While She Sleeps: The Dirty Heroes Collection Read online

  I don’t know how I knew he’d have them, but when I hit the final drawer, tugging it open, I find the bottle I need. I pull it out, lifting it so he can see what I have, but before I have time to make my case, he’s shaking his head.

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  He turns and heads down the hallway into the bedroom with me hot on his heels. He’s on the bed, his head in his hands as he tugs at his dark hair. I can feel the frustration flowing from him.

  “Please, just hear me out,” I beg as I drop to my knees in front of him. “Logan,” I call to him, my voice dripping with a plea. When he finally lifts his gaze to mine, I settle on the bed beside him. “Let’s try this. I want to try this.”

  “Why? I’m a fuck up, Vera. This is a fucking joke,” he grits through clenched teeth. I watch his angular jaw tick with frustration. I want so badly to help him, to hold him and tell him it’s all going to be okay, but I know he won’t believe me. He needs to allow this to happen before he believes it.

  “You’re not a fuck up, and I’m not going anywhere,” I tell him.

  Logan shoots to his feet and begins pacing the carpet. “My father was right when he said I’m just like him. I want this, Vera. I crave to take you while you’re just there, lying in bed oblivious to what’s going on. I want to feel your warm, limp body tremble as I slide into you. I can’t think of anything else.”

  His admission should scare me, but it doesn’t. All I want is for him to finally find himself with me. I want him to try this, to give it a chance, because if he doesn’t, I know he’ll do the one thing he’s been thinking about—push me away.

  My chest tightens when I think about it. When I consider walking away from him, my lungs struggle to pull in air, and my heart clenches so painfully I can’t fathom my life. Perhaps it’s stupid to think I can fix him, and maybe, in all honesty, I don’t want to.

  “I want that,” I tell him honestly. I pray he can see the admission in my eyes. I wait for him to look at me, and when he does, I keep my gaze locked on his. The need for him to see my truth is running rampant through me. “Don’t let him win, Logan. Your father was trying to get in your head. You’re nothing like him.”

  “I need time.” He turns, heading for the door, but before he leaves, he glances at me from over his shoulder. “Don’t leave the apartment. You’re staying inside safely until I get back. I need to clear my head.” And then he’s gone, leaving me with the bottle of melatonin. I’ve had these before. A sleep aid, and when my doctor advised these were better than getting something that would be addictive, I always kept a bottle in my medicine cabinet. One or two when I couldn’t sleep always helped, but this time, it’s different. This isn’t insomnia I’m fighting—it’s the man I’ve fallen for.

  Pushing off the bed, I head into the rest of the apartment to explore. The furnishings are beautiful, classic, yet modern and tasteful at the same time. It’s nothing like my small apartment, but it feels like home, nonetheless.

  Three closed doors are waiting for me down the hall. The first one is the bathroom. The second one, which opens when I twist the handle, is an office. The desk is dark wood, with a large black leather chair behind it.

  I notice a laptop sitting on the desk, which I quickly make my way to. If I can log into my email, perhaps I can find out how my father is doing. It’s been months since I was allowed to call him, since he told the guards he didn’t want any communication. Sadly, I let it be when I should’ve fought his choice.

  When I lift the lid of the computer, I find it opens to a password screen, which has me cursing out loud. What could his password be?

  I sit for a moment, thinking back on the time I’ve known Logan. The only thing I can think it could possibly be is his screen name—Broken Prince—which I try, and it easily logs me into his computer.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, I open the browser and get to work logging into my mail account and getting a message to my father. If he knows I’m back in the city, perhaps he can call off Herbert and that stupid contract he signed.

  I want to be with Logan, and I know he wants me too. He just needs time to come to terms with his wants and needs. I can’t help but smile because I’m the younger of us two, and it seems I’ve accepted my desires before Logan could ever fathom what his were.

  Society forces us to hide who we are. If you’re not a sheep following the herd, you’re shunned, and that causes people to tamp down the feelings that come naturally to them. Shaming someone for a kink, as long as it’s legal, is something that’s always bothered me.

