by Diana Downey
“One of Manny’s rivals threatened Willa and me today.”
“Were they driving the same vehicle as you saw a little while ago?”
I shake my head. Could the driver be someone else, like Manny? Lots of drug lords drive expensive SUVs.
“Why would one of his rivals threaten you?” he asks.
“I don’t know, and it scares me. I can’t protect Willa while she’s at school.”
Shane follows me home, and when Willa sees him, she jumps up and into his arms.
“I knew you couldn’t stay away,” she says, kissing his cheek.
He winks at me. “Your sister likes me, even though I’m in the red.”
“I can’t help that I like pretty things,” I defend my shopping skills.
“And I’m not pretty?” he says.
“You’re hot,” Willa says.
I grab him by his collar. “In my room. Now.”
“I have work to do, princess, and I already serviced you.” He smacks my ass. “Go put on something pretty, and I’ll wake you up after I’m done working.”
We could spend days in bed and that wouldn’t make up for the last several months of doing without him. “You better wake me up.”
“I promise,” he says.
Willa and I fix dinner and watch a little TV before going to bed. I fix Shane a pot of strong coffee. I don’t want him falling asleep on me.
He pulls out his billfold and sticks a hundred on the table. “I know you’re struggling and can’t afford to feed me.”
“What about you?” I ask, pushing the money back to him.
Willa snaps up the money. “We need it.”
I give her a dirty look.
“What? We do.” She kisses his cheek. “Good night, so not Prince Charming.”
“I’ll take that,” he says.
I sit in his lap and kiss him like there’s no tomorrow, and for me, there’s a good possibility.
“Don’t tempt me. I have work to do.” Shane punches on his keyboard. Seeing him work reminds me of Alaska. He doesn’t screw around. He knows what he’s doing whether it’s trekking across the brutal countryside, working at his company, or pleasing me. “You’ll get my undivided attention soon, princess.”
I go to my bedroom and read until Shane comes in. He toes off his sneakers and strips, putting his gun on my dresser next to mine. Shane is nothing but lean hard muscles, and the dusting of hair on his chest and arms makes him irresistible. He’s beautiful.
Shane O’Flannery is all man. There is nothing even remotely feminine about him, from the way he dresses in ripped jeans and an Alaskan tee to his protectiveness to his lack of etiquette. And I love him, every heart-wrenching, swoon-worthy part of him.
“You need a bigger bed, Cyn,” he says.
I put my book up. “I can’t afford one, and it wouldn’t fit in here.”
Shane pulls the covers down to expose my naughty white lace nightie. “Whoa, I like. I really like, but I like you naked better.” He takes off his boxer briefs, and my breath stops. Shane’s better looking naked too.
He crawls into bed and plays with the spaghetti straps, pulling each one down. The silk sliding along my shoulders excites and pebbles my skin. He uncovers one breast and smiles. His tongue licks slowly around the areola, prickling the nipple. The sensation stirs, reaching deep into my sex and spawning ripples of desire.
Shane sucks on the nipple, drawing it into his mouth, and I moan. His rough hand cups the sensitive fleshy breast while he lazily laps at the nipple. “I missed every single part of you, princess.”
I missed his touch, his woodsman scent, and the taste of beer or bourbon on his lips. I missed how he cared for me and kept me safe.
His fingers play with the satin of the nightie. Leaving one breast exposed and lifting the nightie, he trails kisses down my stomach to each corner of my hips and then dips his tongue into my belly button. The feverish kisses leave a scorching trail down my pelvis.
He tugs my lacey panties down, letting the silk rub my skin. His tongue works its way down to the delicate, overly sensitive nub and folds. My hips arch into his hungry mouth.
“Greedy, princess?” He sucks on my drenched pussy, nibbling and licking.
Shane pushes his fingers into me while kissing my wet sex. I buck, fully aroused.
“You taste sweet, Cyn.”
