by Ella Miles
And I’ve never been prouder of her. I almost don’t want to let her know I’m here. I just want to watch her in the shadows. Be the sniper watching over her and shooting any danger that approaches her. But of course, she feels me.
It takes her a second to scan the faces and boats approaching before she spots me.
I feel her take a deep breath when she sees me, and the tiniest of smiles touches the corner of her lip.
She may have been in complete control before, but now that I’m here, she’s completely fearless.
I want to jump up on the yacht, throw her over my shoulder, and get her away from the danger. But I have a feeling that is part of what this entire situation is about.
I’m sure Felix is behind this. And that’s exactly what he wants—to show my love for Kai.
I wink at her, letting her know I’m close if she needs me, and then I start pulling crew out of the water, loading up my speedboat before bringing them to the larger ships to safety. Each time I have to drive away from Kai, still on the sinking yacht, it kills me. But she’s as safe there as anywhere else in these waters. She’ll get off the yacht before it sinks. Even if that means heading into the water.
She has a great backstroke. She can swim as well as any competitive swimmer. She will be fine. I have to let her shine, even if it kills me.
I continue to keep myself busy, pulling my men out of the water and moving them to safety. Over and over, glancing over my shoulder at Kai as often as I can.
Get off the ship.
But then I see why she hasn’t left. A man is trapped under some beams, and she is leading the effort to free him.
I dump the last of the men off on one of the yachts and head in her direction. The yacht is minutes away from sinking, and it appears they could use all the manpower they can get.
As I turn toward her, I hear the sound I’ve been most afraid of—another explosion.
The yacht explodes in front of my eyes.
Fire burns.
Smoke bursts in a large cloud.
Remains of the yacht drop into the ocean.
No.
No, no, no!
I can’t catch my breath. My soul is sinking into the water along with the ship. There is no way she survived that unscathed.
I drive toward the smoke, hoping somehow she got off. That she’s in the water somewhere.
She has to be alive.
I don’t feel an intense loss. I would feel her if she died, right? I would know it immediately. I would probably drop dead right beside her; I would have no reason to keep living if she were dead.
That’s the only thing giving me hope as I speed through black smoke. I have to slow down, afraid I might run her or Langston over in the water.
I see a body, face down in the water—Langston. I race to him and pull his limp body into the boat.
With one hard press against his chest, water expels from his lungs. “Where’s Kai?” Langston asks.
I shake my head because I can’t speak.
He jumps up, not acting like he almost died in an explosion. I know he needs a doctor to look at him. He could have internal injuries, but right now, we need to find Kai.
“Kai!” Langston shouts.
I’m thankful he can shout, because I’ve lost my voice.
Slowly we make our way through the wreckage, and with each second that passes and I don’t see her, my panic rises.
This can’t be the end.
Not like this.
We approach a small dingy boat. “I’m going to search on that boat. We can cover twice the ground that way,” Langston says.
I nod, agreeing.
He hops on and then we both head in different directions.
Please God, let her live. I won’t ask for anything but her life. Take mine instead, just not hers.
Faster I race. Needing to find her faster.
And then I see her, clinging to a life preserver in much the same way she was when I left her to swim to shore that first time I met her.
I dive into the water, needing my hands on her immediately, even though I can tell she’s still alive.
“You’re alive,” I say, my breath weak at the sight of her. Her face is pale, covered in soot, her hair is drenched in water and blood from a cut on her head. But she’s alive.
“So are you,” she exhales, like she was as terrified as I was that I didn’t survive.
I pull her into my arms and swim with my legs to get her back to the speedboat.
We both collapse onto the bottom of the boat with me still gripping her tightly in my arms.
“You’re alive,” Langston shouts over us.
Kai laughs. “People keep saying it like they are shocked.”
I kiss her forehead probably too hard, but I don’t care. I just need to keep reminding myself she is alive.
“What do you want me to do, boss?” Langston says to Kai.
I look at her. I need time alone with her. And from her heavy eyes, I know she needs the same. She just nods at me to talk, exhausted in my arms.
“Get everyone medical care as fast as possible. Yourself included. And then get everyone in attack formation on all of our best ships. We are going on the offensive as soon as the team has healed and recovered,” I say.
Kai nods her agreement.
“Don’t take too long,” Langston says, warning us. “And make sure she sees a doctor too.”
I kiss her head again. “I will.”
Then Langston leaves us.
I sit up, pulling Kai onto my lap as I start the engine again.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“Away,” is all I answer. Because it’s the truth. I need to take her to a doctor soon, and I will, but sometimes the best medicine is just being with the person you love.
She leans her head against my chest as I drive us away from the wreckage and the people who depend on us for our safety. We did our jobs; we rescued them from the danger. And we will form a plan to keep the attacks from happening again. But right now, this is about us.
After riding several miles into the middle of nowhere, I cut the engine.
