Loyal Cheaters (Cheaters #2) Read online

  Chapter 3

  Zoey

  I watched his back muscles twist underneath his tight shirt as he carried me down the hall, draped over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. I wanted to hit him, but those hard mounds kept me hypnotized. We passed about half-dozen doors before I heard a lock twist. Blood oozed from my arm down his white shirt. I pressed my hand to the wound, giving it more pressure to ensure none of it dripped to the floor.

  Why was Ace here? Was it his thing to pay for sex? Why would he cut me, and how had he known about the tracker in my arm in the first place? And why would he kiss me in a way that made me forget who I was and where I was? Did he know that it was exactly what I needed? His mouth completely took me apart. Ace was able to fill me with a hope and longing I hadn’t felt in years. I didn’t think I’d ever have it again. During those few seconds, he made me feel like a worthy woman, like life was worth living, like I hadn’t made a deal with Satan himself. But when our mouths parted, all the hope drained away, reminding me of the horror my life had become. Had he really been thinking about me all these years? These questions kept running through my mind as he set me down in the new room and locked the doors behind him.

  “Sit,” he pointed to a chair.

  Like hell I would! Not with that macho attitude.

  Ace paced back and forth across the room, pulling his fingers through his hair, swearing under his breath every few steps.

  “I have a job to do and you need to let me do it,” I finally whispered.

  He stopped and looked up at me with a somewhat shocked face. Why did he think I was at this hotel? If he was a client, then he knew exactly what I was doing here.

  “Are you fucking serious right now? I’m the one who has a job to do – and you will never, and I mean ever, sell your body again. No man will ever touch you again; do you hear me? And I thought I told you to sit.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and jutted one of my hips sideways. “It’s none of your business who touches me, and you can shove that finger up your ass instead of pointing it at the chair. I’m sick of people assuming that I’ll do whatever they tell me to.”

  “Then why the fuck are you at Infinity?” he barked, and I felt a funny tingle in my throat.

  Don’t cry, Zoey. Do not shed a tear!

  From what I remembered, Ace Wagner always got what he wanted and did what he wanted without paying attention to anyone else. He could take what wasn’t offered and persuade a saint to sin. From what I knew of my sister’s best friend’s brother, the family he was raised in was shady. If the rumors of their father’s extensive dealings with the mafia and casinos were true, then the Wagner family was one I should have stayed clear of. Yet knowing all of this hadn’t stopped me from letting Ace feel me up and make me come six years ago. Nope. The moment that man was close to me, any strength I thought I had, vanished.

  Oh, those fingers! And a few seconds ago he gifted me a sneak peek at their force again. I should have known the moment he slid them inside me that it was Ace Wagner frisking me. Who else could be that gentle yet strong? Who else would know every crease of a woman’s body and seduce her with one breath, look, or touch? I had wanted to feel them – feel him – for years. Even when I cursed him for kissing my mother then completely unraveling me with the most amazing sexual experience before leaving me without another word.

  The painful memory of him pulling his fingers out of me, taking his swift tongue away from my bare skin, and leaving me weeping between my legs, all because of a stupid phone call, still ached in my chest. He’d fingered me, licked me, driven me to climax, and left. I must have been standing in that room for hours – at least it felt that way – with my bottom exposed, shirt off, and bra around my waist. I couldn’t move, and it felt like I held onto one long breath until I thought I heard someone outside of the locked hospital storage room. I guess part of me hoped he would return to finish what we had started and fuck me the way he promised. He had me so wound up with that one orgasm, even though unmistakably the most mind-blowing one I had ever had, wasn’t enough. I knew it would never be enough until I felt him thrust inside me.

  However, Ace had never returned. I never saw him again after that, and I went back to teaching dance. And I would rather live in misery for the rest of my life before I let him lead me on like that again – make me come with hope, promise the most amazing sex of my life, and disappear. Talk about carrying blue balls for years; I felt like I had been carrying blue ovaries that were close to turning purple.