Swirling his fingers inside me while sucking on me drives me crazy. I fall apart in his grasp, his free hand massaging my butt. I rock into his mouth. The orgasm spirals out of control, and before I come down, he licks my kitty until my sex begs for more.
He lifts his mouth away and kneels before me. He forces his steel-hardened cock into me, and I groan from the intense pleasure.
My swollen pussy lips spread from the girth of his cock. He grinds against me, ramming in and out of me. The length of him pushes me to the limit.
Every inch of my skin burns alive and prickles with heat. He kisses me hard and hungry, and I taste my salty self. His lips run down my throat while he plunges into me. He buries the cock up to its full length, and my body shudders and my sex clamps down on his cock until he shoots hot cum into me. His warmth spreads inside me and radiates. He keeps going and my orgasm rolls through my core.
The tangy sweat sparkles on my body and his. Shane falls on top of me, squishing me. He rolls off, laughing at me catching my breath.
“Cynthia Diaz, I love you.”
Chapter Cyn
Shane loves me and that makes me smile the next morning, while I steal a few more minutes in bed.
My sheets smell of his scent and our sex. I inhale deeply, recalling every temptingly tasty morsel of his body. It’s too bad he’d gone to work by the time I got up. And to think, I almost let him get away. Last night he took care of everything, including me. He was completely calm and in control, while my nerves were rattled like dried bones by the Escalade trying to kill me. This morning, I feel one hundred percent satisfied but anxious about taking on Manny and seeing Dad in prison. It’s my first time to visit him.
I let out a long breath. Today’s the day I’ve been dreading for a while. I need to talk to Dad. How can I not blame him for Mom’s death or losing our ranch? If he’d come to Mom or me, we could’ve helped him. Manny wouldn’t have gotten to him, and she’d be alive. I hate my father.
I get up and pore over our finances. At most, even if I pay his employees bi-weekly and handle Red Sky’s finances, I won’t work enough hours to pay our bills. I need to apply for another job and that sucks.
“What’s wrong?” Willa asks.
“I need to get another job. I paid all his employees in a few hours. It won’t be enough. I’m sorry. I could sell Mom’s ring.” I don’t want to though.
“No.” Her face pinches. “It’s all we really have left of her, and if you try to sell it, Fay may say it belongs to her.”
I should’ve thought of that. I should give it back to her. Fay’s father, Mom’s first husband, gave it to Mom. It’s hard to part with. She wore it all the time.
I could borrow some money from Fay or maybe our grandmother on Mom’s side, but I don’t like to do that. They also may tell me to take a hike.
“Are we still going to see Dad today?” Willa says. “Maybe he has some money socked away, like buried on the ranch somewhere.”
“We don’t own the ranch anymore.” I don’t really want to see him. If he’d stayed away from his brother, we wouldn’t be here.
“It’s going to be tight this month,” I say.
“I could work full time,” Willa offers. She’s really a good kid. “Shane gave us a hundred. He must be doing well.”
“He owes the IRS millions.” I shake my head. “You need to focus on keeping your scholarship.” Or else college is out, and Mom wouldn’t want that. I wouldn’t want that. Willa should graduate first in her class and her SAT scores are high. She’s smarter in school than Fay and me. I have to study hard to keep my grades up.
We drive to the prison
containing some of the most violent criminals. It’s not too far outside of Austin.
I try not to think about the fact the feds are watching us because they think we’ll lead them to our uncle, the infamous drug lord. They probably tailed us today.
We sit down in the visitor center on one side of the scarred plastic. Dad isn’t that old, but he looks like he’s aged a thousand years. He trudges up to the window and sits down.
“Hola, Cynthia, Willa. My babies.” Dad speaks in his native tongue, and tears crest his eyes.
I try to keep in mind that Mom loved him very much. I’m having difficulty doing that right now, even considering his regret.
“I want you to stay away from your uncle,” he says.
I shake my head. “Like you did?”
Willa knee bumps me. She’s the nicest one out of us but also the most gullible.
“Juarez’s thugs drove by our townhouse yesterday,” I say.