Kai sits up in my lap. And I grab her legs until she is straddling me on the captain’s seat.
And then the tears fall.
Her tears turn to sobs. And I hold her as tightly as I can, wishing I could take them all away.
“I thought you were dead,” she sobs.
“I thought you were dead, too.”
“Never leave me again,” she says.
“Never. I’m yours, forever.”
Her head lifts from my tear-soaked shoulder. We are both dripping wet with saltwater and blood.
The cut on her head spills more blood. Shit. What was I thinking? I really need to get her to a doctor as fast as possible.
“Make love to me,” Kai says, lifting her shirt and revealing her bare breasts.
Fuck me.
I need to think with my head. I need to get her to the doctor. But I know she won’t let me, not until I’ve had her.
I nod, my eyes big, my throat dry, suddenly unable to speak.
Then her hands are grabbing my shirt and lifting it off me, discarding it on the floor of the boat.
I’m eye level with her nipples, and so that is where I start. I take the first bud into my mouth, my tongue taking its time tasting and seeing how she reacts. If she shows one sign of a concussion or—
Her moan sends chills through my body. Her hand clasps down on my hair, and her urgent lust is obvious.
My greedy mouth moves from her first nipple to her second. Her back arches, and she throws her head back until I can feel the wet mane of her hair dripping down her bare back.
So fucking sexy.
I move my hands to massage her breasts while I kiss up her swollen breasts and to her neck. Her tits fill my hands more than usual. Did they grow?
She bites her lip, and I forget about her breasts. I want her lip. I want her tongue. I want her biting my lip.
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My mouth hungrily kisses hers. So incredibly good. Her mouth tastes good, even though it tastes like saltwater, sweat, and blood. None of that matters because I’m getting to kiss her swollen lips.
“Make love to me,” she purrs into my mouth.
Love, she says it again. She still hasn’t said she loves me, but hearing the word is enough for now. And I plan on doing just that.
I stand up, and her legs wrap around me. There is a small bench in the back of the boat. That will have to do.
I carefully lay her down on the bench, and then I undo her jeans before pulling them from her body. She shivers. I’m not sure if it’s because she is cold, or she loves my heated stare on her naked body.
I quickly remove my own jeans, and the loving gaze I get back is worth everything.
I move quickly, covering her body with mine. To keep her warm, and because I’m desperate to be inside her. Our lips meld together in quick, sweet kisses. Her legs spread wider as my body presses between them.
“Enzo, make love to me.”
And so I do. My cock slips into her wet body. I’ve never been so welcome inside her before.
Our eyes lock. Our lips stop as our bodies sync together, just breathing into each other's mouth.
“I love you, Kai.” I kiss her hard as I rock into her, feeling the full depths of her body.
She kisses me back, but then quickly breaks the kiss.
“What?” I ask, pouting and demanding with my eyes that she gets her plump lips back on mine immediately.
She laughs. “I have something to tell you.”
I groan as I rock into her again. “Well, tell me so I can kiss you again.”
She bites her lip and blushes.
She’s so fucking adorable.
“I love you too, Enzo.”
I stop.
I don’t thrust.
I stop trying to kiss her.
My entire world stops.
I’m sure my heart stopped.
The only part of me that moves is my ears. I don’t trust my own damn ears. Did she really say she loves me? They move closer to her mouth, trying to listen to see if she will say it again.
She gets the hint, grabs my neck to pull my ear right against her lip, and then says, “I love you, Enzo.”
I quickly look her in the eye, not trusting my own ears even though I heard her say it twice.
She smiles brightly nodding. “I love y-,” she says again.
And this time, I don’t let her finish. My lips slam on her as I thrust hard inside of her.
And then we make love—for real. We fuck slowly as the small boat rocks with the waves. And I can’t think of a more perfect place for us both to say I love you to each other except on the ocean with us both pleading after barely surviving danger.
I feel her orgasm coming, and I hate that it’s happening, because I know this has to stop.
Sensing it, she says, “I love you.” As her pussy grasps my cock with pulsating contractions.
And I remember this isn’t the end, this is the beginning. Sure, I need to take her to the doctor immediately after this. But she loves me. No one can take that away again.
Her orgasm knocks me into one of my own. And I fill her with my cum.
“I love you too, stingray.”
I TAKE Kai to the hospital despite her protests that she is okay. But when the nurse wheels her back for tests, she tells me to go check on the team. She says she’s fine, and I can come back in twenty minutes when the test is done. That I need to show my face in front of the team. Show them I put them first. That they need a leader like me.
I don’t argue, because they need a leader like her too. Our team would be stupid not to see how good we would make as a team together.
I walk the hallways, looking for members of my team to check on, albeit reluctantly.
Clifton is the first room I come to. He looks well; I’m surprised he hasn’t been released yet. So I duck inside, deciding to test my theory.
