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If she knew I was Ten, she’d already be in love. Now I need to make her fall for me all over again.
Juliet thinks I should stop texting you. For a second, I wondered if maybe she was right. Maybe I’m pathetic for continuing to send messages to someone who clearly isn’t reading them. But I’m not giving up on you. I know how much it hurt when my dad abandoned me. I know how much it hurt you when you lost yours. I won’t let you abandon me too, and I won’t let you lose me. Lump in my throat, I type back a response. Ten Fuck, Sienna. I’m sorry. I love you. Then I delete it.
“When I tell you to beg, you beg.”
A chuckle rumbles from my throat. “Tell me how wet you are.” “Dry as the Sahara,” she bites, even as she grinds against my hand.
“When will you learn that everything I do is for you? I chase you, I pleasure you, I protect you. Be mine, Sienna. Be mine and I can give you everything you want. Make your every fantasy a reality.”
“Fucking beg. Or I’ll let everyone on this bus hear you come.”
“Please.” The plea leaves her lips on a desperate whisper. “Please what, sweetheart?” She digs her nails into the soft, fluffy fabric of her coat. “Please make me come.”
“Come for me, Sienna.”
She flashes a cocky smirk. “You’re going to come in two minutes, aren’t you?” She tsks. “Thought you’d last a little bit longer.” I grit my teeth. I’ll last until we get to the game if that’s how she wants to play this. “Careful, sweetheart.” She leans closer to purr in my ear. “Beg me to make you come.” My fists clench. She’s turning this back around on me. “Sienna—”
“Better than them thinking you’re my girlfriend, right?” He saunters forward. “At least for now.” “I’m not your girlfriend.” My pulse picks up speed. “You will be.” He cradles my face, and I long to lean in to his touch. To give in and take what I want. “Then you’ll be my wife.”
“I’ll do anything to have you, Sienna. Anything.”
“I’ll tell them you left late. They won’t even know you’re in here. Until you scream, anyway.” I freeze. “Luke, no one can—” “I know.” His gray eyes grow cold. “No one can know. I’m your dirty little secret.”
As soon as I’m fully naked in front of him, I slip his jersey over my head. Valentine stitched across my back. Marking me as his.
“You’re going to stop running from me, Sienna.” His lethal voice sends ants skittering down my spine. “You’re going to stop hiding. You’re going to stop giving a fuck about what other people think or want, and you’re going to be with me. Because you know we’re right together. Because you know we’re the best thing to ever happen to each other. And I’m going to remind you about that all night.”
“You tell me you’re mine, and you can leave. You let me hold you at night and walk you to your classes and keep you safe. You come to my games and cheer me on and let me show you how much I care about you, every day.” He traces the vibrator along my thigh without turning it on. My breath catches. “Or I make you come over and over with this all weekend until you give in.”
“That’s it, sweetheart,” he murmurs, barely audible above the depraved drone of the toy. “Come for me.”
“Forget about Ten. Forget about every other man before you met me. Because I’m the only one who will ever do this to you. The only man who will ever make you feel this way.”
“Ready for another, sweetheart?”
“Knox said, he wants you upstairs. I assumed he meant you.” With a rough hand, Luke grabs the back of my neck. “You were coming upstairs for me?” I bite my lip. I’ve lied and kept so many secrets from him. I need to finally be honest. “Yes.” Luke tears the mask off and yanks me to him, our mouths colliding.
Mike doesn’t even love her like I love Sienna. He doesn’t track her every move, doesn’t spend every second she’s in front of him memorizing each inch of her face, doesn’t reach for her every time she’s in front of him because he can’t stand not touching her when she’s near. And Ma doesn’t look at him the way Sienna looks at me. Yet they get to be together. They get to have everything I want with Sienna, and we only get to have each other in the shadows.
I grip the hard muscles on his arms as he braces himself over me. “I knocked on your door earlier. You didn’t answer.” His voice drops, intense and gravelly, as he threads a hand in my hair. “I’m here now. I’m not going anywhere.”
