eyond Desire Collection

by JS Scott, M Malone, Marie Hall, et al

  “You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve coming in here and lecturing me about hurting her.” Ron pointed the gun at Kelly’s chest. I choked on a sob of fear but kept my hands pressed hard against Nick’s oozing abdomen. He was still alive and conscious, but I could feel the life spilling out of him as quickly as the blood now pooling around my knees.

  “You’re right, Ron.” Kelly took two slow steps toward us. “I hurt Bee. I broke her heart and her trust in me.” His anguished gaze flitted to me ever so briefly before returning to my gun-wielding stalker. “Don’t be like me, Ron. Don’t ruin what you have with her.”

  When I glanced at Ron, I noticed the vaguest outline of legs dangling over the glass doors leading out to the balcony behind him. Stunned by the sight, it took me a few seconds to realize a man—Jack—was lowering himself down from the roof onto the small balcony. Praying the glass door was unlocked, I hastily averted my gaze lest Ron be tipped off to the Connolly brothers’ plan of attack.

  “I don’t have anything with her anymore.” Ron actually sounded like he might start crying. “You just had to come riding to her rescue like some damn white knight.”

  “I’m no white knight.” Kelly tilted his head as if studying Ron. “Were you trying to scare her with the pictures and calls?”

  “I was trying to help her see how easily I could protect her.” Ron’s gaze dropped to me, and he sneered. “But you had to go running to him.”

  “I was terrified! Kelly is the only man in the world I trusted to save me.”

  “Yeah—and how well did that work out for you?” Ron glared at me. “At the first sign of trouble, he ran. He abandoned you and turned his back. How does that make you feel?”

  After the trauma I had just survived, my emotions were too close to the surface. I couldn’t hold back the sob that burst from my lips. “Bad,” I finally admitted. “Really bad.”

  Kelly exhaled roughly next to me. Nick gently patted my hand, almost as if to console me.

  “But you still love him,” Ron harshly spat. “After years of pushing you aside and ignoring you, and even abandoning you when you needed him most, you still fucking love him.”

  I didn’t even try to deny it. Owning everything I felt for Kelly, I lifted my gaze to Ron’s enraged face. “Yes, I love him.”

  “I hear death is a good cure for that.”

  Ron lifted his gun but didn’t get a chance to fire. Something heavy slammed into the back of his head and exploded in shards of glass. I felt the spatter of oil on my skin and realized Jack had hurled the citronella lamp from the bistro table at Ron’s head.

  Kelly charged Ron, taking advantage of my stalker’s momentary slump to bat the gun out of his hands. Wrapping his hands around the back of Ron’s neck, Kelly jerked the man’s face forward and slammed his knee into Ron’s nose and mouth. The sickening crunch and explosion of blood left me lightheaded.

  Rendered unconscious, Ron dropped like a sack of rocks. Jack raced across the apartment and kicked aside the gun, sending it far out of reach of Ron if he regained consciousness before the police arrived. The wail of approaching sirens wafted in through the open balcony door.

  Jack dropped to his knees on the other side of his father and replaced my bloody hands with his. “Pop? You’re going to be all right. Just hang on!”

  When the lights suddenly popped on, Jack looked just over my shoulder and shouted, “Finn, grab some towels!”

  Shaking myself from the stupor of the horror I’d just survived, I pointed to the kitchen with a shaking finger. “Top drawer in the corner, Finn.”

  Kelly’s brother streaked by me, his prosthesis hardly slowing him down. “The police are here. An ambulance is right behind them.”

  Strong hands gripped my shoulders. At the first spark of contact, I knew it was Kelly now touching me. Despite his obvious injuries, he scooped me right up off the floor and carried me to the couch where he carefully deposited me on a cushion. He dragged the fringed throw blanket from the back of the seat and draped it around my naked shoulders.

  Cradling my face in his busted hands, he peered intently at my face. “I’m sorry, Bee. I’m so damn sorry.”

  “Stop. Please.” I couldn’t handle listening to him apologize right now. Mindful of his father’s blood on my palms, I kept my hands clenched together on my lap. “You didn’t do this to me.”

