Un-Hate Me (Enemies to Lovers Romance) (DOM for Hire Book 3) Read online

  In that case, I didn’t even know the girls’ names. I had only gotten a request from Liam to come help him deal with a bastard by the name of Sean Price. The fucker had nearly kidnapped Kelly, Kelly’s child and her friend, but a well-aimed bullet to the skull ended that motherfucker’s life. And after that…

  I disappeared. I wasn’t needed for anything else, so I made my exit. Didn’t leave much of a trace.

  It was what I was good at. The rest didn’t matter.

  Sometimes I crave a “normal” life.

  But what the fuck was that normalcy? This was what I knew. This was what I was good at. This is what I devoted my life to. Anything else was secondary or a distraction. And feelings were certainly a distraction. Distractions that certainly crept up from time to time.

  I packed my bags and made my way to the nearest airplane runway where, as Scott had promised, a plane was waiting to take me back to Connecticut. Just before I got on the plane, though, I checked my texts again. I had a new text from a 305 number I did not recognize.

  “Hi, Burke. My name is Emily Lorne. A year ago, you saved my life. I would love the opportunity to thank you in person. I also have a lucrative job for you, very quick and easy. Can you come to Miami to discuss?”

  That was not what I expected when I had read Liam’s text. Then again, it probably wasn’t fair to expect anything. He’d only said that he hoped it didn’t cause any problems, and while clients never had the fucking faintest idea what made for an easy job and what didn’t—nor did they often understand the definition of “lucrative” to us—it was in Miami. And if all went well, I could have a great time in Miami. Always loved my time there.

  The only thing I’d have to do was make sure I got my nuts off before I saw this Emily Lorne. If she looked anything like the girl I remembered from a year ago, she was a smoking hot babe. A little older than I was used to, but that wouldn’t stop me. Hot was hot.

  But a client was a client, and while Liam and Scott were free to do whatever the fuck they wanted, I was not. I had to find a beach babe that was submissive, fuck her brains out, and then meet this Emily gal.

  “Pilot,” I said when I got on the plane. “Change of plans. Make way for Miami.”

  No need to hope that this isn’t a repeat of Scott and Liam.

  I’m better than that.

  I will not fuck Emily, just do whatever her job is.

  …and I’ll bet that’s what Scott and Liam said too.

  Chapter 3: Emily

  “Will be there at 8 p.m. tonight. Tell me where to meet you.”

  When that text message came across my phone, I suddenly got really nervous. I was going to…

  To, uh, what, exactly? Ask him to have sex with me so that I could have a baby? Tell him to jerk off into a cup at a sperm donor center so that I could be inseminated?

  I had been so hell-bent on getting pregnant and hopefully doing it with Burke that I’d failed to consider any of the logistics. I didn’t know how much to pay him. I knew I’d paid Liam about a hundred grand to get Sean off my back the first time and had forwarded fifty thousand for him to “find” Kelly the first go-around, but this wasn’t exactly dangerous stuff. Well, not in the traditional sense, anyway.

  I didn’t even know what I would offer to pay him other than that it was going to be a shitload of money, enough to make it impossible for him to say no. I was thinking a couple million, but it wasn’t like there was an industry standard for “give me your sperm and sign away parental rights to me.”

  I felt like the equal of someone who would have asked for a meeting with the President of the USA, gotten it by some miracle, and had just then realized they had no plans for what they would actually say.

  But all the same…holy shit. That stuff would probably take care of itself. I was finally going to meet the man. I was finally going to have a conversation with the guy who had quite literally saved my life. It was no exaggeration to say that without him, at best, Charlotte would be missing forever, and at worst, Sean would have come back and killed both of us.

  If nothing else, I just wanted to see him and thank him for everything he did. Yes, I knew he’d give some glib line about “just doing my job,” but I didn’t care. He’d see how much it mattered to me.

  And maybe when that happened, I’d be able to persuade him.

  It was ten minutes before eight p.m. at a high-rise bar we’d agreed to meet at in downtown Miami, and I was already on my third drink. I was trying like hell not to get myself so drunk that I made an ass of myself, but seeing as how I’d gotten there an hour earlier to make sure nothing got in the way, and that I wasn’t even trying to get drunk, it just so happened my nervous sips turned into two and a quarter drinks finished.

  I’d literally spent the entire day after Burke had messaged me his interest getting ready. I’d taken the longest shower of my life—and I fucking loved a good shower. I tried on about a half-dozen outfits. I never acted like this for any man, but when you knew the man you were about to meet was literally going to—hopefully—agree to give you his DNA, well, the stakes got raised just a tad. I couldn’t believe I was actually going to ask this man to do this.

  And now, as I sat there, anxiously waiting for the clock to strike eight—knowing he would appear on the dot—I tried to remember what I could.

  Frankly, it was all kind of a blur. I saw him from a distance, and the whole thing had gone down so fast it was impossible to have picked out particular details. He was bald then. He also had a thick black beard. White skin.

  But that was literally it. I think he was wearing camo that day, something that wouldn’t repeat itself today. Though maybe I was wrong? Maybe a guy like Burke was so focused on his job that he had no idea how to dress for the real world.

