Faking Forever With My Ex’s Rival

Sienna's POV

“Are you just going to stare or are you going to enjoy the show?” I asked softly in a teasing purr.

He didn't say a single word. But then he didn't need to. The hunger in his dark eyes, barely visible through his masquerade mask told me everything I needed to know. He leaned back in the armchair, his legs spread wide in a pose of absolute comfort while a wine glass dangled loosely from his long, elegant fingers. He was waiting.

I had locked onto him the exact second I stepped into that pretentious ballroom downstairs. You didn't necessarily need to see a man's face to know he was swimming in dangerous amounts of money. You just had to watch how the room reacted to him. People naturally parted when he walked by. I needed money badly and he seemed like a walking bank vault.

I let my shawl slip slowly off my bare shoulders amd his gaze tracked the movement, sliding down my neck to my collarbones. 

“Take it off,” he commanded.

I forced a playful smile, trailing my fingers down the side of my dress. “The dress?”

“The mask,” he clarified and set his glass down on the side table then leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I want to see the face of the woman who has been driving me absolutely out of my mind for the last hour.”

I let out a laugh, desperately trying to mask the sudden spike of panic in my chest. “Not a chance, handsome. The masks stay strictly on. That is the whole point of a masquerade, isn't it? Maintaining a little bit of mystery.”

Inwardly, I knew exactly why that mask was never leaving my face tonight. If he saw my features, he could easily find me tomorrow and considering what I fully intended to do, being tracked down was the last thing I wanted.

A slow and wicked smirk touched the corners of his lips. “Fine. Keep your secrets. But the dress goes. Now.”

I didn't hesitate. I couldn't afford to lose his interest. I reached behind my back, my fingers finding the small zipper and I pulled it down slowly, letting the fabric loosen around my hips. With a slow shimmy, I let the dress fall to the floor and I stood before him in nothing but a matching set of black lace lingerie. 

He stood up and closed the distance between us in three longstrides. Before I could even draw a full breath, his hands were on my waist.

“You are stunning,” he murmured, his face dropping close to my neck. 

“Less talking,” I whispered, tilting my head back as his lips brushed against my neck. “More doing.”

A growl rumbled in his chest as he backed me up against the edge of the massive king-sized bed. The mattress hit the back of my knees and I tumbled backward onto the sheets with him following me down instantly.

His mouth found mine and there was absolutely nothing gentle about the kiss. It was demanding, consuming and wildly explosive. 

I gasped against his lips, my hands immediately tangling in his hair. I had planned to fake my enthusiasm, to treat this entirely as a calculated transaction but the electricity crackling between us completely short-circuited my brain.

He kissed me like he was starving, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips before sliding inside to taste me deeply. My body arched upward, pressing against the wall of his chest 

His hands were everywhere, exploring every curve, tracing the lines of my lace lingerie with an urgency that made my heart pound painfully.

“You're driving me crazy,” he muttered, his teeth grazing my skin.

.

He reached down, his deft fingers making quick work of the clasp on my bra. The lace fell away and the cool air hit my bare breasts for only a second before his mouth replaced it. 

I cried out in a genuine moan that echoed in the quiet suite. 

The pull of his mouth and the scrape of his stubble against my nipple sent waves of heat rushing straight to my core.

I reached for the buttons of his shirt, my fingers clumsy with sudden desperation and popped the buttons free, pushing the fabric off his shoulders. 

He shifted, moving his hands down my stomach, hooking his fingers into the waistband of my panties, pulled them down my legs and tossed them carelessly over the edge of the bed. I parted my thighs for him automatically, entirely caught up in the brush of lust.

He fumbled with his own belt for a second, kicking away his slacks then he settled back over me, his knees parting mine and looked down at me, his eyes burning with an intense fiery heat through the slits of his dark mask.

“You wanted this,” he whispered.

“I want you,” I corrected, pulling him down by the back of his neck.

He didn't make me wait another second and pushed inside me in one powerful thrust. 

I gasped loudly, my nails digging sharply into his shoulders. 

“You feel incredible,” he whispered then began to move.. slowly at first, pulling almost entirely out before sinking back into me completely. 

I arched my back, wrapping my long legs tightly around his waist to pull him even deeper. The pace quickened rapidly as he drove into me with a desperate rhythm, the headboard softly banging against the wall behind us.

I lost all sense of the plan and I lost all sense of the room. There was only the hard slap of our skin and the orgasm rapidly building in me. I clutched the sheets in my fists, tossing my head back as a loud string of moans spilled from my lips.

“Look at me,” he commanded softly, his pace turning ruthless. “Look right at me.”

I forced my heavy eyelids open and through my mask, I met his intensely focused gaze. It was a terrible mistake looking into his eyes while he claimed me so thoroughly tipped me completely over the edge.

