2. The Shadow

THE SHADOW

I ’d been watching Ava for a long, long time.

And so far, I’d kept in the shadows.

I stayed far enough away so she’d never know I was here.

Keeping my distance. Staying smart. Never letting her see me.

Watching.

Waiting.

But she was a burning flame that I could not help but draw closer to.

Slowly, I crumbled down my boundaries. Broke all my own rules.

I installed cameras in her house and her car so I could see her up close.

I began following her from her campus to her house, weaving in between the students so I’d blend into the crowd.

Then I started breaking into her bedroom at night.

Just to watch her .

Just to be near her.

But last night, I fucked up.

I fucked up when I woke Ava up in her bedroom. I fucked up even more by letting her see me.

And worse, by touching her.

But I couldn’t help myself.

The way she melted against my body as I pressed her against the wall, she was just begging for me to corrupt her.

The flash of recognition in her eyes followed by that wide-eyed hunger just drew me in, had me mesmerized.

And when she gasped, dear God, the sound was like a siren’s call.

She wanted it. She wanted more.

She wanted me .

She pressed her hardened nipples against my chest.

She ground her pussy against my thigh.

She did that.

She started it.

I had no choice but to finish it.

To finish her.

It was stupid. Reckless. Careless.

It could ruin everything.

I couldn’t let her know I was still watching.

I couldn’t fuck up again.

But after last night, after she came around my fingers, I wasn’t sure I could pull back.

It was only a matter of time before my self-control snapped.

In my home office, my wall filled with screens, I traced her face on the live feed from one of the hidden cameras I’d installed in her bedroom as she flung the sheets off her and sat up bed.

Good morning, Ava.

The glass squeaked under my finger as she stretched out her arms for me and snatched her phone off her bedside table.

On another screen, a live duplicate of her phone screen showed Ava scrolling through her contacts to find the one marked Security Company.

A low thrum of annoyance buzzed in my chest, like an itch I couldn’t scratch, mixed with a wave of admiration.

My girl was smart.

She was going to try to capture me on the security cameras.

She dialed the number on her phone and I smirked.

Good thing I was smarter.

My phone rang.

I grinned as her number came up on my phone as Mine .

“Celtic Guard Security,” I answered, dropping my voice lower and talking in a slower voice than normal so she didn’t recognize it from last night. “Tommy speaking.”

Hell, I even threw in a heavy Northern accent, just for the fun of it.

“Oh, hello, hi.”

Her soft breathy voice tickling in my Bluetooth earpiece conjured up fantasies of her moaning in my ear, of her panting as I devoured her pussy.

It made me instantly hard and my cock pressed painfully in the constraints of my black pants.

I shifted in my large black leather office chair, palming myself through the thick material, a thrill going through me as I watched Ava pace her room in her underwear and sleep shirt as she spoke.

“This is Ava McKinsey,” she said, “from 17 Shrewsbury Road. We had a break-in last night and—”

“The alarms didn’t go off,” I said, cutting her off on purpose, pretending to be Tommy, the bored yet obstinate security guy. “I’m lookin’ at our system right now, Miss Ava.”

I loved the way her name felt on my tongue.

Ava. Ava, Ava, Ava.

Ava halted her pacing and spun on her heel, her braless tits jiggling against her thin t-shirt.

Fuck. They just begged to be played with. To be sucked into my mouth.

“Yes, well,” she muttered, running a hand through her messy bed head hair. “The alarms were obviously not working.”

She was annoyed, I could tell. I’d been watching her, studying her for so long that I knew every minute expression, every shift in her behavior, every minor shift in her tone.

She didn’t need to speak to telegraph everything she was thinking and feeling to me.

I knew her body and mind as if I were inside her.

“There’s no sign of a fault in our system, Miss Ava.” I repressed a smirk and traced my fingertip down her legs on the screen with my other hand.

“Fine. Whatever.” She let out a small tsk of frustration. “Can you send through the security footage from last night around two a.m. of all cameras on the McKinsey residence, please? ”

“Sure thing, Miss Ava. I’ll send it to the email in our file.”

“Cheers.”

She hung up on me and flopped herself onto her bed.

I chuckled as I set my earpiece aside.

It wasn’t too hard to install a bug on her phone on one of my nightly visits, one that would allow me to redirect any numbers she called.

I could block numbers too.

Like that fucking ex of hers.

My jaw clenched, the muscles twitching under my skin. I’d have to sort him out if he didn’t back off soon.

I logged into the Celtic Guard Security server that stored their security camera footage and found the sections where you could see me, a mere shadow and face turned away, slipping onto her balcony and into her bedroom.

I was careful.

I scrubbed the footage every night.

Last night would be no different.

Several more clicks later and I’d left a call log in Celtic Guard Security systems, registering Ava’s call.

Then I emailed her the doctored footage showing nothing in the camera over her balcony except for the wind brushing along the ivy.

It’d anger and confuse her when she saw it.

My girl would question herself like she so often did.

It pricked at my conscience, like a small thorn, but not overwhelming enough to make me wince or to change my mind.

I had no choice.

I had to remove all evidence of me.