  Now standing on the other side of the room, looking as gorgeous as only a Greek god could, it shouldn’t have surprised me that a man like Ace Wagner would belong to the slimy club I worked for. Infinity catered to the rich, the spoiled, and those without morals – and Ace fit the bill like a pro. I believe the entry fee was at least half a million. Infinity whores – or loyal girls, as they referred to us – didn’t come cheap. We had blood work and a physical done before each appointment. If I wasn’t clean and took on a job, I’d end up dead. If I slept with anyone who was not a member of the club, I’d end up dead. If I refused to take a job, I’d end up dead. Yup, there was a pattern here. I didn’t have a choice; and I wasn’t about to explain myself to a man who had left me dripping and didn’t have the courtesy to say goodbye.

  “Why are you here?” he asked again.

  “It’s not what you think.”

  “So you’re going to tell me you’re not fucking for money?”

  If it was about the money, I wouldn’t be struggling to make rent payments. Unfortunately, Infinity’s payments were not sufficient to live on.

  “Don’t you get it? Not everything is about money.” I realized the neighboring guests could probably hear me by now. Heck, the guests in the hotel across the street were probably wondering what was going on. Before I saw the look of disapproval on his face, it was already too late. He grabbed me, twisted my body around, and his huge hand covered my mouth. Every inch of him pressed against my back. It felt so good. Too good.

  “You need to stay quiet, Zoey,” he whispered into my ear.

  I wiggled in his tight grip, but that was like trying to peel a boa constrictor off your body. Who the fuck was he to tell me what to do? There were already too many people with that job in my life, and I didn’t need Ace Fucking Wagner to join the Tell Zoey how to lead her life club. I opened my mouth by a fraction and bit his finger with as much force as I could.

  Ace let me go, once again swearing. I got a good chuckle out of his confused face.

  “You bit me. You fucking bit me?”

  “From what I remember you liked biting, Ace. Isn’t that what you did to my mother?”

  “Keep your voice down, woman.”

  “I’ll show you how to...”

  What the heck just happened? As I started to feel like I had the upper hand in this situation, like for once I was the one in control, he jabbed a needle into my arm, and everything became fuzzy. I felt my knees buckle as Ace’s strong arms caught me before I hit the ground. And then everything went dark.

  * * *

  I woke up to the sound of nothing and wondered how that was possible, given that I lived with my sister Julia on a busy street in Oyster Bay. Traffic anywhere on Long Island was pretty bad in the mornings. Yet here I was, sleeping comfortably in silence. I took a deep breath in. The calming aroma of roses, coffee, and something more manly got my attention.

  Shit, had I brought someone home? Or worse, had I spent the night at someone else’s house or the hotel? I hoped not. It had been some time since I had done that. Ever since I began fulfilling my contract at Infinity, my streak of good boyfriends and one-night stands had ended. The only ones that remained were those I had no choice about being with. What day was it, anyway? And why couldn’t I remember where I was last night?

  I opened my eyes to unfamiliar surroundings. The sheets were crisp and fresh and the room much brighter than the blackout drapes in my apartment allowed. Slowly lifting my body, I scanned the metic
ulous bedroom. Judging by the homey look, I was definitely not at a hotel. One wall had a gorgeous painting of a rose garden, and a vase of fresh flowers was propped on a dresser. As my gaze flowed to the right, and I saw the stunning man sitting in a chair by the window, looking at me with a bemused smile on his face, it all started to come back.

  “You... You… what did you do?”

  Ace only gave me a wicked smile that made me want to lick his lips, and pointed with his finger toward me. He shifted in his seat, adjusting the hardening bulge at his crotch. A coy smile stretched over his face, and his eyes got wider and wider. Jesus, did he ever look sexy.

  I followed his finger to my bare chest and yanked the sheets upward to cover my breasts before looking underneath to discover that I was naked.

