Bound Hearts 01-12

by Lora Leigh

  As he watched the main room, the double doors opened and Ian stepped inside, followed by Courtney and Jaci. Courtney, as always, was like a little kid at Christmas, every chance she got to enter the club.

  She moved immediately to the table where Khalid was finishing his breakfast. He'd spent the night in one of the club's suites, rather than return to the penthouse where his family was visiting.

  His smile was easy, familiar, as Courtney chatted away. While Khalid had been Ian's third, he had often been subject to many of Courtney's practical jokes and shenanigans. And he seemed to love every minute of it. Other men might have been jealous, but Ian knew what others only saw: Courtney's complete devotion to her husband.

  She was prone to flirt, but lightly. She teased, but only with those she knew were less likely to take her seriously; and she was shamelessly aware of her own power over the opposite sex. But it was a power she never used, except in the most playful of ways. And it was a power she forgot entirely, whenever it came to her husband. The love Courtney felt for Ian lit every part of her.

  As Courtney and Khalid joked, Cam watched as Ian indicated the security cameras, which were cleverly hidden along the walls, behind decorative smoked glass.

  They turned a few moments later, and a silent whistle pursed his lips at the sight of Jaci's shapely ass.

  A second later, he was on his feet, stalking from the office and heading for the club, indignation and anger burning through him. He had caught the looks of the few members in the renovated ballroom.

  Sons of bitches were all staring at her ass like it was only a matter of time before they would have license to touch.

  Wasn't going to happen. Damn their sorry-assed hides, if the need ever arose for a third other than Chase, he could bet it wasn't going to be any of the three devouring the sight of Jaci's backside right now. He doubted he'd be able to let them breathe the same air she breathed, without anger burning inside him for months.

  She was his. Until she realized it, until he knew she wasn't going to walk out on him again, then they could just deal with it. Club rules were club rules. They were banned from laying a hand on her after he'd declared her as his woman. He'd make certain that any of them who tried were kicked out of the club so fast it would make their heads spin. Hell, he'd kick their sorry asses himself.

  The possessiveness tearing through him had a haze of red edging at his vision. Something primal, so instinctive he couldn't fight it, rising inside him since that first night he and Chase had touched her. A need, a burning hunger to stake a claim on her that he had never staked on another woman. A hunger to have her, to know, she was his. Just fucking his.

  He could share her. He needed that sharing on a level that he knew had nothing to do with the emotions Jaci had always tempted inside him. That temptation to feel was the basis of the sharing. But the need, the hunger, was pushing past every promise he had ever made to himself where she was concerned.

  Letting his brother touch her was one thing. But another man? No way in hell, he couldn't imagine it happening. Couldn't imagine ever allowing another man to touch what belonged to him. And Jaci belonged to him.

  Minutes later, he strode into the room, throwing a dark frown to the guests there before moving to Ian and Jaci. Ian's smile was almost too smug, and Jaci's surprised look was filled with an edge of remembered anger, and remembered hunger.

  "Are you finished in here yet?" If he didn't touch her, didn't remind her who she belonged to, then he was going to explode.

  It was building in him. Damn her, he could feel the darkness building, the hunger fraying at his control, and knew it wouldn't be much longer. He'd have to have her.

  "Not really," Jaci answered mockingly. "Was there something you needed?"

  Oh, she had no idea how much he needed.

  "Actually, there is." He gripped her arm, careful to keep his hold light, but firm. "We need to talk."

  "Really?" she drawled.

  "Cam, she's mine until five o'clock." Courtney was suddenly there beside them, her lips tight, her brown eyes flaring with determination. "Take your hands off my interior designer, until she's finished for the day."

  "Courtney, sweetheart, she deserves a break now and then." Ian cleared his throat, which was no more than an attempt to hide his laughter, and Cam knew it.

  "Then she can take coffee with me, instead of running off with him," Courtney decided. "Go back to work." She waved her hand at him. "Don't you have investigating stuff to do? I'm certain you do. Ian is always careful to keep you and Chase busy. Now, go be busy."

