Tempted Hero by Ella Miles

Beckett

I don’t knowwho left this note, but someone else is on to her. Someone else knows she’s lying and has been hiding who she truly is. She’s not a trapped princess being held in a tower until her father marries her off. She’s an accomplished mastermind, playing equally by her father’s side.

I’m tired of waiting for answers. We have plenty of time before Leighton returns, and the guys will let me know as soon as he leaves.

I need answers.

I walk closer to the bed Ri’s tied to. I want to do nothing more than climb on top of her and fuck her until all the memories of Leighton flee her head, and all she can think about is me. My kisses and licks against her hot flesh, my cock sliding between her slick folds.

That’s what I want. It’s what she wants.

But neither of us will get that ever again.

No, I need answers.I need to understand. And then I need to end her life for what she did to Odette.

There is no reason to wait any longer. I need to do it, and then I can be free. I will have the power of an empire behind me. I’ll live the rest of my life as a bachelor. I’ve yet to decide if I will destroy the Retribution Kings from within or let them thrive under my control, but that’s for another day. Today is about getting revenge for Odette.

“Tell me about the day we met. Why did you run through my wedding?”

“Why do you care? Why now?”

“Just answer the question.”

“I was running from the same man who left that note.”

“Or were you working with him?”

Her eyebrows raise, and her body arches on the bed as she tugs on the rope tying her up. So beautiful and strong and feisty. But not mine, never mine.

“No, I wasn’t working with him. I was running from him. But that’s not going to stop you from accusing me. From the first time we met, you’ve seen me as your enemy. You’ve blamed me for ruining your wedding, for taking you away from your wife, so you weren’t there to protect her when she was taken and killed. But I’m not your enemy, Hero.”

“Then what are you?” My voice comes out as almost a whisper, as if I don’t want to know the truth.

“I’m the woman who saves you when no one else will.” She pauses. “And you’re the man who saves me. You can pretend we need bargains and bets and reasons to save each other, but we both know we’d do it for free.”

She’s right. I hate seeing her hurt. It’s killing me to leave her tied up. I thought it would help me get answers from her, but all it does is stir the alpha male inside me who wants to protect her. Who wants to make her mine. Who wants to devour every inch of her and take away every drop of pain.

She killed Odette.

Killed my wife.

The love of my life.

She did it.

I watched it with my own eyes.

But watching Ri tied to another man’s bed, the sincerity in her eyes, the flush of her skin makes me forget my rage at her. It’s all turned on Leighton.

Ri may deserve to die for what she did to Odette, but she doesn’t deserve this. No one does.

I rush to the top of the bed to untie her arms as quickly as possible. It was wrong of me to keep her tied in fear when I could do something about it, even to get answers.

I reach up with my knife, intending to slice through the ropes.

“Wait,” Ri says.

I stop, looking down at her and listening carefully at the door, assuming she heard someone coming. But I don’t hear anything. Not a sound except for her heavy breath against my neck.

“What is it?”

She leans up, her body arching fully off the bed until her lips brush over mine. It’s a light and tender kiss. A kiss to wash away any demons she’s dealing with.

I try to leave it at that—a soft, gentle kiss. But the second her lips brush against mine, everything changes. My body hardens, my anger dissipates, and my lust takes over all of my thoughts. I become an animal set on devouring her.

She moans in response against my lips, recognizing the difference in me.

“Tell me to stop, to cut the ropes and leave,” I pant over her lips.

“I can’t because it’s not what I want. I want to give a big fuck you to Leighton by fucking another man in this bed. I want to erase each of his touches, his threats. I want you to push out all the demons he shoved inside me.” She pauses. “But most of all, I want you.”

She wants me.

I can see the desire and hunger in her eyes. Sure, she wants to stick it to Leighton. For the room to smell like sex, the sheets to be messy and covered in the results of our love-making. But the reason above all others is that she wants me.

A shit-eating grin forms on my face, while my insides are screaming warnings at me. Ri wants me. What if she killed Odette because she saw me and decided she wanted me? And that the easiest way to get me single was to kill my wife?

But she bites her lower lip, and my eyes drift down her heated body from her face to her exposed breasts and bare stomach. All those thoughts vanish from my head in an instant.

She wants me.

I want her.

We shouldn’t do this here. Leighton’s men are just outside. Leighton himself could return at any moment. But when my eyes meet hers again, I know there is no stopping us. The danger just heightens every feeling. It won’t stop us.