“How are you holding up?” I ask.
“Better than the rest of the team. I’m lucky the docs hadn’t released me yet when the attack happened.”
“Don’t worry, we are going to get the bastard who did this.”
He nods with a smile, “I know we will.”
“I have a question for you, Clifton.”
He sits up higher in the bed. “Okay, shoot.”
“Would there be an objection to Kai and I running the Black organization together?”
He stills for a moment. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because we wouldn’t trust that you would put us first.”
“But can’t you see we are better leaders together? We play off each other strengths and weaknesses.”
He shakes his head. “When people love each other, it’s not all flowers and chocolates. Couples fight, they bicker. They disagree. And they put each other first.”
I frown.
“I like you, Enzo. I still think you would make a better leader than Kai, but right now, you are letting your feelings show too much. You love her, but I don’t think she loves you back.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Just something she said earlier to the team that Vance told me about.”
I frown. I will have to talk to her later because it’s clear he won’t tell me.
“You have to let her go if you want to be the leader, because right now, Kai would have to fuck up really bad for you to have a chance at being Black again. The only way to get your job back is to stop loving Kai.”
Stop loving Kai? Not possible. If this is how the team feels, then I guess I’m out of a job. Because there is nothing that could make me stop loving her.
18
KAI
I SAID I LOVE YOU.
I swore I’d never say those words again. At least, not to Enzo.
But I said them.
And I don’t regret it.
The words may end up being a mistake. But I would never take them back. That moment with Enzo on the speedboat was one of the purest experiences of my life. I felt everything we said and did. And if that moment is my downfall, then so be it.
“Would you like to hear your baby’s heartbeat?” the doctor asks.
I nod.
The doctors told me the baby is fine. The cuts and bruises were minor, and the smoke inhalation shouldn’t have any lasting effects. But I’m not sure I believe them. Not until I have some sort of proof.
The doctor said I could also have an ultrasound done if I want, but I don’t want one. That seems like something Enzo should be here for. And if they showed me the baby on an ultrasound, I’d want a picture. I’d have physical evidence of my pregnancy. Which would only put the baby at risk.
But no harm can come from hearing the baby’s heartbeat.
I lift my shirt up. My stomach still hasn’t popped yet, but the doctor told me it would happen soon. One day I will wake up and have a belly that wasn’t there when I went to sleep.
She puts the small device to my stomach.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
She grins at me, and I know what I’m listening to: the perfect, magical sound of my baby’s heartbeat. I’m in love. Sure, I love Enzo, but this… this is different. This is a love that can never be severed. This feeling encompasses all that I am. It’s in my blood. No matter what happens, I will never be able to stop loving this child.
For just a second, the woman’s smile changes, and quickly moves from her normal grin to a more knowing gleam.
“What?” I ask.
But as I ask the question I’m desperate to know the answer to, Enzo pops his head in.
I quickly brush the machine off my stomach, stopping the beautiful melody of my child’s heartbeat.
The doctor catches on quickly and doesn’t say anything about the baby.
I want to tell Enzo.
I don’t want to tell him.
I hav
e no clue how to protect my child.
But I absolutely don’t want to tell him in a doctor’s office where our employees reside in beds just next door.
Enzo looks from me to the doctor. “Is everything okay?” His voice cracks as he speaks, and I can tell now how hard it was for him to leave me.
“Yep, I’m completely healthy,” I say.
Enzo looks from me to the doctor, waiting for her response. “If she needs to take it easy the next couple of days, stay in bed, then tell me. I’ll make sure she follows my orders.”
“No need, Miss Miller is completely healthy, albeit a little beat up. But there is no need for any extended rest if she doesn’t want it,” the doctor smiles at me.
“See? I’m all good,” I say, jumping off the table, wanting out of here before Enzo reads something on my chart or gets some clue that I’m pregnant.
Enzo takes my hands and starts walking me out.
“Oh wait, I have some pain killers for you to take if you need them,” the doctor says.
I frown. We never discussed any pain killers. And I doubt pain killers are good for the baby. The only thing we discussed me taking was a prenatal vitamin.
She hands me a container of pills and winks at me. And I suspect these might be prenatal vitamins instead of pain killers.
“Thanks,” I say.
Enzo nods, and we walk out of my hospital room, hand in hand.
“You are really okay? Please don’t lie to me. I need to know you are okay. Let me take care of you.”
I stroke his cheek. “I’m fine. I promise.”
He exhales, but I’m not sure if I convinced him or not.
As we walk down the hallway, Enzo catches me up on the status of our team. We didn’t lose as many men as I expected after the double explosion. But at least the attack did one thing: get everyone on our side instead of Felix’s.
Enzo notices one of our men walking toward us. I don’t recall his name, just that he’s dressed in dark jeans and black T-shirt, the unofficial uniform of working for us. Enzo drops my hand as soon as he sees him.