MILES
* WARNING EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT* His honey coated eyes cut to mine, and his body tensed. I hoped he wanted to. I needed something to put me on edge. I needed to just feel something because lately, nothing wasn't cutting it. A single moment passed before he crashed his lips into mine like an ocean on a rampage. He tasted like beer and cinnamon, and the combination had never tasted so good. The kiss wasn't sweet or gentle. It was rough and ravenous like we were two animals answering to the mating call. It was a kiss that had only one goal. To fuck. Jolts of electricity sparked through my body as his large hands traveled down along my curves and grabbed my ass. A moan left my lips because damn it felt good, and he happily swallowed it, taking my bottom lip in his mouth and sucking on it. My hand traveled to the front of his jeans to cup his growing hardness. "Fuck," he growled, the curse fire against my lips. His hands found the buttons of my shorts and popped them open, shoving them down as he slid inside. He went straight under my cotton underwear and groaned upon feeling my slickness. My eyes fluttered, and my breath hitched. I couldn't figure out why it felt so good, why it was all I could feel. I hadn't realized just how much I craved it. How much I wanted to be wanted. How much I wanted an escape from the numb solitude I always granted myself. Threading my other hand through his hair, I pulled him closer and gripped him hard, wanting to delve into the electricity. I wanted it to leave me breathless and burned out. He hissed and slid my shorts all the way off, grabbing me by the ass and lifting me, walking me to who knew where. I wrapped my legs around his waist. I didn't care where he took me. As long as he kept kissing me. As long as he didn't take his hot hands off of me. He slammed me against a tree, and I cried out in pain as the rough bark pressed into my bruises, the hurt momentarily reminding me of my suffering. He stilled, muttering a string of curses as he swung me around and walked to a different location. I rested my head on his shoulder, trying to get over the throbbing pain in my back, stretching his shirt from it being fisted in my hands. Trees fucking hurt. I heard him kick a door open, and he laid me on something plush. Much better. "Where are we?" I mumbled, looking around. Large leafy plants were scattered around us, in and out of the moonlight shining down from above us. "Greenhouse," was all he said as he loosened the buckle of his belt and undid his pants, leaning over me. I couldn't explore the greenhouse with my eyes more than a few seconds before his hand gripped my chin, making me face him. His eyes raked over me dangerously. There was a different kind fear coiling around my lungs as he leaned in close, staring deep into my eyes. It was as if he was looking for something. "What kind of misery are you running from?" His question shocked me, and I almost got up and ran from how stripped bare I felt. Instead, I spread my legs and moved my underwear to the side, putting my arousal on display, not wanting to let go of the pleasure he gave me. He didn't really want the answer anyway. He bit his lip as he looked at my sex, desire thick in his stare. I had to hold back a gasp as he pulled out his hard cock, giving it a few strokes. My walls clenched just looking at it. With a girth and length like that, he could damn near break me. "Hurry," I urged, not caring if it would fit or not. 'Fill me up. Make me lose my mind.' He chuckled and licked his lips, putting a condom on. "I'm going to fuck you so hard, that smart ass mouth of yours won't know how to speak." Nothing sounded better. I bucked my hips as Dominic rubbed his length between the lips of my cunt, soaking himself in my juices. It felt so good. I wanted more. I was going to have another full-blown panic attack if he wasn't inside me in the next second. Whimpering, I begged. "Please! Just put it in." "So eager," he rumbled in that deep voice that made my body shiver. "Next time, I'll take my sweet time with you." 'Shlick, shlick.' "I'll taste you." 'Shlick, shlick.' "Feel you with my fingers until you beg like a dog in heat." My heart thundered at his promises, at the way his golden eyes flashed with urgency that made my toes curl. It was cute that he thought there would be a next time. I'd probably never see him again. I sat up and pulled him close. "I'll give you whatever you want. Just fuck me already," I murmured against his lips. He growled before shoving me back down, ripping my underwear from my body and sinking into me in one hard thrust. