by Blake, Zoe
“That won’t last. With my past, they’ll eventually find someone willing to take the risk.”
“Stay safe. I will let you know if I find out anything else.”
Mirage didn’t need Paine to tell her. She had overheard.
The Syndicate now had a contract out to kill both of them.
Chapter 9
Mirage grew thoughtful as they drove off into the night. “I’m sorry I got us into this mess.”
Paine brushed off her apology. “I’m not.”
“Really?”
“I met you during a chaotic disaster; it makes sense I would find you again in the middle of a chaotic disaster.”
“Hey, it hasn’t been proven yet that I caused that coup in Turkey,” teased Mirage.
Their laughter broke the tension in the car. Only a pair of criminals would find humor while dealing with their current situation.
“Do you ever regret it?”
“Being a criminal?”
Mirage nodded.
“Nope. First person I ever hit was the man who had been beating on my mom for years. The moment I was big enough, I beat on him.”
“Your father?”
Paine’s fingers visibly tightened around the steering wheel. “I don’t like to call him that, but, yeah. Whoever says violence doesn’t solve anything was lying. That piece of shit crawled away and never returned. That’s when I became a thief. Needed to steal to help out my mother and younger brother. I started with cigarettes. I would steal cartons at a time and then sell the individual packs. My stealing gave them both a comfortable and stable life, so, no, I don’t regret it for one moment.”
Mirage smiled. “Me neither. As far as I see it, all we’re really doing is transferring wealth. Stealing from one filthy rich person to give to another.”
“Exactly,” agreed Paine.
“Besides I do my part. The money I get? I launder it through a charity who looks the other way. They take twenty percent.”
Paine reached over and stroked her thigh. “I knew my little ice queen had a heart in there somewhere.”
Mirage blushed at his teasing remarks. He really was the most intriguing man. A strange mix of anger and teasing humor. Of violence and tenderness.
“My name is…Miranda…Miranda Foster,” she whispered. It felt strange to say her real name out loud. Mirage hadn’t uttered her name or been called by it in over fifteen years.
Paine reached over and pushed a curl behind her ear, before stroking her cheek. “My Mira.”
“It’s why I freaked when you called me that…it was like you knew who I really was,” she offered, still looking down at her hands, too nervous and unsure to meet his gaze.
“I always knew who you were Mira. I just didn’t realize I had the right name.”
Mirage looked into his blue eyes, captivated. The spell was only broken when he had to turn his attention back to the road.
“Well, Miranda Foster, I’m Paine Darwin and it is a real pleasure to meet you.”
Mirage felt a stab of disappointment. Summoning up a halfhearted smile, she said, “You don’t have to tell me your real name if you don’t want to. I don’t expect it.”
“That is my real name. Paine Darwin.”
“Your mother named you Pain? P.A.I.N.?”
“The way my mother tells it, it was a very long and painful labor, so it was the first word that popped into her head when the nurse asked my name. And it’s Paine with an ‘e’,” he corrected.
“Huh. I always just figured it was Pain.”
“That works too.”
* * *
Two hours later, they pulled into a small, one-story hotel in some no name town which was surrounded by trees on two sides and a steep cliff dropping off on the other.
“We’ll stop here for the night and strategize.”
“Sounds good,” said Mirage.
They checked in under an assumed name, Mr. & Mrs. Smythe. Mirage tried to ask for a separate room but that only got her a hard look from Paine.
After unlocking the door, he stood back and let her pass over the threshold. It was a small, clean room. One bed.
Mirage hugged her arms around her middle. “I think I’m going to take a nice long hot shower.”
“Want some company?”
“Not this time.”
Mirage walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Lowering the toilet seat, she sat down and rubbed her face over her hands. This was her mess. She’d brought this on them both with her petty revenge schemes and misplaced loyalty. Trying to contact The Syndicate and explain would only give away their location. No, she had to go right to the source. Where The Syndicate was based was a closely guarded secret. A secret she learned a few years ago from an operative they’d sent to collect some uncut emeralds she had stolen from the safety deposit box of some Mafia boss in Italy. The operative had been a little too excited to be in Italy and had sampled a little too much of the strong local wine. If she could break into their headquarters, perhaps she could learn something that she could leverage against them for her and Paine’s lives? She would turn the tables on The Syndicate. Use the very skills they hired her for against them.
There was just one problem. Paine. He probably wouldn’t go for the plan. Too dangerous. Besides, Mirage liked to work alone. She’d caused this mess. She would clean it up.
Despite her dramatic protestations early, Mirage knew she had lied to him…again. Deceiving him and herself about her feelings for him. Somehow she had already fallen half in love with the man. Perhaps she had always been half in love with him since their instant attraction that night in Istanbul. Normal one-night stands did not leave that much of a lasting impression, in fact, they were usually something a girl tried to forget and quickly.
Try as she might, she could not shake the memory of Paine. The man was arrogant, bossy and way too intense. He liked to be in control, something she couldn’t stand giving up. They were completely wrong for one another and that was before you factored in her trying to kill him. Everything about them shouldn’t work or make sense and yet…she loved how he teased her. Loved the protective feel of his arms around her. Loved how he didn’t take her crap and gave as well as he got.
