He ran a knowing thumb back and forth over her clit. Her body was so wired that she reached orgasm moments later, crying out with relief. Her heart thudded so hard she thought she might crack. Her skin prickled with anxiety, needing more. Penetration. She inhaled deeply. “Sean!”
He’d stood up, and rested one hand over his belt, a casual gesture but one that made her glance at his groin, where he was hard beneath his zipper.
Mercifully, he unzipped his fly and dropped his pants His cock bounced free. Long and hard and ready for her. She moaned longingly.
He climbed over her and kissed her fiercely, his tongue claiming her mouth.
Then he was inside her, stretching her open, filling her.
“Sean, so good,” she whispered in relief, her core singing. He groaned with pleasure as he bent over her, sliding in and out, filling her to the hilt.
“Oh yes.” She shuddered with sensation, her hands clawing at him.
“Good?” he murmured against her back. When she moaned agreement, he thrust again. He stroked her hair back from her face, encouraging her to turn her head.
“Sean...please.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” Her hips lifted and she pushed back, offering herself
The slow deep thrusts hypnotized all of her senses, leading her into ecstasy.
He breathed close against her ear, his thrusts slowing.
“Oh god.” The crown of his cock massaged her deeply at her center, as if his arousal grew in response when she looked at him. She moaned loudly, unable to hold back.
His cock reached. His hands around her hipbones owning her. That only made her buck against him all the more. Desperate for release, she writhed against the surface of the bed. A tight fist contracted in her chest. .
Her gaze searched his, looking for the truth.
“Yes, I love you, you crazy diamond,” he whispered, and his eyes shone.
She cried aloud.
He locked his hands on her hips and began to drive and thrust with real purpose, speeding them both toward the peak. As she blossomed into climax, her body awash with relief, tears of relief blurred her vision.
Her heart beat frantically, the ache in her chest blossoming into sheer pleasure.
He nodded at her, reinforcing his words. Then he lifted on his arms and started to thrust hard and fast, massaging her most sensitive places, sending hot tides of sensation over her entire body.
She cried out. Her whole body had been ready for this for far too long, and now he was inside her and she couldn’t help shouting her joy. Hard and fast, they thrashed out their longing, their differences, and their desires.
Her core spasmed.
Relief was imminent.
“You feel so good.” The words were wrenched from his lungs. “I want be here forever.”
He was close, and she knew because she knew this man so well.
Her climax hit, and her whole body shuddered with the force of it. She held him deep inside and squeezed his cock hard with her inner muscles while he clutched at her, whispering words of love on his lips as he came.
Chapter Twenty-one
Anxiety quickly got the better of Rowan the following morning, and she was ready to throw out the promise she’d made to Sean in the middle of the night.
I’m as bad as him, she realized. But there was a good reason.
Which was also something he’d said.
Cringing inside, she began to understand his dilemma.
She quickly decided the moral was: never promise anything if you don’t know whether you can deliver or not. The circumstances could change, no matter how good your intentions.
Did that mean she could break her promise or not, though?
Annoyed with her situation, she threw herself at Sky’s mercy “I can’t sit here twiddling my thumbs all day, wondering what the hell’s going on. Can you?”
Sky shook her head. “I know, but those Rattigan boys are so secretive when they’re on a mission. Rory was the same, when he had to deal with his employer’s death. Just disappeared on me without a word, didn’t want to share his burden.”
“Really? When you’d been getting close?”
“Yes. You can imagine how I felt. I thought he’d dumped me, got bored and moved on. Then after a few days I got a text out of the blue. Never been so relieved in my life. Said he needed to handle stuff on his own.”
It did sound like Sean, but the news made Rowan worry even more.
“That’s what Sean is trying to do,” Sky continued. “Rory said he’s not even letting him, or Draco, go in on this hacking job.”
“Thank fuck for that.”
“Rory helped with code, and I think Draco too, but other than that, Sean insists they hang back.”
“Hang back. I wonder what that means.”
“Your guess is as good as mine. What the hell can we do?”
“Are you sure you didn’t overhear anything about where he was going, any clue at all?”
“No, and I tried, believe me.”
“I do.”
They sat in silence sipping coffee, either side of the table, for another few minutes, and then Sky’s eyes lit up. “Wait, I have an idea, someone who might know.”
Rowan’s mood lifted. “Who?”
Sky was already scrolling through her contacts. She hit call. “Hi, it’s Sky. I’ve got Rowan with me, our sister from Wales, and we are so worried about the guys. Have you got any idea where they are meeting up today?”
Rowan watched carefully, wondering who Sky was talking to.
Sky started nodding excitedly and gave her a thumbs up across the table. “Great, see you there. Shouldn’t take us long. Just text me the location and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Once she hung up, she rose to her feet and gestured for Rowan to do the same. “Leave everything. I know where they are. Well, I’ve got a GPS location.”
“Who were you talking to?” Rowan followed her to the door.
“Lara, Draco’s girlfriend. He told her where the hack is going to take place, but swore her to secrecy.” Sky laughed.