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and my back arched so far back it almost cramped up. The pleasure was so painfully blinding that it took the breath from my lungs, my walls clenching, adjusting to his size. He was big. Bigger than I thought. A nice deep groan came from him as he leaned forward, pressing his forehead on my chest. He squeezed my hips so tight they'd probably leave bruises. He took a shuddered breath before thrusting into me again, and this time, a loud moan broke free. He was filling me up, leaving no room for anything else. It was absolute ecstasy having my mind full of the sensations he was giving me. I'd never felt this good. Not my first time two years ago with the neighbor's son. Not with Kenny from the night shift at the diner. Not even my own damn fingers could take me from the numbness like this man did. He thrust again and again, going at a steady pace. Something deep inside was coiling tighter as I got lost to the feel of him. I grinded against him, meeting him thrust for thrust as waves of pleasure rippled through me, making me giddy and drunk off pleasure. His hands were fire on my skin, gripping my thighs and sliding up to the backs of my knees to push them higher and when he slid into me again, I knew no one had ever been so deep. "Fuck, you feel so fucking good, sweetheart. Just divine." Dominic ground into me with firm, steady plunges. "Pull those tits out for me," he ordered, and I didn't hesitate to pull my tank and bra down, my breasts popping free. "Fucking beautiful." He leaned over and ran his tongue over my nipple. Did they taste like beer? I couldn't bring myself to care. At that point my moans almost sounded like sobs as he fucked me. I was almost there, my center wound tight and tingles prickling my toes. My hands were under his shirt, dragging them along his washboard abs. Such perfect fucking abs. I could definitely tell he was enjoying himself by the way he kept muttering praises against my breasts and the way he caressed every line and curve of my body as if he was learning and taking to memory how my skin felt on his fingertips. I was nearing the edge that I longed for, that I craved. "I-I'm gonna come!" I cried, pulling him in by the neck. His movements became harder, deeper, as his hips grinded against mine. "Fuck! Oh fuck," he moaned. At his pleasure, I came apart, my orgasm so intense I saw stars and screamed, my inner walls clenching for dear fucking life. His hips moved erratically as he followed my climax with a deep groan, stretching my orgasm with every twitch of his cock. He collapsed on top of me, and we both panted, trying to catch our breaths. I didn't have very many happy memories. I could probably count on my fingers just how many I had. This moment, though, would be filed in with the rest. That spelled trouble. It was my last thought before I passed out.MILES My eyes snapped open. It was like my body knew I had fucked up. Light filtered through green tinted windows, making my head pound. All I could feel was heat and soft puffs of air hitting the top of my head. Wait... 'I fucking didn't...' My hand rested on a warm, muscled chest and I slowly, ever so fucking slowly, lifted my head to see the face that went with the body I was on top of. At first, I was struck by the complete masterpiece of the man's sleeping face. Lightly, I ran my finger along his defined jawline, light stubble prickling me. His perfectly arched eyebrows were dark like his hair, not quite black but a rich, deep brown. His complexion was lighter than mine, more tan than olive, like he spent most of his time in the sun. Then it dawned on me that he was the asshole that dumped his beer on me last night. I tried to piece together why the hell I was lying on top of him in the first place. What the hell had happened last night? Where were my shorts and u
MILES Shopping with my mother was fucking exhausting. I could hardly stomach her fake affection for me. Every squeeze of my arm or rub on my back felt like needles pricking my skin. I almost threw up the alcohol I drank last night. By the time we went back home from picking a dress for me and her, stopping at the salon (which she hated because the stylist told me I hardly needed anything done. A natural beauty she called me), and bought shoes, I was starving. My stomach rumbled so hard it hurt. If I thought about it, I had hardly eaten anything yesterday either. I dressed carefully, so I didn't mess up the curls the nice stylist did on my hair. The dress my mother chose for me was a simple formal round neck, short sleeve midi dress in the shade blossom pink. It was the nicest dress I'd ever worn, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it. The girl in the mirror looked refined, strong. Except for the bruises she was littered in. They were on her face, along her arms and legs. A
