Fearless: (McIntyre Security Bodyguard Series - Book 2) Read online

  “Yeah. It was nice to see him. We’re having lunch tomorrow.”

  “I’m sure he misses you. Now come with me, young lady, and help me cut my birthday cake.”

  The party goes on for a couple more hours, until everyone has eaten and drunk their fill. A couple of Shane’s employees collect all the donated toys and pack them up to be sent to The Children’s Hospital. At nine-thirty, I go looking for Shane and spot him at the bar with Mack and Cooper.

  I’m heading their way when a woman I’ve never seen before walks up to Shane, leans into him and kisses him on the cheek. I stop dead in my tracks and watch them, feeling flushed all of a sudden. She’s smiling at him as she fingers the lapel of his suit jacket. Mack and Cooper make their excuses and walk away, leaving Shane and the woman alone.

  She’s beautiful, a tall brunette, maybe in her early thirties. She’s wearing a nicely cut gray skirt suit with a cream-colored silk shell and a pearl choker. Her dark hair is long and wavy, falling well past her shoulders, pulled back in a loose ponytail. With her stiletto heels, she looks tall and regal, definitely professional.

  Shane casually removes her hand from the lapel of his jacket. Seeing him with another woman – it bothers me. My heart starts racing, and I feel hot. When she says something to him, he shakes his head no. Then she reaches out and runs a manicured fingernail painted a deep red down the center of his chest, following the path of his dark tie. From the way she’s touching him, stroking him, it’s obvious she knows him very well. Intimately. I’m sure of it. And she’s practically undressing him with her eyes. Is this one of his former... what? Dates? Girlfriends? Lovers? She’s so polished and urbane, just looking at her makes me feel gauche. If she’s typical of the women he’s dated, then Tyler was right. I’m not his usual type at all.

  Shane glances my way, and our gazes lock across the room. For a moment, I see a flare of some strong emotion on his face, and my stomach drops. What was that? Panic? He starts to move in my direction, but the brunette grabs his arm and pulls him back to her. She’s talking to him, but his attention is on me. When he turns back to face her, and I feel sick.

  Tyler’s words come back to me in a rush. Tigers don’t change their stripes overnight, you know.

  I turn, needing to get away, and run smack into Cooper.

  He reaches out to steady me. “Where are you off to, honey?”

  Not trusting myself to speak, I shake my head and try to pull away from him. He tightens his hold on me and looks over my head in Shane’s direction.

  “I need to go.” My heart is racing, and I need to get out of here before I implode.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Cooper says, holding onto me. His gaze is still on Shane and that woman.

  “Who is she?” I can’t help asking.

  “Beth – ”

  “Just tell me, who is she? Do you know?”

  “Her name is Alanna Cox. She’s an assistant district attorney here in Chicago.”

  “They were an item, weren’t they? I can tell by the way she’s touching him.”

  Cooper frowns. “Honey – ”

  “Please, just let me go. I need to get out of here, Cooper. Now.”

  “Beth.” I freeze when I feel Shane’s hands on my shoulders, squeezing them. “Time to go.”

  That’s not a request. I swallow hard and glance up at Cooper because I’m just not ready to face Shane.

  Shane turns me toward him, but he’s looking over my head at Cooper. “Wrap this thing up, will you? I’m taking Beth home.”

  Cooper nods. “Go on. I’ll handle things here.”

  “We can’t just leave,” I say. “We have guests. We have to say good-bye.”

  “We’re leaving, Beth,” Shane says, steering me toward the exit.

  It’s dark outside the pub, and the night air is cool on my bare arms. I look down at my beautiful dress, and the anticipation I’d felt earlier about Shane undressing me after the party dissipates in a flash. I shiver.

  Instead of immediately hailing a cab, as I’d expected him to, Shane backs me up against the brick wall and leans into me so we’re face to face. “Her name is Alanna Cox.” His breath is warm and spiced with fine whisky.

  I’m shaking now, and I chalk my reaction up to the night air, even though I know that’s not the real reason. “I know what her name is.” I sound sullen and sulky, but I can’t help it. My ego took a crushing blow when I watched Shane with that woman. Why would he want to be with me, when he could have a woman like that? Someone worldly and sophisticated.

