Author: Olivia Cunning

Myrna smiled. She knocked Trey’s hand aside and stroked back the strands of hair sticking to Brian’s sweaty face. “Yeah, baby. I hear it. Let it come.”

Trey lifted his head, listening intently. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Go get something to write on,” she said to Trey. And leave us alone. He’s mine.

“What? He didn’t finish, did he? I wanted to watch him come. He always looks so hot when he lets go.”

“He’l be out of it like that for a while. Go get something to write on. Trust me, you’re going to want to write this one down.”

“Thanks for sharing Brian with me this morning, Myrna. He’s been distancing himself from me lately.” Trey kissed her temple affectionately and pul ed out.

Uh, no. She was not sharing Brian with him. As exciting and pleasurable as they had made this encounter for her, she much preferred having Brian al to herself. Brian was hers. Only hers. And she wanted to keep it that way. Trey searched the room noisily for something to write on, but Myrna scarcely noticed. She was too busy coming to terms with the idea that she wasn’t just hopelessly, madly, deeply in lust with Brian “Master” Sinclair. She might actual y love him. An idea that did not sit wel with her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Brian asked her, much more alert than he’d been a few moments before.

“Like what?”

“Like you have a bad taste in your mouth.” Brian licked his lips, his brows drawing together in confusion. “And why do my lips taste like cherry?” He lifted his head to glare at Trey. “Did you kiss me again?”

Again?

Trey chuckled uneasily. “Of course not.” He tossed a pen and pad of paper onto the bed and fled the room. The door closed behind him securely. He hadn’t even bothered to take his clothes with him.

Brian looked at Myrna. “He kissed me, didn’t he?”

“Maybe.”

“I’m going to go kick his ass now. Excuse me.” He backed away, his cock fal ing free of her body. Myrna wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t want you to go.” She nuzzled her face against his neck. She could never remember feeling this emotional y attached to anyone. Why did knowing that someone else loved Brian make her want him for herself even more?

“He knows better.”

“Are you and Trey more than friends?” she asked, her heart thudding. Please say no. Please. Brian stopped trying to pul away and went entirely stil . “I’m not sure how to answer that question.”

“Are you lovers?”

He hesitated for far too long. Myrna felt sick to her stomach. Not because it was Trey that Brian shared an intimate relationship with, but because she and Brian weren’t as exclusive as she had led herself to believe.

“I know I’m going to regret tel ing you this.” He took a deep breath and avoided her gaze when he said, “Trey and I experimented with each other in high school.”

“High school?” she said breathlessly.

“Yeah. It was only once.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay, twice. I fucked him twice. But we got it out of our systems and we never did it again.” He buried his face in her neck. “I disgust you now, don’t I? I should never have told you.”

“I’m not disgusted,” she whispered. Relieved. Yes, that’s what she was feeling. And happy that he trusted her enough to tel her something that personal.

He lifted his head to look at her, his eyes wide with surprise. “You’re not?”

“No. It’s fine. It’s al in the past. Right?”

“Yeah, of course. I don’t even like to think about it.” He stared into her eyes for a long moment and then pressed his lips to hers. “I can’t believe you’re cool with this. You’re too good to be true.”

He showed his appreciation with deep, al -encompassing kisses and questing hands. She encouraged his attention, knowing that even though Brian was wel over his brief attraction to Trey, Trey was in no way ready to give up on Brian.

Chapter 33

Myrna set her stack of data on the coffee table between her laptop and cup of chamomile tea and answered her cel phone. Didn’t he realize it was 11 o’clock at night in her time zone?

“Hel o?”

“I miss you,” Brian murmured. “Did I wake you?”

She smiled. She missed him, too, but had been getting a lot of work done since she’d returned home. She was almost caught up. Her guilt trip for abandoning her work to enjoy Brian was starting to wane. Just a little. Maybe she could return to him sooner than she’d imagined. “No, I’m stil working. How did the music video shoot go today?”

“I’m in al of five shots. Sed’s a total camera hog. The rest of us were bored.” She heard the slur in his voice.

“And so you drank al day,” she guessed.

“We were bored.”

“I’m going to let you go.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m working.” And I can’t stand the sound of your voice when you’re drunk.

“Is that real y why?”

“Cal me back tomorrow,” she said. “When you’re sober.”

“Myrna?”

She hung up. She sighed and picked up her data. She’d only typed in one number when the phone rang again. She considered not answering, but final y picked up.

“Brian, I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

“Who’s Brian?”

Myrna’s blood turned cold. Her throat closed off.

Jeremy.

She couldn’t breathe, much less speak. How had he gotten her phone number? She’d been careful to keep it unlisted and had given it to very few people.

“Who’s Brian?” he repeated.

Her only reply was a gasp. Paralyzed with fear, she couldn’t move. Or think.

“Is he the reason you’ve been away from your apartment for over three weeks?”

