ログインKNOX’S POVWe stood at the ledge for a while after the men left.I kept replaying it in my head. The four of them moving toward her. Her turning to face them alone. The shake in her hands when she took the coffee from me.“I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have left you alone that long.”She nodded once. Didn’t say anything.She was looking at the water but I could tell she wasn’t really seeing it anymore. Whatever the morning had given her, that open quiet feeling she’d had before they came, was gone. Packed away somewhere I couldn’t reach.That was the thing that stayed with me. Not the men, they were nothing, they were gone. But the speed with which she had closed back up. Like a door swinging shut. One moment and everything good about the morning was behind it.I thought about what she’d said. It turns out I’ll never be free of what was done to me.She hadn’t said it out loud. But it was there in her face, in the way she held herself at the ledge, in the careful blankness she’d
KNOX’S POVShe came downstairs at six thirty and I forgot what I was doing.I had been standing in the entrance hall with my jacket and my keys, going through the morning in my head, thinking about how everything will go today. Then I heard her on the stairs and looked up and I can't explain how everything literally shut down in his head.The dress was black and fitted and I don’t think she knows how attractive she looks. She was a fucking goddess. And she always looked so unaware that it left me speechless at how someone can be so unaware of their own beauty.“You look perfect,” I said. Well that was because that was all I could say.Color moved up her neck painting her cheeks. “Thank you.”I picked up my keys before I could say anything else.She climbed on behind me.I had been prepared for that moment, or I thought I had. I had told myself it was a practical arrangement, two people on a motorcycle, nothing complicated about it.Then her arms came around my middle and her hands p
KNOX’S POVI sat at my desk for twenty minutes after everyone came back inside.I wasn’t working. I had a document open on my laptop that I hadn’t read a single word of. I was thinking about Dominic’s motorcycle and the way Elara had looked standing beside it. The way her whole face had changed when she laughed.She hadn’t looked at me like that once since she arrived.That was the thing I kept coming back to.She was polite with me. Careful. She answered my questions and occasionally asked her own and she was always composed and measured and appropriate. But she never laughed like that around me. Never stood with her arms uncrossed and her head thrown back and her whole body relaxed the way it had been in the driveway this morning.She was comfortable with Dominic.She was not comfortable with me.I didn’t fully understand why that bothered me as much as it did. But it did. It bothered me considerably.I closed the laptop.I thought about what Dominic had said. You should take her
KNOX’S POVI woke up thinking about her.That had been happening more frequently than I knew what to do with.I closed my eye, and all I could think of was her, my Elera.My hand moved almost on its own, pressing down over the front of my pants. I was already half-hard just from the memory of her laugh.I shouldn’t do this. But the need was sudden and sharp. I slid my zipper down, and freed myself. My cock was heavy and aching in my palm.I wrapped my fingers around the length and gave one slow stroke.A low sound escaped me — half sigh, half groan.I pictured her closer. Closer than she had any right to be in my mind. Her hand instead of mine. Those dark eyes watching me while she touched me. The way her breath might catch if I pulled her against me.I stroked faster, thumb brushing over the head, spreading the bead of precum that had already formed. Another soft moan slipped out, quiet but raw. I bit my lip to keep it from getting louder, but the pleasure built quickly, fueled by
VICTORIA’S POVI called at ten.It rang twice and Knox picked up, which meant he wasn’t asleep and wasn’t busy, which meant he was choosing to answer quickly.“Hey,” he said.“Hey.” I kept my voice light. “How’s the evening?”“Quiet. You?”“Fine. I’m at home.” I paused. “Is everything okay there?”“Yes. Everything’s fine.”Short answers. Knox gave short answers when he was distracted by something he didn’t want to talk about yet. I had learned that in eight months of knowing him.“Has your guest settled in for the night?” I asked.A small pause. “I think so.”I left it there.We talked for a few more minutes about nothing important and then said goodnight and I put the phone down and sat with it in my lap.The next morning I called Maria.Maria was loyal to Knox first and always would be. But she was also honest in the way that certain straightforward women were honest, not cruel, not gossiping, just factual when asked a direct question.“How is everything in the house?” I asked.“F
KNOX’S POVI gave it an hour.Sat in my office pretending to work, listening to the house settle around me, telling myself I was fine and this was fine and there was absolutely no reason to go looking for anyone.Then I heard Priya come upstairs. I heard her door close. the house go quiet in the particular way it went quiet when everyone was in for the night.I waited another ten minutes.Then I went out into the hallway.Maria was coming up the stairs with a folded towel.“Is she back?” I asked. Keeping my voice casual.Maria looked at me. “Priya is back. Miss Elara chose to stay out a little longer.”I looked at her. “Alone?”“Dominic dropped them both off. Priya came inside. Miss Elara said she wanted some air.”“How long ago?”Maria considered this. “Maybe forty minutes.”Forty minutes. Alone outside at night.I was already moving toward the stairs before I finished the thought.“Mr. Reyes,” Maria called after me.I didn’t stop.I went to the front gate first and looked both ways
ELARA’S POVI stared at her.Then I pressed my palm against my face.“Can you,” I said, from behind my hand, “please excuse me for one second.”I kept my hand over my face.One second. I just needed one second.“I’m sorry?” Victoria said.I lowered my hand.“Who,” I said, trying very hard to remain
Third Person POV She picked it up. It was soft. Worn soft, meaning he always used it all the time.She couldn’t help but press it to her chest.She pressed both hands. Flat against her sternum, over the place where her heartbeat was doing something irregular that she didn’t have the strength to de
ELARA’S POVLife in Knox’s house settled into a shape. I was more relaxed than I have been in months. I woke early. Earlier than anyone except Knox, who ran in the mornings before the household was up. I’d hear his footsteps on the stairs sometimes, quiet and quick, and lie in bed and stare at th
ELARA’S POVI woke to Sofia shaking my shoulder frantically.“Elara! Elara, wake up!”I opened my eyes slowly, confused. It was dark outside. Middle of the night.“What?” My voice was hoarse.“It’s Carmen,” Sofia said, her voice high with panic. “She’s sick. Really sick. She’s burning up and she wo