  “You dated her.”

  He nods. “Yes.”

  “You slept with her.”

  For a split second, the corner of his mouth curls in amusement, but he wisely loses his grin fast. “Yes.”

  At least he’s honest.

  “She’s very beautiful,” I say.

  “Yes, she is.”

  At his ready admission, my heart feels like it’s being squeezed in a vice. My chest aches.

  “Breathe.” His hands cradle my hot face, and he strokes my jawline with this thumbs. “I’ve dated a lot of women, Beth. I can’t change the past.”

  I know I’m being melodramatic. It would be stupid of me to think he’d lived the life of a monk before we met.

  His eyes narrow. “You think I wasn’t burning up with jealousy when we encountered your ex-boyfriend at Clancy’s? You think I didn’t want to beat the living shit out of him right then and there, for the simple fact that he’d once touched your body? That he’d almost had you? Because I did. I wanted to beat the hell out of him. You think I don’t understand jealousy? I do. I know firsthand because I choke on it when I think of you with someone else.”

  I’m mortified when hot tears spill down my cheeks. My throat tightens painfully. “I don’t want anyone else.”

  “Neither do I. You’re stuck with me.”

  Shane pulls me against his chest and wraps me in his strong arms, one hand rubbing my back. “God, I want you so badly I can’t think straight sometimes. Beth, honey, I can’t change my past, but I can promise you my future, because you are my future. The past doesn’t matter. Even if I’d dated a thousand women in the past, it doesn’t matter. Only you matter.”

  He takes off his suit jacket and drapes it over my shoulders. Then he leads me to the curb and opens the rear passenger door of an available cab. He follows me into the cab and buckles my seatbelt as he gives the driver our address.

  We don’t talk in the cab, neither one of us wanting to share our personal, and very private, business with a complete stranger. He has hold of my right hand and refuses to relinquish it even for a second. Not even when we arrive at his apartment building, and he pulls his wallet out of his pocket one-handed and swipes his credit card to pay the fare.

  We walk in through the front lobby, and Shane uses a key to summon the private penthouse elevator.

  Inside the elevator, he pulls me into his arms and kisses my forehead. “Thank you for a wonderful birthday party. The location, the cake, the toys for the hospital... it was perfect.”

  I smile at him, but don’t say anything as we ride up to the our floor. I’m still too shaky.

  “Do I get to unwrap my best present now?” he whispers in my ear.

  He slips his jacket off my shoulders and slings it over his own shoulder. Then he turns me to face the mirrored wall of the elevator car. Surprised at his turn of mind, I meet his very heated expression in the mirror.

  His hands come around my waist, and he interlocks his fingers over my belly. “This is a very pretty little dress you’re wearing, but I’m curious to see what’s beneath it.”

  I chuckle. “You already know what’s beneath it.”

  He grins. “That’s why I’m curious.”

  When his hand slips underneath the hem of my dress, I feel flushed for the second time that evening, although this time it’s for a completely different reason.

  Chapter 30

  “Shane, are you sure about this?” There’s a ve
ry sizeable and insistent erection poking me in my lower back. “What if someone comes up?”

  Shane consults an app on his phone and starts tapping buttons. “No one’s home. And I disabled the cameras in the elevator and the foyer.”

  I’m torn. I would die of mortification if someone walked in on us... but maybe that’s why I’m also so excited. Maybe I’m a bit of an exhibitionist deep down inside. “But what if someone does try to come up?”

  “I’ll disable the elevator once we’re upstairs. No one can override my command – except for Cooper, and he knows better.” Shane leans down, and I feel his lips in my hair. His warm breath caresses my ear as he whispers to me. “Earlier you said I could unwrap my gift when we got home, and we’re home. Besides, you’re wearing a garter belt. You know what that does to me.”

  I do know. The last time I wore one, the night of the hospital benefit, he was insatiable. A shiver wracks my body.

  I watch the mirrored wall as his hands slowly skim down the sides of my torso, pausing to linger at the sides of my breasts. His hands reach around me to cover my breasts, and he leans down to press his warm lips to the side of my neck. He knows how sensitive I am there. His tongue darts out to taste my skin.

