Beg Me (Mess with Me 1)

those adorable little snuffling noises and then wake her up so we can do it all over again.

“Something had better be on fire.” Ethan growls when he finally answers the phone. This is my third time calling.

“Is it technically illegal to force a co-worker to marry you?” I bite my lip when Mya lets out a loud sigh and then rolls over to face the other direction. I walk closer to the front door of the room, hoping I won’t wake her just yet.

Not until I figure out what alien force has hijacked my brain.

“Okay, I need you to run that by me again. It’s the middle of the fucking night, Milo. What the fuck?”

Apparently he’s just realized what time it is.

“You heard me. I need some advice. Legal advice.”

He sighs. “I don’t think legal advice is what you need. What is going on? You’re supposed to be in Vegas right now with James.”

“I am in Vegas,” I hiss as quietly as possible.

“Did you meet some stripper and decide to throw it all away for love? And why are you whispering?”

I glance behind me to where Mya is sleeping peacefully in my bed. “Because I don’t want her to hear me.”

“Who?”

“Mya.”

There’s a long pause and I can hear Ethan shuffling around. Then a few seconds later, I hear him come back. “Okay, I had to get up for this. Something tells me I’m not getting any more sleep tonight. Now, what the hell is going on?”

With permission granted, I launch into the whole long complicated story starting with James’s meltdown in the lobby before dinner and ending with my fake engagement announcement. After I finally pause to take a breath, I hear Ethan chuckling.

“James doesn’t pay me enough for this shit,” he says finally.

“Thanks for the helpful advice.”

“Somehow I don’t think you need me to tell you this is a really bad idea.”

“You’re my friend. You’re supposed to tell me everything is going to be fine. Plus, I figured you’d need a heads up anyway before we get back and you hear that we’re engaged.”

“Wait a minute, you mean you’re actually going through with it?” He launches into one rant about sexual harassment and a bunch of other boring shit that I tune out when Mya rolls over again, this time facing me.

Ethan’s incredulous voice follows me as I creep closer to the bed to stare at her. Her hair flows all around her face, surrounding her like a dark halo. One hand rests on the pillow next to her cheek. A strange feeling comes over me looking down at her as she sleeps unaware. So trusting. I want to be the one who watches over her. Protects her. And the idea that after she wakes she might decide to just walk away is torture.

This is a hell of a time to discover that my feelings for Mya Taylor might be about much more than just the physical.

“Uh, what are you doing right now,” Ethan’s voice interrupts my thoughts. “Because you’re breathing pretty heavily in my ear and it’s making me uncomfortable.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m watching Mya sleep and I’m trying not to get caught.”

“This is even worse than I thought. Do you hear yourself? You even sound like a creeper.”

“Never mind. I don’t know why I called you.”

“Uh, maybe to keep you out of jail before you do something insane. Well, anything else insane. Sounds like you’re already pretty far gone though.”

He’s right. I’m legitimately off the rails. What the hell is it about Vegas that makes people do crazy things? I’ve lied to, hell, everyone. Then I seduced Mya and had a sexual experience that makes even me question whether I’ve had good sex before. Now I’m standing in a dark hotel room watching her sleep while thinking about what it would be like to be with Mya for real. To have the right to wake up next to her and call her mine.

For all this not to be a lie.

“I need to get out of here.” I’m speaking more to myself than to Ethan. Hopefully he doesn’t take it personally when I hang up, suddenly needing to be anywhere but here.