by Meg Ripley
This made her look back up again. “Really? I didn’t know anyone did that anymore.” The idea of living in clans was something that she’d heard of only as an old-fashioned idea, back before shifters were accepted in human society and had even risen to the upper echelons of it.
Blane shrugged. “You’ve got to remember that this was twenty years ago. It was already becoming outdated, but there were still plenty of groups who wanted to stick together. Dad never even came back to visit us, because he didn’t want to risk getting thrown out of his new clan. At least, that’s the way I understood it. He said they were soulmates or some bullshit like that. There’s no telling how much of that was truth and how much is fiction. Either way, I mostly grew up without him around.”
Courtney felt terrible that this had all been brought up. “I really am sorry.”
“Please, don’t be. I don’t need anyone feeling sorry for me. I’ve done well for myself, better than I ever could have imagined, and now Jane has, too. It’s worked out for the best. But I do think having Amanda in my life has grounded me a lot. She was the kick in the pants I needed to remember what it’s like to be a real person and not just a celebrity douchebag. It’s no wonder you’re frustrated after spending two years treating me like a child, and then I suddenly stepped up and started doing things.”
She laughed a little. “It’s all right. It’s not like any of us are perfect.”
“Sure you are.” He was poking at his chicken again, sliding the mushrooms off to the side. “You know how to do everything. You never drop the ball. You never forget anything, even when you have a list of a hundred things to do. You’re the only person I know who cares more about making sure everyone else is taken care of than taking care of herself. I’m sure that if I hadn’t come into your room to take your phone and turned off the alarm, you would have been up with the sun this morning.”
Courtney frowned. It was a fair assessment of her, but she wasn’t sure it was one she liked. “I try too hard,” she said, suddenly feeling a great urge to tell him everything she had ever experienced. He was her boss, and their relationship had no business going anywhere past her doing the tasks that he asked of her, but she knew in that moment she just had to say it all. “I can’t help it. My parents died when I was really young. I didn’t have any siblings, so I just had to make it on my own. I went through numerous foster homes, and none of them were very good. They were just making money off of me until they had a child of their own or had a better opportunity come along.”
“I think we need more wine.” Blane retrieved the bottle of wine from the sidebar. “Sounds like neither one of us had the most picturesque childhoods.”
“I guess not. And yet we’ve turned into pretty different people.” Courtney had never really associated her childhood with the way she was as an adult. She had always tried to push those memories away, and it was strange to not only have them at the forefront of her mind, but laid out in front of someone else.
Blane shook his head and sat in the chair next to her instead of taking his seat across the table. “I don’t think that’s completely true. We have different personalities, but the whole reason we fought this morning was because we were each so fired up about doing our part to take care of that little girl upstairs. I don’t think that’s so terrible.”
He was too close. Courtney could see every little detail about his face, even the slight imperfections the makeup artists always covered up. He was a good-looking man, but more so in person than on the screen. She studied the scar near his lip from when he’d had one too many on his yacht and fell overboard. The other partygoers had simply watched, but Courtney had gone in after him. “You know, I’ve never told anyone else about all of that. I mean, most of the kids I went to school with knew I was an orphan, but I didn’t talk about it.”
When her eyes flicked back up to his, she saw that he was watching her lips as well. “I understand. Courtney, you’re the only person in the world I trust. My mom is long gone. Obviously, I’m not interested in talking to my father. Jane’s great, but she’s busy with her own life. I hated being out there in the world without you the last two days. I need you in ways I can’t even begin to understand.” His eyes drifted back up to hers, that dark, piercing blue gaze that shot straight to her soul.
She felt the back side of her tongue light up with electricity. It was wrong. She couldn’t be feeling this way about him. She knew him well, but he was her boss. The agency she had originally gone through to get this job had been very clear about the delineations. But there, in an opulent dining room with a handsome man telling her how much he needed her, none of that seemed to matter. She licked her lips and swallowed. “What about all your fans? You’ve probably got millions of people just dying to hang out with you.”
Blane was closer now, too close. Close enough that she didn’t know whether she would be able to stop what was about to happen. He glanced at her lips once again before gazing straight into her eyes. “And even all of them together don’t hold a candle to you.” He kissed her then, his lips soft and gentle against hers.
A thrill of excitement shot up her spine. A tiny voice in the back of her mind screamed at her to pull back before they got carried away, that they weren’t supposed to be doing this. But Courtney’s inner dragon slammed an imaginary door on that voice, not willing to listen. His lips felt too good, and as his arms came around her she knew she didn’t want to pull away. She could regret it all she wanted later, but in that moment, it was completely worth it. Her hands came up, her fingers tracing the outline of his angled jaw, feeling the sandpaper-like stubble that grew there. She brought them to his shoulders, down his chest to his ribs and then around, pulling him closer.
Her enthusiasm inspired him to deepen the kiss, and she felt his tongue against hers, sending a jolt through her body. He was warm and comforting and familiar, but he was also sexy and exciting and new. She wanted all of it.
“Courtney,” he whispered as he pulled back slightly to trail his kisses down her neck. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do this.”