Dad thins his lips. “I don’t know why his men would come by unless…”
Dad isn’t telling us something, and I will get it out of him before we leave. “What is it, Dad?”
Averting his eyes, he scratches his few whiskers. He can’t grow a thick beard like Shane. Shane looks damn sexy with one. He has a lot of copper threads running through his hair and beard. They’re a hodgepodge of colors.
“Dad, what can we do to stop Manny?” Willa asks.
I lost my patience on the 80-mile trek in the Alaskan Interior. “Why did you start dealing again?”
He holds his head in his hands. I don’t know what Mom saw in him. Unlike him, she was a tough lady.
“My brother Manny owned me,” he starts. “I borrowed money from him to start my own landscaping business in the States, and the money was stolen from me before I could get the business going. I went to work for your Mamá. When he found out I’d married Grace, he threatened me and my family. Mamá told me to pay off my debt. I paid some of it. I thought he’d leave you alone.”
Willa’s hand reaches up to the glass between us, and dad places his hand on the opposite side of hers. “It’s okay, Daddy,” Willa says.
“No, it’s not.” Now it’s even harder for me to forgive him. “If Manny kidnapped Mom and tried to kill me, what makes you think he’ll give up?” He’ll come after me again or worse, after Willa. I need to kill him. That’s the only way we’ll be free.
Dad furtively glances from side to side and in a low voice asks, “Did you find the backup I made?”
“Yes,” Willa says. I’m not so sure I would’ve told Dad. He may tell his traitorous Mom. She’s come up to see him a few times. She’s used to seeing her family in prison. The oldest son will never get out.
“Good.” He looks down the aisle at another Hispanic man a few chairs down. He’s covered in gang tats. He could be one of Manny’s. “There are other files besides Manny’s books. Manny kept rival information at mi Mamá’s home on the tablet he gave her. I stole everything I found. There’s an encrypted file of his competitors’ rival deals and their contacts, and I found other files that I couldn’t read. He doesn’t want you to get them and neither do his rivals.”
Juarez. He must know. This just keeps getting better. There could be multiple gangs coming after us. Shane could protect me in Alaska, but these gangs have hundreds of hombres in the Border States.
“At the time, Manny knew you didn’t have the drive, but you were a liability because you’d worked the books,” he whispers. “I shouldn’t have let you do them.”
“I still am a liability,” I toss back, and so is Willa. She doesn’t need to know. She’s already nervous about the mess Dad left us.
“Not with the information you have,” Dad says. “He will leave you alone.”
I bet not. “Dad, he won’t. He wants the flash drive. You need to tell us whatever weaknesses your brother has.”
He looks up as if thinking. “His ego. He thinks he’s smarter than anyone else.”
He’s not that, but he has more men holding guns than us, but his ego has made mistakes, like the men he hired to kill me.
“I haven’t found the hidden files on the flash drive.” If I have copies of rival dealings, that wouldn’t be good. I have no idea what would be on the other files Dad mentioned. “I made multiple copies of the drive, and they’re in a few states.” Hoping I’d run into Mr. Granite Hard Body Shane, I’d spent the money to fly back to Fairbanks for a brief time. It’s far enough away to give me some insurance.
“The hidden files won’t copy unless you explicitly tell them to,” Dad says. “Having that drive will ensure your safety. That would bring down his entire organizations and others.”
“We aren’t safe, Dad.” The original is here in Austin along with the only copies of the hidden files, but handing over Manny’s drug dealing transactions and clients will only make us targets. Killing Manny means his rivals will fight over his territory and be out of our lives for years. “How do I copy the hidden files?”
He shakes his head. “You’ll need an app.”
Dad’s eyes fill with more tears. “I miss her. If I had cut my ties with my family, none of this would’ve happened.”
We all miss Mom, but Manny has to go.
Willa continues to touch the glass to connect with him. I don’t feel so generous. I need to talk to Shane to figure out how to get the other files off the flash drive and make a few backups.