  “Did we?”

  He shook his head, and I breathed out in relief. Not that it would be a bad thing if I had slept with Ace, but I hoped that at least I’d remember. Heck, I was sure I would never forget that experience. Judging by the foreplay he’d given me with his mouth six years ago and last night, the way he reminded me of his swift fingers inside me, that would definitely have been an unforgettable ride. I dreamt about it enough and imagined it too often. I wanted it like a famished person wants food. At times, I thought I was desperate, but that wouldn’t erase my need for Ace Wagner. Nothing would. Except now I was determined to stay as far away from that mouth as possible – no matter how much my body was begging me for his touch. I had no choice. I couldn’t break the rules. I wouldn’t be Infinity’s target, and I wouldn’t let them retaliate against Ace.

  As he sat in the chair, looking at me in that adorable way that confused the heck out of me, the details of previous night’s events began flowing back to my brain.

  “You drugged me.”

  “I had to get you out of that hotel quietly.”

  “And why would you think I couldn’t be quiet?”

  Wait, that was a stupid question. If there was anything that I didn’t know how to do, it was to stay quiet. Ace’s brows lifted, and I chuckled. But that still didn’t explain what he was doing there, how he knew about the tracker in my arm and… I looked around the new room again… where exactly was I?

  “I know you have a lot of questions, Tinkerbell, and so do I. There are fresh clothes on the chair in the bathroom.” He pointed to the door before getting up. Why was he coming closer? I held on tighter to the sheet, hoping it wouldn’t fall off me again. And how did he manage to look hotter in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt than the dark slacks I’d seen him in the night before? Ace sat on the bed beside me, and I felt weird butterflies flap their wings in my stomach, reminding me that I had forgotten to have supper. Or was it something else?

  Ace took my free hand and held it gently between both of his. I didn’t even know he had a soft side. Maybe it was the tranquilizer in my body that was confusing me.

  “You’re safe here, Zoey. No one from Infinity can trace you here. Why don’t you shower and meet me in the living room? We have a lot to talk about.”

  What the hell happened to Ace ‘The Asshole’ Wagner? And why was my heart melting at his words? His touch puzzled me. For the first time in a long time, it left me speechless. While the night before I might have had thoughts about him fucking me, this man in front of me was one I wanted to make love to.

  Get a grip, Zoey!

  And yeah, we definitely had a lot to talk about. I snaked my gaze over his right arm and the black and red rose tattoo that weaved upward. That was new as well. The flowers were soft against his hard body, and my heart gave a squeeze. I wondered what they meant.

  As soon as he left the room, I climbed out of bed and went into the luxurious bathroom, once again wondering where I was. It couldn’t be his house; there was no way Ace was this organized or neat. But then again, I didn’t know him. It was an assumption I made about his level of recklessness because of his bad-ass attitude. Come to think of it, except for his talented mouth and wickedly thick fingers, as well as the crime family he came from, I didn’t know much about Ace Wagner.

  Was it possible I pre-judged him the same way he had probably assumed the worst about me?

  Chapter 4

  Ace

  I tapped my fingers over the counter, listening to the water run in the shower. I should have cuffed myself to a chair, or better yet, the fridge. The urge to go into that bathroom and dive inside the beautiful woman I tasted years ago was becoming unbearable. The memory of her soft, wet flesh sliding against my tongue and the feel of her squeezing around my fingers had stayed with me every day for the past six years. When I removed the red dress from her body the night before, it had taken all my willpower not to touch her that way again. And then I saw the Infinity tattoo over her hip. The brand tied her to the organization I had been hired to bring down, and Zoey was right in the middle of the battle of my life.

