by Lila Kane
Above the water, I could see the blur of trees and blue sky and…
Was that a person?
My breath yanked in automatically and water sucked into my lungs. My body was racked with coughs as I shot to the surface. My lungs seized as I broke free of the water, liquid spilling from my mouth.
“Sam—” Tom gripped my arm, supporting me as I struggled to get my feet on the ground.
I looked wildly to the side of the pool. Where was he? Who had I seen?
“I thought—” I pointed to the side of the pool. “I thought I saw someone—”
Joseph was out in the blink of an eye. While I continued to cough, Tom patting my back and trying to help me to the stairs, Joseph walked the perimeter of the pool, vanished inside the cabana briefly, and then joined us on the patio.
“Davies,” he said. “You probably saw Davies.”
I cleared my throat, suddenly mortified. “You’re right. I—” I turned to Tom, my cheeks heating even though the rest of my body had goose bumps. “I’m sorry. That’s—”
“Don’t apologize,” Tom soothed. “You hear me? You’re supposed to say something if you’re worried or feel uneasy. That’s why you’re here. Because too many things were happening before and we never knew what Don was going to do next.”
Joseph passed me a towel, but he still wouldn’t meet my eyes. Great. If he hadn’t liked me before, it was going to be even worse now. I was a paranoid girl who thought she saw people who weren’t there. Or people who belonged there.
He was right, it was probably Davies. Or my overactive imagination. After all, I’d started seeing Don around every corner before. He haunted me even when he wasn’t there.
“I’ll grab you a robe,” Tom said, walking to the cabana.
I stood, shivering in the sunlight, waiting for him.
“This is why Tom called me, you know,” Joseph said, his voice low and rough next to me.
I blinked, and then looked over, surprised he was even trying to talk to me. He hadn’t made much of an effort so far. “I’m sorry?”
“Tom called me because of things like this.” When I continued to look confused, he dropped his chin. “Because you were seeing your ex everywhere, and he said he was sick of watching you look over your shoulder everywhere you went. Sick of seeing you missing out on life like that. And sick of that bastard having control over you.”
That’s what Tom said? God, I hadn’t even realized how hard it was for him. I knew I was imposing on him and making him take risks, but on top of that he had to see my life being affected. Which was affecting his life.
He’d found a place for me to be safe to make things better. For myself and himself.
And I’d been about ready to tell him I couldn’t stay with Joseph anymore.
Tom returned with the robe and passed it over. I shrugged into it and followed the men inside.
“Lunch,” Davies said when we entered the kitchen.
He’d set a spread out on the table. Fruit, vegetables, sandwiches. Enough food to feed an army. We dug in, and for a few hours things felt almost normal. Even Joseph seemed to be enjoying himself.
Tom brought up stories about when they were in college together, and the time I’d walked in on them changing after a football game.
Joseph’s eyes flashed to mine. “I didn’t know this.”
My cheeks heated. I smacked Tom’s arm. “That was an accident.”
Tom’s lips curved. “Seems like you were ‘accidently’ around a lot when Joseph was over.”
My hands twisted together in my lap. I remembered that day vividly. For months after that, I couldn’t get Joseph out of my head. But I never said anything. He was five years older than me at the time. Now, five years felt like nothing, but then it had seemed like a lifetime.
Tom’s laugh echoed in the kitchen. “Okay, I won’t talk about it anymore. Besides, you’re over men, right? After…” He sobered a little and went without saying Don’s name. “Sometimes we all need a break from the opposite sex.”
Taking a break wasn’t at all what I had in mind when it came to Joseph. But there’d never been anything there to begin with. And Don was right, it made sense to keep it that way.
After lunch, I walked outside with Tom. The sun had completely vanished now, and the air was turning cool. I’d changed into leggings and a T-shirt, but I shivered when the wind blew.
Tom paused outside of his car, leaning against the door with his keys in hand. “Are things going okay here? You seemed…sad when I got here.”
“I…” I glanced away. “I’m still adjusting.”
“I know it’s an adjustment. But this is best for now. Until things cool down.”
I nodded. “You’re right. This is best. I’m fine.”
He smiled and put his arm around me. “Good. Call me if you need anything.”
He got in his car and I hugged myself against another breeze. I would be fine. I’d lived through the worst year of my life with Don. Living with Joseph should be a piece of cake.
But when I turned and saw him standing in the doorway, I had to repeat that mantra over and over to make myself go back inside.
Chapter Five
The rain started early that evening, and by the time the sun sank behind the horizon, the grounds outside Joseph’s house were filled with fog as well.
I stared out the window in the living room, memories of the figure I’d seen outside the pool this afternoon still haunting my thoughts.
When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I gasped and whipped around, my fists automatically swinging out to hit whoever was there.
“Sam—” Joseph gripped both wrists, his body pinning mine to the wall, so I couldn’t hurt him or myself. “What the hell?”
My heart pounded almost painfully in my chest. “You scared me.”
His chest rose and fell with deep breaths. “You scared me . I couldn’t find you.” His grip loosened on my wrists, but he didn’t release me. “I looked upstairs in your room and in the kitchen and you weren’t there.”