While my dad cries, a part of my hardened heart cracks. Mom loved him. She constantly told me how much so. Is my love for Shane like her love for Dad? Blind and stupid? Most of the time I can’t think straight when Shane’s around probably because we have mind-blowing sex.
We stay for the allotted time, and he blows kisses to us, like Mom showed him. It’s sweet.
On the way home, I study the rearview mirror so hard for anyone following us I almost drive off the road a few times.
“You don’t have to keep watching. I’m doing it,” Willa says. “Do you think Manny will come after us still?”
“He came after me before.” Which makes me worry about Willa. If he wanted to get to me, he would take her.
Chapter Shane
It’s been a few days since I’ve seen Cyn, and already I’m going through withdrawal. I asked her to come in at least on Fridays to straighten the books in order to make a payment to the IRS and keep them off my back, and it’s only Wednesday. I don’t like that she won’t just put in forty hours. I’d pay her for them, even if she gets the work done quickly. Hell, I just want to see her.
I finished writing the packet sniffer to trace the routing of the Internet a few days ago, but so far, there’s been no traffic on that questionable port or any others.
Timmons has been pretty silent, but he’s interested in what I’m doing and the feds want to buy the software I wrote. Things are looking up. The payments will keep the IRS from crawling up my ass, so I hope I won’t have to play ball with Niki for much longer. I can’t stand to be around her.
I walk out onto the floor to check on the latest updates to add amateur sports. These are free to meet up at, but the advertising popups will pay for the dating service. It’s a win-win. Hookups are free, and we’ve already got several big clients looking to run ads.
Walking past the break room, I spot my girls caffeinating. I nod, and Sonia hurries over to me.
“Hey,” she says, her hand grasping my elbow. “I should have the pages up today. They’re going through QA this morning.”
This girl is always a little too friendly. “Sounds good.”
“You want to get a drink tonight?”
“I’ll take everyone out on Friday.”
Sonia is talented and gives me a big smile. She also hits on me too much. “What about you and me?”
“No.”
Disappointment shadows her expression. After I check on everyone, I return to my office.
Toward the end of my day of frustration watching Cyn sleep on my monitor, Tang knocks on my opened door. He work
ed for me on the last project where I sold my company for over a half billion and most of the funds were deleted from my accounts.
“Hey, I linked the new sports venue vendors into the app today,” he says. “We already got several hits. Anything else you want me to do before I head out?”
Many of my programmers stay late. They don’t have lives, even though I encourage them to. “Thanks. You’ve been doing excellent work.”
He grins. “Thank you. See you tomorrow, Shane.” Tang is an attractive Asian man working here on an H1-B Visa. He’s applied for his green card, but the INS is a tough road to navigate. Unlike many, he’s paid his dues and deserves it.
Several of my female programmers have told me he’s hot, but he hasn’t taken an interest in any of them.
I nod at him and prepare to leave myself.
After I finish for the day, Niki meets me at a restaurant close by. I’d rather take Cyn and her sister out. While Niki makes idle chatter, I watch the time. If I don’t kiss her soon, she’ll get suspicious, and kissing her feels like cheating. Something I don’t do, especially when I love Cyn.
The restaurant is new and supposedly serves the most authentic Chinese in Austin. It must be good because several of the leading Chinese business people in Austin are seated, eating and talking in Mandarin. I know a little bit because a Chinese group wanted to buy my last venture company.
We’re on after-dinner drinks when Chang Wong comes to my table. “Mr. O’Flannery, good to see you again.”
I stand up to be polite and shake his hand. “Mr. Wong.” He’s one of the new Chinese billionaires flooding the US to protect his money from his homeland’s government. He also was part of the group interested in my last company. He’s tall with only a slight paunch.
“I heard you have been working on some outside ventures besides your dating site,” he says.
I haven’t discussed any of my software tools with anyone—the specialized packet sniffer being one of them. I let him continue.
“You are a smart man,” he says. “I would be interested in any of your technologies or partnering with you.”