  “Watch us,” he says, his gaze meeting mine in the mirror.

  His hands continue their downward journey, following the curve of my torso, past my waist, over my hips, to the hemline of my dress. He begins lifting my dress, very slowly, exposing inch after inch of my stockinged thighs, until the stocking clips are visible. I swear he growls.

  He continues, lifting my dress achingly slowly, until it’s bunched up at my waist, exposing my black silk panties and the matching garter belt.

  “Oh, fuck,” he groans, his gaze locked on our reflections in the mirror. “Those panties need to come off.”

  At his words, an arrow of desire shoots through my body, hitting that aching spot between my legs. I start trembling, and he tightens his hold.

  He kisses my neck, just below my ear. “Do you want me?”

  My voice is little more than a breath. “Yes.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  I nod, stunned by the hunger I see in his eyes.

  “Say it.”

  “Yes, I trust you.”

  Shane reaches between my legs and takes hold of my panties. Gripping them tightly, he rips them open along both side seams, then tugs them off and sticks the torn material in his pocket. Holding up my dress with one hand, he snakes his other hand around to my front and covers my quivering belly. The air feels cool on my body, but his hand on my belly is like a brand, hot and scorching.

  “I don’t know what I did to deserve you,” he breathes into my ear.

  I melt back into him, and he catches me, chuckling softly.

  I do trust Shane. He has a way of making things all right for me. I know he’ll be there to catch me when I fall, and to help me cope when I panic, like I did tonight at the tavern. So, when he says the cameras are off and no one can walk in on us, I believe him. Still, the thought that someone might walk in on us is oddly tantalizing.

  My knees almost give out when Shane slips his index finger between the puffy lips of my sex and dips the tip of it into my opening. He nudges my legs apart with his hand, and then his finger is there again, teasing my opening, rimming me and sliding through my slick arousal. When his finger migrates north to my clitoris, the torment begins in earnest. My legs are shaking now, and I don’t know how much longer I can stay upright. I just want to sink to the lush, burgundy carpet at our feet and open my legs for him.

  I startle when the elevator pings and the doors open. Shane sweeps me up into his arms and steps into the dimly-lit foyer.

  “Lights twenty-five percent,” he says, and the ornate, crystal chandelier hanging overhead brightens a little, casting soft, fractured rays of golden light on the foyer walls.

  Shane kisses me, his mouth hot and hungry, as he crosses the foyer to the mahogany table along the wall. Without breaking our kiss, he shoves a vase of fresh flowers aside and sits me down, bare bottomed, on the cold marble tabletop. He pulls my bottom to the edge of the table and spreads my thighs wide, then drops down onto his knees. I cry out when he flicks my clitoris with the tip of his tongue.

  He proceeds to feast on me. There’s no other way to describe it. He’s like a starving man let loose on a banquet. Greedy and demanding, he licks and tastes and sucks every inch of me. My thighs tremble and my hips rock against his firm tongue, savoring every lick, every lash. I know I’m wailing like a wildcat now, but I can’t help it. The pleasure is so sharp, so intense. I gasp when he pushes a finger inside me. He finds the tender spot unerringly and strokes me methodically, until only moments later my belly is contracting and I’m panting and whimpering through an orgasm.

  Shane shoots to his feet and unfastens his belt and his slacks. He shoves down his clothing and steps between my thighs, guiding his erect penis to my opening. I’m mesmerized by the sight of his erection in his hand, thick and flushed. A thick vein ridges his length, from the base of his cock to the fat crown, which is already leaking fluid in anticipation. He pulls me closer and presses inside me. I gasp as the head of his cock pushes inside, stretching me. We both watch as he sinks into me.

  His chest heaving, he catches my gaze. “Okay?”

  I nod, then close my eyes as I wallow in the feel of him penetrating me, stretching me almost to the point of pain. His cock is big, and it always takes a bit of getting used to at the beginning. I exhale as he continues to sink slowly and steadily inside me, withdrawing, then sinking back in, continuing this retreat and surge until he’s fully seated, until I can feel the dark, wiry hairs at the root of his cock brushing against with my pale curls.