  “It’s my fault it happened.” Swallowing hard, he drew slow circles on my neck with the pads of his thumbs. His voice was hardly a whisper as he asked, “Did he rape you, Bee?”

  My lower lip wobbled, and I shook my head. “He tried, but your dad saved me.”

  Kelly looked like he was going to start apologizing again, but he stopped himself. The eye that wasn’t swollen shut blinked rapidly. A couple of tears dripped onto his bruised cheeks. Seeing so much emotion from him shocked me. When he carefully pressed his forehead to mine, his ragged breaths buffeted my skin. I could feel the guilt and regret and anguish radiating from his body, the waves so powerful they burned right through me.

  “I love you so much, Bee. So much,” he murmured. “I don’t deserve you. I never deserved you.”

  Hearing him say that finally helped me understand how he had so easily believed the evidence planted by Ron. I was reminded of the way he had berated himself as being a nobody and unworthy of me. No wonder he had jumped on the first chance at bailing on our relationship. Maybe some part of him believed it was the easiest way to avoid the inevitability of me finding someone better and dumping him.

  Except I wasn’t going to find anyone better. I’d always known Kelly was the only man for me—much as I suspected he understood that I was the only woman for him. Our lives had been intertwined for so many years. We simply belonged together.

  Forgiving him for doubting me wasn’t going to be easy. Rebuilding our trust wouldn’t come quickly. It was going to take some hard work from both of us, but preserving our love was worth it.

  As paramedics and police rushed into the apartment, I nuzzled my mouth against his, seeking a chaste but loving kiss that he gladly returned. It was the simplest of things—but it was a good start.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Eight Weeks Later

  Awash in the warm rays of sunlight, I sighed contentedly and rolled onto my tummy to get some of that sun on my back. The soft blanket beneath me protected my body from the hot sand. Eyes closed, I enjoyed the lulling sound of waves lapping at the shore.

  People liked to say that money couldn’t buy happiness, but this sure felt pretty happy to me. The peace and tranquility of this long stretch of private beach couldn’t be matched. As I let the sun warm my legs, I decided this excursion was worth every single penny required to rent the island for two weeks.

  The first two days, I had suffered extreme withdrawal from my cell phone and the internet. The staff lodge for this secluded retreat provided internet access, but I had purposely forced myself to unplug from the rest of the world. Amita, the new COO of JBJ TechWorks, had promised to contact the island’s caretaker if anything required my attention, but I doubted there was anything she couldn’t handle. After all, I wouldn’t have asked her to take a step up in the company if I didn’t trust her.

  The splashing sound from the shoreline heralded Kelly’s arrival on the beach. My belly trembled with anticipation as I waited for him to rejoin me on the blanket. I craved his touch so much and counted down the seconds until he was close to me again.

  After that horrific night at my apartment, we had agreed to reset the clock on our relationship. Taking leave from the Lone Star Group, Kelly had focused on aiding his father’s recovery from that gunshot while I focused on cleaning up the deluge of crap that had invaded my personal and professional lives.

  With Ron in jail awaiting trial, I finally felt safe. He would be going to jail for the rest of his life, or he would get the death penalty. Either way, I would never have to worry about him bothering me again.

  The evidence against him in Trevor’s death was irr
efutable and overwhelming. The police had recovered the programmer’s body from a freezer in Ron’s garage. Along with hours of video the crazed stalker had shot during his attack on Trevor, Ron had also converted a room in his house into a creepy shrine-like space dedicated to me.

  The thought of how close I had been to my own stalker still made me shiver with fear. I doubted I would ever again trust friends the way I had prior to my harrowing experience with Ron. I had also changed the way I used social media. In fact, before leaving on vacation, I had hosted a webinar about my experiences being stalked and what I could have—and should have—done to protect myself online.

  When the truth about Ron had come into the light, Dimitri had personally visited me with Sully and Winn in tow to apologize. I didn’t hold the tall, blond Russian in any way responsible, but I couldn’t deny that I had enjoyed watching the two bodyguards grovel. Because they were good guys who had made an honest mistake against a dastardly foe, I had forgiven them easily. Something told me the two men would never make that type of mistake again, and that their future protectees would benefit from their misjudgment of my case.

