“I’m sorry.” The two words don’t seem to be adequate, but I mumble them anyway. Then the corners of her lips tip upward, and she gifts me a smile that makes my heart thud against my ribs.
I don’t understand why this girl has such an effect on me, but she does. And I know there’s nothing I can do to stop it, not unless I force her to leave here. As much as I want that, I can’t. She’s helpless in a world filled with danger. Then again, I’m sure I’m the worst she’ll come by.
“Thank you for everything,” Miren says, dragging me back to the present and the fact that her feckin’ cherry perfume fills my senses. “I don’t know what I would do if they found me.”
“Bragan’s men will not come into the compound, so you stay here as long as you need,” I inform her before I’m shocked speechless when she leans up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. Her lips send a zap right down my feckin’ spine, and my cock throbs against my zipper. Coming into contact with her is more than erotic, sensual, or anythin’ like that. It’s a feckin’ drug; heroin shot right into my veins. And I’m high as fuck.
She moves back, but I grab her arms and drag her closer. “Didn’t yer ma teach you not to go around kissin’ strange men?” I ask her in a low tone that vibrates through my chest. From the tremble that runs through her slim frame, I can tell she feels it too.
No matter how much I fight this, I can’t stop myself from leaning in and darting out my tongue. Gently, I trace it along her lips, tasting the sweet, alluring flavour of the stranger I’ve come to ache for.
“She did,” Miren whispers. “But she didn’t warn me against men I want to have kiss me.” Her voice is a feather-light touch along my mouth, and the taste of her has my cock hard, ready to drive deep into her body.
“Ye should be careful, wee fox,” I tell her. “Monsters eat girlies like you for dinner.”
The warning has her eyes widening, but there’s no fear flickering in the stormy stare she gifts me. Instead, there’s lust, desire, and need. She emanates it like a goddamned perfume.
“Is that a promise?” Miren tilts her head to the side.
The corner of her mouth tips into a coy smile. One that I want to steal and swallow. Her body is flush against mine, and I know for a fact she can feel my erection.
“Ye don’t want me to devour ye,” I tell her. “Cause when I’m done, there’ll be nothing left.”
Now she grins. “Perhaps that’s what I need. To start afresh. To be someone else.”
Her words send warning bells through me. If she’s so adamant to change who she is, I need to find out the reason why. I step back and release her. The moment is gone. I can’t do this because I can’t trust her. Allowing myself to fall into a trap is unwise. Once I find out the truth about her, maybe I can let myself go. But right now, there’s no lettin’ down my guard. She’s dangerous, more so than I am, because she’s a feckin’ siren.
“Go to bed,” I tell her and turn away. I need time alone.
Leavin’ her in her room, I make a beeline for my wing of the house. I have my own bedroom and bathroom with an entrance staircase that allows me to escape without being seen. In the sanctuary of my room, I lean against the door and shut my eyes. My head rests against the wood.
The taste of her is still on my tongue. If her mouth is so delicious, so intoxicating, I can’t imagine what her cunt tastes like. I can’t allow myself to even wonder. Considering the thought of havin’ her for myself is dangerous.
I strip off and head into the attached bathroom and turn on the shower. The only thing I can do now is calm myself down, that and my raging erection. My cock weeps for her, but instead of going back to the bedroom and fuckin’ her, I step under the cool spray and grip my shaft.
Slowly, I stroke myself. I shut my eyes and think about her. I recall the way she kissed me. How her lips tasted. The gentle curves of her frame against mine. I’m lost in pleasure as my hand moves faster. Everything about the feckin’ girl is what I want and need.
I tighten my grip, wondering how her cunt will feel as I fuck her. Will she pulse around my shaft? Will she milk my dick? The idea of coming inside her, of filling her with my release, sends heat racing down my spine, and I spill my seed against the tiles and watch it wash away with the water. Down the drain where it belongs. I can’t be with her. She’s forbidden fruit that I don’t intend on taking a bite of any time soon. Or ever, I tack on at the end of my thought.
When I lift my eyes, I see a flash of long, dark hair, and then it’s gone. I’m sure I’m hallucinating now. It’s not her. It can’t be. She wouldn’t have watched me do that. But if she did, I wonder what she’s feeling right now.
I turn off the taps and step out of the shower. With a towel around my hips, I head to the bed and pick up my phone from the bedside table. I send a message to Tye, asking him to get all the information on Miren Doyle on my desk first thing in the morning. Anything and everything he can find. I don’t care if it’s one sentence or ten pages. I need it.
I do need to rest, though. I’m exhausted. I’ll call church in the morning. We’ll sit down and figure out just where we go from here. And then I’ll bring Miren into my office, and she’ll be forced to confess whatever it is she’s hidin’.
I thought for a moment earlier she was goin’ ta, but instead, she kissed me.
Once I’m in bed, I lie on my back and stare at the ceiling. But I can’t sleep. My thoughts, instead, are on the girl down the hall. And I realise her kiss will forever be a mark on the monster.
FOURTEEN
MONSTER
“Jameson called with some info,”I tell the brothers at the table. “It seems Bragan’s wife has more responsibility than we initially thought. He had some contacts hack into the MI5 and Scotland Yard database, and her pseudonym Amanda Walsh has gone into hiding because she’s not just his wife.”
I look at each man. The news I found out this morning has not been sitting well with me. My gut is twisted in agony as I consider what this means. For years, I’d been going after the wrong man. Well, not entirely. I’ve been going after someone who was merely an instrument.
“What do you mean?” Rebel asks as he leans back in his chair to regard me.