His intense, seductive, stormy eyes bore into my skull. No man has ever looked at me the way Luke Valentine does. “Keep your eyes on me, sweetheart.”
The effect Luke Valentine has on me is beyond dangerous. It’s cataclysmic.
“You’re coming on my cock this time. And when I’m finally inside you, I’m not going easy on you. You’re getting fucked hard and fast.”
His hand slips around to rub my clit, mixing the pain with overwhelming pleasure and building that orgasm back up. “That’s my good fucking girl.” His growl makes me shiver. My cheek falls to the mattress, neck weak, and my eyes flutter shut. A sharp slap on my ass makes me gasp and eyes fly open to find him glaring at me. “What did I tell you? Eyes on me.”
“You feel so fucking good,” he pants, barely audible over the frantic smack of skin on skin. “I’m going to paint you with my cum.”
His hand drifts up to my hair, tucking it behind my ear. “You’ll always be mine, Sienna. No matter what. Nobody will come between us.”
“I’ll do anything to keep you. Anything. Even if that means I can’t hold your hand in public. Even if that means I can’t kiss you when someone else is in the room, no matter how much it kills me. As long as you’re mine, the rest doesn’t matter.”
“I’m glad you’re here. Because if you didn’t leave Wakefield, I never would’ve met you.” His hand caresses my jaw, and his crystal-lined eyes trace my face. “And meeting you is the best thing that ever happened to me.”
When Sienna showed up, I was convinced nothing would come between me and hockey. Between me and my future. Me and Pop’s dream. But for Sienna, I’d give it all up. I’d pack up and move to Europe if it meant she was safe. If it meant I got to keep her. Pop would send me off with a smile.
Just admit it, Luke. Admit you’re Ten. Why are you still hiding it from me? You know I love you—both versions. The masked man and the stepbrother. I do. I love him. As terrifying as it is to admit to myself. When I’ll be able to admit it to him out loud, to risk my heart, I have no idea.
“You saved me, Sienna. There were so many times I didn’t know how I’d keep going. Then I thought of you.”
“Tell me you love me, Sienna. Just like I love you.”
“I’m in love with Sienna.” I glance at her, but she refuses to look at me. Refuses to look anywhere other than her lap. “I know we screwed up. What we did was stupid, what I did was stupid, and I’m sorry for the mess I made. But you’ll have to pry her out of my cold, dead hands if you want to keep us apart.”
“When I felt like I could finally tell him about the incident with Marcus . . . that’s when I knew I was falling for him. But when he protected me when Marcus showed up on campus . . . that’s when I knew I’d already fallen.” I grip the wine glass tight, trying to hold back the tears. “Except when I look back, I’m pretty sure I’ve been falling for him since he gave me that disposable camera.”
Luke cradles my jaw. “You are my dream, Sienna. Being with you is a dream come true. Nothing else compares to you. I don’t give a fuck if I don’t get drafted as long as I have you by my side.”
“That’s evil.” “Then call me the Devil.” If he’s the Devil, send me to hell. That’s where I belong.
“You’re mine forever, Sienna.”
Luke may own me, but I own him too. His body, his mind, his heart.
“You’re incredible, Sienna.” His grip tightens on my hips. “I love every fucking part of you. Those beautiful eyes that betray your every emotion. That cute nose that scrunches every time you’re pissed at me. Those soft lips when they wrap around my cock.” With that, my lips twist into a smirk. But he’s not done. “That contagious, musical laugh that makes it impossible not to laugh with you. That huge, sweet smile that reminds me how to be happy. I don’t know what I’d be without you. I don’t want to live another day if I can’t spend it with you.”
“Don’t break my heart. I won’t recover.” There. My greatest fear, laid bare with my soul. His hand wraps around my throat, squeezing gently with the promise. “Never.”
I wish I could’ve saved my pops. I wish I could’ve protected Chloe. Protected Violet. I didn’t. But I won’t make the same mistake with Sienna. I told her nothing would happen to her with me around, and that’s a promise I’ll keep until I’m in my grave.
“Thank you for being my rock. Always.” “Always.”
