Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
About the Author
Other Books by Cheryl Douglas
Coming Soon
Kane
Book Five in the Steele Brothers Series
Cheryl Douglas
Copyright © by Cheryl Douglas
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, including photocopying, graphic, electronic, mechanical, taping, recording, sharing, or by any information retrieval system without the express written permission of the author and / or publisher. Exceptions include brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Persons, places and other entities represented in this book are deemed to be fictitious. They are not intended to represent actual places or entities currently or previously in existence or any person living or dead. This work is the product of the author’s imagination.
Any and all inquiries to the author of this book should be directed to: [email protected]
Kane © 2016 Cheryl Douglas
Chapter One
Macy
“There’s one way to convince your ex you’re serious about not getting back together with him,” Kane said before sipping his fourth Jack Daniels.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” After months of trying to convince Brendan it was over between us, that I wanted us to be partners professionally but not personally, I was willing to try just about anything.
“Go back to Nashville a married woman,” he said, grinning.
Damn, this man was sexy. I’d been crushing on him since I was seventeen. He was my future brother-in-law’s older brother and that alone should put the kibosh on all my naughty fantasies about him, but it didn’t. The more time we spent together leading up to Brody and Riley’s wedding, the more I wanted him.
“Yeah, sure.” I turned to face the casino after polishing off my third glass of wine. Since I was small, most people assumed I was a lightweight, but it would take at least one more to get me tipsy. Tapping my finger against my lip, I said, “Let’s see, who shall I choose? This is Vegas, after all. It shouldn’t be too hard to talk some poor sap into marrying me.”
We were here for Brody and Riley’s bachelor and bachelorette parties, but when they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, we’d all begged them to go to their room and put us out of misery. Since then, the large group we’d come with had dispersed, and Kane and I were the only two left at the bar which suited me just fine. There was no one else I’d rather spend a little one-on-one time with.
“Look no further.” He tipped back his glass. “I’m willing to take one for the team.”
I backhanded him across the chest. Damn. It was like hitting a brick wall. In fact, I’d probably hurt myself more than I’d hurt him. “Shut up.”
“Can you think of another way to get this guy to leave you alone?” he asked, propping his chin on his fist as he stared at me.
It was hard to think straight when he was looking at me so intently, especially since he’d been the star of every one of my fantasies since I broke up with Brendan two months ago. I blamed the fact that I’d been seeing so much of Kane lately, but I knew it was more than that. I had an itch only he could scratch, but how could I tell him that without sounding desperate and pathetic?
“We do have to work together,” I reminded Kane as I tried desperately to refocus on the conversation instead of letting my mind wander to all the things I’d like to do to him. “So it’s not like I can cut all ties with him. We write and perform together every night. Hell, we’re even opening for a few bands later this year, so we’ll be touring together for months.”
Instead of picturing Brendan, I was seeing Kane. Naked.
Would it be so terrible to have an innocent little one-night stand with my sister’s future brother-in-law? Yes. We’d have to see each other regularly for the rest of our lives. If we had sex, holidays and get-togethers would be awkward, making everyone else, including Brody and Riley, uncomfortable. That wouldn’t be fair to them. My sister had waited forever to marry the man of her dreams, and I wouldn’t do anything to ruin it for her.
Kane shook his head. “Look, Riley’s told me she’s concerned this guy hasn’t been willing to take no for an answer. I told her I’d talk to him, but she thought that might make you mad. The offer stands if you’re interested though.”
The bartender returned to refill our drinks, and he flirted with me shamelessly, as he had been all night. After I’d assured him Kane wasn’t my boyfriend, he slipped me his number and told me when he’d be off.
“Maybe he’d be a good candidate,” I said, admiring the bartender’s backside in a pair of fitted black pants.
He was cute, with a trim physique, sandy-blond hair, and green eyes. But these days I was more into tall, muscular guys with dark hair and blue eyes who walked around wearing a bullet-proof vest and a gun.
“For what?” Kane asked, glaring at the guy.
“You said I should get hitched in Vegas, you know, to get Brendan off my back once and for all. Maybe the hottie behind the bar would go for it.”
Even though the idea was ridiculous and Kane had been joking when he said it, it had some merit. My career was my top priority. If I couldn’t convince Brendan it was over between us but that I still wanted to be friends, I would either have to start all over as a solo artist or find another partner. The chances of success going either route were slim. Brendan and I finally had some momentum going after years of trying to break into the business, and I didn’t want to lose that.
“No way,” Kane said, his look menacing as he reached for his drink. “My brother would kill me if he found out I planted that stupid idea in your head. Forget I said anything. It was a dumb joke.”