She couldn’t know I was here .

She couldn’t know that I was visiting her every night as she slept.

On all my screens, I lined up the footage that I’d recorded last night.

I leaned back in my chair as the screen filled with the sight of Ava sleeping in her bed, my cock already straining at the anticipation.

In her sleep, Ava had kicked the duvet off. She lay on the slightly damp and wrinkled sheets with her knees drawn together and to the side and her chest twisted toward the ceiling.

Her arms were overhead and every once in a while her head would roll to the other side with pinched eyebrows and a murmur.

The camera zoomed into her hands above her head.

Her fingertips were curled in loosely and I imagined them tightening around my cock. So delicate and soft.

I’d have to urge her to squeeze harder. I’d have to show her that she wasn’t going to break me. Quite the opposite. That I wanted all the pain she could give me.

I unzipped my pants and took out my aching cock.

As the screen trailed down her arms, I marveled at how smooth and pale the inner side of her forearms were.

I wanted to rake my fingernails across her delicate skin just to see how pretty they’d look with red marks on them.

Her dark, silky locks were spread wildly over the white pillow, begging me to wrap it around my fingers.

I remember leaning in close to smell her hair, the soft scent of jasmine, touching the tips of her hair with my fingertips.

On-screen, it zoomed in on Ava’s lips, gently parted, plump, the color of wild raspberries. A witch’s cupid’s bow, an angel’s slight upturning at the corners, bottom lip pouty like a naughty child.

I stroked myself, imagining them parting over my dick, imaging how hot and wet and tight her throat would be.

How lovely she’d choke for me.

How pretty she’d look with tears running down her face.

The camcorder moved down her elegant neck, past the hint of sharp collarbones at the collar of her shirt, and down to those breasts.

Her t-shirt had ridden up to just below her perfect breasts.

I remembered how soft they were pressed up against me and a rush of blood surged into my cock, making me groan as I pumped myself.

The soft breeze from the cracked window urged her nipples to hardness and they strained against the thin fabric.

I imagined rolling those hard buds between my fingers, licking them, biting them.

I couldn’t do that. That was against the rules.

But I hadn’t been able to help myself.

On-screen my free hand reached out, tugging slightly on her t-shirt, giving her sweet little nipples a bit of soft friction.

In her sleep, Ava let out a dreamy moan on camera…

Fuck .

I rewound the tape and closed my eyes as I stroked my throbbing cock, listening to her moan again.

And again.

Oh, she’d moan for me. She’d moan so pretty when I grabbed a fistful of her jasmine hair and thrust myself between those pretty lips and deep down her throat.

The camera moved down her slim stomach, rising and falling softly with each breath she took. I wanted to bite at the soft flesh under her belly button. I wanted to pour hot wax over her smooth skin to watch it welt.

I leaned over to pump Molton Brown conditioner in my hand.

The smell of jasmine—the smell of Ava— filled my darkened office.

Maybe she’d notice the bottle was gone this morning.

But I didn’t care.

I rubbed Ava’s soft jasmine conditioner over my cock, my blood burning with heat.

Finally. Finally …

The camcorder focused on that spot between her legs.

She had on those maddening white panties with a little silk bow in the small of her back.

They were my second favorite pair: my favorite being her lacy white G-string she wore with her tight cream Armani jeans.

The camera zoomed in close enough to see the soft cotton cupping her pussy lips, the triangle at the press of her thighs slightly damp.

I imagined those panties dripping. Soaked to the point of being see-through, her pink folds swollen and eager for my mouth to worship them.

So wet, searing hot and soft when I pushed my cock inside.

I groaned as need coursed through me, my hand fisting my cock as I remembered how her pussy walls had milked my fingers, my cock aching to feel her around me.

I was so close to snapping, to breaking, my self-control fraying with every stroke.

Soon, my fantasies wouldn’t be enough.

When I broke, I’d hunt her down. I’d take her. And I’d claim her for my own, promises be damned.

My balls drew up, the muscles of my lower belly twitching.

Fuck self-control. I wanted to take, take, take .

I wanted to bite those rose-colored buds, suck them till Ava screamed.

I wanted to have her whenever I wanted, however I wanted.

I was out of my mind and I liked it.

I came, hot and heavy, body spasming against my will.

Ava’s name on my tongue, a close-up of her pussy on all six screens of my home office.

I sagged into the chair, which was slick with conditioner and sweat and cum, the pleasure fading and hot sticky guilt rushed in, my stomach twisting into tight knots.

Fuck. She wasn’t mine to take.

I was only supposed to stay in the shadows.

I made him a promise.

Even though he was now dead, I wasn’t allowed to claim Ava for myself. Right?

On the film Ava was murmuring in her sleep as I leaned in and blew my hot breath over her clenched thighs.

I pressed my palm over her on the screen and curled it into a fist.

Already my cock was rising again in desperate need .

I could feel the threads of my self-control pulling apart, fraying, snapping. Soon I wouldn’t be able to hold myself back.

I was in trouble.

So was Ava.

Because one day soon, I’d snap.

And I’d claim Ava for myself.