  He released Jaci slowly. "Courtney, it will only take a few minutes," he gritted out.

  "Then it can wait until this evening," Courtney decided, before turning back to Jaci. "The testosterone is getting so thick in here. I say we return to my suite. You said you had ideas you wanted to discuss, so the best way to do that is while you're taking a break. Come now. We'll go discuss them." She grabbed Jaci's hand like a worried mother and tugged her through the room. "You can play with Cam later."

  "Courtney . . ." he growled.

  "Do something with him, Ian," she called over her shoulder, as Jaci kept her head carefully averted and moved to the doorway with Courtney, "he's going to irritate me."

  They moved out of the room, turned the corner, and disappeared from sight.

  "Whoa! Damn, Cam, I guess you should have warned Jaci about telling on you when you slipped out on her at night." Ian chuckled. "Courtney might be more pissed than Jaci is."

  Cam jerked around, his lips tightening at the surprised looks on the faces of the men in the room.

  "Thanks, Ian," he ground out, "for informing everyone else of my shortcomings."

  Khalid snorted at that. "Ian, my friend, if Courtney knows your weaknesses, you can believe the rest of us will. She believes the only way to dissuade us from acting on our male shortcomings is to be aware that, should she find out, others will know as well. She's worse than my mother."

  "Even my mother wasn't as bad as Courtney," another member groaned. "She told that sweet little thing I was talking to at the Brockheim ball that she should consider another escort to the next party, considering my habit of being late to everything except dinner."

  "Yeah, and she told my father about the speeding ticket I got last week. Do you have any idea how long it's been since anyone dared to do that?" That member was the son of a high-ranking judge.

  Cam winced in sympathy. The only secrets that were safe were those few she learned from the club itself. If she learned anything outside the club, then she considered it fair game.

  "You're part of the club, you're part of the pain." Ian sighed. "Look at it this way: if she didn't like you and didn't know you so well, she wouldn't give a damn."

  "Yeah, remind me of that the next time His Honor decides to lecture me for a few hours," the judge's son growled, but laughter tinged his voice.

  "I'll be sure to remind her again that she shouldn't get her friends into trouble." Ian grinned. "But I won't promise it will help."

  Everyone laughed but Cam. With a tight grimace, he stomped from the room instead, and headed back to his office. No doubt Chase had watched the entire debacle on the security monitors. Just what he needed: a damned conspiracy among his brother and friends. At this rate, he'd be babbling like a moron within a week.

  Image

  "You do know he's going to get back at us over this," Jaci informed Courtney as they stepped into the sitting room, just as Matthew was arriving with the fresh coffee that he seemed to have known she would be ordering.

  Jaci had noticed that things just seemed to happen around Courtney. There were things she didn't have to ask for. They just materialized, as though the very fact that she wanted them was enough.

  "Thank you, Matthew." Courtney eyed the tray he sat on the table suspiciously. "It isn't decaffeinated, correct?"

  Matthew looked down his imperious nose at her, his expression pinched. "I wouldn'
t dare serve you anything but real coffee," he informed her, before turning and stalking from the room.

  Courtney snorted as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and glared at the tray. "As if. He's always trying to sneak that fake stuff in on me. As though I wouldn't know the difference."

  Jaci eyed her friend curiously. "What has you so upset?"

  "Cameron Falladay." Courtney bit the words out. "You are aware of why he intended to rush you off the job, are you not?" Her accent thickened with ire. "He had every intention of trying to seduce you, my friend."

  Jaci's lips quirked into a grin. " 'Trying' being the operative word here, Courtney. I'm not in the mood to be seduced."

  "Who has to be in the mood?" Courtney's brown eyes rolled expressively. "The man is like a volcano ready to explode. Trust me, when Ian's like that, it doesn't matter how irritated I am with him, I am seduced. It's impossible to resist." She waved her hand for emphasis. "So I saved you."

