The one-night mistake

~SERENA POV~

For a second, I wondered if I had heard him wrong.

The bass made my chest shake, but Cassian's voice stood out clearly above the noise.

"You can't be serious."I gripped the edge of the leather booth tightly with my fingers.  "You're my husband's brother."

His mouth formed a slow, wicked smile. There was no hint of guilt on his face.

"I know."

My heart pounded in my chest. I was sitting in the darkest corner of an elite nightclub, wearing a dress that suddenly felt painted on, bargaining with the city's most notorious playboy....who happened to share blood with the man I had married.

"Why?" I stared into his dark eyes. "Why would you make an offer like that?"

I prepared myself for a lie. He would say something about wanting to save me and comfort me. Cassian leaned in closer. 

The strong smell of dark amber whiskey filled my nose.

"Because you're sitting in a nightclub dressed like a woman who finally decided she's done behaving."

My throat clicked dry. "And?"

"And I've wanted to know what you would look like without all that restraint."

Heat flushed through my skin in a single wave. My stomach flipped....dangerous, dizzying, settling low. He was watching every small change in her face with an amused and eager look.

"You're just trying to get me into bed."I tried to stay calm, but I failed.

Cassian didn't blink. "Yes."

I pulled back, surprised by the honesty.

"At least I'm not lying to you, Serena."

The words struck my chest like a punch. Ryker had spent five years lying to my face...painting me as the boring, cold, dutiful wife while he satisfied himself elsewhere. 

The red silk sheets I had bought for our third anniversary that he didn't glance at. The cold dinners under silver covers. 

The mocking laugh through the crack in his study door telling his friends I was a dead fish in bed.

Five years. Shrinking myself to fit inside his golden cage.

Cassian watched the change in my face and stood. He reached into his coat, pulled out a thick roll of hundreds, and tossed it on the glass table next to my untouched cocktail.

"You can leave," he said, gesturing toward the doors.

I blinked up at him. "What?"

"Walk out, Serena. Go home. Take a warm bath and pretend tonight never happened."

He didn't grab my hand, he didn't try to pull me from the booth. He just stood there...tall, striking, completely relaxed...offering me the escape hatch.

I stared at the wooden doors.

I could walk back to my clean, empty house and lie under soft silk sheets, wait for Ryker to creep in at three in the morning reeking of cheap perfume, and pretend I didn't care.

I didn't come to this club for a cheap hookup. I came because I was suffocating. I wanted to feel alive.

'I know this is wrong,' I thought, looking up at the broad outline of Cassian's shoulders. 'I want it anyway.' 

I slid out of the booth. I did not head for the exit. I stepped right up to him, stopping inches from his chest.

His eyes flared. "Are you sure about this, sister-in-law?"

"I'm not doing this for him." I locked my gaze onto his. "I'm doing it for me."

His mouth tilted. "Then good choice, love."

---

Cassian's private penthouse suite was filled with shadows and city lights shining through the large windows.

The door closed quietly. The silence felt pressed in and charged, as if something was about to happen. He shed his jacket, tossed it over a leather armchair. 

His long steps closed the distance before I could take a breath.

"You look like you're waiting for an execution." His fingers trailed along the side of my neck...a tease, a question.

"I'm not," I lied, jaw tight.

"You don't have to prove anything to him, Serena." His thumb rubbed over my pulse point...erratic, betraying.

"I told you, it's not about him." I grabbed the lapels of his crisp white shirt and pulled him down. "Kiss me."

A low laugh against my mouth, then his lips took mine.

Not hesitant. Not detached. 

Cassian kissed like he was drinking me in…tongue sliding against mine, demanding every drop of my attention. His hand slid around the back of my neck, fingers working into my hair, leaning my head for better access. 

My mouth opened under his, a soft sound escaping my throat…"Mmph…"…before his tongue swept deeper, and the taste of whiskey and something darker flooded my senses.

He lifted me. 

My legs wrapped his waist on instinct, my dress bunching up around my hips as he carried me toward the massive bed. 

The world tilted when he dumped me onto the plush mattress, his weight settling between my knees a heartbeat later.

His hands made quick work of my dress. 

The fabric pulled away, and cool air touched my warm skin before his mouth moved to my collarbone. He bit down…sharp and careful….then eased the sting with his tongue.

"Ohhh…." The moan tore from my throat before I could stop it.

Cassian paused, shifting up so his face stopped inches from mine. His eyes sparkled. "Look at that. The quiet little wife makes noise after all."

"Shut up." I was breathing heavily and my face was red.

"Never."

He shifted down the bed. His dark hair brushed the inside of my thigh…soft, then scratchy…and my breath caught somewhere in my trachea.

"Cassian... what are you doing?"

"Proving a point."

His mouth pressed against me. It was direct and wet, the shock raced through my body like a live wire.

He used his tongue with slow and skillful…flat strokes, then pointed flicks, then a circling pressure around my clit that made my hips buck against his face. 

He didn't rush. 

He held my thighs firm, thumbs pressing into the soft flesh, drinking in every whimper, every gasp, every desperate pull of my hands in his hair. 

