LOGINELARA
I stare at the message, fingers hovering over the keyboard. *Yes,* I type. Then delete it. *No,* I type and delete that too. Finally: *How did you know?* Three dots appear immediately. *I know everything about you, Elara. Including the fact that you're still at your desk, thinking too hard about tonight.* I turned to look around the office. Is he watching me somehow? Are they cameras here? Another text: *Relax. I'm not watching you. I just know how your mind works. You're overthinking this.* *There's a lot to think about,* I send back. *Stop thinking. Just come to me.* My hands are shaking. *This is insane.* *Yes.* *We could both loDAMIAN The bedroom smells like her—salt, sex, and that faint vanilla from her skin that drives me fucking insane. She’s lying on her stomach across the rumpled sheets, completely bare, the late-afternoon sun striping her back in gold. Her ass is still faintly pink from my hand earlier, the marks I left like a signature. She’s reading on her tablet again, legs lazily swinging, oblivious to how dangerous she looks right now. Every small shift makes her curves move in ways that have my cock thickening behind the sweatpants I threw on after the shower. I’ve been standing in the doorway watching her for minutes. Letting the hunger build. Letting it burn slow. She hasn’t noticed me yet. Good. I want her off-balance. Want her dripping before I even lay a finger on her. I cross the room silently and climb up the mattress and it dips under my knee. Her head snaps around, her eyes wide with surprise before turning dark with hunger and want. “Damien—” I don’t give her time to finish.
ELARADawn is barely breaking, the sky outside the bedroom windows is like a bruised lavender. Damien is still asleep beside me, sprawled on his back, with one arm thrown over his head, his chest rising and falling in the deep, even rhythm of someone who finally trusts the night not to take anything else away.I watch him for a long moment, looking at the sharp line of his jaw, the faint shadow of stubble, the way the sheet has slipped low enough to reveal the cut of his hips and the thick outline of him already half-hard even in sleep.Heat pools low in my belly.I want to taste him. I want to wake him with pleasure so sharp it borders on pain. I want to remind us both that we still belong to each other.Carefully, I slide down the mattress, pulling the sheet lower as I go. He doesn’t stir.I settle between his spread thighs, my palms smoothing up the hard muscle of his legs, feeling the warmth of his skin, and the faint tremor when my breath ghosts over him.He’s beautiful like this
ELARAThe bedroom door closes with a soft, decisive click, sealing out the world out...the ocean, the guards, the echoes of gunshots that still ring in my ears like distant thunder.My hands are still trembling. Though not violently, but enough that I can feel the fine vibration in my fingertips. The adrenaline rush has crashed, leaving behind a raw, jittery emptiness that aches in my chest, in my bones, and between my thighs.James is alive and has been taken away in an ambulance under heavy guard, but the image of him bleeding out on my office carpet is burned behind my eyelids. Friendly James, harmless James has turned to betrayer James.I need to distract my thoughts with something else. Anything else but this.Damien stands by the door, watching me. His shirt untucked, his sleeves rolled, his jaw tight, eyes dark with everything he’s holding back, guilt, rage, terror for me. He’s beautiful like this, dangerous, and mine.I cross the room slowly and deliberately.When I reach him,
ELARA "James, what are you doing in this building?" Reeves's voice is hard."I came back to get some files I left in my old office. The security let me up." His eyes are wide, scared. "Who are you? Why are you pointing a gun at me?"Reeves doesn't lower her weapon. "Echo Two, verify James O'Reilly. He should be in Los Angeles. Why is he in the building?"A pause. Then Hayes's voice. "No record of O'REILLY having building access today. He shouldn't be here. Treat as hostile."James's expression changes. Shifts from scared to something else...cold and calculated."You figured it out," he says calmly. "Faster than I expected."My stomach drops. "James—"He moves fast, pulling a gun from his jacket. But Reeves is faster.She fires twice. vey professional and efficient.James goes down, his weapon clattering from his hand.I'm frozen, my ears ringing from the gunshots, staring at James Chen bleeding on my office floor."Target down," Reeves says into her comms, already moving to secure hi
ELARAMonday morning feels like stepping into another life.I'm in the back of an armored SUV, heading into the city for the first time in over two weeks. Damien sits beside me, hand gripping mine so tight it almost hurts. He hasn't let go since we left the house.In the front passenger seat is Reeves... Lieutenant Sarah Reeves, Ghost Unit operator, now my "personal assistant."She's in her late twenties, compact and athletic, with sharp eyes that miss nothing. Her cover story is solid: former executive assistant, excellent references, hired by Damien personally to help me manage my workload."We'll maintain visual contact at all times," she says, adjusting her earpiece. "I'll be within ten feet of you throughout the day. For bathroom breaks, I wait outside. For meetings: I'm taking notes. Lunch, I'm ordering with you.""What if I have a private conversation?" I ask."Then I step back five feet and look at my phone. But I'm still listening." Her tone is professional, not apologetic. "
ELARAWe switch positions seamlessly, his strength making it effortless. He flips me onto my back, hooking my legs over his shoulders as he kneels between them, folding me almost in half. From this angle, he's in control, thrusting deep and hard, each stroke deliberate and powerful, his cock dragging against my inner walls in a way that makes stars burst behind my eyes. His hand slips between us, fingers finding my clit and rubbing in tight circles, matching the pace of his hips. I arch off the bed, my nails raking down his back as the first orgasm crashes over me in waves of heat pulsing through my core, and I clench around him, making him swear under his breath.He pulls out slowly, deliberately, letting me feel every inch of the loss, the cool air kissing my soaked, fluttering entrance, his cock gleaming with my release, veins pulsing, flushed and angry, dark red. He flips me onto my stomach like I’m weightless, the sheets cool against my overheated cheek. “Ass up, baby,” he growls







