Empire of Hate (Empire #3) by Rina Kent

It’s Daniel.

Daniel.

I don’t know why I want to cry from both frustration and joy.

“You think I would ever hurt you?”

“W-what?”

“You said ‘please don’t hurt me’ just now.”

Shit. I spoke that out loud?

“Say it, Nicole. Am I hurting you?”

I slowly shake my head.

“Then why did you beg me not to just now?”

I wasn’t talking to you, but I can’t say that and expose how much of a freak I actually am.

So I use my earlier tactic and kiss him. I’m more aggressive this time, biting his lips and tasting him on my tongue.

He tastes of peaches and impossible addictions. Logically, he shouldn’t. Logically, he’s not supposed to be a replica of my lollipops and my coping mechanisms.

But I welcome it anyway.

I need to be anchored in this moment. To Daniel and his mythical eyes and euphoric touch. I can’t allow the shadows to creep in again.

Daniel pulls out a little, then drives back in, hitting my G-spot. I shake with the force of his thrusts and moan against his mouth.

My eyes get droopy once more and I can feel myself slipping into that other realm.

A hot hand grips my nape, squeezing the side of my throat. “Eyes on me when I fuck you.”

My pulse skyrockets as I let Daniel’s eyes trap mine. They’re full of stars, galaxies, and planets.

They’re otherworldly, overwhelming even, but they’re also safe.

The safest thing on earth.

Even if I could only look at them from afar.

Even if being too close may blind me.

Both my palms find his cheeks and I stare at his face as he fucks me deeper, taking his time to hit that pleasurable spot over and over.

By the time he ups his rhythm, I’m on the brink again. A wordless gasp shapes my lips and he devours my mouth as he pulls out of me and I feel his thighs quivering against mine.

My mind is hazy as I stare down and see him coming all over his hands. His cum smears my clothes and his before dripping on the ground.

It’s then I realize he actually fucked me without a condom. Shit. If he wasn’t thinking straight and pulled out at the last second, we’d have more complications on our hands.

And why the hell am I disappointed about that?

Wake the hell up, Nicole. You had unprotected sex with a womanizer and you’re disappointed he pulled out?

I release his face, frantic to disappear from his vicinity. Maybe I can dig a hole and hide in it for the foreseeable future.

It was only a kiss. Just how the hell did it end up being mind-blowing sex?

Daniel grabs my chin with his hand that’s still coated in cum, aborting my mission. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Aren’t we done?”

“We haven’t even gotten started.” He smears his cum on my parted lips, then thrusts two fingers inside like he did the other day. “I’m going to fuck you again, once in the shower and once on my bed, and then…you will tell me all about the fucking skeletons you’re hiding in your closet.”





19





DANIEL





In my attempts to get my head out of my arse—or more accurately, my dick—I’m entertaining the mayor in a golf game this weekend.

He invited most of the partners at W&S. Most, as in, the ones he deems worthy of his precious games. That includes the two owners, Knox, and me.

Knox, being a twat on borrowed time, promptly declined. Mayor Jefferson, an old man with a shock of white hair and brows that should see scissors, couldn’t even take offense.

Not when Knox is engaged to a Russian mafia princess. The same mafia whose drug-filled arses he kissed to get to where he is.

Corrupted wealth in a corrupted city in a corrupted world.

Just my scene.

Nate and King showed up, though, clad in their tailored slacks and polo shirts.

This whole thing is part of their networking schemes so their firm keeps representing pigs like Mayor Jefferson and extorting their money.

“This is more boring than monogamy,” King says, hitting a beagle.

Nate side-eyes him as if he’s speaking an alien language. “You don’t even know what that term means.”

“Your point?”

“How would you know it’s boring if you’ve never tried it?”

“You’re going backward. I know it’s boring, which is why I avoid it as much as Switzerland stays out of war.”

“Flawed logic, King. You like war.”

“There will definitely be war on your motherfucking ass if you think about anything outside of monogamy.”

“Never said I would. I happen to be happily married.”

“To my fucking daughter.” He swings his club in the air. “Even your happiness depends on me. Better keep that in mind next time you take sides, my dear son-in-law.”

“Will do when you check your ego into a mental institute.”

A silent war of glares and stares starts between them.

I tactfully slide to their side. “Excuse my bloody French and interruption, but Jefferson can probably fucking hear you calling his game boring.”

“That old tool has hearing problems.” King smiles and waves at him to which he waves back. “He wouldn’t hear a whore calling his son’s name.”