  Courtney moved to the tray, poured two cups of coffee, and then took a tentative sip of her own cup.

  Jaci accepted her cup before curling into the corner of the couch and watching as Courtney did the same on the other end. Perhaps she really shouldn't have called Courtney last night.

  "This is more than Cam," Jaci stated. "What really has you upset? I'm the one that should be upset with Cam."

  "As though you aren't?" Courtney sighed. "How could you not be? I heard the pain in your voice on the phone, Jaci. Had Ian done anything so unforgivable to me, I would have had to break one of his bones."

  Courtney was always threatening physical harm, though, to Jaci's knowledge, she had never actually attempted to follow through with one of the threats.

  But she was right, when she had called Courtney, she'd been hurt and confused. She still was. That didn't mean she was seducible.

  "You said he does this often?" She couldn't stop the question. It was tearing at her mind. She was wondering, was it just her? Or was it normal?

  Courtney sighed. "Yes, Cam seems to have a habit of annoying his lovers. At least the few I've known of him having. He never spends the night. He always leaves when his part of the fun is over. Though usually, Chase is there to soothe any ruffled feathers."

  At least it wasn't just her, though she wasn't certain how much easier it made things, to know that Cam never slept with a lover. It was frightening, knowing it was a habit, rather than just her—that she was no different from any other woman who had gone before her.

  "He's a difficult man. Even Chase admits to that." Courtney shrugged.

  A difficult man didn't even come close to describing it.

  "I shouldn't have called you and upset you, Courtney," Jaci finally said. "I don't even know why I did."

  Because she had been furious. She had been hurt.

  "Oh, he'll survive my ire." Courtney flashed her a grin. "Perhaps it will even give him something to think about. He's a little too confident at times, wouldn't you agree?"

  Jaci could only shake her head. Hell if she knew what he was after last night. She did know she couldn't handle another night of feeling as though she had been cast off.

  "And on that note, I'm going to have Matthew bring the limo around and return you to your hotel, while Cam is certainly otherwise occupied," Courtney stated. "You're exhausted. Rest. Don't think about that irritating man. We'll have dinner this evening, if you like. The hotel has a wonderful restaurant."

  Lightning flared outside again, and thunder boomed. Jaci could almost feel the rain that fell in a steady downpour, and she wanted nothing more than to curl into bed and sleep for just a few hours.

  "Maybe that would be the best idea." She sighed, setting her cup aside and rising to her feet. "I'll see you tonight then."

  She collected her case and notes that she had left there earlier, and moved to the door.

  "Matthew will have the limo waiting out back," Courtney promised. "He'll meet you downstairs and take you to it."

  "Thanks, Courtney." Jaci flashed her friend a tired grin. "And don't be too hard on Cam, I have a feeling there's more to this than just a need to sleep alone."

  "Of course there is," Courtney stated. "But trust me, my friend, he's insanely crazy about you. He can fess up to the truth to you, or suffer the consequences." She nodded as though it were entirely her decision.

  With a quick wave and a shake of her head, Jaci left the suite and headed downstairs. She didn't run into Cam, and she wasn't certain if she was thankful or sorry that she didn't.

  After the night before, her emotions were so torn regarding him that she could barely make sense of them right now. The more she thought about it, the more it hurt. The more it hurt, the more she became angry with herself, as well as with Cam.

  As promised, Matthew was waiting for her downstairs. He led her to the back entrance where the limo waited beneath the sheltered parking area.

  The chauffeur stood next to it and opened the door as she neared. She was halfway in the car before the fact that Cam was there fully registered. He pulled her the rest of the way in before she could do more than squeak a protest.

  "Tsk-tsk. Play nice." He caught her around the waist and pulled her to his lap as she moved to push the door open once again.

  "Play nice, my ass." She wiggled against him until he released her, but it was already too late, the limo was pulling out of its parking space and rolling along the driveway.

  "I could play real nice with your ass, sweetheart. Just give me the chance." The words were teasing, but his expression, when she glanced at it, was dead serious.