MILES Damn it. He was still as handsome as yesterday, dressed in black slacks and a white dress shirt. It made me sick, thinking that my mother and I had the same preference since Dominic was the spitting image of his father. As I finished my green vegetables, I tried working on the potatoes. My mouth was telling me how buttery and smooth they were as they melted on my tongue. My brain said it tasted like sandpaper and that I had royally fucked up. I knew he kept glancing at me, probably wondering what the hell was happening just like I was, but somehow, it felt like he was blaming me. The way his eyes lacked any real kindness when he looked at me was proof enough. I tried to convince myself that last night wasn't my fault. Well, maybe I shouldn't have been that drunk in the first place, but wasn't he to blame just as well? I didn't even remember what happened! Plus, couldn't he see how I was just as surprised as he was? Obviously not. His eyes kept sliding to me, making me
MILES "Wait, so let me get his straight. When you disappeared last night, you were trying to find your way out but ended up in the garden. Then, in the garden, you ran into that disrespectful asshole that threw your fairly earned money at you and you ended up fucking him? And then you went to dinner today and found out that same asshole, who you just fucked last night, will be your new stepbrother?" I left out the bit about my panic attack. There was no need to cause unnecessary worry. "And I'm pretty sure he has a vendetta against me now," I added. I stared at Kenzie, who sat across from me on her bed, waiting for her reaction to the chaos I just unloaded on her. After dinner, my mom only drove a few blocks away before kicking me out because she had 'things to do.' I'd never been more thankful that I wore flats instead of the heels she bought for me in my life. I walked straight to Kenzie's because... Well, I had to tell someone. She looked back at me with suspicion. "You
MILES "Hey Kenny, slow night so far?" I asked as I entered Momma Jay's 24-hour diner. There were only a few people seated. The real rush came around two in the morning when drunk college students came in to try and sober up with food. Fridays and Saturdays were the money makers in terms of tips, and I was ready to tire myself out so I couldn't think of anything else. Kenny's chocolate brown eyes shifted from me to the floor as I approached him. He looked uncomfortable. He never looked uncomfortable. "Miles, I didn't think you'd be coming in today," he said carefully. My brows furrowed. "Why not? I called yesterday saying I would come in for a late shift since I had an important family dinner, remember?" He nodded, shifting from foot to foot. "Yes... but I thought Momma Jay had told you." "Told me what?" I asked anxiously. "That we are no longer in need of your services." He said so firmly, with his shoulders back. It was too sudden, and my confusion showed as my brows de
MILES My mother was unusually quiet for the next few days. Not a single word or glance my way. She pretty much acted like I didn’t exist, and it was slowly but surely driving me crazy. I felt like I was digging a trench in my room from all the pacing I did. Apparently, I was the least of her worries as she prepared to leave the home we’d been in for the past ten years. Mr. Black decided he just couldn’t wait until after the wedding for us to move in, stating it would help blend our family and allow us time to get to know each other. It was a bunch of bullshit but whatever. The only reason I knew this was because my mother had an incredibly loud voice when she gushed this news to her so-called friends. She’d been on the phone talking to multiple people either to brag or to sell what she could in the house. My fingernails were almost nonexistent from picking at them because of the anxiety of wanting to check my stash of money I hid in the vent above my bed. When I made it hom
MILES She returned about an hour later, with a shiny new pearl white car, and pulled a for sale sign out of the trunk. Had she gone and bought a new car? Maybe she had sold the house already? No, then she wouldn't need the for sale sign. During the hour she was gone, I used the time to collect myself. I started with cursing the ceiling and punching the shit out of my bed, then, the pacing again, trying to come up with a reasonable answer for my mothers behavior, and lastly, I sat on my bed and took deep breaths reminding myself that I was still breathing. After that was done, I took a quick shower and dressed myself. I even put on just a tad of makeup in an attempt to cover the dark crescents under my eyes. Even though my escape plan was ruined, I still turned eighteen tomorrow, making me a legal adult. She wouldn't be able to interfere. Not that I had anything for her to interfere with. I was back to square one. I had no job, I had no money, and I didn't have a college to attend