The wet sounds of his mouth working me filled the room…sloppy, filthy, unapologetic.

“Ahh…ohhh, fuck…” The words tumbled out, broken and gasping. “Cassian, I….hnng..”

He groaned against my flesh, the vibration rippling through me.

Five years of feeling broken, stiff, and unwanted twisted tighter and tighter until I couldn't breathe. His tongue dipped inside me….just the tip, teasing…before dragging back up to my clit and sucking hard.

"I can't….Cassian, I can't…please…."

"Yes, you can." The growl vibrated against my cunt.

And then I did.

The orgasm broke through my body like a blast, my back arched off the bed, my thighs hooked around his head. 

A raw, screaming sound I had never made in my life ripped from my throat… “Ohhhh, FAAAHK….!”…as my muscles clutched and spasmed, and something hot and wet poured out from me, splashing against his chin, his chest, the sheets. 

He didn't pull away. 

He kept his mouth sealed over me, tongue still working, milking every last shiver until I was sobbing and pushing weakly at his forehead.

When he finally lifted his head, his lips and chin were wet and shiny. A slow, arrogant smirk spread across his face as he took in my trembling frame.

"First time?" He asked with a very smooth voice.

I swallowed hard, and my eyes filled with tears from the shock. "I... I've never... not once. In five years."

His smirk faded a little. It was replaced by a darker, hungrier expression. "Ryker really is a blind fool, isn't he?"

He took off his trousers. 

His cock sprang free…thick, veined, the head flushed dark and already slick at the tip. He knelt between my legs, held himself at the base, and pressed the blunt head against my entrance. 

He dragged it through my wet folds, once, then twice, teasing me.

"Look at me, Serena."

My eyes snapped to his. Dark. Intense. Holding me captive.

He pushed.

One smooth, powerful thrust that seated him to the hilt.

"GAH….Cassian!” My mouth fell open. 

He filled me completely…stretched me until there was no space left, no air in my lungs, nothing but the feeling of being utterly, devastatingly penetrated.

"You're so fucking tight," he gritted out, jaw corded. His fingers dug into my hips hard enough to bruise. "Gripping me like you never want me to leave."

He set a rhythm. Deep. Relentless. 

Every stroke hit something inside me I didn't know existed….a spot that made my vision white out and my toes curl. 

The headboard rattled against the wall. The wet slap of flesh filled the room, mixing with my gasping, broken cries.

"Ahh….ahh…ohhh, right there…don't stop…hnng…"

"That's it." His thumb found my clit. Pressed down in tight circles. "Let me hear you, Serena. Let everyone hear who's fucking you."

"Cassian…I'm…I'm…."

"Come on my cock. Now."

The command broke something open inside me. A second climax…more violent than the first….tore through my body. 

My eyes rolled back. 

My spine bent, a scream clawed out of my throat…. “OHHHH, FUUUUCK, I'M COMING…!” …and my cunt held him tightly in a steady rhythm, milking pulses that dragged a low groan from deep in his chest.

"Fuck…."His hips moved awkwardly. They pushed in hard, they stayed in place. "Take it. Take every fucking drop."

The first hot spurt of his cum painted my insides, then another. His body went strict above me, a wild sound tearing from his throat as he buried himself to the root and poured everything into me.

We fell down, breathing heavily, our skin was sweaty. 

The air was filled with the smell of sweat and sex.

---

I stared at the dark ceiling, fingers tightening on the sheet.

I thought I'd feel guilty and small. Instead, a dark realization settled in my chest: I had become the thing I'd hated Ryker for. I was a cheater now, too.

One night, I swore to myself. That's all this will ever be.

Cassian sat up on the edge of the bed, swinging his long legs over the side. He pulled on his trousers, slowly buttoned his white shirt, and looked over his shoulder at me.

I pulled the sheet up to cover my chest. "This doesn't happen again."

He paused on his second cufflink. The faint, arrogant smile on his face said he didn't believe a single word.

"Why are you smiling?" I snapped.

"I'm not."

"You are."

He turned, leaning back against the bedpost, looking down at me with pure amusement. "I'm just wondering how long you're going to keep pretending tonight meant nothing."

"It was a mistake. I lost my head. I was angry at Ryker, and I crossed a line. Forget tonight happened."

He stared for a long moment. One eyebrow lifted.

"Of course."

He said far too easily. The amused look in his eyes made me narrow mine. He walked toward the bathroom, leaving the door cracked open. 

Water started running.

I reached for my purse on the nightstand, intending to get dressed and vanish before he returned. My hand brushed my phone. 

The screen turned on, shining harsh white light in the dark room.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

I went stiff.

The phone vibrated violently against the nightstand. I looked down.

CALLING: ‘RYKER’

14 Missed Calls.

4 Unread Messages.

The breath vanished from my lungs.

The bathroom door opened. Cassian walked back out, towel slung low on his hips, water droplets glinting on his bare shoulders. His dark gaze dropped to the flashing phone. 

Then lifted to my face.

RYKER.

His eyebrow arched.

"Are you going to answer that, sister-in-law?"