  It was mostly a feeling rather than a memory that I was left with, which was sort of problematic. I had to find a way to calm myself, but biology and the culmination of many things were making that tough.

  Earlier today I called my OBGYN, Rachel Needham, on standby.

  “Dr. Needham, just confirming—”

  “Yes, Emily, I’m still here,” she said in the kind of patient but annoyed tone that all doctors had utilized at some point. “I will be here ready to help as soon as I am needed.”

  “Great, sorry to bug you.”

  “No worries.”

  It was no worry because I was paying her a lot. I wasn’t going to go broke setting this up—I was fortunate to be able to say it would take an awful lot for that to become a real problem—but boy was I certainly spending a lot of money just to say I was having a kid. And the funny thing was, the most expensive part of this deal wasn’t even a guarantee to happen—it was just a clincher I had in my back pocket. Nor was it something that would involve the exchange of any money, but I knew some people’s jaw would drop if they heard I’d given it away for a kid.

  I looked down at my watch. Two minutes to go. Still no sign of Burke. I tried to tell myself that was no problem, but maybe he was also a guy who liked to arrive to things early—which would have meant that he was not coming at all.

  What if this doesn’t work? You know he’s committed to the DOM lifestyle and it’s assumed doesn’t even want a family. You know the rules: No friends, no family, no commitments…

  Which is why you’re doing this IVF style. He signs away parental rights, has no obligations, and gets millions of dollars out of it. What’s the problem?

  The problem is that—

  That he’s here.

  I gulped and felt a flood of excitement course through my body when I saw him. He didn’t flinch when he saw me, but we both just knew that it was the other. It was one of those instantaneous connection deals where you didn’t have to say anything, whether because of body language or some other reason, it was just readily apparent that Burke and I knew the other the instant we saw each other.

  And let me tell you, seeing this man up close, compared to seeing him in the snow-filled land of Colorado, gave me a much
better look at him. And boy was he fucking hot.

  Yes, I was right. He had a beautiful head of hair and no beard this time. He also had a scar running across his brow that I hadn’t noticed before. It wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world, but it also wasn’t something you’d miss standing this close to him. I wanted to know more about the scar, but I figured it was better to ask more appropriate, casual questions before possibly opening up a Pandora’s Box of a war story.

  He wore a white button-down shirt with black pants, a pretty standard look. But more than any physical description I could give, the thing that I could say most was that he just had a presence to him. I didn’t know how to define it, because it was sort of this intangible quality to him, but it was like everywhere he went, he knew he could do whatever he wanted. No one was going to stand up to him, but he also wasn’t going to make people cower. He was just present, unafraid but also not arrogantly pushing himself on others.

  He also had a hard expression on his face, like he’d just come from a war zone. Maybe that was literal. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know the answer. But the hard expression certainly played a part in his attraction, for he was likely not a man that suffered fools.

  “Burke?” I said.

  “Emily,” he said, a sort of tone of…interest, perhaps, in his voice? Authority, certainly. Not desperation or concern by any stretch of the imagination. “Fortunate that you to live in Miami. It’s an easy spot to vacation in.”

  “Oh, yes, I’m happy to host here, beautiful place with beautiful people.”

  Burke nodded. I went over and, well, awkwardly hugged him. It was nice to feel his rigid, muscular body. There was just something so powerful and so strong about him beyond just the muscles.

  Unfortunately, Burke didn’t seem like the hugging type. Or maybe he just didn’t know me well enough. Either way, I let the hug drop and nodded for him to take a seat. OK, well, this is off to a swell start. Just remember what you need.

  “Nice to see you,” he said. “Let me get a drink.”

  Weirdly enough, he didn’t even have to hail the bartender down. She more or less came to him the instant he took his seat. Like I said, his presence had some weird effects on his surroundings, and that included the people close to him. Burke got what looked like a Manhattan a moment later, then turned and faced me.

  But when he faced me, he also looked me up and down. And he seemingly made no bones about doing so. I remembered how Liam had said he never slept with clients. Perhaps Burke was different?

  Or, technically, you don’t have a deal yet. So maybe he’s not in client-provider mode yet. Maybe he would…

  Would you even need a contract if it just happened naturally? If—

  Oh my God, Emily, don’t be that girl.

  “You know, first, I have to thank you for what you did for me back in Colorado.”

  “What I did?”

  “You saved my life.”

  It was entirely predictable what his response to that was.

  “Just doing my job. Have to save a beautiful woman when I can,” he said with a smirk.

  A beautiful woman.

  Flattered by his simple matter-of-fact statement.

  Truly, the most dom of the DOMs I had met. I guess Liam had been right in his description of him.

  “Well, you didn’t just save a beautiful woman, you saved Kelly’s baby and me,” I said. “So, thank you, Burke.”

  He shrugged. I really didn’t just fall for men like this. Arguably the reason I didn’t have a kid at this point was that I was so picky that I’d never given myself the chance to fall in love hard enough to have kids.

  I guess a combination of age, ticking clock, and truly having met the most attractive man I ever had in my life made even simple acts like a mere shrug seem so suggestive.