  I open my eyes and realize he’s still wearing his shirt. I want to see his chest, to put my hands on him, so I start unbuttoning it, and it lands in the floor at his feet.

  Running my hands along his broad shoulders and down his arms, I stroke the contours of his muscles and caress his tanned skin. My fingers skate down his forearms to his wrists. He’s gripping both of my thighs, holding them open so he can get closer, and I clutch his wrists.

  He begins moving in earnest, thrusting hard and deep as he takes his pleasure. His expression is tense, his jaw muscles clenched and his nostrils flaring wide from exertion. He reaches for my clitoris and rubs tiny, firm circles, determined to make me come again.

  “I can’t!” I gasp, trying to pull his finger away. “I already – ”

  “Again,” he grunts, as he pistons in and out of me. “I want to feel your body clamp down on mine.”

  I’m so overly-sensitized right now, I don’t think I could possibly come again. Shane growls, then reaches for the hem of my dress and pulls it up over my head and tosses it aside. He strips off my bra and then his mouth is on my breast, hot and wet as he tongues the tip of my nipple, making it draw up tight as a little pebble. Pleasure shoots from my breast down to my womb, exploding in a bright burst of exquisite pleasure. When I come, he’s there to drink in my high-pitched cries. It takes me a moment to realize he’s coming with me, shoving himself deep inside me as he releases into me.

  I fall forward and lay my head on his shoulder as his thrusting slows, becoming gentle and coaxing. I’m barely coherent when he pulls up his clothing and carries me into the apartment.

  I’m drifting, half asleep, when I feel a warm, wet cloth between my legs. Utterly exhausted, I groan and try to roll over in bed to cuddle with my pillow.

  I’m met with a low chuckle as firm hands roll me back. “Hold still for just a minute longer.”

  Soon the cleansing cloth is gone, and the sheets and blanket are pulled up to cover me. Sometime later, I feel the mattress dip as Shane slides into bed beside me. His skin is warm and damp, and he smells of soap.

  “You showered,” I groan, feeling sticky. “That’s not fair.”

  He chuckles. “You could have joined me in the shower.”

  “T
oo tired. You wiped me out.”

  Shane spoons behind me, wrapping his arm around my waist. “Go to sleep. I’ll give you a bubble bath in the morning. How’s that?”

  The last thing I remember is the feel of his lips in my hair. “Best birthday ever. Thank you, sweetheart.”

  It’s his birthday, but I feel like I’m the one who got the best present. I smile. “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter 31

  “Hey, you!” Lia says, stepping out onto the penthouse balcony, where I’m sitting with my late morning cup of coffee and my new J.D. Robb novel that I technically stole from Clancy’s. “Thought you should know... my brother is giving your brother the third degree.”

  I’m happy to see Lia this morning. She seems in a good mood – her typical happy self. I can’t help wondering what was wrong with her last night at the pub, but I don’t want to pry. She’ll confide in me when she’s ready. “Tyler’s here?”

  “Yeah, he’s been here for a while.”

  I close my book and lay it on the patio table. “Why didn’t someone tell me?” I check the time on my phone and realize that Tyler came a little early.

  Lia smirks. “Probably because Shane’s interrogating him in his office.”

  I jump up from my chair and head inside, afraid to leave the two of them alone in a room for too long. I don’t know why Shane and Tyler can’t get along. I love them both, and I need for them to make peace with each other, at least for my sake. Is that too much to ask?

  I pass Cooper, who’s in the kitchen making himself a sandwich. “Why didn’t you tell me my brother was here?”

  Cooper shrugs. “Shane wanted to talk to him first.”

  Even from here, I can hear the yelling in Shane’s office. “You call that talking?”

  I don’t even bother knocking on Shane’s home office door. I open the door and walk inside, ready to knock their heads together if I have to. “Stop it, both of you!”

  I think that got their attention, because they both stop yelling mid-sentence. Shane’s standing behind his desk, and Tyler’s standing in front of the desk, and they’re squaring off face-to-face like two grizzly bears ready to fight to the death.