“I was…” I looked down. “I was lonely. I didn’t want to be up there by myself.”
His grip loosened all the way, and then let me go. He still blocked me in with his body, his gaze dark as onyx as he pinned me with his stare.
“You can call Tom,” he said, voice so low I almost couldn’t make out the words. “As long as you use the secure line.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to bother him. I want…”
He exhaled. “What do you want?”
I looked up and swallowed. “I want to know why you hate me so badly.”
“Hate? What?” He looked genuinely bewildered, but I know it was just an act.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I ground out. “What else am I supposed to think with the way you’re treating me.”
“I’m not treating you any way—”
“That’s bullshit.”
I pushed around him, prepared to head back up to my room. No sense in arguing with someone who couldn’t even see what they were doing. But Joseph grabbed my arm.
“Let go!” I yelled in his face.
“Stop—”
“No. I won’t let you treat me like this.”
I jerked my arm, but he didn’t let go. Instead, he gripped my other arm and backed me to the couch. “Stop fighting me—”
“You’d better let go right now !”
He wrestled me to the couch, pinning my arms with one hand, and holding my hips down with his knees. “Calm the fuck down.”
“I won’t. You need to—”
“I don’t hate you,” he bit out, stopping the next thing I was going to say. “It’s the opposite, and it’s pissing me off. You—”
He broke off, and before I could tell him to finish what he had to say, he swooped in. His lips collided with mine, his mouth an instant and hot assault. My body responded with a second of shock, and then immediate capitulation.
He still had my body pinned, my wris
ts secure in his grip, one hand holding me in place and the other lifting my chin, so he could plunder my mouth with his tongue. My body arched against his, demanding more. And when his hips rolled expertly against mine, I groaned.
“I don’t hate you,” Joseph said. Anger warred with desire in his voice, the combination a husky rasp that had me throbbing for him.
I grew wetter and wetter the more his mouth touched mine. My nipples pinched hard into tight peaks. I squirmed in his grasp, partly out of pleasure and partly out of the need to touch him. “Joseph—”
“Tell me you understand. I don’t hate you, Samantha.”
I nodded, barely a bob of my head because he still held my chin. “I understand.”
“Fuck. I’ve pictured you underneath me so many times. Your tight little body.”
His head bowed to trail kisses down my cheek. I lifted my chin to give him better access, his words making a dizzying circuit through my head. He’d pictured me like this? Us together? His body on top of mine?
Then I lost all coherency when his free hand slid underneath my shirt. It climbed up my stomach, then my ribs, and squeezed my bare breast.
He groaned, and it was all I could do not to come right there. I’d been waiting for this for so long. He wasn’t the only one who’d pictured us together, his body pinning mine while his hands and mouth sought every part of my body. Kissing, sucking, licking his way over and inside every inch of me as I moaned his name.
“Joseph,” I panted. “Oh, god.”
I couldn’t speak. His mouth and hands felt so good.
With one smooth motion, he shoved my shirt up, so he could lick my nipple. It tightened even further, and when he nipped it with his teeth, I felt it right in my center. I cried out, my clit throbbing hard, my panties getting even wetter.
“I want to taste you,” he murmured, breath hot on my wet nipple.
“Yes.”
He released my wrists, and I helped him pull down my leggings and my panties, so he could get to my pussy. He gripped my hips almost roughly and shifted me on the couch so my legs hung over the side. He knelt in front of me, his hands gripping my thighs, kneading them as I writhed on the couch.
When the heat of his breath touched my mound, I grabbed the couch cushions in a death grip. “Oh, god, you’re going to make me come—”
“Not yet,” he commanded.
He spread my legs even wider and leaned in. His tongue made one slow circuit from the bottom of my slit to the top, where he flicked it against my clit.
I gasped, my eyes slamming shut so I could revel in the feel of his mouth on my pussy. I reached out, my fingers diving into Joseph’s hair as his tongue came out again. He swirled it expertly on my clit, and when I’d almost hit my peak, he slowed down and slid his tongue back down my slit. He was still breathing heavily, and when his tongue entered my heat, I nearly blacked out.
“Joseph, I can’t—”
“Hold on,” was all he said.
I wasn’t sure if he was telling me to wait or telling me to hold onto something because he was preparing to make me come so hard, I couldn’t function.
Then he slid two fingers inside of me, set his mouth on my clit again, and my whole body jerked. He fucked me with his fingers, lashed his tongue against my sensitive nub, until fireworks exploded behind my eyelids.
I yanked in a sharp breath as my body began to tense, and then it hit me. My body rolled in waves of painful ecstasy as the orgasm hit me. He continued to torment me with his fingers and mouth, making peak again. When I couldn’t take anymore, his fingers squeeze on my thighs, and I reached for him.
“Joseph,” I murmured. His eyes locked on mine, spearing me with their intensity. “I need you.”
He started to stand, already reaching for his pants.
“I’ve wanted this for a long time,” I told him.
His hands froze on his button. He looked at me again, and the haze of desire started to clear in his eyes.