  “I suppose I’ll accept your thanks,” he said. “The situation was never out of control. Your ex was acting erratic and irrational. He never saw me hiding and waiting to take him out. I’ve had much more difficult challenges than that.”

  “Well, it was the most difficult moment for me,” I said, looking down.

  I felt warm inside. Burke seemed to display no reaction. Now I was becoming determined to get something, anything out of him. This wasn’t helping matters.

  Nor was my attraction to him or perhaps it was the booze.

  “I’m glad I could help,” he said.

  He took a sip of his drink. His eyes never left mine, and the intensity of them had a way of preventing me from looking elsewhere. But all the same, he didn’t say anything or do anything with that gaze. It was like he enjoyed having me captive with his eyes, there was a certain pleasure to be derived from the very fact that I couldn’t do anything but submit to his gaze.

  And heaven knew what he would make me submit to when we were in private.

  But this could not be the loop of the night. I could not flirt, have him pull away, get me more turned on by his distance, and have the cycle repeat. I just had to get right to the point.

  “So, I suppose you want to hear my offer.”

  “Yes, please.”

  It was the first time in the course of the short encounter Burke had even hinted at, let alone actually shown, any emotion.

  “I know this will be a really odd request, but just hear me out.”

  Burke didn’t flinch. I looked around. No one was listening. The bartender was elsewhere. It was now or never.

  “So umm…essentially… in short I want to buy your… sperm. I know it sounds nuts but I really want a child and my options are bleak. I’ll pay you five million dollars. You don’t have to do anything but look at some porn, jerk off in a cup, and let me handle the rest. I want a child and a family before it’s too late, but I don’t want the child’s father to be just anyone. I want it to be a real man. I see what Kelly has with Liam as the father of their kids. I want the same thing, but I know you may not want to commit to being a dad. That’s fine. I…”

  Burke still hadn’t flinched. I knew I was rambling. I sighed.

  “That’s…that’s the job.”

  Burke nodded, took a sip of his drink again, and finally turned his gaze elsewhere. His expression didn’t seem to change, but I finally felt released from the lock that his eyes had put upon me. It felt…odd. Like I’d been held tense, and now I felt too free and bloody vulnerable. He must think I am nut job.

  Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, who the hell really knew at this point, Burke looked back at me just a couple of seconds later. And this time, though, his eyes didn’t look stoic. In fact, he looked confused.

  “You seriously want to pay me five million fucking dollars to jack off into a cup?”

  Chapter 4: Burke

  Is this chick for real?

  Holy fuck.

  I’d had marriage proposals, I’d had overt sexual advances, I’d had bonuses, I’d had just about everything you could ever imagine as a DOM from women as young as eighteen to as old as in their early sixties. I’d had women all but dry hump me in public, I’d had women cling to my ankles, I’d even once had a woman grab me literally by the balls and demand that I fuck her.

  I’d thought I’d seen everything thrown my way, and every single time to this point, I’d always said no. I frankly had no reason to believe that this time would be any fucking different. As attractive as Emily Lorne was—and damn right, she was certainly fucking hot—my answer should be a solid no.

  And yet…

  I don’t know how the fuck Emily Lorne had pulled it off, but she had managed to completely catch me off guard. It was a feeling I didn’t experience very often, if at all. And then a second feeling that I didn’t get very often also entered my mind—uncertainty.

  On the one hand, she was hot as fuck. For a woman in her late thirties, she looked about a decade younger. She had a marvelous tan that accentuated her curves, and her long blonde hair had me all riled up. A part of me wanted her to just shut the fuck up about a potential deal so I could drag he
r to the nearest hotel room, slam her against the wall, rip her clothes off, and just fuck her until sunrise. She’d have her pussy throbbing all over my cock, humming to the tune of an orgasm unlike she’d ever had in her life.

  And that would have been the gentle version of what I could do. I’d heard people say before I was a DOM’s dom, and let’s just say that I wasn’t ashamed to have that description given to me. If anything, I was honored, though it wasn’t something that I bragged about or wore with pride on my chest. The only reason I didn’t let myself get so carried away as to lose sight of what I would do to Emily was that I wasn’t going to do anything against her will, obviously.

  But I had a feeling from the way she was reacting to my presence, let alone to my words or actions, that there wasn’t likely to be any boundaries that I would have to avoid crossing.

  And so, yeah, there was definitely a part of me that wanted to just pretend the words “five million dollars” had never come out of those perfect lips, to take her, fuck her brains out, both agree on a great one night stand, and have that as my gift to her for saving her life…or something like that.

  But god-fucking-damn.

  The other hand was one that had a serious weight on it, and that was that she wanted my fucking cum to make a baby I would never see or know. I couldn’t fuck her without that thought in the back of my mind. Even if I wrapped it up in a condom…it wouldn’t work.

  And, well, the thought of having a child…the thought of having that which I had always…

  No, I didn’t need to go there right now. I could not go there right now.

  The bottom line was, there was nothing that could kill my arousal faster than the realization that what I wanted—a chance to act out my dom side—was very different than what she wanted—a chance for her to extract as much cum out of me as possible so I could give her a child.