Tempted Hero by Ella Miles

Beckett

Ri has a stalker.It’s part of a pattern, and the guy is skilled. I didn’t hear him, even though I was just outside the door, and there are no signs of anyone being here.

I would accuse Ri of leaving the note herself if she weren’t white as a ghost, shivering at the sight of the note, her eyes glazed over and lost in painful memories. She knows the man. She knows the stalker.

I doubt she’ll tell me who he is; she prefers her secrets. It won’t stop me from getting answers, though.

I’m still holding her hand as I step closer to the bed to read the note.

We need to talk. Stop avoiding me. It’s urgent. I’ll come for you soon. Don’t run this time. Be ready.

Ri and I both read the note at the same time, but neither of us picks it up. She sucks in a breath as she reads. He’ll be coming for her soon.

Not if I have anything to say about it.

Ri’s mine.

Not his.

Mine.

I tighten my grip on Ri’s hand, and she looks down at our joined hands. Her nose wrinkles, and her eyes widen in confusion. She doesn’t understand why I’m by her side, why I’m holding her hand when I just fought next to her.

“You’re mine,” I whisper under my breath as I watch goosebumps form on the back of her neck.

“Gage! Everyone get in here!” I yell the next moment, knowing we don’t have any time to waste if we are going to find him.

I squeeze Ri flush against my body as Caius is the first to run into the bedroom. She doesn’t fight me as I hold her against my chest. And she doesn’t look at Caius as he enters.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Caius asks, then stares at Ri. “Princess, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

I ignore his questions. “Where is Gage?”

Caius frowns. “How would I know? Are you going to tell me what’s going on? I’m the—”

“You’re not the leader anymore; I am. Now, go find Gage.”

“I’ll find him,” Hayes says as soon as he pokes his head in, immediately turning to dash back out.

Lennox arrives next. He doesn’t ask any questions, just assesses the situation carefully and then looks at me. “What would you like me to do?”

“Search the premises for any sign of a break-in.”

He nods and leaves.

“Go with him, Caius.”

Caius looks to Ri like he’s waiting for her to say something. She never does. He opens his mouth, about to speak, when I give him a stern look. He doesn’t have a choice but to obey my orders.

He turns and follows Lennox out.

Ri reaches her hand out slowly to the bed toward the threatening note, but I pull her back.

“Don’t touch it. We might be able to get fingerprints off it.”

She nods and looks up at me with big sad eyes. “You’re a good leader. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.”

I don’t get any words out to respond to her before Hayes returns with Gage.

It takes Gage less than a second to see the note and realize what it means. “Want me to check the security cameras and see if I can find anyone?”

“Yes. And Hayes can handle sweeping this room trying to find any evidence of who broke in or how,” I say.

Hayes nods. “Done, sir.”

I wince when he calls me sir.

Ri is dressed in pajama pants with a robe around her body. Her hair is slightly tangled from sleep and having not showered yet for the day.

“Wait here,” I tell her.

She doesn’t move or protest as I walk to the closet and find her some jeans and a fitted shirt.

I hand them to her. “Change, and then we are leaving.”

Her eyebrows raise, as do Hayes’s.

“Are you sure about that, boss? Nobody can see Princess, or you’ll start a war,” Hayes says.

“Nobody will see her.”

Ri quickly changes in the bathroom, and then I sneak her out of the apartment the same way I snuck her in.

“The stalker knows I’m here. He could be working for Vincent or Leighton or any of the other men fighting for me,” Ri says solemnly once we are in the car in the garage underground.

“I know.”

“Then why did you tell Hayes that nobody will see me?”

“Because it’s my job to worry about such things, not his.”

I pull the car out of the garage and start driving through the city streets. I have no idea where I’m going or what we are doing. I just know I need to protect her. Her fate is mine to decide. I’m owed that after what she did to Odette.

To my surprise, Ri doesn’t ask where we are going. She seems pleased to be out of the apartment and away from the danger. Maybe she feels safer with me as well.

It’s a mistake. I’ll be the one who ends her life, not saves it. She’s always called me ‘Hero.’ She’s about to see how I couldn’t be further from that. I’m the opposite of her hero; I’m her villain—and she’s mine.

“There’s someone following us,” Ri says stiffly, looking out the side mirror.

I look in my rearview mirror. There’s a flashy red sports car speeding behind us.

I frown. “Whoever it is, they don’t care that they are easy to identify.”

