The Kingpin's Weakness

A picnic basket with sandwiches and cold drinks seems to magically appear on the beach and I eat mine cuddled in his lap, wrapped in one of the towels that were also conveniently left for us. After that, we spend the rest of the day in bed.

Easton makes slow, heated love to me in the center of his king-sized bed, never breaking eye contact while riding my body, reaching deep into me with every long stroke. Our warm breaths mingle between us, his hard-packed muscle sliding up and over my soft valleys, my knees pressed wide on the mattress, our skin still hot from the sun, his back flexing under my fingertips. His pace doesn’t pick up until I’m gasping and writhing, sweat beginning to gather on his upper lip, his forehead. And then I’m pressed face down into the mattress and fucked. The bedroom fills with the sound of his masculine agony, the erotic slap of his sex entering mine. My hair is wrapped in his fist, his teeth embed themselves in my neck, my shoulder, chastisements filling my ears.

Bad little girl making Daddy so hard.

You tease me just by existing.

Your pussy asked for this.

By the time he’s done with me, I’ve been wrung out.

I’m limp and gasping and made of gelatin.

We fall asleep sometime in the late afternoon wrapped in each other’s arms and I can’t imagine not spending every day with Easton, just like this. Forever.

Maybe I shouldn’t have wished for it so hard, though.

Maybe I offended fate trying to will a certain future.

7

Easton

Scout is still asleep when the sun disappears from the sky. Boneless in the sheets looking like an innocent angel who has been assaulted by the devil.

There is some truth to that, isn’t there?

Although I don’t want to leave her soft warmth, I told her I would arrange a meeting with her sister, Whitney. So that’s what I’m going to do. I want to wake her up with good news and see her smile. This girl’s happiness feeds my soul. This girl who loves me.

Who I love in return. Desperately. Obsessively.

Who I have no idea how I’m going to let go.

Maybe I won’t be able to. Maybe I was an idiot to think it was possible in the first place.

I pace my kitchen in my robe, phone pressed to my ear. Through my head of security, the time and location are decided on. A safe place, away from the city. No weapons. Drivers only, no one else. Still, I’m unsettled by the idea of taking my Scout outside of these walls, even to meet her sister. Too many accidents can happen. To say nothing of non-accidents.

Determined to calm my nerves, I nurse a glass of whiskey and tell myself to be calm, collected for her sake. And with resolve squaring my shoulders, I’m getting ready to go wake up Scout when my phone rings again.

Once again, it’s my head of security calling.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Brawn.”

Already, I don’t like this.

He says my name like he’s nervous to say what comes next.

I pinch the bridge of my nose tightly, until I feel pain. “What is it?”

A short pause. “There has been some…rumblings. Underground. About a contract being taken out on…”

My pulse starts to thud up against my ear drums. “On who?”

Why am I asking? I already fucking know.

Jesus. Jesus. Already?

“Her, sir.”

The confirmation turns my spine to ice.

Scout. There’s a contract out on Scout. To kill her.

“Who ordered the hit?” I choke out.

“Conrad.” My foremost rival in the gambling trade. He, too, wanted a piece of the fighting federation, but I outbid him. I should have seen this coming. But how? How? When I didn’t see her coming. Goddammit. Scout. “He was at the fight the other night. Saw you bring her to the box. He might just be guessing how…important she is to you. But a stab in the dark is worth hurting you, I’m guessing.”

Hurting me?

If something happened to her, it would end me.

My world would wink out like a light switch being flipped off.

Not going to happen. Nothing is going to touch her. I won’t allow it. “Find out where Conrad is this evening. I want an address. I’ll handle it myself.”

“Sir…”

“That’s an order,” I bark, hanging up the phone and slamming it down on the counter.

An intake of breath whirls me around—and there’s Scout in the doorway, fresh from a shower. She’s made use of the clothes I had transferred from her apartment, leaving her dressed in a loose yellow summer dress. She looks so much younger than she did in the sexy black dress at the fight, I almost do a double-take. God. What have I done bringing this guileless college student into my hideous world? Endangering her life?

“Is everything okay?” she whispers.

My jaw is so tight it’s going to snap. “Yes. Just business.”

She nods, taking me at my word. “Okay.”