DOM It was her. I pressed the nail of my thumb into my hand to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Yes, it was her. I'd recognize those eyes of hers anywhere. Miles Valentine. That was her name, and it was just as beautiful as her eyes. Eyes that called to me like a moth to a flame, alluring and irresistible. Except, the first time I saw her didn't feel as deadly as it did seeing her seated at my family's table. She was the girl who threw me completely off kilter last night. The girl who bested me in eight-ball and spoke to me with that pretty little mouth of hers. She had to be playing me for a fuckind fool. She hadn't looked at me, not one damn time. I thought I would go crazy with how badly I wanted her to look back at me so that I could get even a glimpse of what she was thinking. I watched her as she ate if what she was doing could be called eating. She nibbled, like a little mouse. I tried to be discreet about it, sneaking glances here and there, directly looking at
DOM What was I gonna do with my fucking self? I was starting to feel like I was in a place between not knowing who I was and finding out who I could become when I was around this woman. It felt like fucking witchcraft or something. All I wanted to do was be inside her and stay there. That was all I wanted to do since I met her, except now, now there was more. Now I wondered what her favorite color was. Now I wondered which of all the books she's read was her favorite and why? Not to mention how I felt like shit every time that fucking tower hovered around her like a damn drone. The guy followed Miles around like a lost puppy, and it pissed me off. She wasn't waiting in front of the library like she usually did when I drove up after practice, so I went inside to find her since there was a huge possibility that she was asleep. I wished she was asleep, but no, she was there in the back of the library, at a table for two, giving silent, cute little hee hee's and pushing him playfully
MILES *WARNING SEXUAL CONTENT* He was fucking crazy. I had just told him about my flawless record, and he still wanted some action while the professors were in the room? I understood that we were just in a heated make-out session, but sometimes things can get in the way. Like these damn professors. That's how I felt, but I was still spreading my legs for him as his fingers skimmed my inner thighs. I never in a million years thought I would be doing things like this in a closet while there were people in the room, our university’s professors to boot. I knew why. It was because my core still burned for him to touch me. Because despite worrying about getting caught, the thrill of the possibility had me opening up for him. It couldn't have been anyone else. I only wanted him badly enough to do something like this. His eyes were dark like aureate as his lips parted. He was excited. I could tell by the way his pupils were blown and the slight flush of his cheeks. He wanted to touch me
DomFuck, I missed her. She'd only been mad at me for a day, but it felt so long. Miles not speaking to me or even looking at me drove me up the fucking wall. Marcus at least got a few glares from her, but I got nothing.I told her not to care about me, and that's exactly what she did. She made me feel like I didn't exist. It had only been a day, and I had convinced myself that I could live like that.Thinking about it, I wasn't being fair. I cared about her all day and night, and I knew she felt it from me. Yet I had the nerve to try to cut her off. I was an idiot.But, if I had never found out about her mother, I probably would have left things the way they were. And now, I had a sick sort of happiness that there was something in the way of our parents getting married. I had hoped and prayed that they wouldn't work out. I wanted it to be anything, any reason, big or small, to break them up.And I had gotten exactly what I wanted. I just hadn't expected it to be at Miles's expense. I
MILES I told him everything. All of her schemes, even how she threatened Momma Jay's. I told him when it started. How she handled things when people asked questions. I opened up my dusty box and pulled everything out for him to see. It had just poured out of me, and I couldn't stop myself. His eyes had remained on my the entire time, filled to the brim with a calmness I could only dream of. There was no judgment in his gaze, only understanding. I had been afraid of him not believing me, or if he did, that he would blame me or hate me for it. Or that he would go to my mother and Maverick and tell them that I must have been crazy to make up such a story. "Miles?" I blinked and tuned back into the conversation. I hadn't realized he had said something to me. "I'm sorry, I'm just... processing." Dominic gave a little chuckle even though there was nothing to chuckle about. "Me too. Did you happen to get any evidence? If we want to take her down, we'll need it." There was defini