Rowan laughed too. “A woman after my own heart, knows who are sister brethren are. Is it near the city?”
“Yep, outskirts, on the east side with fast links to the banking district.”
“East? It’ll take ages to get there by tube.”
“I know.” Sky was already out the door, and as soon as Rowan followed, she locked up. Sky headed to the long low bike shed and opened it up. A minute later she wheeled out a vintage Vespa scooter, and handed Rowan a helmet. “We can be there in around twenty.”
“I’d forgotten you had this.”
“Don’t worry, it’s roadworthy.”
“I should hope so.” She climbed behind her sister.
The traffic was busy, but within half an hour they were deep in the banking district. It took another ten minutes to find their destination.
Sky pulled into a huge multi-storey car park adjacent to a tower block on one side, and on the other, a small warehouse on the Thames river waterfront. The bike park was on the ground floor. After she locked up the scooter, they raced across the car park by foot.
Sky kept her phone out, following the GPS.
Once they got to the specified destination, Rowan looked around, trying to make sense of it. They seemed to be surrounded by traffic, noise and tall buildings, but a moment later a blonde woman stepped out from the street corner and waved, beckoning them over.
“I’ve got a good viewing point here,” the blonde girl said. She was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, which looked kind of odd, because otherwise she was quite smart, with a suit jacket and a pretty shirt worn over classy trousers.
“Lara,” said Sky, making the introductions, “this is Rowan, our sister.”
Lara smiled at Rowan and took off her shades. “It’s so good to meet you.”
Rowan nodded. “If a bit weird, on a street corner, on a stake out.”
&nbs
p; “Yes, hopefully we’ll have time to catch up properly after this…this…whatever it is.”
“Hmm. Yes,” Sky said, “whatever the hell it is they’re up to.”
Rowan wanted to know more about Lara. She had a lovely frothy laugh. “So you’re the girl who got my brother into a suit?”
“Guilty as charged. Am I forgiven?”
“Oh God yes!”
They shared the joke, and then Lara pointed over at the riverside warehouse. “Sean went in there a while back, with four other guys.”
“The building looks out of place,” Rowan commented.
“It’s under a demolition order, has been for a long while. I guess that’s why they’re using it. The site will soon be another office block or apartments.” She pointed beyond the cars exiting the multi-storey car park. “Make sure you hang back. Draco and Rory keep cruising around over that way. If they see us, I’m dead.”
“Me too,” Rowan said, shuddering at the very idea of Sean finding out.
“And me.” Sky dodged behind them, as if that would help.
Rowan felt a bit useless, now they were here, and craned her neck to see, but the few windows on the warehouse were either boarded up or mottled glass covered in security bars.
She was just about to ask for more description of the guys Sean had been with when a familiar voice shouted behind them.
“What the hell are you three doing here?”
All three of them turned on their heels in unison and stared at Draco.
He raced over, face like thunder, and herded them around the corner into the adjacent street.
Rowan took one look at his face and gulped. “Perhaps this wasn’t such a good move after all.”
Chapter Twenty-two
The venue for the hack was grim, a dusty and deserted control office in an abandoned riverside warehouse. Sean attempted to get his bearings as they walked from the vehicle through the empty warehouse to the office, keen to assess and remember distance to the exit, and any places to take cover, should the need arise.
During the car journey there, he noticed at least two of his companions carried weapons inside their jackets. If the cops did arrive, timing and knowledge could be crucial. The memory of his previous arrest was suddenly far too sharp in his mind.
His four companions were largely silent, but for Delahane’s cocky gopher, who still remained nameless. Sean listened carefully to any whispered exchanges, hoping a name would slip—anything he could turn in as evidence. The other three were under a pact of silence that much was clear.
This was far from petty cyber crime but Sean already knew that. It was a harsh reminder. His involvement could see him going back down for a very, very long time, especially given his history.
They’d picked him up outside the diner just after ten, and drove him to the warehouse in a four wheel drive with blacked out windows. Sean figured it was the one Rory had mentioned. Rory had entered the registration number in a text message to Sean, which might be useful if he had the chance to give the police information. Sean was determined to bring these cronies down.
When they got to the office, three laptops were set up on the desk and someone had laid a high speed Ethernet cable. The gopher gestured at the desk, but kept deferring to one of the other guys, a bloke who had a cap pulled low on his brow.
It pleased Sean to know he wasn’t the only patsy. Gopher was also disposable. The guy in the cap was the real right hand to Delahane, for sure. He didn’t speak loudly, whispering instructions to Gopher—didn’t want Sean to hear his voice, had to be near the top of the chain.
Sean picked the laptop with the highest spec and began to load his hacking code. Once the firewall was down, it was a matter of delay tactics until Draco’s colleagues pulled in the cyber crime division. Sean had no way to gauge if enough time had passed.
The guy in the cap held his phone up, showing the screen to the gopher.
“Firewall’s down. Our man on the inside has done his job.” Gopher smirked.
Sean investigated. Even though he was rusty, his fingers flew across the keyboard, digits filling the screen. “The firewall’s still up.”