And the sex…holy shit…the sex. It was so many levels of wrong which made it right for them both. Normal, vanilla missionary sex could never cut it for people who lived life on the edge like they did. Sex with Paine had all the elements of a great heist. Anticipation, danger, tension, euphoria. She secretly loved how he bent her to his will, made her beg for the pleasure and pain. The only way she ever would or could be completely submissive was to a strong, dominating man like Paine who took that submission from her by force. She needed to focus on all the reasons why she hated him…on how much he angered her…not the reasons why she was falling in love with him.
Oh, yes, she was already half in love with the man, which was why she had to get out now. Go back to her plan of disappearing. She would clear Paine’s name with The Syndicate and then vanish. It was the only way to protect herself. The way she felt about Paine didn’t even come close to how she’d thought she had felt about Dev. It was like comparing an innocent school girl crush with a full-blown passionate affair. And that scared the crap out of her.
Best to leave now before she fell any further. She was better off alone. Things were less complicated that way. Less intense. More in control.
That’s the way she liked things, in control. Right? That evil voice in her head whispered, you’re lying again.
Shaking off her wandering dark thoughts, Mirage stood up and turned on the shower.
Checking to make sure the door was locked, Mirage stepped up onto the toilet seat and quietly raised the frosted bathroom window. Swinging one leg over the sill, she stretched out her toes till her foot touched the ground. Mirage grimaced as it sunk a bit into the muddy, soft terrain. They had driven through a storm most of the night. She did not relish escaping through the wet and marshy woods, but
she had no choice. She would keep under the cover of the trees until she reached a town or farmhouse where she could ‘borrow’ a car.
Swinging her second leg over, she dropped down to the ground.
“Going somewhere?”
Damn him!
Mirage put her hands on her hips. “I’m really hurt that you didn’t trust me enough to assume I was taking a shower.”
“You weren’t and don’t try to brazen your way out of this one. We have a fucking hit out on us, and you’re trying this bullshit disappearing act on me again.”
His whole body practically radiated tension and anger, from his lowered brow to his crossed arms to his planted foot stance. He was genuinely pissed.
Mirage did the only reasonable thing she could do…she ran.
Giving in to her pure panic response, Mirage faded right then ran left. Swinging around Paine, her nimble form took off for the tree line. Running through the haze caused by the cold drizzle, Mirage could hear his heavy footfall just behind her. Her leg muscles burned as she pushed them harder, struggling against the soft terrain as her feet slipped in the mud. Bursting through the tree line into the forest, she didn’t dare look behind her lest she miss a low-hanging branch. Racing through the bramble of black branches and underbrush, she searched through the darkness for a place to hide. Her cheeks stung from the cold and where small branches had whipped and scratched at her skin. Her breath came in short ragged bursts as she strained to keep her small lead over Paine.
She never had a chance.
Mirage heard a deep, guttural roar. The warning cry of a feral beast. Her legs were knocked out from beneath her. Lowering her shoulder, she rolled into the fall. Paine’s weight descended on her the moment her body hit the leaf strewn ground. She lifted her knee between his spread legs. Reading her intent, he shifted his weight to the left. Mirage pushed with all her might. He fell to her side. As she tried to scramble away, he grabbed her arm and pulled her on top of him. The two rolled through the leaves as she clawed and railed against him.
Mirage started to weaken; she could not sustain her struggle against his superior strength. He pushed on top of her, straddling her hips. Capturing both her small wrists in his hand, he forced her arms above her head. Stretching out his weight, she could feel him pull at her pants till they were about her knees.
“Let me go!”
“Never.”
* * *
His mind was in a rage. He actually wanted to hurt her with his cock, to pound into her so hard and fast she screamed in pain, begging him to stop. In some fucked up way, it was the only way he knew how to break past her icy exterior. Her relentless need to push him away.
Grabbing her by the sides of her face, Paine placed a fierce open-mouthed kiss against her lips. Pulling back, he rasped, “If I have to fuck you senseless every time you try to run from me, then so be it, but god dammit, you will learn there is no point in defying me in this.”
Ripping at his jeans, he freed his cock. He didn’t check to see if she was wet. He already knew she would be. Positioning his cock at her entrance, he thrust into her tight pussy to the hilt.
Her mouth dropped open in shock and pain from his powerful assault. Paine pulled his hips back, groaning when her body gripped his cock as he pulled free before thrusting back inside. Her body jolted from the impact. She gave a soft moan. Charging ahead, Paine drove his cock in deeper with each thrust. Her body opened a little further with each forced movement.
“Oh, god. It hurts,” she cried out as her cunt contracted around his girth. He could feel her inner muscles tremble as they stretched to accommodate his pounding shaft.
“Paine, it’s too much,” she begged. She tried pulling on her arms, but he only tightened his grip on her wrists, keeping her prone and helpless beneath him.
“No,” he grit out between clenched teeth.
A fine mist of cold rain began to fall through the trees onto their bodies as he fucked her like an animal in the woods.