It was enough to almost make her pull back, wondering if he could possibly be serious. She had always known she was attracted to him, but not until recently had it been something she’d consciously thought of. “Really?”
He tightened his grip around her waist in response. “God, yes. I tried to deny it. I would just brush it aside and pretend it didn’t exist. But earlier today, I knew for sure. I need you, Courtney. I need you badly.” Blane’s lips pressed against her throat, her collarbone, and then lower. “Please tell me you need me, too.”
She tipped her head back and smiled to herself. She could try to argue with him and tell him they were just drunk and lonely, but they’d barely had anything to drink. And they could never be lonely when they were with each other. She nodded, unable to find any words that could say it all for her.
That was enough for Blane. He pressed one last kiss to the hollow of her neck before standing up and taking her hand. He pulled her with him from the kitchen and through the living room to the stairs.
They seemed to stretch up and away from Courtney, an immense mountain to climb. Yet her feet moved swiftly, as though they belonged to someone else. She knew this was her opportunity for either one of them to back out of this, to realize they’d made a huge mistake and that they had no business being together. But he didn’t protest, and she wasn’t about to either. Her entire body was alight with the idea of being with him, and that was all she needed.
They reached his bedroom door, and Courtney looked down at her arms just to make sure there weren’t any scales where her skin should be. Blane started kissing her again as soon as he had closed the door behind them, his lips tracing her outlines as his fingers worked at the buttons on her shirt. All her doubts went out the window then, flying away and bringing with them the notions of common sense.
He pulled her shirt back and let it fall to the floor. Blane’s fingers expertly unclasped her bra
and sent it the way of her blouse, bending his head to give her breasts the attention they deserved. She felt her breath heaving in her chest as he pulled her nipple into his mouth, gathering her hair firmly with his free hand.
“If you keep doing that, I’m not going to be able to control myself,” he warned.
“Doing what?” she panted, too enraptured by his attentions to understand.
“Breathing like that,” he responded, letting go of her hair to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her tightly against his body.
Courtney let her head fall forward to look him in the eye, feeling bold. “Like what? Like I want you? Like I want you more than anything in the world right now?”
A low growl emitted from his throat as he picked her up and took her to the bed. It was a massive affair, covered in a thick down comforter and a fur blanket. He laid her down roughly, his body on top of hers as he began kissing her once again. “You’re trying my patience.”
“How do you know you’re not trying mine?” she dared. “You’re the one with all your clothes on, after all.” Courtney loved the way his weight felt on top of her, but she craved the touch of his skin against hers. Pulling off his shirt and tossing it aside, she instantly began working on the button of his jeans.
Blane did the same to her, easily stripping her of her pants. A few moments later, it was just the two of them with nothing between them. All their clothes and their inhibitions had been cast aside, and neither of them cared if they ever found them again. Courtney’s eyes traced the wide expanse of his chest, the sprinkling of ebony hair that had residence there and trailed down the sculpted planes of his stomach. His hips were narrow but strong, leading to muscular thighs and the massive erection that awaited her between them.
“Please,” Courtney gasped as they found themselves pressed together in such an intimate way. Her core convulsed in anticipation, more desperate for him than she had ever been for anything else. She had spread her legs to encompass his, ready for anything he might ask of her.
His hand slowly moved down her ribs and to her behind, gripping it tightly. His eyes were serious, searching hers. “I just want to know that you’re sure; that this is what you really want.”
She thought she would go wild with waiting. “Yes,” she breathed, and as he entered her, “Yes, oh yes.” He felt so good. The thickness of him inside of her was what she had needed for so long. Why had she ever denied herself? Their hips moved in unison, and the feeling of every cell of her skin that touched his was exquisite.
“But I’ve hardly even done anything,” he protested in her ear, his breath hot and enticing against her neck.
“You’re doing plenty,” she argued, arching her back to guide him deeper inside. All the pain she’d ever felt in her life, the frustration, the loneliness, had suddenly vanished. “How can you possibly feel this good?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.” Blane’s feet tangled with hers as he moved faster. “I want to do this all night, but I don’t think my body is going to let me. You feel too damn good, Courtney.”
She felt him swell inside her, his girth expanding her core and touching places that had been ignored for far too long. Courtney couldn’t catch her breath as her body responded, convulsing around him and drawing him hard and deep inside her where he belonged. She dug her nails into his back, desperate to keep him there. “Blane!”
But he wasn’t going anywhere. His hips moved with a ferocious velocity that seemed unfathomable to Courtney, and yet she met every thrust with a slamming of her hips. She needed him, and even though she had him, it wasn’t enough. One final slam and he pushed her over the edge. Sparks danced in front of her eyes, and an unearthly howl filled the air. It was quickly joined by another voice as their bodies reached their breaking points, and it was only when they lay together breathless a moment later that Courtney realized the sounds had come from them.
