Tempted Hero by Ella Miles

Beckett

I’m notclose to getting retribution for Odette, not close at all. I’m more confused than ever. I can’t understand how Ri would have taken part in Odette’s death, even to save herself. It’s not something Ri would do.

If I’m going to kill Ri for what she did, I need to get to the truth. Maybe the man who left her this note has the answer. I just need to find him; Gage can help me.

Ri tosses me my pants, breaking me from my thoughts.

I put them on as she puts on her own pants. Her cheeks blush as I catch her staring at me. It strokes my ego to see how she looks at my body when very few can get past my disfiguration. But I can’t let my emotions overwhelm me, or I’ll have her back in that bed, fucking her until Leighton comes home.

Ri starts to remove her shirt.

“No, keep it. It looks good on you,” I say.

She tucks her hair behind her ear. It’s a wild mess, but it suits her—wild, and strong, and free.

“What will you wear?”

“Pants will be enough to fend off the flirtatious women until I get home,” I wink at her.

She chuckles. “I’ll try not to get jealous of anyone who pines after you.”

Her unspoken motivation hangs in the air. She thinks of me as hers.

Just like I think of her as mine.

Ri is mine. I just have to decide what to do with her—keep her or kill her.

Tonight made everything so much more complicated. Seeing her tied up enraged me. Fucking her melted me. And watching her fight—god, that destroyed me.

Watching her fight turned on every alpha male instinct in me. I wanted to protect her with a fierceness I’ve never felt before. I wanted to fight every man coming our way while she ran away to safety. And yet, watching her fight and seeing the strength and skill she wields, made my cock harder than it’s ever been in my life.

I thought the best way to start a family was by finding a woman not in this dangerous world, but every time I try I fail. Maybe I should have been looking for the strongest woman in this criminal life? That’s what my brother and friends did.

I stare at Ri, a woman I could have loved. But by goading her father to have these games, did I ruin everything? Or did she already ruin what could have been by killing Odette?

“Ready?” she asks.

I nod.

We each pick up a gun from the corpses on the ground and then walk out of the bedroom and through the now empty club. We are just about to the front door when Ri stops.

“What about the security cameras? We need Leighton and Vincent to think I broke free on my own. I don’t want you getting in trouble for this.”

I put my gun in my waistband and take my phone out of my pocket. I send a quick text to Gage, and two seconds later, he texts back that he’s on it.

“Gage will take care of it,” I reassure her.

She nods. “Let’s get out of here, then.”

We disappear into the darkness, but it won’t be dark for much longer. Soon the sun will be rising, and the blood on our bodies won’t be easily hidden in the shadows. We’ll be long gone before then, though.

“This way. I parked the car a couple of blocks from here.”

She puts her gun in her waistband, and I take her hand in mine. A warm feeling rushes through my body at her single touch. It feels right to be holding her hand, like we are partners, even though we are far from on the same side. We just use each other. And soon, one of us will kill the other. It’s inevitable.

But for the moment, I just enjoy her touch as I lead her to the car. Both of us are on high alert for Leighton, his men, or worse—Corsi’s men catching us breaking the rules of the game.

We make it to the car in five minutes, and then I’m driving toward Caius’s apartment. We’ll have to sneak in so as not to be seen on any cameras that Corsi or Leighton could hack, but we’re safe.

Our shoulders slump, and soft smiles stretch over our lips as we drive wordlessly. As I pull into Caius’s parking garage, Gage texts me.

I glance at it.

“Gage took care of the footage at Leighton’s place. He wants us to take the stairs instead of the elevator here, since there aren’t any cameras. He’ll take care of the footage in the hallway as we approach Caius’s door.”

Ri nods.

We are both exhausted. The last thing we want to do is climb a dozen staircases up, but that is exactly what we will do.

When we reach the base of the stairs, I say, “Want a piggyback ride?”

She scoffs. “Race me? Last one up owes the other one anything.”

The inflection on ‘anything’ is the same we’ve used for every other one of our little games. Each competition brings me joy, and I’ll never pass up an opportunity to have her owe me.

She’s already taken off and is started up the stairs by the time I realize what she’s said. She already has almost an entire flight of stairs ahead of me.

I take off running after her. I catch up to her at the second flight. I can hear her light giggles under her breath as she feels me catching up to her.

“You better run faster, or you’re not going to have a shot at winning,” I say.

She picks up speed, more determined than ever to beat me.

I’m hot on her heels, though. I could easily pass her, but I’m too afraid she’ll pass out from blood loss or exhaustion after everything she’s been through in the last twenty-four hours. She’ll do anything to win.

“When I win, I’m going to make you do filthy, dirty things. Things you are going to crave from then on out,” I tease.

She gulps, almost stumbling on a step before she runs again. “As much as I’d enjoy that, I’m going to win so I can make you admit a secret to me.”

I frown. That’s how I should use my debt if I win, but watching her ass sway as she runs up the stairs has my brain on far dirtier things. If it wouldn’t put our lives at risk to fuck in the stairwell, I’d have her again right here.

“Run faster,” I growl.

She turns her head, confused at me.

I pinch her ass to get her moving and because I can’t resist touching her.

She squeals. “You bastard.”

But it gets the job done, and she picks up the pace.

