Page 7 of No Longer Safe

He took my silence as an encouragement for him to continue. “I want them to see how dedicated I am to my job.”

“We could always move out of this town. Both of our leases will be up at the end of the year. We could go somewhere else where you could make more money.” He shook his head as he motioned for the waiter to come to our table. Millie’s wasn’t the only place that was busy tonight. The Mexican radio station was loud in the background, almost drowning out Brian’s soft voice. Every other table in this restaurant was full but that was to be expected with hardly any other options in the area. It was mostly older couples as everyone we graduated with moved away a long time ago to start their families.

“You don’t get it, if we move somewhere else to make more money… the cost of living is going to be higher there too. I like it here, it’s safe and I’m pretty much a shoo-in for partner. Grant pulled me into his office to talk about it the other day.” I read between the lines, he also didn’t want to leave his mother.

My heart sank, not because of this news, but because he hadn’t called me to share it. The thought of getting married to the man across from me was looking less and less appealing each time we spoke. The conversation with Carina replayed in my head. I didn’t feel any of the things Carina had mentioned when it came to Ace. I loved Brian but as I looked at him across from me I wondered if I was actually in love with him. His face didn’t light-up when he saw me and he wasn’t fighting to get home to me. Hell, we’d been together for five years now and he hadn’t even asked me to move in with him.

“Wow!” I faked excitement. I faked a lot of things when it came to Brian. “That’s so exciting. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

His eyes shot down to the table top and he intertwined his fingers. “I meant to but things have been so strained lately. Ithought, maybe, the trip to New York would help us and give us some space.”

I wanted so badly to point out that’s all we had lately but I kept my mouth shut. It wouldn’t do us any good and maybe he was right. I would be the one busy this time and wouldn’t have the time to answer his calls or texts immediately. I was always the one waiting around for the phone to ring, maybe it was time for him to feel that.

Brian wasa lot of things but passionate wasn’t one of them. Bland. He never kissed me hard and he never initiated sex like I wanted—no,needed. I craved something more. I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it but when he kissed me softly on the lips and didn’t let it go any further, I felt the frustration rise up in my chest. I grabbed his suit collar and shoved him against my apartment door. I wasn’t going to fly across the country and not getsomebefore I left. I needed this connection to him. I needed more than brief phone calls and these little petty fights we got into. I needed to feel him. I needed to know I was wanted.

Even with my aggression, his hands didn’t slide over my body and his tongue didn’t invade my mouth. So once again, I did all the work. Which was fine, I needed this. As soon as we were inside my apartment, I tore my clothes off. His brows pinched in the center of his forehead as he watched me but he didn’t do anything about it. He wanted me, it was evident in the way his suit pants were tented, but that was the only indication I got. His arms hung limply at his sides while I shimmied my non-sexy cotton panties off and then my beige bra next. Nothing.

When I shoved him down onto my bed, I decided I didn’t want to wait for him to take his time taking off his clothes. I climbed on top of him, unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants, and took him in my hand. It was really a shame he sucked in bed because he had the best cock. I slid myself over him and he frowned.

“Is something wrong?” He looked at where his cock was almost inside of me, except there was something wrong. I wasn’t wet. Not a single thing about this encounter was turning me on. I thought my initiating things would have gone better than this.

“I have to pee!” I jumped off of him and rushed to the bathroom where I squirted a healthy amount of lube onto my hand and rubbed it on myself. I would get going as soon as weofficially started. I just needed a little bit of help, at least that was what I told myself anyway. Whatever, it didn’t matter.

When I came out of the bathroom, he was suited up with a condom and thank goodness, his clothes were still on. There was something sexy about the business attire staying on especially when he always said he needed to be completely naked. I guess he saw that my needs were more important tonight. As quickly as I could manage, I climbed on top of him and slid down his length. He shuddered beneath me and I could feel myself getting there. As I worked my hips with him inside of me, I could feel it growing. The orgasm was almost there. I closed my eyes as I rocked forward and back as I knew the lube had nothing to do with how I was feeling now. A moan escaped me as I fell forward and pressed my forehead into his shoulder. When he grasped my hips tightly, I knew I was on the verge. Was it actually going to happen tonight? Was I actually going to cum? Was this a sign?

Quickly, he bucked into me, taking control and I could taste euphoria on my tongue. This was it…

Almost there.

His fingers tightened on my hips and his tempo picked up.

Yes…

This was it!

And then he stopped. Brian’s breathing was rapid under my face but he quickly rolled us over and slid free from me and shuffled to the bathroom. I hadn’t even had time to fake it. I blinked up at my outdated ceiling fan unsure of what just happened. When he emerged from the bathroom, there was a wet spot on the outside of his pants, but he was all zipped up and tucked away.

He leaned down to kiss the side of my forehead and walked to my bedroom door. There wasn’t even going to be cuddling to get me through that shit show.

How lovely.

How nice of him.

I bit back all the words I wanted to tear him down with. Like how on earth could younottake care of me? “I’ll bring you to the airport in the morning?”

I nodded against the pillows and tried to keep myself from crying as he let himself out. But who was I kidding? The tears came anyway.

Chapter Five

Alexei

I fucking hated weddings.

They were stupid and expensive and all for show. Why the hell did it matter if someone had a piece of paper to show your dedication to someone? It was all a farce anyway. The stupid piece of paper didn’t keep people from cheating or leaving. All it did was proclaim you loved someone even when you didn’t.

At least that was always my experience with marriage. With love. It was all disgusting. We married so we could fuck the same person for the rest of our lives? Yuck. Here we were about to do it all over again for my brother. I knew he cared for the girl but I’d never set eyes on her and I certainly had never seen them together. Ace was stoic. He didn’t show his emotions and that was why he was the best person to take over when Father stepped down. He was ready to rule the empire our ancestors started so many years ago. He’d probably been ready when he fell into this world without a single cry. They thought he was dead at first, he hadn’t even made a sound. He knew his duty before he was born. Father had probably indoctrinated him from the womb.

Me on the other hand?

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