  And now I have to wait until Logan accepts who he really is.

  And he also needs to come to terms with the fact that even though he may not be normal in the eyes of society, I love him.

  And I’m not leaving him.

  30

  Logan

  The room is icy cold, the fire no longer dancing in the darkness. I watch him for a long while before I move closer. My father, the man I grew up equally fearing and looking up to, is no longer the same person. He’s become a monster, demented and dangerous.

  “So, you really think happiness is in the cards for you and the little beauty?” he questions as I train the gun on him. The barrel aimed at his forehead. One shot would kill him. The bullet would hit him right between the eyes.

  “I told you, I’m nothing like you,” I tell him.

  “If you shoot me, you’ll be just like me,” he assures me confidently. There’s a hint of pride in his voice, which angers me so much more than it should. “When you take me out, you’ll be the new Oakridge the men answer to. With that kind of title, you need to be focused on the end game.”

  “What’s that? Stealing from the poor so you can have the royal title of King?” The sneer on my face has him chuckling as he shakes his head in amusement. I’ve always been obedient, giving in to whatever he wanted. His orders were law, but that’s changed.

  He regards me for a while before he says, “You don’t get it. Do you, son? I didn’t do this for me.” He moves around the desk, settling behind it before opening the top drawer and pulling out a folder. “It’s your destiny to be with her,” he explains.

  I snatch the manila folder when he holds it out to me and flip it open. My eyes scan the wording, noting it’s the contract he had Vera’s father sign. With every sentence I read, my body stills, and my heart leaps wildly against my ribs, banging a beat that steals my breath.

  “This . . .” My words fail me as I try to make sense of what it says. “This can’t be true. How would you even know I would find her?” I look up, taking note of my father’s satisfied smirk. “How. Did. You. Know?”

  “As a father, I learn how to ensure my son gets what he needs. I’ve known for a long time you’d find your way to her, and she’d find her way to you. It was planned, all of it.” He doesn’t move, waiting for me to respond. I’m not sure how. Him making sure I found Vera, that she would even want me after everything that happened, wasn’t something he could’ve known would pan out.

  “This is a joke, right? I mean, there would be every probability it wouldn’t work. What would you do then?” I look at him, taking in his expression. The asshole is so overconfident he doesn’t even realize this could’ve gone badly.

  “You underestimate my influence on your life, Logan.” He settles back, steepling his fingers under his chin as if he were a goddamned king. And at times, he likes to think he is, but no more.

  I’m done.

  “Your games end here,” I tell him, shoving the folder across the smooth, varnished desktop. “Vera is not yours. She is free of any contract you have with her father.”

  “No, she’s not mine, but like the contract states,” he speaks, chuckling while he pauses for effect, “her firstborn will be taken and raised by the rightful owner of the organization. You will not raise that child, and you and your sleeping beauty will forfeit your heir. That is, if you stay with her. If you decide otherwise, perhaps I can rethink my terms.”


  “That’s bullshit!” My voice booms in the large room, the echo of it bouncing off the walls as my rage takes over. I circle the desk, my hands on the arms of his chair as I lean in to meet my father’s glare dead-on. “Nothing I have, nothing that Vera and I build together, will be yours. Do you understand me, old man?”

  “What you don’t understand is that I can find you. Anywhere you run or hide, I will hunt you down, and I will take what is rightfully mine.” His sneer is ever-present, but I chuckle loudly at his statement. What he doesn’t know is I will take him down, but I don’t tell him that. Not yet. Once Dax has the information I need, I’ll be delivering my father straight to the authorities. And then he will spend his life in prison.

  “Stay out of my life. Stay away from Vera. And never contact me again,” I tell him, playing his game, ensuring he thinks I’m oblivious. I turn and head for the door, stopping short before I glance over my shoulder at him. “And if you do decide to act out your childish games, I’ll come for you, and I won’t stop until I watch you take your final breath.”