I was laid out bare before him, but he stepped back. His mouth opened and closed, like he couldn’t believe what he’d just done.
“Joseph?”
He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have done that. You—you’re—this isn’t right.”
Not right? What was he talking about?
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he repeated, backing away even more.
In the blink of an eye, he turned and vanished from the room. I was too shocked to call after him, and too humiliated to follow him. Numb, I fixed my clothes and stood, my legs still wobbly from the mind-blowing orgasm.
The rain still fell softly outside. It could have been the perfect evening. Joseph and I had finally connected. And then…
Holding back a sob, I walked back to my room and stepped inside. I don’t know what had happened, but it was worse than before when I thought he hated me. Because now he’d seen me at my most vulnerable. He knew how I felt about him.
And he’d walked away.
With my cheeks flaming, I opened the drawers to the dresser and started pulling out my clothes.
There was no way I could stay here now. I’d figure something out—anything but living under the same roof as Joseph.
I’d let Don control me and humiliate me, and I wasn’t going back to feeling like that. Ever.
Once my bag was packed, I took one last look at the room I’d actually started to like, and then turned for the hallway.
I was sick of feeling helpless and lonely in my own skin. It was time to take action, and take care of myself.
I walked down the stairs and to the front door, ready to take control of my own life.
Look for Book Two of the Hidden by Him series, coming soon, and if you liked this short story, turn the page for a sneak peek at a novel in the same vein.
Breathe Summary
A new home. A new start.
An old flame.
I thought I’d finally gotten over Finnigan Moore after he broke my heart. But working with the billionaire mogul again reminds me of how intensely I wanted him. And how intensely he still wants me.
But my past is complicated. Complicated enough that even Finn’s dark eyes and undeniable appeal can’t break through. Because a relationship with him means risking my heart. But worse than that, it also means risking his life.
*Breathe is a full-length novel with a serious and suspenseful tone and lots of steam. It’s book one of a series that follows the same characters throughout, so if you like standalones, this book isn’t for you*
CHAPTER ONE
I’d seen the pictures, but Oasis was much grander than they could ever convey. It wasn’t all straight, clean lines and boxy shapes. No, this building was exactly how I would have designed it. Curvy, sleek, welcoming.
Romantic.
I unclenched my hands and stepped into the building. Romance was the last thing I needed on my mind right now. Especially after the news I’d had last week.
Inside the northwest building, which I’d learned was called the Business Community, people in suits and pencil skirts checked in at the main desk or waited for an elevator to their office in one of the three buildings that made up this quarter of Oasis.
I stopped at the desk and smiled at the man behind a computer, trying to appear calmer on the outside than I was on the inside. “Do I need to sign in? I’m here for an interview with—”
“Name please,” he said, meeting my eyes.
“Charlotte Evans.”
He stood, face relaxing into a smile. “Of course, Ms. Evans. They’re already waiting for you.”
I resisted the urge to check my watch. I knew I wasn’t late. I was early—always early. It paid to be prepared.
He gestured to the grouping of elevators to the far left. “You’ll want to take the elevator to the top floor. It leads right into your office. You can’t miss it.”
My office. It sounded good. Right. I’d been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. And until a few weeks ago, I’d thought I had it.
<
br /> I gave the desk guard another smile. “Thank you.”
Inside the elevator, I stepped to the back, watching as floors of people got off before me. Trying not to wring my hands. The offer for the job at Oasis had felt like a dream. An answer to my prayers, really, because I needed somewhere to start over more than anything.
And what better than a place they were calling “real-world living”? Oasis was the first all-inclusive community. It was a series of buildings interconnected to form a haven—everything you’d need all in one location. A place to work, eat, sleep, and play.
It had seemed so perfect, I’d said yes to the interview before even researching the players. And then I’d fallen in love with the idea. After all, it wasn’t too long ago I’d talked about a community similar to Oasis with someone I’d cared a lot about. I’d fallen in love with him, too.
But that, along with everything I was trying to forget from recent years, was in the past.
So I’d said yes to the job. Until they told me I was overqualified. My moment of disappointment morphed into excitement when they offered me a better position, and then suspicion when I learned it was with the head of the company. The mastermind behind Oasis.
Finnigan Moore. The love of my life.
And the only man who’d ever broken my heart.
When the elevator dinged at the top floor, my stomach dropped. This was a bad idea. A very bad idea. I stepped out and repeated the words to myself again. Bad idea. Very bad idea.
I didn’t want to see Finn, and forget about working with him. The only way this could happen was if I didn’t have to be anywhere near him.
Maybe he didn’t even work in the building. After all, he never was a hands-on kind of guy. He probably worked in another office. Somewhere far, far away. He probably—
I swallowed when I saw his name on a row of glass panels to a large office. Shit. This couldn’t be happening.
“Can I help you?” a woman at the desk asked. Her smile was friendly, but I couldn’t seem to return it.
Still frozen outside the elevator, I licked my lips and made a swift decision. I’d take the other job—the one they’d offered me first. As long as it was in another building. Away from Finnigan Moore and away from my past.