  Coming from a criminal family, I was the perfect person to take on the job. No one would guess that I was the bad boy gone good. No one would suspect me of colluding with Cross Enterprises, my family’s once-sworn enemy, who had forced my father to give up his illegal businesses. If I had known earlier the exact scope of Infinity’s business, or that the women who joined the club made a commitment for life, I would have never supported Father’s dealings. Not that he had much choice. Blackmail was a bitch, and sometimes Father had nowhere to turn. Too many webs of lies spun him into a sealed cocoon. Many assumed it was all him, but he wasn’t the shark of the ocean. Far from it. He was more like a jellyfish – still lethal if someone got too close, but he wouldn’t attack unprovoked. His every illegal deal had always been done with the safety of his family in mind. And anyone who judged him should have minded their own fucking business.

  When his last illicit network crumbled, though, I struggled. Who was I? What would become of me? While I had my license to practice law, the way my father had all his life and the way each of my three brothers had, it wasn’t my calling. It wasn’t enough. Maybe with age, I had somehow grown up and realized that like water, life had a way of slipping through your fingers. I’d seen enough death by then and if there was one thing I knew, it was that I didn’t want to stand on the barrel side of a gun too many times. One day that gun would go off, and I was tired of playing Russian roulette.

  Agreeing to work for Cross Enterprises gave me a way to redeem myself. It finally gave me a purpose. My eyes had been opened, and for the first time in my life, I knew I had to make a change, not only for myself, but also for others. It was the only way I could forgive myself for the mistakes I had made and move on. Given I held on to all the contacts of father’s dealings, I shouldn’t have been surprised when I got the offer to infiltrate the country’s biggest drug dealers, smugglers, and criminals. This job and me, we were meant to be. Yes, it was dangerous, but so was flying or driving – or simply being a Wagner.

  Plus, Cross Enterprises paid well. Too well. Providing enough to sustain a luxurious lifestyle and not have to delve into Father’s money. He had tons of it and wouldn’t care or notice if I lived off him for the rest of my life, but I liked to earn my living, and I liked spending the money even more. The last thing I wanted was to die and be buried in a coffin full of cash.

  Cross Enterprises was a family business of independent investigators and security teams that had been operating for generations and boasted the best reputation in the country. Choosing to concentrate on their growing families, Emma’s oldest brothers now worked mostly as consultants and went out to the field only occasionally. When I saw them during those free moments, laughing with their kids and doing ‘dad’ stuff, that was where I saw myself in the future. I might have been only twenty-eight, but it was beginning to feel like it was time to think about these things. Maybe with the right woman I could.

  Fuck! I couldn’t think about that now. It would make me weak. If I wanted to live and break Zoey’s ties with Infinity, mistakes were not an option in this business.

  So that was why when they’
d called me with this opportunity over six years ago, I’d had no choice but to jump at the offer. It had been a long period of training, both physical and mental. Many women had been lost in the process, but many had also been saved. I wondered how in the world Zoey Blakely had gotten involved in that part of the world I was trying to destroy.

  The water finally turned off. I combed my fingers through my hair and checked my reflection in the microwave. What the hell was wrong with me? After the way I left Zoey in that storage room six years ago and hadn’t even called, she’d probably want to run away from here as fast as she could. But I wouldn’t let her. I couldn’t. It was too dangerous. And honestly, I wanted her for myself.

  When she stepped out of the hallway in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, I felt all the blood from my body collect in my dick.

  Jesus!

  She looked breathless. Absolutely stunning. Underneath the shirt her breasts poked through, and I couldn’t stop staring. She wasn’t wearing a bra. I knew I’d forgotten something when I asked Jeff, one of the butlers at my parent’s estate, to run to the store for me. And those long legs that extended from underneath the shorts were created to sin with. Was she still as flexible as she had claimed that day in the storage room? Her plump lips were begging to be kissed and looked even more scrumptious than on the day she had denied me her mouth. Yesterday better have been a preview; there was no way I could survive without kissing her again.

  “Morning,” she said.

  I was still staring.

  Zoey hesitated before coming into the kitchen. She sat on the stool and reached for one of the two coffees on the counter.