I look up at her arms tied above her head. Her injured arm must be throbbing with pain. I’m surprised she’s not near delirious with agony from it.

I drop my knife and run my index finger slides down her arms from her wrists to her bicep. My nail sends delicious shivers through her body and extracts a soft moan from her.

“I should untie these,” I say, looking at the ropes.

“No,” she begs.

I kiss her, unable to resist her pink lips. Our tongues tangle together, and I climb on top of her, my legs on either side of her hips as I deepen the kiss. I only pull away when her moans grow so loud that I’m afraid someone will hear outside.

“You sure, Fighter? Because I don’t plan on being gentle.”

Her eyes twinkle. “I don’t either.”

I growl in response.

What is this woman doing to me? Why do I want her so desperately?

I can barely think, barely breathe when I’m around her. I try to think about how it was with Odette. Was it like this? Did I need to be inside her more than I needed my heart to beat? More than I needed oxygen in my lungs? More than I needed to live?

No, it wasn’t like this.

But this isn’t love. It’s just lust. I still hate her. I just need to get her out of my system one last time. And when I get my retribution, I need to know that she’s whole and not thinking about what Leighton did to her.

My lips smash against hers, making it near impossible for either of us to breathe. Neither of us care, though. The desire pulsing through us is too overwhelming, too much for either of us to handle or think clearly.

“I love seeing you tied up and completely at my mercy,” I say, kissing down her neck.

“You think because I’m tied up that I’m at your mercy?”

I suck her earlobe, and she trembles. “I know it.”

And then I prove my point by kissing and licking my way down her neck. I continue lower and kiss the top curve of her breast, watching as her body writhes beneath me, begging me to lick and suck her sensitive nipple. But I’m not ready yet. I want to take my time with her. This will, after all, be the last time.

I kiss the swell of her other breast, and she wiggles against the ropes holding her wrists above her head.

“You’re driving me crazy,” Ri says.

I smile as I kiss down the center of her belly, avoiding the most sensitive parts of her. I want her begging and soaked and screaming my name before I even enter her.

“I know. And you’re about to lose your mind.” I dip my hand to the fastener of her pants, but I quickly realize with her legs tied apart, I’m not going to be able to remove them intact.

Her heavy gaze reads my thoughts.

“Do it,” she says.

I pull out a knife from my back pocket. I kiss her lower stomach one more time before running the blade through her pants.

There’s a tinge of fear in her eyes as her thoughts drift back to what Leighton did to her.

I won’t allow that pain in any further. The second her pants are down to her mid-thighs, my head dips between her thighs, finding the most sensitive spot on her body and pulling the bud between my lips, sucking hard.

She cries out—far too loudly.

I quickly finish cutting her pants off as I suck, keeping one eye on the door behind us, prepared for Leighton’s men to come in and check on her.

The door never opens, but we can’t keep pushing our luck.

I stop sucking as soon as I get her pants off.

“Don’t stop,” she pants.

I sit up, straddling her body again as I cock my head to one side with a wicked grin. “I can’t if you keep screaming like that.”

“I can’t be quiet, not with you.”

“Then you don’t get to have me,” I say.

She narrows her eyes into a look of determination and teasing punishment, as if to threaten withholding herself from me in retaliation.

My cock stiffening in my pants reminds me that that’s not an option. I need her even if we don’t make it out of here alive.

I hover over her breast. “If you make a sound, I’ll stop.”

I let my tongue flick over her nipple.

She cries out, arching her back and pressing her breast further into my mouth.

I frown as I stop. This isn’t going to work.

“Do you trust me?” I ask, my hand lightly massaging her other full breast in my hand. I’m unable to stop even as more soft whimpers rumble through her throat.

She nods.

Stupid girl.She shouldn’t trust me. I don’t even trust myself to know what’s right. Our unending lust for each other is going to be the death of us.

I lean over her to the drawer in the nightstand next to the bed and cringe at what I find—all sorts of instruments that could have been used to inflict pain on her. Whips, knives, matches, butt plugs, handcuffs, and some I can’t even identify, but I find what I’m looking for.

I pull out the duct tape and hold it up to her.

Her eyes widen, but then she licks her lips. “I’ll do anything if it means I get to feel you inside me as we both come.”

“We need a safe gesture, something that I know means stop if I go too far.”

“No, I trust you. You’ll recognize it if you go too far.”