“It’s almost like they want to be caught,” Ri says.

“Do you recognize the car or the driver?”

Ri studies the car through the side mirror. “It’s hard to make out the driver from here, but I don’t recognize the car. None of Vincent’s men drive sports cars, not even in their spare time. He would never allow them to stand out and be a magnet for the cops. Maybe one of Leighton’s men? Leighton himself?”

I narrow my eyes at the car behind us. I can’t make out the man in the driver’s seat either.

I make a sharp turn just to see what he does. He follows but at a slower pace. It’s like he’s not afraid of losing us because he knows exactly where we’re going. However, that isn’t possible since I don’t even know where I’m going.

“Search for a tracker on your body,” I say to Ri suddenly.

Her eyes widen. “Shit, you really think…?”

I nod. As much as I don’t want to think about it, he was in her room when she was sleeping. He put a tracker on her.

She scrambles, trying to find the device on her body, while I continue to drive.

“We could confront him. Both of us are fully capable of taking on a single man in a fight,” Ri says as she searches for the device.

“No, it’s like you said. He wants to be caught. It’s a trap. Your stalker wants to talk to you. But we aren’t going to give him that power.”

She stops searching her clothes and just stares at me.

“What?” I ask.

“You said ‘we.’” She smiles. “I like that we’re in this together.”

I roll my eyes. “Just find the device. Then we can ditch him. I’d much rather Gage figure out who he is so we can deal with him on our own terms.”

She searches through her pockets, running her hands over the fabric of her clothes. “I can’t find anything.”

I cringe as the thought hits me. “You changed clothes.”

Our gazes hit each other. “No. No!” Ri shivers as she realizes what I’m not saying.

I cringe. “I’m sorry.” And I am. No one deserves to be violated like that, not even my greatest enemy.

I turn my eyes back to the road as she starts shimming her pants down. Surprisingly, I don’t see much hurt at the violation on her face. It reads more like unstoppable fury. It wouldn’t shock me if she killed him before I even figured out who the man is.

I drive slowly, giving her time to find the device, and I keep my eyes off of her, giving her the space she needs to find it—most likely in the most intimate of places. My hand grips the wheel harder, and I find my face turning redder and redder until my nostrils are practically breathing out fire.

“That son of a bitch,” Ri curses. I take a chance and turn in her direction.

She’s holding a tiny tracking device between her two fingers.

“Stop the car,” she says.

“No,” I say, even though it’s exactly what I want to do. But I won’t put her in danger.

“It’s not your choice.”

“It is actually since I’m the boss now.”

“You’re not my boss, and you never will be. Now, stop the damn car!”

I sigh and look over at her. She’s not thinking clearly, but the anger in her voice is unacceptable. The way her lip wavers and her hands shake—I can’t endure her being in this much pain. And I can’t think clearly, either. Before I do as she says, I’m barely able to get out a few words. “There’s a gun in the glove compartment.”

She grabs for it at the same time I stop the car.

We both jump out a second later, each with a gun in our hand aimed at the car. Neither of us shoots. We both want to see the whites of the man’s eyes first. This is personal. This man violated Ri in the worse possible way. He doesn’t get to get away with this.

His car stops when he sees us with guns.

“Be ready for him to fire at us,” I say, knowing this was a bad idea. He has the protection of his car, which might even be bulletproof. We have very few places to hide on this random side street.

Ri keeps stalking forward, and I’m right by her side. I’ll let her take the lead. I’ll let her be the one who shoots him dead, but I’m going to get at least one painful shot in—most likely to his groin.

For some reason, standing next to Ri like this always feels right. I belong fighting by her side, as her equal. We are equals—equal enemies.

“Why isn’t he shooting at us?” Ri asks with a frown.

“I don’t know. He may be under instructions not to hurt you from Vincent or Leighton or whoever he works for. It shouldn’t stop you from shooting him.”

Her lips curl up. “Don’t worry; nothing will stop me.”

She takes another step forward, and I match her pace. The car doesn’t retreat. The man inside doesn’t get out. He doesn’t fire. He does nothing.

I look through the windshield, but it’s too tinted to make out the man inside or what he’s doing. If we get much closer, he’ll be able to run us over before we can fire a shot. I ache to give a command for us to attack, but I resist. She knows the stakes, same as me. She knows when the time is right to attack and when to play defense. I trust her with this, even if I don’t trust her with much beyond being good in a fight.

