And that does it. A scream rips out of me. Stars play behind my eyes, and when I throw back my head and look up, the full moon is shining brightly. It makes me feel untamed, stroking that wild part of me I’ve always known existed, and, even as Ekatia, I couldn’t resist.
It’s the same kind of wildness that made me go to the party on a yacht.
The same wildness that’s not afraid to raise a baby on her own.
The same wildness that’s letting the most dangerous man in the city eat her out in the middle of the road. And record it.
It’s Renne wild.
And Renne can’t exist because Ekatia must exist. For Hanna. She has to do it for Hanna.
Connor wipes the rest of my orgasm from my thigh. As he stands, he licks his fingers. “Tell me I’m your daddy.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. I laugh like a crazy person while my pants are down, standing there in one shoe. Connor laughs with me and helps me with my clothes. He puts my sneaker back on as if I’m damned Cinderella and he’s some prince.
Heisa prince.
Prince of the underworld.
Connor gets in the car, and we continue driving. “You keeping the mask?”
I remove it and put it over his thigh. “This was a one-time thing.”
“Okay.”
“We can’t do this again.”
“Okay,” he repeats.
That was easy. “Okay?”
“Yeah. I’m still pierced.”
Chapter 9
Renne
Pete and I spoke about the incident with Connor. Understandably, after working a long shift, Pete was tired and unhappy that Connor came at him. When I asked why he didn’t drive up to the manor, he said he’d hoped I’d stay the night. He said he really likes me and wants us to go out at least once.
Despite feeling like a chess piece between him and Connor, I agreed to a date. But I also asked Pete to treat Connor Crossbow as if he were a fellow surgeon rather than an unworthy criminal. Pete does have that air of superiority about him that would irritate just about anyone.
It’s Saturday night, and Pete and I are going out on our date. I’m wearing a little black dress that hugs my body. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, I turn sideways, trying to see myself at that angle. It’s a small bathroom in a small apartment, and I don’t own a full-length mirror, so I grab the kitchen stool and climb up on it.
Dina put extensions in my hair, then styled it with curls that drape halfway down my back. We have a wedding rehearsalcoming up, so she said we might as well put in the extensions tonight. If I take care of them, which I will, they’ll last awhile.
A pouch of baby fat I can’t seem to lose creates a small bump on my belly. I’m still deciding whether I like it. Otherwise, I look nice.
After the hair, Dina took Hanna up to the manor. Connor picked them up but didn’t seem chatty. I barely got a nod from him earlier today. The morning after we hooked up, I was throwing out my trash and noticed a used bottle of shampoo. It was indeed cherry-blossom scented. Since I don’t buy shampoo by brand or scent but by price, I didn’t realize its scent. He could probably smell cherry blossoms in my hair and associated that with the smell of me down there. Whichever, Connor does eat well.
Really well.
I think about him when I play with myself.
Even though I shouldn’t. By all accounts, Pete is the correct choice for me, even if he’s a little forceful about wanting to get laid. Most guys want to laid. Hell, I want that.
A knock on the door heralds Pete’s arrival, and I put away the stool, take a deep breath, then open the door.
It’s Pete, in a nice pair of jeans and a white polo shirt paired with white sneakers.