“Maybe.” I scanned the room, wondering how many people had stood in this very spot and decided, after knocking back a few too many, to marry some hot stranger they’d been flirting with all night. “Maybe not.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Macy?” he asked, running a hand over his short dark hair.
“Look, I don’t expect you to understand how much my career means to me.”
“I get it, believe me.”
He probably did understand. Kane had once confessed to me that being a cop was more than a job. It was his life.
“Brendan and I are finally on our way,” I said, curling my hand around his forearm. “We have a chance to open for some really big names if things keep going our way. We’re getting our music out there. We’ve even written a few hit singles.”
“I know.”
“You do?” I rarely talked to people about my success because I didn’t want it to seem like I was bragging, and even though Kane and I had gotten close the last time I was in Tampa, I’d only spoken to him about my career in very general terms. “How?”
“Your sister told me.” He smiled. “You have to know how proud she is of you.”
“I’m proud of her too. Anyhow, we really need this, Kane.”
At the urgency in my voice, his eyes dropped to my lips, and I could have sworn my heart stopped beating for a second. This had happened a time or two before, but then I had a boyfriend and we couldn’t act on it. Now, nothing and no one was
standing in our way…
“You, uh, need what?” he asked, shifting closer.
To the casual onlooker, we probably looked like a couple sharing a moment of intimacy, or two strangers getting ready to seal the deal. If only…
“I need…” You. Right now. “To make the most of this opportunity Brendan and I have, you know, to cash in on the momentum we’ve got going.”
“And you’ve tried talking to the guy?” he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Reasoning with him?”
Oh, wow. Was he flirting with me? “I’ve tried everything.”
I knew I sounded desperate, verging on miserable, but that was how I felt whenever I thought about what was waiting for me back in Nashville. Brendan had probably written another love song about how much he missed me and needed me back. There would be flowers waiting on my kitchen table, or a note on my pillow. Because he had a key so he could feed my cat while I was away. Yes, our relationship was complicated and marginally twisted.
“So just tell him you got married. You don’t have to actually go through with it.”
“That would never work.” I sipped my wine. “He wouldn’t believe me, and marriages are a matter of public record, right? It wouldn’t be hard for him to find out I was lying.”
“So let’s do it for real then.”
I clapped my hand over my mouth when I started laughing in his face. “You and me? Get married? Here? In Vegas?”
He frowned. “I don’t see what’s so funny about it. We’re friends. Hell, we’re practically family. You say this is the only way out of this mess you’re in. I’m willing to help you out.”
“By marrying me?” I’d never seriously considered getting married. Not even to Brendan, and we’d lived together.
“You got a better idea?”
“No.” And I’d been racking my brain trying to find one for months.
“Okay then.” He slid off his stool before peeling a few bills off the roll in his pocket to cover our bar tab. “Let’s do this.”
“Wait,” I said, grabbing his arm. “I can’t. How would we explain it to our families?”
“Who says they have to know? I’m sure after a few months your ex will start dating someone else, fall in love, and we can get the marriage annulled or get a quickie divorce, whatever. No one will be the wiser.”
Could it possibly be that easy? I shook my head as his crazy proposition started to take root. “It’s not fair to you. I can’t make my problem your problem.”
“Mace, nothing’s going to change for either one of us. It’s a piece of paper, that’s all. Just to convince your ex that you want to be his business partner and nothing more. I’ll buy you a ring to make it look good. You can take my name if you want…”
Macy Steele. That shouldn’t sound so right. “How many drinks have you had?” I asked, glancing at his half-empty glass.
“Just a few.” He chuckled. “Believe me, that’s not the reason I’m suggesting this. I’m trying to help out a friend. That’s it.” He raised his hands. “But if you don’t think it’ll work, no problem.”
“I do think it’ll work,” I said, biting my lip as I considered the consequences of my actions.
I was about to marry the guy I’d been crushing on for years. The man I’d been fantasizing about for months. Someone I was desperate to sleep with. How was I supposed to behave myself if he was my husband? God, just the thought of that word scared the heck out of me.
I’d always been impulsive, according to my sister and brother. A troublemaker, according to my parents. Wild, according to my friends. But this was out there, even for me.
“So?” he asked, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Whaddya say? You ready to become Mrs. Steele?”
I released a shaky breath before taking the hand he offered. “I’m ready.” But was I? Really?
***
Kane
I was standing outside my wife’s hotel suite, unable to believe what had just happened. I had been sober when we said our I dos and I knew she was too, otherwise I never would have agreed to the ceremony. But now that it was a done deal and we were both wearing gold bands, I couldn’t believe we’d actually gone through it.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, appearing suddenly shy as she tipped her head back to look at me. “Having second thoughts already?”
“No.”