The orgasm hit and I screamed with my wet pussy squeezing around him tightly, completely losing my mind in the pleasure.

He let out a groan as he drove into me two more deep and rapid times before going completely rigid then collapsed against my chest, his heart pounding against mine, both of us gasping for oxygen like we had just sprinted a marathon.

We lay there for what felt like hours until the rise and fall of his chest signaled exactly what I had been waiting for. He was out cold.

I waited five more minutes just to be absolutely sure then, moving with the careful silence of a cat, I slid out from underneath his arm. The fun was over and now it was time to work.

I quickly grabbed my undergarments from the floor, dressing in record time and pulled the dress back up, zipping it with entirely steady hands. I didn't spare the sleeping man on the bed a second glance. Instead, my eyes immediately swept the luxurious room. 

Where did he put his jacket?

I spotted it draped carelessly over the back of the armchair. I hurried over and patted the pockets of the suit jacket. Bingo. I felt the solid square of a leather wallet, pulled it out and flipped it open rapidly.

I frowned. There were no credit cards, no driver's license and no identification whatsoever. Who carries a wallet without a single card in it?

My disappointment vanished the second I saw the thick wad of hundred-dollar bills tucked into the money clip. It was a massive stack. I didn't even bother counting it. I just pulled the entire wad free and shoved it securely down the front of my dress. It wasn't enough to clear the whole debt, not even close but it would buy me a few precious days of breathing room.

I tossed the empty wallet back onto the chair and turned to leave. That was when a glint of metal caught my eye.

I paused, glancing over at the side table next to the chair. Resting right next to his half-empty glass of wine was a gleaming signet ring. It looked old and expensive. The gold band deeply engraved and a large dark crimson stone sat perfectly in the center, bearing some kind of complicated family crest.

My breath caught in my throat. That right there? That was the jackpot.

I snatched the ring off the table, slipped my feet into my heels, grabbed my shawl and bolted out of the private suite, leaving the man sleeping deeply in the dark.

***

Thirty minutes later, the fantasy of the masquerade ball was miles behind me replaced by the reality of my actual life.

I walked down a damp, flickering corridor in the basement of an abandoned meatpacking plant. I clutched my shawl tightly around my shoulders, trying to ignore the menacing glares of the thugs standing guard at the end of the hall.

I had to come here first. I couldn't even go home to check on things. My father was a deadbeat gambler with a spectacular talent for losing money he didn't have and Shane, the monster who basically ran the criminal underbelly of this entire district was done playing nice. I was the one working myself to the bone to pay off a debt that just kept growing.

I pushed through the metal door and stepped into Shane's 'office.'

Shane sat behind a desk, counting dirty bills with terrifying speed. He looked up, his cold reptilian eyes locking onto me with a nasty mocking smile stretched across his scarred face.

“Well, well, well. Sienna,” Shane rasped, leaning back in his chair. “You're late. And you look surprisingly put together for a girl whose father owes me fifty grand by midnight.”

I swallowed hard, forcing my shaking hands to remain steady at my sides. “I have something for you, Shane.”

“Unless it's a bag of cash, I really don't care,” he dismissed, waving a hand.

“It's better,” I lied smoothly. I stepped forward and placed the gold signet ring squarely in the center of his messy desk. “I don't know anything about these things but I know quality. This is real gold. It could fetch a massive fortune if you sell it to the right fence.”

Shane's mocking smile slowly faded. He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing to tiny slits as he stared at the ring. He didn't touch it immediately. Instead, he reached into his drawer, pulled out a jeweler's loupe and jammed it into his eye then he picked the ring up delicately, turning it over under his desk lamp.

I saw the exact moment recognition hit him. His entire body went rigidly still and the casual arrogance completely vanished from his face, replaced by a sudden dark look of shock.

“Where did you get this?” Shane demanded, his voice suddenly dropping to a whisper.

“I told you, I don't know who it belongs to,” I deflected, keeping my voice firm. “Some rich man dropped it at a party. Does it cover the debt or not?”

Shane slowly lowered the ring, looked at me and for the first time since I had met him, I genuinely saw fear swimming in his cold eyes but he quickly masked it with a sneer.

“Nice try, sweetheart,” Shane growled, dropping the ring into his front shirt pocket. “But this trinket doesn't even make a dent. The debt remains. You still owe me.”

“Are you blind? That ring is worth...”

“I said, the debt remains!” Shane slammed his fist onto the desk. “Now get out of my sight before I decide to take a pound of flesh instead of cash.”

I stumbled backward, turned and fled the office with the door slamming shut behind me. I hurried out of the basement and into the night, wrapping my arms tightly around myself. 

Shane was a ruthless loan shark who feared absolutely no one in this city but that ring... that ring had terrified him.

I looked back down the dark alleyway with a cold dread. Exactly who was the man I just slept with? And more importantly, what had I just stolen from him?