로그인~Lila~With unblinking eyes, I watch Ryder peel the tight black T-shirt from his body, revealing an incredible work of masculine art to me slowly. My helpless gaze caresses the bulges of his shoulders, lingers on his meaty biceps, devours the tight slabs of his pectorals, and widens at the sight of his rippling abdomen above low-slung jeans. The sight of that tattoo crawling up his ribs in Japanese transfixes me. Though it had to have hurt like a bitch, it is oddly beautiful on his bronzed skin.It doesn’t matter how many times I look at Ryder. Each and every time, I melt. My heart stutters. My blood warms, while my fingers itch to touch him all over. Now his gaze snares my attention. Stark and midnight blue, that stare he locks on me roots me to the spot with its intensity and savagery. He is like a powder keg. I have a suspicion that I’ve already set him off and that his fuse is burning down toward the inevitable explosion.He reaches for the snap on his jeans
~Ryder~I close my eyes tightly, cursing Zane’s loose mouth. Why the hell would he tell Lila about that? She is taking the entire context completely the wrong way.“It wasn’t a bet, Bud; it was an absolute last resort,” I explain, opening my eyes to face her anger. “You are not a game to me, but Thorne was legally going to assign you to a completely different Dom after you blew your safe word. Enacting that ancient club rule was the only physical way I could prevent that from happening.”Lila doesn’t look moved in the least. Instead, she crosses her arms tightly over her chest and raises a ginger brow.“Except by actually talking to me,” she counters bitterly. “If you had just been honest, we might have been able to work it out together. If I knew what was at stake, I would have told Thorne myself that I didn’t want any other instructor near me.”As many times as I have tried to explain the brutal reasons behind our original breakup, she is still trying to pin this entire situati
~Ryder~I dash back to the luxury suite I share with Bud, incredibly anxious to return. Ever since I ran into Zane on the grounds and saw for myself that my friend is in one piece, I’ve been praying to God the same is true for her. Zane assured me she was perfectly fine, but until I see her with my own eyes and hold her in my arms, the anxiety is going to keep eating at me.Stuffing the keycard into the electronic slot, I shove the door open and find Lila pacing the floor.A wave of pure relief pours through my chest. Worrying about Zane has made me incredibly edgy, as did breaking into Kantor’s administrative office. Hell, the fact that Jordan hasn’t pursued Lila all day is making me edgy, too. The total slimeball had practically drooled all over himself when we first arrived at the resort, sizing her up. I was entirely certain he’d soon issue us an explicit invitation to the VIP room as a twisted means of testing her cover. But we haven’t seen or heard a single word from Jordan
~Lila~Ten minutes after Ryder’s departure, a loud knock sounds at the door. I jump, feeling my heart leap straight into my throat. For a split second, I fear Jordan has been lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to catch me alone – the bastard has been eerily absent since last night. Or worse, Kantor has somehow discovered that we breached his office ledger and has come for violent retribution.Cursing the fact that I couldn’t smuggle a proper firearm onto this damn island, I tear a taper candle out of the decorative metal candlestick on the nightstand. Gripping the improvised weapon tightly behind my back, I cautiously crack the door open.But it isn’t Jordan or Kantor standing on the threshold.“Zane? You’re okay.” He looks slightly disheveled and heavily lidded, but entirely unharmed.“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” He saunters right past me into the villa, completely unbothered.“We overheard Kantor telling his security detail that they’d killed a man, and that they
~Ryder~The enormity of the realization hits me like a physical blow, forcing me to stumble backward until I sink onto the edge of the mattress. My thoughts spin at a terrifying speed, desperately clawing for any alternative explanation. Maybe there is another logical answer. Maybe the killer stripped the gold chain from my mother’s neck not as a twisted trophy, but simply for its monetary value. Maybe he pawned it. And maybe Adam just happened to stumble into the same shop and buy it.Maybe. But that is too massive a coincidence to ever be real.My mother’s murder was a brutal crime of passion, not a robbery. That necklace wasn’t worth more than a few hundred dollars, yet it was the absolute only item missing from Amanda’s entire apartment. The killer left her original wedding rings untouched, pieces worth thousands more. The investigators – along with my father – monitored the local pawn networks for months, but the pendant never surfaced. Besides, an upscale prick like Adam Ster
~Ryder~Twenty minutes later, Lila and I are safely locked back inside our villa. I try calling Zane twice while checking over the new remote control he managed to swap out for us. Both times, my phone drops straight to a flat voicemail. Cold panic begins to claw at my gut. Aside from my brother, Harry, Zane is the closest friend I have in this world. He can’t be dead. God damn it, he just can’t be.Bud emerges from the bathroom, pulling the elastic band from her dark hair. She looks at me, unadulterated concern shining in those sweet chocolate eyes, and walks directly toward me. Dropping to her knees right in front of my chair, she gently takes my hands in hers.“I know how worried you are.”I just stare blankly at the plastic remote control.“We can talk completely freely,” she murmurs, squeezing my fingers. “I just finished sweeping the rest of the room. It’s clean.”I nod miserably, letting out a heavy breath. “How can I not be losing my mind? I fee
~Ryder~ I don’t have a good feeling about this. After cleaning Bud with a warm, wet washcloth, I push aside her trembling fingers and help her dress quickly. Once done, we leave the room, and she settles into a grim silence. I take her hand, wrapping her cold fingers in mine. “You don’t know
~Lila~A moment later, I feel Zane’s fingers on my pussy, searching, sinking deep, before circling my clit in lip-biting little circles.“Do you want to come for us, baby?” Ryder murmurs, spreading kisses across my face, down my neck, then bending to trace his tongue around my clamped n
~Lila~ “Bud?” Ryder breathes. The name lands like a physical blow against my ribs. I jerk away from Ryder’s grip, my heart slamming against my ribs like it wants to break free. His hand falls away, but the heat of his fingers lingers on my scalp, sending unwelcome sparks down my spine. Zane
⚠️A Little Heads Up Before We Begin⚠️While this is a romance book, it also contains explicit Dom/sub dynamics including consensual spanking, power exchange, edging, restraints, and enough unresolved tension to short-circuit your e-reader.If any of that makes you uncomfortable, no hard feelings, b







