, then looked quickly over at her mother and gave her an apologetic smile for the language. “Your wife is the same age as I am. So if I’m too young to make a business decision, your wife is certainly too young to be married to you.”
Mia looked indignant for a moment, but then a little bit proud. The expression immediately melted into smugness.
“I like his ideas.” Faith didn’t say anything about his house being a sex palace. “And it’s a project I’m happy to have my name on.”
Joshua shook his head. “You want to be associated with a guy like that? A young, powerful woman like yourself entering into a business agreement with a man who quite possibly has a history of violence against women...”
She exploded from the table, flinging her arms wide. “He hasn’t done anything to anyone. There have been no accusations of domestic violence. He didn’t... As far as anyone knows, he never did anything to her. She disappeared and he was accused of all manner of things with no solid evidence at all. And I think there was bias against him because he comes from...modest beginnings.”
“It’s about the optics, Faith,” Joshua pointed out. “You’re a role model. And associating with him could damage that.”
Optics. That word made her feel like a creature in a zoo instead of a human. It made her feel like someone who was being made to perform, no matter her feelings.
“I don’t care about optics, Joshua. I’m twenty-five years old and I have many more years left in this career. If all I ever do is worry about optics and I don’t take projects that interest me—if I don’t follow my passion even a little bit—then I don’t see the point of it.”
“The point is that you are going to be doing this for a long time and when you’re more well-established you can take risks. Until then, you need to be more cautious.”