Climbing the stairs is exhausting, and I can feel Ri losing speed. She’s going to be dead by the time she reaches the top. Her breathing is ragged, sweat is running down the back of her neck, and I’m sure her heart rate and blood pressure are through the roof.

I can’t stand it any longer.

I speed up to her and scoop her up before she can protest.

I wait for the wailing, the beating of her hand against my chest, or the demands to put her down. They don’t come.

I keep jogging up the stairs with her cradled against me.

“Thank you,” she mumbles between heavy breaths.

I hold her closer.

“Don’t thank me. I’m considering this a win for me. I’m not letting you out of the bet.”

She smiles up at me. “Good.”

My cock hardens, and a knowing smirk dances on her lips.

I carry her the rest of the way up while Ri stares at the muscles on my chest and arm.

“You were holding back, weren’t you?” she asks.

“I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to stare at your ass.” I wink at her, and she groans, making it even harder for me to not stop right here and fuck her against the wall, the railing, the stairs—anywhere I can have her.

I resist every urge in my body and carry her into Caius’s apartment after we exit the stairs.

“Where is everyone?” she asks.

“Trying to keep Leighton and his men occupied. They’ll be back soon.”

I carry her into the hallway bathroom and set her down on the counter. She’s still staring at my chest like she wants to devour me.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I say.

“Why?”

I look down at her hands. “Because I need to play doctor for a minute, and I can’t concentrate if you keep looking at me like I’m your favorite dessert.”

“But you are my favorite dessert.” She licks her lips.

God, help me.

I find a first aid kit in the cabinet over the toilet and open it on the counter next to where she’s sitting. I pull out some antiseptic and gauze and begin cleaning her knuckles.

We don’t talk as I work. She just watches intently as I clean her knuckles and wrap them in a bandage.

She moves her arm, and that’s when I see the bandage on her bicep covering the bullet wound that I caused. I can’t stop staring at it, torturing myself over it.

“I forgive you,” she says suddenly.

I look up at her in surprise as I stand between her spread legs.

“I forgive you. I don’t care why you did it. You’ll probably never tell me the truth, but it doesn’t matter. I forgive you.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. “You shouldn’t forgive me.”

“It’s not up to you.”

I take a deep breath, my eyes still closed, unsure of what to do next. Should I tell her? Should I show her the video of her killing Odette and ask her to explain herself?

Before I can decide what to do, she decides her next move. Her lips brush onto mine, her tongue sweeps into my mouth, and I’m lost to her kiss. Her kiss pleads me to stay in the present, to not go back to our contentious dynamic. Her kiss begs me to be on her side, to choose her, to love her.

Love her—that’s what she wants. But how could I love her when she killed the love of my life?

I step back, breaking the kiss, forcing us to face reality. I know what I have to do.

“I’m giving you one chance, just one.” I look into her dark brown eyes beneath the thick eyelashes she’s batting at me in confusion. I grip her waist as I step closer.

“I’m giving you one chance to tell me anything. Any mistake you made. Anything you’ve done wrong. Any harm you’ve caused me, my friends, my family. You can tell me anything you did, no matter the reason. Come clean, and I won’t hold it against you. I won’t punish you.”

She cocks her head in more confusion. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. What do you think I did?”

I shake my head, not wanting her to know what I know. She could run, flee, or tell her father to eliminate me because I know the truth. No, I have to keep the information to myself until I decide to kill her for her sins.

“This is your one get out of jail free card. Tell me the truth and I won’t harm you. I’ll help you.”

She shakes her head slowly. Her hands are resting on my shoulders. “I would never hurt you, Hero.”

“This is your only chance. If I find out you’re hiding something from me, I won’t hold back my wrath.”

“Tell me what you think I did. Tell me!” she raises her voice firmly, demanding to know.

But I won’t tell her.

If I tell her, I’d have to kill her. I couldn’t let her leave my sight. If I did, it would result in my own death when she ran or tried to kill me.

I’m not sure who would win in a fight—her or me. Physically, we are both capable—strong and trained. But in reality, who would stay emotionally distant enough to kill the other? We’ve both let our emotions cloud our judgement when it has come to each other.

Maybe it’s time we’re honest. Maybe I should tell her what I know before our emotions complicate things further.

I open my mouth, considering speaking, when I hear the front door open and the guys spilling into the entryway.

I close my mouth and step back from Ri.

“Wait…we need to—” she says, but I’m already out the bathroom door and headed toward my bedroom.

I hear her chasing after me, but before she can reach me I hear Hayes shout in relief. “Thank god you’re okay, Princess!”

I sneak into my bedroom and close the door just Hayes engulfs her in a hug.

I lean against the door, exhausted and confused and…just so damn tired. I could sleep for days, but I need to go back out. I need to make sure Leighton didn’t realize it was us that caused a diversion and stole Ri before I can sleep.

I go to my closet, grab a shirt, and put it on before opening the door to the hallway. I step out just in time to see Ri kiss Caius on the lips.

My heart slams to a stop at the sight. The way she kisses him, the way she seems to slant her head to deepen the kiss, and her groan of pleasure escaping her throat. She’s a damn good actress, I’ll give her that. She’s been playing us all like fools, but I won’t be made a fool again.