  Cool droplets of water rained down on me as Kelly stepped onto the blanket. I expected him to drop down beside me, but he surprised me by crawling over me. Sweeping aside the long strands of my hair, he peppered soft kisses along the patch of skin between my shoulders. Shivering with delight, I asked, “How was your swim?”

  “Lonely.” His lips followed the curve of my spine. “I missed you.”

  “I told you I don’t like swimming.”

  “Then why are we vacationing on a beach?”

  “Because you offered to take me skinny dipping,” I said with a little laugh.

  “Tonight,” he promised. Those big, rough hands of his gently rolled me onto my back. With his knees planted on either side of my thighs, Kelly grasped my hands and dragged them high above my head. Holding my wrists in one big paw, he nuzzled the side of my neck before kissing his way up the side of my jaw.

  Eyes closed, I relished the intimacy we now shared. Because we wanted to take things slow and rebuild the trust between us, we had decided to draw the line at kissing for a few weeks. Though it had been harder than anything to deny my desire for Kelly, I had accepted that we needed to take the physical side of our relationship out of the equation for a while. Without the safety net of lovemaking to smooth over the bumps along the way, we had been forced to work hard on fixing our relationship.

  Kelly used his free hand to give the loose knot of my halter bikini top a tug. “So I was thinking that maybe today is the day.”

  “Oh?” Wrapping my thighs around his waist, I pulled in him a little tighter. The coolness of his body felt so good against my sun-kissed skin. “Do you think we’re ready?”

  He shot me one of those boyish grins that made my heart do crazy flip-flops in my chest. “Do you think we can hold out a minute longer?”

  “Well,” I rocked against him and felt the hard outline of his cock against my inner thigh, “maybe a few more minutes.”

  Capturing my mouth, Kelly caressed my naked breast. His tongue teased against mine before he deepened the kiss in the most erotic way. Surrendering to his sensual onslaught, I relaxed into him and reveled in the wondrous feelings he evoked. Still holding my wrists in place, Kelly drove me wild by flicking his tongue at my nipples and suckling me. The stiff, dusky peaks throbbed by the time he was done with them.

  The ache between my thighs begged for attention. Bucking against him, I pleaded, “Touch me, Kelly.”

  “After two months of abstinence, I plan to do so much more than touch you, Bee.”

  His promise left me quivering inside. When he released my wrists, I closed my eyes and ran my greedy hands over his bulky biceps and broad shoulders. I giggled as he dotted ticklish kisses down the slope of my belly. He easily divested me of the skimpy bikini bottoms. My breath caught in my throat when his mouth continued its downward trek.

  Flat on his stomach, Kelly clasped my inner thighs and gently parted them. He brushed his mouth up and down the seam of my pussy, the slight stubble on his cheeks rasping my tender skin. His tongue delved between my labia, seeking out and finding my pulsing clitoris, and fluttering over the swollen nub.

  “Kelly!” I moaned his name and scratched my fingers through his short, dark hair. He groaned against my sex, the sound so hungry, and lapped at me like a man starving for sustenance. His skilled tongue circled and flicked in the way that I loved most, pushing me closer and closer to the edge.

  My hips rose up off the blanket, pressing my pussy against his tormenting mouth. I clutched at his shoulder with one hand and clawed at the fabric beneath me with the other. Kelly’s hand slid under me to grip my bottom as he feasted between my thighs.

  When he sucked hard on my clit, I lost it. Exploding with weeks of pent-up desire, I came so hard I couldn’t even cry out. Mouth wide open, I jerked atop the blanket as Kelly’s tongue fluttered over my pink kernel and gave me an orgasm so good it left me trembling and gasping for air.

  I was still rocked by the aftershocks of my climax as Kelly shoved his shorts down and freed his massive cock. Reaching between us, I stroked his shaft with both hands and cupped his heavy sac. He bit back a curse word before claiming my mouth in a punishing kiss.

  “I can’t wait, Bee.” He stabbed his tongue between my lips, fucking my mouth with it in the same way he planned to use his cock. “I need you.”

