“Are you sure?” he asked, his thrusts slowing as he did so.
I dug my heels into his ass like a cowboy spurring his horse and nodded, “I want to feel you, all of you.”
I didn’t have to ask twice. His thrusts began anew and if anything he was being even rougher. I felt the ring of flesh around the base of his cock every time he seated himself fully inside of me and it rubbed against my entrance. I wasn’t even sure it would fit.
“You’re overthinking things.” Gage muttered in my ear with a grunt, his fingers moving to my clit and chasing away all thoughts about his knot. With one final hard push his knot popped inside of me and I came, burying my face into Gage’s shoulder and whimpered as the intensity of the orgasm coated my body in hot, pulsing waves. Gage’s knot inflated just behind my pelvic bone, locking us together as he came, shooting jets of warm cum inside of me. I was only vaguely aware of the stinging sensation on the top of my right breast as Gage placed his bonding mark on me. As the bond solidified, his presence washed over me in soothing waves as he flipped over onto his back and draped me over his chest while we were still connected.
“Damn. That was something to watch.” Ric said with a yawn as he crawled up to us and flopped onto the pillow next to Gage’s head. I felt contentment and satisfaction coming down the bond from both men and both of them began to purr.
“Love you, Eloise.” Gage rumbled around his purr.
“Love you.” Ric echoed, already half asleep.
“I love you too.” I responded with a yawn before falling into the most content sleep of my life.
37
I couldn’t sleep. I’d gone up to my room after our ‘transparency talk’ , completely sick to my stomach. I should have just told them. I knew it as soon as we’d separated afterwards and I spent the next few hours pacing and trying to convince myself to go downstairs and just rip the band-aid off.
But how was I supposed to tell them that I was the mole? That I had made the incredibly stupid decision to work with a man who was the biggest threat to someone who I had come to care about. I could reason with myself all night about my decision—I didn’t know Eloise at the time of my decision, I didn’t fit into the pack, I wanted to make sure my grandmother lived in comfort. But none of those reasons seemed good enough on the other side of my decision. Not to mention that my involvement had directly put Eloise in danger.
I should just go. Leave and go back to France. But every time I opened my phone to book a flight Eloise’s brown eyes flashed through my mind, or Owen’s laughter or Ric’s friendliness or how awkward Leon had been as he re-learned how to be a kind person. I had wanted to be a part of their group for so long and had felt like I was on the outskirts for so long that now that I was in,finally in, I didn’t want to go back to being alone.
I hadn’t been contacted by Volkov or any of his associates since throwing the burner phone out of the car over a month ago. I wanted to believe that he was done with me and that I’d outlived my usefulness to him, but a steadily sinking feeling told me that that could not be further from the truth.
Eventually I must have fallen asleep with my curtains open because the bright light of an unusually sunny bay area morning was streaming into my room and nearly blinding me as I opened sticky, sleep heavy eyes.
Sleep had at least done me some good, I noted to myself as I showered and dressed quickly in a pair of dark wash jeans and a long sleeved v-necked shirt that reminded me a bit of the color of the ocean when it was stormy outside, I no longer felt as nervous and panicky about my lies to the pack. It was still there, hovering over me like an oppressive shadow, but I at least could focus on what to do to make things right. Hopefully without completely ruining everything.
I could hear movement out in the hallway and the sounds of voices heading downstairs for breakfast—Eloise’s voice was among them and my feet took me closer to the door so that I could hear her speaking in a low voice to what sounded like Leon. It was amazing how much she’d come to mean to me over the past three months. I’d been disinterested in her presence at first, telling myself that I was not a part of Pack Russo and that it didn’t really matter who came into the house at this point. They could have paraded hundreds of attractive people in front of me and I wouldn’t have batted an eye—that had all become soboring.I’d been there and done that, literally. But Eloise, even if it sounds cliche, was just different. She was sarcastic and unabashed about her wants and needs. Hell, she’d even gone toe-to-toe with Leon, who most dared not to cross—even me (well, corporate espionage aside).
A soft knock on my door distracted me from my thoughts, “Dom?” It was Eloise.
I opened the door, finding Eloise standing on the other side. She was dressed in a sundress that bared her neck and shoulders. She was practically glowing and I could quickly see why. I could just make out the edge of a bond mark on the visible part of one of her breasts and another on her neck just behind her ear.
“Good morning,mon coeur.” The french endearment slipped out of my mouth as easily as I breathed and it was apparently the correct greeting if the smile that Eloise gave me was any indication.
“Good morning, it sounds like Leon and Owen have breakfast ready downstairs.”
I must have made a face at the idea of eating Leon’s cooking because Eloise threw her head back and laughed before sliding her hand inside of mine and entwining our fingers together.
“I’m pretty sure Owen did most of the cooking while Leon supervised. The food smells okay at least.” Eloise tugged on my arm and pulled me into the hallway, “Come on, we can find out together.”
As soon as we made it to the top of the landing I paused and tugged her into my arms, taking her lips with my own and giving her a desperate kiss. After Eloise finally broke away her face was flushed and she had the dazed look in her eyes that she got when she was turned on.
“Do you think…” Eloise bit her lip and looked down at our feet, “Do you think someday you’d like to bond with me?”
I was completely head over heels for this woman, it hit me like a train as we stood at the top of the stairs. But there was no way that I’d be able to bond with her now, not with my anxiety and despair about the Volkov situation so present in my emotions. I couldn’t do that to her. She deserved to enter a bond knowing the full truth and I needed to figure out a way to give that to her.
I didn’t quite know how to do that yet so instead I just said, “I would love nothing more.”
I was rewarded with a brilliant smile and another long kiss before we began to head downstairs and as I followed her into the kitchen where our pack was waiting, I vowed that I would figure out a way to take Volkov down so that I could spend the rest of my life making my mistakes up to her.
I was exhausted. After a long day at the courthouse I was so ready to make the drive across the bridge to Sausalito to be near Eloise again. How I’d gone over ten years without her I didn’t know, it had been like an itch under my skin for the past few days ever since she bumped into me at the party. It had gone from ‘out of sight out of mind’ to consuming every part of my day. I’d nearly told my asshole client to shove it where the sun don’t shine during one of my morning meetings and had just barely made it out without losing my job that I loved. Well, I had to remind myself that I loved my job when I was defending a slimy asshole like Arnold Martelli.
I had one more thing to do before I could leave for the day. I knocked on Aria Simmons’ door and stepped inside. I had worked for Aria Simmons for just over two years and she had been my mentor when I was in law school. She was like an older sister to me and I’d told her everything about Eloise and I—and by extension Pack Russo.
“Hey Link.” She greeted from her desk, “How did everything go with Martelli?”