“You’re mine, Miranda. Do you understand me? Mine.”
Paine could read the shift in her expressive dark eyes, desire storming to life as he forced her to submit, as she reacted to hearing her real name on his lips.
Savagely smashing into her hips, Paine came with a roar. His whole body tensed above her own as he spilled his seed deep within her. Branding her. The thought made the act even more carnal as he heard the cries of her own release echo across the dark forest.
* * *
Paine carried her all the way back to the hotel, never saying a word. He still seethed with anger and sexual energy.
When they entered the room, she could hear the hiss from the shower which was still running. The sound damning her.
Without pause, Paine kicked in the locked bathroom door and carried her inside. Raising her arms over her head, he pulled off her now wet and muddied t-shirt, stopping to run his thumb over a scratch on her cheek.
His voice was low and dark when he commanded, “Take off your pants.”
Not giving a thought to disobeying him, Mirage kicked off her dirtied sneakers and pulled off her yoga pants. She was now naked before him. She watched in silence as he stripped off his own damp and filthy clothes. Opening the shower door, he ordered her to get in. The cheeks of her ass brushed against his already hard shaft as she squeezed past him to step into the steam filled chamber.
The hot water stung as it hit her chilled skin. Mirage sucked in a pained breath through her teeth.
Paine stepped into the shower stall, filling the space. Despite her trepidation, Mirage marveled at the display of hard muscle on his tall frame. Lowering her eyes, she observed his thick shaft as it jutted forward, ready to claim her body again despite their earlier exertions. A tremor ripped through her body at the thought.
Still, Paine did not speak, just pierced her with those ice blue eyes. He placed his large hand in the center of her chest, his fingers skimming her breasts. Slowly, he ran his hand down her front, applying just enough pressure to force her to take a step back to lean against the slick tiles. Turning his hand, he cupped her pussy.
Mirage gasped from the contact.
Grinding his palm against her flesh, Mirage rose up on her toes to avoid the pleasurable agony. She was still sore from the fucking she’d received in the woods.
Gripping his wrist, she begged, “Please, Paine, I’m still sore.”
“Is my kitty-cat’s pussy sore? Maybe I should kiss it and make it better?”
Mirage was at a loss for words when the powerful man knelt before her. Placing his hand on her inner thighs, he forced her to open her legs wider. She watched as his dark head bent close to her stomach. The first flick of his tongue against her sensitive nub sent a shock through her limbs. Desperately, her arms stretched out, searching for purchase. She latched on to the handle of the soap dish and the towel bar to keep her knees from buckling as he continued to lick and lave at her cunt. Shifting his right hand, he moved it between her legs and began to caress her with his two middle fingers. Rhythmically moving them back and forth in time with the swirling of his tongue, each time increasing the pressure. With each pass of his fingers over her cunt, he inched further and further back, till the tips were teasing her back entrance.
Mirage moaned as the tip of his middle finger circled her tight rosebud. Watching through half closed eyes, she saw the muscles of his back stretch and tense as the hot water streamed down his body.
Between the pressure of his tongue and the subtle threat of more pain as he pushed his finger into her ass up to the first knuckle, Mirage’s body spasmed. Her thighs clenched against his head.
“Oh, god! Fuck!” she screamed as she came.
Paine rose to tower over her.
“Turn around. Hands on the wall.”
“I-I can’t Paine. I’m still…sore from earlier,” she complained, only half lucid, still in the throes of her orgasm.
Grabbing her shoulders, he forced her to obey his command. Mirage’s breasts were
pressed into the tiles as Paine’s hands lowered to her hips, pulling them toward him so that her back arched.
Leaning in close, he whispered into her ear, “It’s a good thing I’m not planning on fucking your pussy then.”
“No!” cried out Mirage as she tried to turn back around.
Paine placed a large hand between her shoulder blades, keeping her in place. Mirage then felt a burst of stinging heat as he gave her ass three brutal swats.
“You don’t have a choice. You know what the punishment is for disobeying Daddy, kitten.”
Chapter 10
After admiring the faint blush on her right ass cheek caused by his hand, Paine picked up one of the small bottles of conditioner the hotel provided.
“Reach back and open your ass cheeks for me,” he ordered.
Mirage whimpered.
Paine placed a threatening hand on her still heated right cheek. “Do you need another reminder to obey me?”
“No,” she gasped as she tentatively reached back and tried to grasp her wet skin.
Paine grabbed her wrists and forced her arms back further. “Place your fingers in the seam and pull them apart.”
Mirage did as she was told, opening her bottom for him.
Unscrewing the cap on the conditioner, Paine drizzled the contents down the seam of her ass and over her small puckered hole. He watched as the iridescent pearl liquid covered her pink skin as Mirage jumped up onto her toes from the contact of the cool liquid on her warm body.
Fisting his cock, heavy with arousal, Paine took a step forward.
“Were you a bad girl?”
Mirage nodded yes.
“Say it,” he growled.
“I was a bad girl,” she groaned as she turned her head to press her forehead against the tiles.
“And what happens to bad little girls who run away?”
“Please don’t,” begged Mirage. “It will hurt too much.”