I don’t know what to say. I don’t want him, I want James. But he’s all I have right now.

“Just tell me,” he says urgently. “Just tell me what you’re thinking. Right now.”

“You’re not going to like it.”

He bumps his forehead to mine, still looking down at the floor. “Just say it. I need to hear the truth.”

I’m so horny. My fingers dip between my legs and I start rubbing myself in small circles. If I could just get this release, I could think clearly again. I know it. If I could—

Vincent removes my hand and brings my fingers to his mouth. He looks me in the eye as he sucks on them, then kisses the tips and places my hand over his heart. “Feel me. Can you feel me? I need to know what you’re thinking. I need to know once and for all if you’ll be mine.” And then he takes my hand and places it over my heart. I feel the same staccato rhythm as his.

This is too much, my heart says. But I can’t lie. “I’m in love with James, Vincent. I am. I’m sorry. I know you look like him and Jesus, you act so much like him sometimes. But you’re not him.”

He stares at me for a moment and then he turns me around and hugs my body tightly to his. “But you need to get off? You need the release? Because I’ll do that for you, Harper. I’ll take away all this tension so you can think straight again.”

Before I can answer, one hand slips between my folds and begins to rub while the other one grabs my breast fiercely. So hard I moan from the pain. He lets go and slaps it again. And when his finger slides inside me, I’m so wet I can barely feel him. “More,” I moan. “More.”

Two more fingers enter my pussy and he dips his mouth down to my neck and whispers in my ear as he plays me like an instrument. “You’re so pretty. You’re so pretty, Harper. I want to fuck your pretty pussy so bad right now, you have no idea. I want to stuff my cock in your ass and make you squeeze it when you come.”

Holy fuck. “I’m gonna come right now.”

He bites me on the shoulder and that’s all I need to push me over the edge. The pain of his mouth. The pleasure of his fingers. The hard bulge pushing up against my ass as he forces my face into the wall.

“Come,” he commands. “Come right now, Harper.”

I couldn’t stop it if I tried. I’m gone. I’m blown. My self-control is over. My back buckles as his whole hand slaps against my pussy. I come, and come again. Wave after wave of trembling pleasure spills out of me. By the time I’m done, I can no longer stand and I drop to my knees.

Vincent’s hands are on my head, urging me to turn around. I plop down on my butt and turn to face him, my back pressing up against the hallway wall. I look up in his eyes and then my gaze goes to his hand on his cock. The bulge underneath his trousers is huge. It’s hard. And his face looks like he needs a release.

But he doesn’t ask me. He just waits.

My hands go to his belt and I unbuckle it, letting the slack sides fall down his thighs. I unbutton him, and then drag the zipper down. I reach inside and pull his cock out.

It’s so big. Just as big as I remember. “James,” I say before I remember this is not James.

I expect Vincent to get angry for mixing him up, but he doesn’t even notice. He just urges my mouth forward with slight pressure on my head. “Take it, Harper. Take all of it.”

I open my mouth and he pushes his dick past my lips until it crashes against my soft palate, making me gag. “Breathe,” he whispers. “Just breathe.”

I listen. I watch him. My eyes never leave his as he begins to rock his hips forward and back. And each time his tip hits that sensitive spot that makes me want to gag, he pets my hair. “You’re so pretty. You’re so fucking pretty. Your pretty mouth swallowing my cock, Harper. It drives me wild.”

I moan at his dirty words and this makes him throw his head back and force himself inside me even harder. “Take it, Harper. Take it.”

I open wider. I flatten my tongue against his long, thick shaft. And I take all of him. He pumps a few more times and then he lets off a roar that signals his release. His dick pulses inside my mouth—once, twice, three times—and then the salty liquid is pouring down my throat.

I swallow and swallow again. And then I feel him relax and withdraw.

My eyes are closed now, but they open when he bends down so his mouth can touch mine in a soft kiss. “I’m gonna take your pretty pussy next, Harper Tate. And then that ass.”

Then he stands up and tucks his dick back inside his pants.

And walks away.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Harper

The next morning I wake early. When I check the clock it says five-eighteen. Did I really suck off Vincent in the hallway last night? How fucking humiliating. After he made those dirty remarks about me and James. How he said he saw us. And then he took me out of the kitchen on purpose, so he could fuck my mouth in the hall.

I’m filled with rage. And shame. And regret.

Jesus Christ. I might as well just be with him since I just fucked everything up with James. I highly doubt he’s the forgiving type. Good God, for all I know he’ll kill me for what I did last night.

Insane, they say.

I mean, yeah, I can certainly see it. You have to be insane to kill people like that. And the whole prisoner-of-war thing. Vincent gave me a lot of information last night. A lot of bad information about James. He wants me to hate James. At the very least, he wants me to fear James.

And I do fear James. I do. I fear that he will find out what I did last night and never want me again. I fear that he’s dead somewhere. That the Company got to him and killed him before he could come back to me.

I fear that I’ve made a mistake that will change my life forever. A mistake that can’t be undone.

And Vincent’s confession about Nicola. If he’s been as forthcoming with her about how she ended up as Number Two as he was with me, well, I can imagine she hates James. In fact, I can’t think of a single person alive who doesn’t hate James aside from me.

My heart sinks. My life feels like it’s over. I hate this Company. I hate this house. I want to go back to the desert and fuck in the heat. I want the Hummer. And Sasha.

That makes me cry.

Sasha is dead. And no amount of wanting will bring her back.

And now I come full-circle, thinking James is the devil. An evil demon who kills on command. Because he shot a little girl in cold blood.