“Fire!” she yells and starts shooting at the car.

I follow suit.

“Bulletproof,” Ri says after shooting a few shots.

We both stop, waiting to see what he’s going to do.

There’s a loud thud sound that startles us both, but no shots are fired in our direction.

“He’s running!” Ri yells and starts chasing after a man fleeing the car.

I chase after her.

He must have rolled out of the back of the car.

I’m usually faster than Ri, but she’s got enough anger to fuel her to run twice as fast.

We run down the street and through an alleyway. When I turn into the alleyway, there is no sign of the man, just Ri running through the alley looking lost. She looks in windows, up fire escapes, and at brick walls like he must have moved a wall in order to disappear.

I walk slowly toward her as I pocket my gun, giving her time to accept that he’s gone. We’ll have to rely on Gage and the others to give us the info we need to find him.

By the time I reach her, she hasn’t realized we need to give up our current quest. She’s still holding her gun like she’s in mortal danger. If I’m not careful, she’ll fire that gun in my direction.

“Ri,” I say as calmly and carefully as I can.

She doesn’t respond or stop. Her eyes are searching wildly as she stands at the base of a fire escape. “Give me a boost.”

“Princess,” I try again.

She tries to jump to reach the bottom of the ladder, but she can’t reach it. There is no way he disappeared up the fire escape. I don’t know where he went, but it wasn’t up this ladder.

“Fighter…” I touch her shoulder.

She spins.

I brace myself for her to shoot me with the gun or at least hit me with it. Instead, it drops to the ground, and she falls against me.

I wrap my arm around her as she collapses against my chest.

I take a deep breath, taking in the smell of her raven hair. Her scent and face remind me of a river—fresh and strong and flowing with water—strength, not weakness emanating from that liquid, her tears. She smells and feels like she belongs exactly where she is—wrapped around me and held in my arm.

“I’m never going to be free. This is my life. Bad men will always be trying to control me, chasing me, stalking me. My life will never be my own. Whether I wake up the next day will always hang in the balance.”

I hold my breath because she’s right. This is her life as much as it’s my life. And even if I wanted to play hero and save her, there is nothing I could do. She’s in too deep, has too many powerful men surrounding her. There is no escape. I should know. I’ve tried and failed.

“You’re the only one who doesn’t try to control me.” Her eyes are full of tears as she looks up at me.

My brow furrows. “All I’ve done is try to control you.”

She shakes her head with a soft smile on her lips. “We bicker. We fight to be the more dominant one. We tease and taunt, and ridicule. But ultimately, we’re equals. We give as much as we get. There is no controlling one another. We’re made better and worse by each other. If we were together…that might be the only way either of us gets free.”

I don’t know what to say to that. I just stare at her plump lips as a tear rolls down her cheek and then over them. That single tear contains all of her hope for us, but it just disappeared too.

I can’t stand for her to lose hope. I need her to fight with me. I need her to hate me, to show me her true colors so I can do what needs to be done for Odette.

But I can’t find the words. Instead, I lift her chin and gently kiss the corner of her mouth in the same spot I saw the tear disappear. Maybe my kiss will give her a spark of hope.

The second our lips join, there is a very different kind of spark, though. It makes us both lose all sense of reality, time, and space. The kind that makes me feel like there is more than just sex and a weird agreement to save each other in exchange for debts. It’s never felt like this for me with any other woman.

Not Odette.

Not any woman before her.

Only Ri—my fighter.

And then we’re kissing. Her arms are around my neck. Mine is around her waist. Our tongues are gliding together, joining like we’ve kissed a million times and can predict exactly where the other is going to be.

We groan together as a ravenous hunger overwhelms us both. Each kiss is more intense than the last.

“I have no idea how I’m going to give you up,” I say through kisses. I meant to keep it to myself, but the thought spilled out of me.

“Then don’t.”

I growl as she attacks me with everything inside her. Her legs wrap around my waist, and my hand goes to her ass. I stumble forward into the wall of the alleyway, pressing her hard against the brick.

“What if I don’t have a choice?” What if you hadn’t left me a choice when you ripped out my heart?

Ri grips my face in her hands. Her eyes dart back and forth over mine as she tries to read my thoughts.

“We always have a choice, even when it seems impossible.” She kisses me again, and I become lost in her.

“The only time I truly miss my arm is when I’m with you. I want to be able to touch every part of you, all of you, at once.”