  "Oh, I just bet you could." She moved to the seat opposite him and glared back at him. "Too bad it's not going to happen."

  He sighed heavily. "I should have awakened you before I left. I apologize."

  Jaci eyed him warily. "I don't require an apology."

  "Then what do you require, Jaci?" He asked the question so seriously, that for a moment she was taken aback.

  "You know, if I have to answer those questions, then we have a serious problem from the get-go. Let's just drop it, Cam. I'm going to return to the hotel and get some sleep. We can discuss this one later."

  She stared outside the limo, watching the rain and the wind, feeling the fury of the lightning and the clashing force of the thunder inside her.

  She had to curl her fingers into fists to keep from touching him, had to force her muscles to keep her in place and keep her from curling into his lap again.

  "I'm not taking you back to your hotel," he finally said.

  Jaci stared back at him in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

  He frowned back at her. "We're going to discuss this, Jaci. I'm taking you back to my place, where we can do so in some semblance of peace. Courtney wouldn't dare barge in on us there. She wouldn't have a damned problem doing it at the hotel, though."

  Arrogance tightened his features as he stared back at her, thinning his lips and turning his eyes to green fire.

  "Have you ever heard of the term 'kidnapping'?" she asked sweetly.

  He leaned forward slowly. "It's like this. Say 'no.' That's all you have to say—to anything I'm doing at the time—and you'll go back to your hotel and I won't bother you. Just one word: 'No'."

  "And if I do?" she asked him. "Tell me, Cam, just how will you play the wounded male, once I do that?"

  "No means no," he growled. "No repercussions. I won't bother you again, unless you specifically request something. I'll leave you alone."

  "So, if I say no to going to your apartment, then things are just over? I accept it all, or I accept nothing?

  Now why does that little rule just piss me off further? You know what? Screw it, Cam. Fine—" The word was forming on her lips, ready to pass them, when his fingers touched them, halting the word.

  "There are rules," he said softly.

  "Rules to what, Cam? To being with you? Sorry, I never was one for all those pesky little details. Shove your rules, too."

/>   "There are rules to the lifestyle I live, not so much for you as for myself," he revealed. "My control is shaky right now, sweetheart. I want you, until it's eating me alive, but I'm trying to do this your way.

  We'll talk. We'll make this work."

  She shook her head slowly. "You think we're going to make this relationship work without trust, Cam?"

  She saw the subtle flinch in his expression.

  "What trust?" he finally asked. "Look, you can't pay attention to everything Chase rattles on about."

  "No, you're right," she whispered. "But I can pay attention to the shadows I see in your eyes. Do you think I'm one of what must be a long line of brainless idiots to inhabit your bed? Do you think I'll ever be satisfied with only half of you?"

  "It's more than anyone else has ever had," he told her. "And it may be, Jaci, that that's all I have to give."

  15

  The rain was still pouring down when the limo pulled into the small lower level garage of the renovated warehouse.

  Cam opened the door and stepped out, then turned and extended his hand to her.

  "Are you going to run from me again, Jaci?" he asked her.

  She should, she knew she should. Instead, she let him grip her fingers and pull her from the car.

  "This doesn't mean I'm agreeing to anything," she informed him, as the limo pulled away.

  "I understand that." He curled his fingers around hers and led her to the wide staircase that led to the next floor. "You need to rest. We need to talk. You can rest here, and later we can talk."

  As if that was really going to happen, she thought with a silent, disbelieving snort. They were both so damned aroused it was a wonder they didn't combust. There wasn't a chance in hell she was going to sleep, with him so close to her. So close, yet so damned far away.

  When he told her that half of himself was all he had to give, she hadn't had an answer for him. What the hell was she supposed to say? That it wasn't good enough for her? She had promised herself that if she ever had the chance again, she would fight for him. That she wouldn't run like the scared little girl she had been before. She had promised herself she would try not just her way, but his way as well.