“Stop fucking around, Rattigan,” Gopher said, and looked at the guy in the cap.
Cap guy checked his mobile. Shrugged.
Gopher was twitchy as fuck. He headed closer to Sean’s side, pulling out his gun as he did so.
Sean eyeballed him. “Your insider is obviously as twitchy as you are.” He gave a wry laugh. “Shield’s down now.”
Gopher’s eyes narrowed. He wanted to take this outside every bit as much as Sean did.
Sean nodded at the piece he held in his hand. “You going to put that thing away so I can begin? It’s not exactly conducive to the ideal hacking environment.”
Reluctantly, his adversary pocketed the weapon.
Sean turned back to the laptop.
His fingers flew over the keyboard, loading code, testing the system. At one point he thought he saw evidence of an extra layer of security, but he couldn’t be sure. It spurred him on, his end goal materializing on the periphery.
“What’s taking so long?” Gopher eventually asked, practically throwing off his skin with impatience.
“Not familiar with the fine art of hacking, are we?” Sean replied, without pausing to look up from the task. “I could be here for hours before I even get in.” He knew which of his tools would unlock the accounts, but he was leaving it until last.
“We don’t have hours.” It was the guy in the cap.
Sean restrained his smile. It was good to know he was getting to them all. There was pleasure rattling the cage, but beyond him the gopher was now walking up and down, looking nervously out the window at the parking lot behind the warehouse. Even the two bouncers looked restless.
Time passed. The office was stuffy as hell and didn’t smell good. His companions were only adding to the general air of stagnant unease.
“What’s taking so long?” the guy in the cap asked, striding closer.
“If hacking was easy anyone could do it.” Sean took the opportunity to study the guy’s features.
“We don’t have hours.”
“Not my problem. I’m upholding my part of the bargain.”
“Delahane said you were the man for the job.”
Sean shrugged. “Maybe he needs a better man for a hack this big. I’m a small-time hacker. Maybe Delahane made a mistake.”
“You better bloody do it.”
Sean ignored him and carried on.
Once he was in, he picked the account with the smallest amount—which was still astronomical—and typed the numbers in. “We’re in.”
The guy in the cap breathed out, audibly.
The air was now stagnant. Sean’s skin felt damp and he was uncomfortable.
Meanwhile a world of possibility was now there in front of him on the screen, in monetary terms, but it left Sean cold. He knew what he wanted in life, and if he didn’t get it all the money in the world wouldn’t help. He’d always hacked for the challenge, for fun, or for pocket money at most when times were hard. This set up was alien to him. It went against every instinct he owned to steal on this scale.
But it was getting harder to delay. And there was no sign of intervention.
Come on, come on, he silently urged his invisible lifelines.
He felt the pit growing deeper and darker, felt Rowan slipping away, knowing he’d never live with himself if he let Delahane win this. Knowing he’d never be free if he died. And if he refused to press the button, he had to go down fighting. Bottom line, he wasn’t going to do it. Come what may.
So he folded his arms over his chest. “What if I change my mind?”
The guy in the cap reacted instantly, drew out a gun, strode to Sean’s side, and leveled the gun at Sean’s temple. “Make the transfers or I blow your brains out.”
Sean took a deep breath.
The tip of the gun felt cool and hard against his skin, and he could hear t
he guy’s breath rasping, but he was straining his ears for something else.
But there was no sound of sirens, no cavalry.
It didn’t matter. They couldn’t make him do it.
And if I’m dead, he decided, there would be no point in threatening my family. Can’t do a job if I’m gone.
Sean fixed Rowan’s image in his mind.
He was ready to die to protect them.
But he wasn’t going down without a fight.
Chapter Twenty-three
Rowan looked at Draco’s face, horror struck.
She was already stressed out of her skull. Seeing her own brother so upset made her flip. “He’s messing with something dangerous, isn’t he?”
“At last, it dawns on her.” Draco looked skyward. “Of course he bloody is. He’s doing it to protect you and Pixie, and here you are parading around in front of a bunch of criminals.” He waved his arm toward the warehouse. “What do you think Sean would say?”
“I didn’t know.” It as a feeble response, but she had nothing.
“We were worried about you,” Sky interjected.
“It’s because we care, Draco,” Lara added.
Draco glared at her. “It’s because we care that we told you to stay out of it.” He glanced at all three of them, but he kept looking back at Lara.
She squared up to him, folded her arms across her chest and looked at him sternly. “We all have to follow our hearts. You know your sisters aren’t stay-at-home girls, and you know me well enough. I was never going to play the wallflower.”
“My mistake. I won’t let you wheedle information out of me again, no matter how good you are at it.” He glanced back at Rowan and Sky as if he didn’t want them to hear that.
Too late, Rowan thought, Lara was definitely her type of woman.
The distant sound of sirens caught Rowan’s attention. It wasn’t unusual in the city but there was more than one siren going off this time, which indicated a big incident, and by the sound of it they were headed this way.
Draco turned his head too. Why? Rowan’s mind ticked over frantically.
Sean: A Stepbrother Romance (Coded for Love Book 3) Page 14