I should be. I should be begging to have it annulled. But I’d been fantasizing about this girl ever since I saw her at her sister’s apartment months ago. She’d had a boyfriend at the time and I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t get her out of my head.
And now that she was mine, in name only, I couldn’t get the idea of consummating this farce of a marriage out of my head.
She rested her hand on my chest. “Tell me what you’re thinking, Kane.”
Did I have the guts to tell her the truth? The guys I led on my SWAT team said I was the bravest guy they knew, but when faced with the prospect of telling a beautiful woman how I felt about her, I broke out in a cold sweat. Setting one of my hands on the door above her head as I leaned closer, I said, “I guess I’m just wondering how far you want to take this.”
She laughed softly. “I’d say we’ve already taken it as far as we can.” She held up her hand to show off the thin white gold band she’d selected because she loved the etching on it. “Wouldn’t you?”
“Here’s the thing, Mace,” I said, lowering my voice when an elderly couple passed us. “I’m attracted to you.” I inhaled deeply, trying and failing to rein myself in. “I mean, really attracted to you.”
Her blue eyes widened in shock. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
I was taking a huge leap, but I wouldn’t get another chance to sleep with the most beautiful girl I’d ever met, so why not go for it? I knew there were a million reasons we shouldn’t, including the legal ramifications. Consummating our marriage would mean a divorce instead of an annulment, but if that was the only price I had to pay, I deemed it a small one.
“You can say no,” I whispered in her ear. “It won’t change a damn thing.”
She slipped her arms around my waist. “I don’t want to say no. I’m attracted to you too. I have been for a long time.”
Now it was my turn to be surprised. “Seriously?”
Looking amused, she said, “You couldn’t tell? I flirted with you every time I saw you.”
“I just thought you were friendly.”
She laughed, slapping my chest. “If I were that friendly with every guy I met, I’d have dates lined up for every night of the week.”
Dates. The thought of Macy dating while wearing my ring and signing my last name didn’t sit well with me, especially if we slept together tonight. But this was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, so I didn’t have the right to tell her she couldn’t date, did I? Damn it. We should have set some ground rules before we exchanged our vows.
“I want you,” she whispered, drawing my attention from the men I didn’t want her to see and back to those plump, glossy lips I was dying to kiss.
I took the key card out of her hand and slid it into the slot. “Enough talk then. Let’s do this.”
By the time I’d backed her into the room and the door had slammed shut, she was tearing off my shirt and I was kissing her neck, trying to find the zipper on the little black dress that had turned every head in the place.
“You look so hot tonight,” I murmured against her neck. “I got hard as soon as you walked into the room.”
Brody’s face flashed through my mind. My brother would kill me if he ever found out what I was about to do to the girl he considered a little sister. But even that seemed like a small price to pay when I considered the pleasure waiting for me beneath this scrap of expensive fabric.
“God, I’ve wanted this for so long,” she said, kissing my chest as she pushed my shirt over my shoulders. “This is crazy. I can’t believe I’m really here with you, that we’re really doing this.”<
br />
She sounded breathless, and when she dropped to her knees and worked on my belt, she wasn’t the only one.
“Baby,” I said, sinking my hands into her hair as she lowered my pants. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to.”
I was so hard, so hot, my head felt as if it was going to explode. I didn’t think I’d been this turned on since my first time. I blamed it on the months of fantasizing about Macy and taking matters into my own hands as I imagined her doing what she was about to do to me.
God, was this another fantasy? A wet dream? Would I wake up only to realize the joke was on me? If I did, what the hell did it say that I’d dreamed about marrying Macy?
As soon as I felt her lips on me, I had to rush to brace one hand on the wall before my knees buckled. I was pretty sure my eyes rolled back in my head as I groaned. I wanted to watch her, but I was afraid of getting addicted to the sight of her on her knees, pleasuring me. I feared from now on, every woman I had sex with would have to be blond and blue-eyed with a body that would prompt Playboy to make her a very lucrative offer.
“Oh God, Mace…”
She moaned, and I felt the vibration ricochet through me.
“I can’t,” I said, hauling her to her feet. “I can’t let it end like this.”
I backed her up until we both fell onto the plush mattress. I kissed her, pinning her hands over her head as I claimed her mouth in the hottest, most possessive kiss I’d ever experienced. This woman was my wife. This was our wedding night. What. The. Hell?
“God, baby, I need to be inside you.” I wanted to pleasure her in every way I’d imagined, but right now, I just needed to convince myself this was real, that she was real. And there was only one way to accomplish that… by being buried in her tight heat until I was panting her name.
Her name…. Macy Steele. Why the hell did I love the sound of that?
“Kane,” she said, bracing her hands on my chest. “I forgot my pills at home. Do you have protection?”
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