How did he know she’d been away? Was he watching her again?

“Are you fucking him?”

“How did you get this number?” she asked around the lump in her throat.

“Are you fucking him? I’l kil him. No one touches you but me. Do you understand? You’re my wife. You belong to me.”

“Jeremy, we’re divorced. And in case you forgot, I stil have that restraining order.”

“Are you going to cal the cops? Go ahead. They don’t know where I am, but I’l see you real soon, sugar.” He disconnected. Myrna tossed the cel phone across the couch as if it had transformed into a snake. She jumped to her feet, lowered the blinds at al the windows and jerked the drapes closed. She checked to make sure the front door was locked. Bolted. Chained. She looked in the closets. Checked under the bed and behind doors. In the kitchen cabinets. The refrigerator. She was alone. Too alone for comfort. She picked up her cel phone and locked herself in the bathroom.

When she closed the door, the shower curtain bil owed. Myrna dialed 911 and held her thumb over Send as she approached the bathtub. Heart thudding, she grabbed the curtain and jerked it back.

Empty.

Her shoulders sagged with relief. She sat on the edge of the bathtub with her back against the cold, tile wal so she could see the entire room. Jeremy might have learned to teleport since she’d last seen him.

She cal ed Brian.

He answered on the second ring. “Oh, so now you want to talk to me.”

She could hear a lot of noise in the background. Loud music. Conversation. Laughter. Clinking glasses. She was scared out of her wits and he was partying like, wel , a rock star. The jerk.

“J-Jeremy cal ed,” she whispered.

“What? I can’t hear you,” he shouted.

The noises in the background changed rapidly. He must be on the move toward an exit, or some place a little more quiet.

“Say it again,” he said.

“J-Jeremy cal ed.” She wiped at an annoying tear with the back of her hand. What did tears get you? Nothing. They sure didn’t make a drunk stop accusing you of being a filthy whore.

“Your ex-husband? I thought you had no contact with him. Why did he cal you?”

“He wanted to know where I’ve been for the last three weeks,” she whispered. She couldn’t seem to talk any louder. As if Jeremy might overhear her.

“He’s stalking you again,” Brian said with a certainty. “Do you have someone who can stay with you until I get there?”

“No, I didn’t cal you to get you to come here. He said he was going to kil you.”

“He said that? How does he even know about me?”

“Don’t come here.”

“Then you come here. Immediately.”

There was a thump in the apartment next door and Myrna jumped.

It was bad enough that she had to live in fear, but she refused to put Brian at risk. If she went to him, or he came to her, she knew Jeremy would hurt him. She swal owed and took a deep breath, hoping she sounded confident when she said, “Don’t be ridiculous. I have a ton of work to do. He’s just being a jerk. I’l be fine. I know he won’t bother me again. I reminded him that I have a restraining order. If he comes near me, al I have to do is cal the police and they’l arrest him.”

“Yeah, okay. I’l just sit around here for a week and hope your psychotic stalker of an ex-husband leaves you alone.”

“Brian—”

“I’l be there as soon as I can. Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?”

“That’s not real y necessar… For a little while.”

“Tel me about your day,” he said. She could hear the bar noises in the background again. “Hey, Phil,” he cal ed to someone, “cal me a cab, wil you?”

“You’re leaving already, Brian?” some annoyed-sounding woman said. “We just got this party started.”

“You’re not tel ing me about your day,” Brian said to Myrna.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything. Start from the moment you opened your eyes.”

“Shouldn’t I start from the moment I rol ed over in bed and tried to find you, but you weren’t there?”

“Yeah, start with that.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

She told him al about her day. Every moment, including what Jeremy had said to her on the phone. Brian kept her talking on his cab ride to the airport, while he booked a flight at the ticket counter, and the entire time he waited for his flight. She felt safer just having him on the other end of the line. She eventual y let herself out of the bathroom and crawled into bed with her phone. She left al the lights in the apartment on, however. She didn’t think she could handle darkness.

“My battery is going dead,” he said. “I’l keep talking as long as I can. My plane is boarding soon.”

“I’m sorry to be a pest, Brian.”

“You’re not a pest.”

She didn’t realize she was on the verge of tears until they started to fal . “I shouldn’t have cal ed you. And I shouldn’t let you come here,” she whispered, and sniffed her nose. “Jeremy might hurt you.”

“I can take care of that stupid prick. Don’t worry about me. Keep yourself safe until I get there. You know, if you go to sleep now, I’l be there when you wake up.”

She nodded as if he could see her. She was exhausted. Mental y drained. “Thank you for being there for me.”

“Think nothing of it. You know I lo—”

The phone disconnected. His battery must’ve died. Not wanting Jeremy to have the opportunity to cal her again, she shut off her phone. Tomorrow she’d get the number changed.

But how? How had Jeremy found her? She’d been so careful.