She strokes my right arm over the scar that I bear from losing it. “I can understand why you feel that way, but you’re more than enough. Your touch is enough. And when I’m with you, I’m not missing anything.”

“Fuck me.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” she says with a grin.

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

She reaches for my pants and undoes them as I kiss down her neck.

“And you’re going to be the death of me,” she moans back.

One of us is right. I just don’t know who. Maybe we’ll fuck each other to death and end both our suffering right now. I can dream.

She reaches into my pants before I can, again the benefits of having two free hands while I have one still holding her against the wall.

My head falls back at her touch against my cock. She strokes it long and slow like we have all the time in the world. One of her nails teases down the length of me, causing me to swell further in her hand.

“I need to touch you. Hold on.” It’s all the warning I give before letting go of her legs and undoing her pants. Her legs tighten around my waist, and one of her hands grips my neck tighter as I’m able to pull her pants down just below her ass.

And then I dip my fingers into her folds. She’s soaking wet and writhing against my hand as I stroke her.

“You’re always so wet for me.”

She nibbles on my earlobe. “And you’re always so hard for me.”

“Maybe I’m just a man who likes to fuck a pretty woman, not just you?”

She bites down hard, hard enough that I’m sure she’s left a permanent dent on my ear. “That’s a lie.”

It is, but I won’t tell her that. I prefer her fighting me over loving me.

“I’ll go find another woman and show you how true it is.”

Her hand on my cock becomes a vice grip. I have no doubt she could rip it off with her bare hand if she wanted to.

“I’d love to see you try. All it would prove is that I’m right and guarantee the loss of your favorite appendage.”

I bite the tip of her nose. “It’s your favorite appendage too.”

Her eyes darken in truth. She releases me.

“Now scream my name and show me how much you love it when I fuck you with it.”

I grab her hip and drive my cock inside her in one deep stroke. Her back hits the brick hard, and her nails dig into my back equally as rough. We will both have scars from this one fuck. I just hope it’s only on our bodies and not on our hearts.

Her nails dig harder into my skin, holding on for dear life. I feel much the same with every stroke inside her. Every moment together is fleeting, which makes me want to hold on tighter to her.

For a moment, I think we should run from this world and live happily together. My brother has plenty of yachts to spare. We could hide out on one together. We could be happy. I could be happy.

I know now that I wouldn’t have been happy with Odette. The lies would have ended us if she ever loved me to begin with. It’s exactly the same reason I would never be happy with Ri, even if her feelings seem more genuine.

I drive harder inside her. Every time I’ve fucked her, I thought it was the last. This time is no different.

Every thrust tells her how I feel, even if I can’t say it with words.

I could have loved you if it weren’t for the lies.

I could have loved you if we weren’t enemies.

I could have put all of that aside and loved you if you hadn’t killed Odette.

I could have…but now I can’t.

Her body grips me harder, knowing I’m pulling away, and she won’t allow it. We both want to stay like this forever, fucking in the alleyway away from reality. But neither of our bodies can hold on for long; the intensity is too great.

She comes a split second before I do. Her orgasm explodes around us as I bury myself deep inside her again. The feeling is overwhelming. I’m barely able to stay on my feet as stars flood my vision. All I can hope is that I’m dead—that the orgasm was too much for my body to bear, and I’m now dead. Then I won’t have to worry about anything anymore. Then I could die happy.

But Ri strokes my cheek, and I know I’m not dead. I’m just in my own personal hell. A hell that is going to end with me turning into the devil.

Her eyes are filled to the brim with love. I can see it even though she doesn’t say it. I refuse to search my own heart for how I feel. I’m done listening to the bastard; it’s betrayed me too many times already.

Whatever she thinks she’s feeling, it can’t be real love. If she loved me, she wouldn’t have killed Odette. She could have flirted with me. She could have tried to show me that she was better for me than Odette. And when I learned the truth about Odette, maybe I would have come running to Ri.

Now it’s too late.

I step back and gently put her back on her feet. We both awkwardly readjust our clothes.

Ri opens her mouth; I’m sure to say something sappy or caring.

I don’t give her a chance. “The next game starts tomorrow. The guys should have figured out who your stalker is by now. We need to get back and make a plan for both.”

Then I start walking back to the car, away from Ri, like I don’t give a damn about her. She’s just a good fuck; that’s all she is.

At least, that’s what I keep trying to convince myself.