“Please, please, fuck me! Fuck me harder!” I begged.

“That’s it, baby. Cry for me. I like to hear you cry while I take this pussy.”

I knew his talk shouldn’t turn me on and make me wild. I should be insulted and even scared. But I wasn’t. I wanted it so badly I was willing to beg for it whenever he told me to. The orgasms he could give me rocked me to my core and caused the world to explode. For that kind of beauty, I’d accept the darkness. Because to me, it was its own kind of beautiful.

His hands squeezed my breasts, and he pinched my nipples as his hard thrusts continued. “Tight, magic pussy,” he muttered, as he slowed his rhythm. “Keep squeezing my cock with that pussy like that, and I’m going to beat your ass. Don’t fucking tease me, woman.”

I tried not to squeeze, but the closer I got to an orgasm, the more I reacted. “I can’t,” I choked out, and a hard slap came down on my ass.

“You do as I fucking say.”

I closed my eyes tightly, the orgasm hit me, and I screamed his name.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” he encouraged with a whisper in my ear, before trailing his tongue down my neck.

If only I had known in that perfect moment that three hours later, it would all crumble apart. This piece of paradise I thought I’d found. The man I thought was my match in every way . . . wasn’t.

Would I have done it anyway?

Yes. Probably.

After sex, Gannon finished bathing me in the shower and even conditioned my hair before we stepped out. Then he wrapped me in a towel and left me to get ready. He had dinner plans for us. I spent extra time making myself as beautiful as possible. Every moment I spent with him made me want more. I wanted him to want me just as badly.

I met Gannon downstairs in the lobby, but just as we were leaving, it happened.

“You motherfucking asshole!” A female screech ripped through the lobby. I stopped as a tall, leggy blonde who looked like a Vegas showgirl was suddenly in Gannon’s face. “This! This is what you’re doing? Seriously, Gannon? I tell you that we’re going to have a baby, and this is what you go do? I can’t believe you!” She threw her hands out dramatically, then turned her focus to me. Her gaze ran up and down my body, her face betraying a look of disgust. “Money. Figures. You sniff them out like a bloodhound. She’s loaded. She smells of it.” The girl all but spat out her words and shot me one last disgusted look before turning back to Gannon. “I gave you time. Space. And whatever the hell you wanted. But you promised you would be there for me and our baby. I can’t do this without you.” Her voice dropped, and she sounded close to tears now.

A sick knot grew in my stomach. Complete disbelief slowly morphed into acceptance. Gannon had seemed too good to be true because he was exactly that. He was a fraud. He didn’t know who my father was or about the balance in my bank account, but he’d spotted me and latched on because I looked expensive.

It made sense now. No man had treated me so well before. Why would someone start now? I was expendable. I always had been. Even to my own father.

I took a step away from the scene, and Gannon finally turned to look at me. He didn’t say anything, but I could see the truth in his eyes. She wasn’t lying. He knew her, and this was all very real.

I just shook my head, because I didn’t have words to say what I wanted to say.

“I’m sorry, Nan,” he said.

I didn’t wait for more. I turned and left him standing there. The man I had built into an idea of someone I could really be with. But he was worse than Major. At least Major hadn’t done this to me. He’d been honest about his whorish ways. He’d never promised me more. It was me and my stupid need to be wanted. To belong to someone. For one man on this earth to believe I was worth it.

I wanted to be someone’s Harlow. Or Blaire.

But I’d always just be Nan. And Nan wasn’t enough. I never had been, and I was done trying to be.

Cope

An unfamiliar emptiness ached in my chest. Typically, there was no emotion there. From the moment the woman who had given me life forced me out of her home and into the streets at the age of ten because I was one too many mouths to feed, I’d stopped feeling anything for most people. The streets will do that to you, especially when you’re just a kid.

The red locks of her hair swayed as she ran from me. Back to the elevator and to the safety of her suite. I didn’t trust women, especially that one. She was hiding too much. I wouldn’t feel guilty for this. I didn’t feel guilty for shit. This was my job. It was what I was good at. The bitch would go running back to Major and be back in his bed by nightfall. I would witness it all on the surveillance cameras planted all over her house. Cameras I had planted while she slept.

I glanced back at the struggling actress and nodded my head. She had completed her job and would receive an envelope with several crisp hundreds in it within the hour. She turned and walked toward the doors of the casino. My bags were already packed and in the waiting car outside. I would watch Nan board her father’s private jet and head back to Rosemary Beach before I followed her.

Sliding into the backseat of the Mercedes I’d used while in town, I could still smell a hint of her perfume. I hated that. Fucking wanted it gone. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent a text to Major.

She’s running back now was all I typed.

“I’ll need to see her board her private jet. Once she’s on it, I’ll be ready to head back,” I instructed Amish. He had been working for DeCarlo longer than I had. He was a driver, bodyguard, and occasional chef for DeCarlo and his head officers. He had three kids, ages thirty-three, thirty-nine, and forty-one, all successful in the investment world, all female. DeCarlo had gone to each of their college graduations and given them their first cars.