“Oh, fuck . . .” He sounded hoarse, as if someone had ripped the words from his chest. “So good. That’s it. That’s . . . Fuck!”

His pace picked up, relentless and totally beyond her control. He took her at will and played her body like an instrument he’d learned well. Sleep, danger, duty—none of it mattered in the face of her desire for this man.

He strained to get deeper inside her, and Mystery felt the trembling of his body under her own. Her sensitive flesh burned with need as he impaled her again, filling her so full she stretched wide to accommodate his girth. He managed to stimulate every bit of her channel with each frenzied push up and rapid retreat back. She tightened around him as climax coiled low in her belly, groaning softly into the rise of bliss.

“Axel . . .” She wanted to reach out and touch him, steady herself, grab onto him and never let go. But as he had from the first moment they’d met, he held her safely in his grip and he would take care of her.

“Come for me, princess. Let yourself go and give everything to me.”

No way she could refuse that.

With his next stroke, the gathering sensations inside her converged. Blood rushed. Her heart roared. Her entire body felt alive as he swelled inside her. He groaned, possessing her deeper than ever. And in one dazzling moment, she released the entire torrent of need into his keeping. The sensations ripped through her body and seized her heart, melting and remolding her. Changing her.

From this moment on, she belonged to Axel. Even if he didn’t want her tomorrow, Mystery knew she’d be in love with him forever.

Chapter Fifteen

AXEL woke a few hours later to sun slanting through the windows, a chill in the air nipping at his nose, and Mystery curled around him trustingly in sleep.

He glanced around the bed and found all the scarves and belts he’d used to restrain her last night, and the pleasure had been beyond intense. Something more like cataclysmic. Moving. Life-altering.

Wouldn’t Thorpe be saying “I told you so” now? Yep, and Axel didn’t mind at all. He simply held Mystery close against him, reveling in the warmth of her sleep-soft body.

The buzzing of his phone on the nightstand startled him, and he frowned, wondering what the hell time it was. The sun looked high in the sky and he’d slept half the morning away. Shit.

He plucked the phone off the nightstand, extricating himself from Mystery, and sat up, staring at the device.

Seeing the name on the display, he pressed the button to accept the call instantly. “Stone. What do you have for me?”

“Oh, you finally answer the phone, Sleeping Beauty?”

Axel didn’t ask what Stone meant. He’d bet that if he looked through the record of his missed calls, he’d find more than a few. “It was a really late night getting here and making sure we were secure enough to turn in. Did you sort through the footage leading up to Mystery’s hotel room?”

“Yep. I got nothing usable for you. Whoever did it knew they were being filmed. They wore a hat with a wide brim and a trench coat, along with sunglasses, a wig . . . the works. The only thing I can tell you is that whoever left the picture is female. She entered through a service door at the back of the hotel and exited the same way, walking out of the courtyard, onto the street. No vehicle or license plate to trace. I can’t tell under the layers of shit how old the woman is or discern any of her facial features. She’s got her hands in her pockets, so I can’t see any identifying marks or jewelry. The camera angle hid her shoes. I’m guessing she’s a hotel employee or an actress looking for a few extra bucks, but no way of knowing for sure.”

“Sounds like a dead fucking end.”

“It’s looking that way, too. Since I had a little extra time this morning, I called the hotel manager. He’s spoken with the staff on duty then. No one remembers seeing her. So she either blended in or timed it well.”

“Fuck,” Axel muttered, not wanting to wake Mystery. “Any idea whose key card the woman used to access the hotel room?”

“The housekeeping manager—a man—reported his master card missing from his desk about two hours before anyone let themselves into Mystery’s room. He left about forty-five minutes before that photo appeared in her room. There’s footage of him driving out of the employee lot and everything.”

“So . . . nothing.”

“Nope. Sorry.”

“Thanks for trying, man.”

“No worries.” Stone hesitated, and Axel knew exactly where this conversation was headed. “I’d like to talk to you about Misty.”

“She told me last night that you wanted to talk. I’m not opposed, and technically she’s no longer my submissive, but if you’re serious, I’d really appreciate it if you’d have a chat with Thorpe about your intentions. I’ll be back in a few days, then we can sit down and work everything out.”

Stone heaved an impatient sigh. Obviously, he didn’t like it but he didn’t have much choice. “Sure.”

“It’s for her benefit. She’s skittish.”

“I know. It’s the only reason I didn’t tell you to blow it out your ass. Because if you wanted to stand between me and Misty, well . . . the twenty-two months I spent in prison for my fun white-collar crime taught me two things: That Uncle Sam has no sense of humor, and how to kill a man with my bare hands.”

Axel rolled his eyes. He did not have time for Stone’s posturing now. If the dude wanted to impress upon him how much he wanted Sweet Pea, message received.

“I’ll call you when I’m back at Dominion.” And before Stone could answer, Axel hung up.

Then he placed a call to Callie. The woman answered on the first ring. “Hey, Axel. All okay? How’s Mystery?”

“Sleeping,” he murmured. “Do you happen to know if she left her phone behind?”

“Actually, I found it on the floor of Thorpe’s old bedroom last night. I stashed it in his office. Do you want me to send it somewhere?”

Axel didn’t think they could afford to stay at this remote house for more than twenty-four hours before the bad guys—whoever they were—closed in. Even if Callie overnighted the device, he doubted they’d be spending that much time on this farm. “No. Just tuck it away. I’ll take care of everything else.”

“Will do.”

“You all right? You don’t sound like your usual chipper self this morning,” he asked with concern. “Morning sickness still bothering you?”

“More like morning, noon, and night sickness. Ugh. I’ll be so glad to get past my first trimester. I’m praying it gets better.”

“I hope so, but I’m sure Thorpe and Sean are spoiling you silly.”

“Completely.”

Axel heard the sigh in her voice and smiled. Callie deserved happiness. So did Thorpe, for that matter. And Sean seemed like a good guy, so if those two made her happy, then he was thrilled for them.

“Good deal. Talk to you later.”

“Bye!”

They rang off, and Axel eased from the bed and shoved on his jeans. He hit the head down the hall and brushed his teeth, then jogged down the stairs for some coffee.

In the kitchen, he spotted Heath sitting alone at the table with an iPad and a cup of brew he’d probably pushed aside some time ago.

“Morning,” he said, banging around the cabinets for a cup.

“Your four a.m. rendezvous was only slightly quieter than last night at Dominion. Can’t you two keep it down?” He sounded somewhere between sour and pissed off.

“We tried.” Axel shrugged. “Protecting your delicate ears wasn’t my number one priority. Where’s Mystery’s aunt?”

“She ran to pick up her dry cleaning and hit the post office to mail off some bills before her big mission trip.”