  The moment I’m free of the building, I take a deep breath and tap out a message to Dax, letting him know about the encounter. His response is what I want. “We’ll get the sonofabitch.” Nodding to myself, I make my way to the truck and hop into the driver’s seat. Time to go back to Vera and talk her out of her stupid plan of sleeping pills and sex.

  Even as I weave through the streets, the idea takes hold of me, and by the time I’m pulling up to the apartment block, I’m hard. My cock aching for her, and I wonder if I can try to show her pleasure and find my own release just like a normal man.

  Pushing my way through the doors, I step into the waiting elevator and hit the button for the top floor. With every passing number, I wonder what she’s been up to. I have a feeling Vera’s been snooping, but I know there’s nothing I want to hide from her. Even if she’s gotten into my computer, there aren’t any secrets between us, not anymore.

  After I open the apartment door and step inside, I shut myself in and call out, “Vera?” but get no response in return. “Beauty?” I call to her again, but still, she doesn’t reply. My feet move quickly as panic sets in, and thoughts of my father doing something to her while I was in his office makes me race up the steps toward the bedroom.

  None of the other doors are open, and when I step into the bedroom, I find her on the bed, her body wrapped between the sheets, her back bare to my gaze as the material covers her pert ass.

  She’s naked.

  She’s asleep.

  And my zipper gets even tighter.

  “Vera?” I whisper as I move toward the bed. When I reach the mattress, I find a note on the pillow beside her. Picking it up, I scan her neat, scrawled handwriting.

  My Broken Prince,

  I want to try this. I want you, inside me. Even if I’m not completely lucid. I love you, Logan, and I trust you, no matter what.

  Your Sleeping Beauty

  “You bad fucking girl,” I mumble to myself while shaking my head. I cannot believe she did what I told her not to do. Thankfully, she didn’t leave the goddamned apartment. Setting the note on the nightstand, I go to her, tugging at the soft sheet, and it falls away, gifting me a view of her smooth, curvy body.

  Her ass is pert, the cheeks calling to me to touch her. Spine sneaking from her neck down to her beautiful behind. I want to lick my way from bottom to top. Her thighs are slightly splayed, one knee bent at a ninety-degree angle, offering me a glimpse of her smooth pussy.

  Her long, dark hair is fanned across the pillow, her pouty lips slightly parted as she breathes deeply. She’s completely and utterly at my mercy, and my cock happily throbs against the material of my jeans, wanting a taste of her tight, sweet cunt.

  This is pure torture.

  I shouldn’t do it.

  But I know nothing can stop me now.

  31

  Logan

  Tugging at my T-shirt, I pull it up over my head. My hands move quickly, unbuttoning my jeans and pushing them down my thighs. Keeping my boxer briefs on, I scoot onto the bed behind Vera.

  She’s warm and soft. I trail my fingers over her shoulder, reveling in the tiny goosebumps that rise on her skin. A small whimper falls from her lips as I make my way over her breast, taunting the nipple between my thumb and forefinger. I twist it, tugging until it hardens into a peak. My mouth waters to taste her, but I refrain for now. Instead, I move my hand to the other nipple, finding it pebbled, and I offer it the same attention as the first.

  Her body is perfect. Even with small, silver stretch marks in places, and the gentle nips of what I can only assume are scars from childhood, she still is utter perfection. I lower myself toward her thighs, tugging her gently until she’s on her back, her legs splayed, offering me a view of her smooth, yet perfectly trimmed cunt.

  The mound has a dark patch of hair, but the lips of her pussy are smooth, and I can’t stop my thumbs from tenderly touching them, feeling her warmth. I open her to my gaze, taking in the slightly wet, glistening pink of her entrance.

  I lean in, my nose inches from her as I take a long, deep inhale. Her scent is like a drug shot right into the vein. The high is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

  No noise comes from her mouth, but when I make contact with her pussy, my tongue lashing the smoothness, a gentle mewl tumbles from her, and I continue my ravaging of her tight, beautiful cunt.