Chapter Eight
Two weeks later, Blane stood in front of the full-length mirror in his room and examined his outfit, wondering if he should stick with the Hawaiian shirt or if he should go with something more conservative. The media had been paying far too much attention to him those days. Blane knew he shouldn’t care what anyone thought of him, but he didn’t like when they questioned his fashion sense. One magazine had managed to catch a shot of him in his sweats when he’d answered the door for a delivery, and then posted headlines questioning what being a dad had done to him.
If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t even in the mood for a party on the boat, but he had arranged it weeks ago. It would’ve seemed strange to cancel it at that point, when everyone had already been invited and claimed they couldn’t wait to come. But Blane knew the only reason anyone really wanted to see him at all was to ask about Amanda, and as far as he was concerned, she wasn’t any of their business. Still, he was going to keep up appearances, as usual.
He paused in the hallway and knocked on Courtney’s door. “Are you about ready? We should get going.”
“Yeah, give me just a minute.” Neither one of them had actively looked for a new nanny, and so Courtney had been running late for the evening. She’d fed Amanda an early dinner and made sure she was clean and ready to go when Cathy and Jackson came to pick up the baby.
“No problem. I’ll be downstairs.” He wasn’t going to rush her. She was the one who was always getting up with Amanda in the middle of the night, and she was still pushing herself to perform the duties of both a nanny and a personal assistant. Blane had told her to not worry so much, but he wasn’t sure she’d even heard him.
He waited impatiently downstairs, just wanting to get this whole affair over with so he could get back home. Blane wasn’t looking forward to listening to his friends—and the friends they’d bring—tell him how hard it must be to have to deal with a baby now. He knew they’d ask if he had someone qualified to watch her, and just who this mystery woman was that he’d had a child with. Blane had taken to leaving the radio and TV off most of the time so he wouldn’t have to see the constant speculation that spewed from the media. At one point, he’d caught a story where reporters were showing pictures of him and Courtney, wondering if she could have been the mother and how she would have hidden her baby bump. Blane had immediately changed the channel, grateful that Courtney wasn’t in the room.
When she did finally come down, she was dressed in a conservative purple top that had been buttoned all the way to her neck. Her khaki capris showed very little of her tanned legs compared to how much skin the other guests would be showing. She looked fantastic, as she always did, but she had that uncomfortable air around her that she’d been carrying for the last two weeks.
Blane pressed his tongue against the back of his teeth, trying to find the right way to phrase what he wanted to say. “Why don’t you wear something a little more suitable for a party?” he asked gently. “We finally have a little time to go out and relax.”
Her dark eyes snapped, and he hadn’t seen an anger in her quite like that for a while. “Maybe you’ll get to relax, but we both know that I’ll be busy.” She picked up her briefcase from the table, packing it with her massive mobile phone, her planner, several pens, and an address book.
He sighed. This wasn’t how things should be, especially not between them. “Courtney…”
“Better get your shoes on. We need to get going. There’s no telling what might happen to the boat if everyone else gets there first, and I don’t have time to squeeze in another call to the insurance company.” She breezed past him and out the door.
Blane followed her reluctantly. He kept his hand on the doorknob for one long second, considering canceling the whole thing after all. They’d understand; and if not, they’d just have to get over it. And Amanda could just go ahead and stay at Jackson’s house for a little while so Courtney and I could—
“Are you coming?” She was already climbing into the back of the limo.
“Yeah.” Blane followed, wishing things could be differe
nt. The two of them had been intimate, but it was more than that. He’d told her how much he needed her, and it had been the truth. When he’d brought home dinner and the bottle of wine, he had really only meant it as a peace offering so they could have gone on with their normal lives. But once they’d started talking, Blane had realized just how much he wanted her. She wasn’t like all the other women that were always throwing themselves at him. She was so much more, and when he had lain with her, it had changed his life in ways he couldn’t explain.
But she had slipped out of his bed at some point in the middle of the night. Blane hadn’t thought anything of it at the moment, figuring she was just taking care of Amanda. But when she didn’t return in the morning, and when she wouldn’t look at him in the kitchen while she poured her coffee, he knew something was wrong. He’d tried to ask, but she’d instantly stopped him. “Let’s just not.”
And so he hadn’t. But now the path they were on was one that was far more miserable than the one they’d taken when they were constantly fighting. Blane settled into the backseat of the limo, trying to decide how he was going to initiate this conversation.
“We can’t stay out too late.” She was consulting her planner, making notes. “You’ve got a meeting tomorrow with a rep from Pan Am about doing a commercial for them. They don’t just want an audition; they want to meet the person who is going to be representing their company.”
“That should be fine. I fly with them all the time, so I don’t think that will be an issue. But—”
“And on Monday, you’ll have to be up very early so Cameron can do that sunrise shoot on the beach for your current movie; either that, or stay up late. And before you ask, yes, I did check with him to see if he could just shoot it at sunset and fake it. He said no. He wants it to be more authentic.”
Blane watched her as she spoke. Her gaze was focused on that planner, and her entire body seemed to be folded in on itself. She had her legs crossed and pulled back against the seat, and her elbows were tight at her sides as she worked. It was like she was trying to protect herself, and he didn’t like it. “We need to talk, Courtney.”