I nod because I will. I know her too well not to notice the signs. Whether I’m actually strong enough to stop is the real question.

I lower my lips to hers, kissing her one last time before putting the piece of tape over her mouth. The kiss isn’t enough. It sparks something dark and devious inside me. Something primal and all alpha male like—she’s mine.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

And I’m going to fuck her here in another man’s bed to prove to him and everyone else that she’s mine. It doesn’t matter what they do, she belongs to me. She’s mine to fuck. Mine to save. Mine to care for. Mine to kill.

All mine.

I stand off the bed, looking at her completely naked body spread for me. She squirms under my gaze, her eyes begging me to fuck her—now.

I chuckle at how bossy she is even tied up. She demands control.

But I need a moment to drink her in, to regain some of my own control. How foolish of me, though. I can’t control myself, not with her.

I remove my shirt, then pants and boxers. She’s naked, and I want to feel every inch of her skin against mine.

I walk back to the bed, my hand trailing down her body to between her legs.

“You’re soaked. So ready for me.”

She nods, squeezing her eyes shut like she’s going to combust if I don’t fuck her already.

“So strong.” I climb up on the bed, settling between her spread legs and enjoying the perfect view of her glorious pussy.

I kiss her cheek, then her neck. “So beautiful.”

I take her nipple in, then the other. “So determined.”

And then I kiss between her legs, easily finding her clit and sucking it roughly into my mouth.

She moans and writhes, but the moan is muted compared to what it was before. It’s soft enough that I’m not worried about others hearing us.

I could spend all day devouring her, tasting her sweet juices, licking over her clit until she’s vibrating with ecstasy. But we don’t have the time, so I’ll have to settle for just making her come, then sliding inside her and pulling another orgasm from her.

Her first orgasm comes far too quickly. I slide my fingers inside of her soaked pussy as I suck on her swollen clit. She moans, but it’s the way she clamps down hard on my fingers that lets me know she’s coming apart.

When my eyes peek up at her, I see her eyes rolled back in her head as her entire body seems to convulse with the orgasm.

I smirk as I settle between her legs, my cock impatient as I spend another second just watching her. But the look she flashes me is one that says if I don’t sink inside her right now, she’ll find a way to get these ropes off and tie me up so she can have her way with me.

I grab her hips and let myself sink into her like we both want.

I groan before remembering that I have to be quiet.

“I should have duct-taped my mouth shut too,” I say, barely moving so I don’t explode inside of her before I even start.

She smiles beneath the tape, her eyes glowing.

I gently rock, panting as I do.

Her eyes don’t leave mine as I begin to fuck her, thrusting deeper and deeper inside her, filling her so completely. I don’t know why this feels so good, but it does—so fucking good.

And then I speak to her before I lose all my thoughts. “Leighton won’t have succeeded. You wouldn’t have let him. You’re stronger than him. Smarter. You would have found a way to make him stop. But if, for some reason, he did succeed, you’re strong enough to deal with anything. And I would be there right by your side ensuring that you got retribution.”

A tear dribbles out of the corner of her eye.

I reach up with my lips and kiss it away.

For just a moment, we share a soul. Something strange happens, and I don’t hate her. For only a second, I let my irrational mind take over. It tells me she didn’t kill Odette, even though I saw it with my own eyes.

I thrust again, and all thoughts are gone, from both of us. The entire bed rattles as I thrust and thrust, biting my bottom lip to keep from screaming.

My thumb finds her clit, and then I’m starting to come undone. I’m not going to be able to hold it in. My climax is building to uncontrollable levels. I muted her moans, but I should have done the same to myself.

I’m one millisecond away from screaming at the top of my lungs and not caring who hears me, when Ri suddenly gets one of her arms free. I don’t know how she does it, but she’s fucking incredible.

I can barely process her movements they are so fast, and my brain is barely functioning.

The tape is gone from her mouth, and her hand wraps around the base of my neck, jerking me to her, just as I explode inside her.

Our muffled screams catch in each other’s mouths, rattle around in each other’s throats. There is no doubt we are screaming each other’s names. This intense reaction only happens with each other.

I don’t remember feeling this way before, not with Odette, not ever.

The emotions that flood through me are beyond intense. They are overwhelming, and I have no idea what to do with them.

As I pull away, I have a huge grin on my face. That is until I hear the door open. Apparently, we weren’t quite enough.