  With every lap of her, I feel her wetness coating my tongue. I can’t stop, my eyes shut tight as I focus on her, only her. I don’t think about anything outside this moment of contact. My tongue darts into her, tasting the sweetness, and I’m lost, a man in the middle of an ocean, and all I want is her as my savior.

  Her body trembles and I can’t help but enjoy the way she’s responsive, but not coherent. The darkness clouds my mind as I think about taking her right now. Shaking my head, I taunt her with my index finger, teasing her entrance as I slide one digit into her tight pussy. The gentle pulses of her cunt feel like heaven when I slide in and out gently.

  “You’re so beautiful, Vera,” I tell her as I finger-fuck her while licking at her wetness that coats my tongue. The flavor bursting on my taste buds. My body aching, my cock so hard, so painfully rigid, I can’t focus on anything other than the need to come.

  Once her body has responded, her cunt wet and needy, I pull my finger out and kneel between her thighs. Her body limp and lifeless, waiting for me. I can’t stop myself from pushing down my boxers and taking my cock in hand. The silky-smooth flesh hard, engorged with desire for her. I fist myself before tapping the crown of my dick on her clit a few times, earning myself another gentle mewl from my sleeping beauty.

  The wetness of her slicks my cock, and I position myself at her entrance. The tight pussy wrapping around my shaft perfectly. She was made for me. Her body accepting my slight nudging as my hips move forward, driving my dick inch by slow and torturous inch into her.

  Soft, dick-jolting murmurs come from Vera as she takes me. Her body engulfing my cock as I slide into her wet heat. The pleasure that zips down my spine is inexplicable, and I must close my eyes, biting down on my tongue to keep from coming too soon. She feels too good. Too fucking perfect.

  Vera’s body shakes, her thighs tremble, and I watch her lips part on soft breaths and mewls. Her lashes flutter on her cheeks, dancing gently, and I wonder if she can hear me.

  “You’re a bad girl for doing this,” I tell her softly. I inch inside her, deeper, feeling her warmth envelop me as I finally sink balls-deep into her body. The feeling of her wetness is too much to bear as I look down at her slumbering body.

  I reach down, teasing her nipples as I pull out and slide back in. I make love to her as if she were fragile, as the tsunami of guilt and desire twirl together. I want her more than anything, yet I’m only here because she’s asleep. The need that burns inside me has turned me into a monster, yet my girl still loves me.

  “How can you love a monster?” I question he
r, knowing full well she can’t tell me. I continue my ministrations on her nipples, suckling one into my mouth while twisting and tweaking the other. My cock fucks into her pretty cunt, enjoying the pleasure that’s sparking every nerve in my body.

  I feel alive.

  I feel like a man.

  But still I know I’m a monster.

  “Logan,” Vera mumbles my name, and I realize she’s waking. I still all movement, my gaze snapping to hers. My mouth still latched on her hardened bud. “Please.” Her moan is fuel to the fire raging inside me. I’m fighting a war, and it always felt like I was doing it alone, but I’m not because Vera is here.

  “You’re a bad girl,” I tell her as my hips move back, and I slam inside her harder than before. The soft whoosh of breath tumbles from her mouth, and I swallow it with a kiss. Her tongue sleepily dances with mine, and her lips tilt slightly into a small smile.

  “Love you,” she slurs the words, her hands twitching as she awakens from her slumber, and I’m even more turned on. I didn’t think I would be, but the more she’s becoming coherent, the more I crave to claim her.

  “You’re mine.”

  She attempts a nod. I continue moving, pulling out, thrusting my hips against hers, and soon enough, she’s lifting herself to match my movements. We’re made for each other, fitting like two torn scraps brought together and held there as if we were never meant to be apart.

  Her cunt tightens, pulsing around my cock, and I realize now that she’s awake, she’s reaching her first climax. I move faster, deeper. I lift both her legs, her ankles draped over my shoulders as I piston into her.