DOM I was silent for several seconds trying to process what hell this woman was saying to me. Not even the sight of her delicious legs under that skirt I told her not to wear wasn't distracting enough. I hung onto every word, and it sounded crazy. It sounded like she was insinuating that her mother had something to do with his death. "Is that not how he died?" I asked her carefully. I had to be cautious with how I perceived this information. I needed every detail before making assumptions. "That man was as healthy as a horse. He was thirty-seven and constantly bragged about his fat percentage. His death didn't make sense. But I knew my mother worked at the hospital. She knows how to make things look." Something inside my chest was twisting in what I could only call dread. It couldn't be true. She wasn't that crazy right? I pictured Ms. Valentine's small frame in her dresses and fretting over wedding designs and catering. She didn't look or act the part. "How did you know it
MILES I felt like a different person. The moment this man got close to me, my heart went on a rampage, and my body felt flushed with excitement and anticipation. Suddenly, I wondered how I would feel if he touched me right now but quickly banished the thought. I was afraid of what would happen afterward. I was already anxious because of the little stunt Marcus pulled, but when Dominic was this close to me, when his smell dominated my senses, it was all I could focus on. It was such a stupid thing to focus on given the damn situation. "Is. It. Her?" His deep tone was making my brain fry, and the heat coming off his body was making me dizzy. All I could do was nod. The absolute rage that consumed his eyes as he looked down at me was palpable. He craned his neck to the side as if he wanted to stretch the tension gathered there. "That explains a lot." He was angry, that much I could tell. I just didn't know if it was at me for being weak or at my mother for obvious reasons. "How l
MILES "You guys coming to The Cliffs this weekend? There's supposed to be a wicked storm coming through. A buddy of mine said the view is superb for a bonfire on the north end." "Won't the waves get too crazy? The north end is too close." "That's the thing. For some scientific reason, the waves don't touch the north end. It never has. My buddy says it's Branshire's tradition to bonfire during a storm. The parties are known to be epic." "Small town folks sure are creative... but I'll take the bait. Pick me up at eight." The Cliffs bonfire. That's all the whole of Branshire University talked about. I couldn't even concentrate on my assignments in the library because students left and right were too excited about some stupid storm. I gave a frustrated sigh and dug around in my bag for my headphones. Exams were coming up, so the library had been busier than ever, and it was beyond annoying. I'd almost cussed out a few people already but decided moving to a different spot was
DOM Something was happening right before my eyes, and I had no idea how to go about it. Marcus almost never said things without reason. Even a joke or his teasing always had relevance. He liked to control mindsets and steer them in the right direction... or sometimes the wrong. He was quite good at it. It didn't take me very long to figure it out when we were younger, but when I did, I found myself much more knowledgeable about people and situations. I could read the room by looking at it from his perspective. It was a necessary skill I needed in order to succeed in law, so I learned quickly. Sometimes, I'd let him steer me, and sometimes I didn't. I knew he always had the best intentions for good people. But the ones who crossed him, the ones who stepped on the weak... Well, his intentions for them were not so good, and I knew that made him dangerous. I had known he knew about Miles's abuser and suspected Miles had told him not to tell anyone. He found out about her back
MILES Marcus came and got me for dinner. I wasn't hungry at all, but I knew Maverick would be expecting me. He now made it a personal mission to make sure I ate. If he noticed the way my mother looked at me in disdain, he hadn't shown it. "Come on, Miles. The fight couldn't have been that bad," said Marcus as we descended the stairs. The fight wasn't bad at all. In fact, I would have preferred it to be a big fight rather than these stupid feelings that caused the ache in my chest. Now I was resentful. "It wasn't," I replied. "We simply made our... situations clear." I heard something along the lines of "What a fucking idiot," but I couldn't be sure since Marcus had mumbled it under his breath. "Well, are you okay?" Before, I always had a quick answer to this question. I'd say, "I'm fine," or "Yes, but this time my heart clenched. I was not okay. I was far from okay. Everything I had built to protect myself felt shattered, and now I have given more people control over