  Widening my thighs, I welcomed him closer. Clasping his erection, I guided the weeping head of him between my folds. I drew a slow circle around my clit with the blunt tip of him before dragging it down to my entrance. Sliding my arm around his shoulders, I pulled him down for another kiss.

  Kelly surged forward as our mouths mated, sheathing every last inch of his huge cock inside my slick channel. I groaned against his lips and curled my legs around his waist. He rocked against me, slow and easy at first, but gathering his speed and force with each passing minute.

  Tangling his fingers in my hair, Kelly pumped his hips and found a rhythm that set us both on fire. He brought the fingers of my left hand to his mouth and wet them with his tongue before bringing them down to my clit. With one smoldering look, he told me exactly what he wanted.

  Strumming my clit, I exalted in the wickedly exciting thrill of our coupling. Clutching and groaning, we chased that shuddering, panicky sensation invading our cores and arcing into our chests. Crying out his name, I fell over the cliff’s edge first, tumbling into that abyss of pure ecstasy. Kelly followed a moment later, his body seizing up as he slammed deep inside me and filled me with the jets of hot seed bursting from his cock.

  Locked together so intimately, we gazed into each other’s eyes. Kelly kissed me with such love and tenderness that tears prickled in my eyes and soaked my lashes. We shared a secret, knowing smile before he carefully dropped onto his side and dragged me onto his chest.

  With the sounds of the ocean filling my ears, I relaxed in Kelly’s arms. Too soon we would have to get dressed and return to our cabana, but for now we were content to let the sun warm our nakedness.

  “So I thought we might pick through that vacation folder of yours tonight and choose our next destination,” Kelly said as he combed his fingers through my hair.

  Taken aback by his suggestion, I lifted up so I could gaze down into his face. “Are you seriously considering my request to travel for a year?”

  Kelly traced my lower lip. “I am.”

  “What about your job?”

  He’d been talking about leaving the Lone Star Group, but I didn’t know if he could stand to cut ties with Dimitri or the friends he’d made there.

  Kelly traced my lower lip. “There’s only one person in the whole wide world I want to protect.”

  “Oh yeah?” Drawing my initials on his chest, I said, “I hear she’s on the lookout for a new bodyguard.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yep.”

  “Maybe I should s
ubmit my resume,” he murmured before capturing my mouth in a sweet kiss.

  “I have an even better idea.” Sitting up, I clasped both his hands and dragged him into an upright position. “Why don’t you chase me back to the cabana and show me all those wicked bodyguard skills of yours?”

  Popping my backside with a playful swat, Kelly laughed. “I’ll give you a ten second head start.”

  Giggling, I shoved to my feet and streaked across the sand as Kelly counted out loud. The rotten cheater was rushing after me before he’d even reached the number five. He easily caught up with me and swung me up into his arms.

  Like a damned caveman, he dropped me over his shoulder and strode toward the luxury cabana. Once inside, he dropped me on the bed and leapt on top of me. Smiling against my mouth, he teasingly whispered, “Sweetheart, prepare to be amazed.”

  Laughing, I closed my eyes and relished the wondrous sensation of his mouth on my skin. “Oh, Kelly, I think you’re about to earn a Christmas bonus.”

  Snorting with amusement, he nipped at my breast. “I’m a very hands-on bodyguard, Miss Langston.”

  And I hoped those wicked, masterful hands of his never left my body again…

  Author’s Note

  Thanks so much for reading In Kelly’s Corner! I hope you enjoyed Kelly and Bee’s story. Big brother Jack gets his chance at saving Abby in the second installment of the Fighting Connollys series, In Jack’s Arms, available now.

  You can check out my website, Facebook page or sign up for my newsletter for updates and notices on upcoming releases.

  Reunited in Love

  A Hearts on the Line Novel

  By Nadia Lee

  A temporary reunion…

  Newly jobless and adrift, former investment banker Kerri Wilson travels to Virginia to see her best friend and regroup, only to run into billionaire playboy Ethan Lloyd. It’s been years since she’s snuck out of his bed after the most amazing sex of her life, and he’s so not her type—she likes them tall, dark and manageable. But he’s too hot to resist, and she succumbs to another sizzling, no-strings-attached (or so she thinks) night.