by Winters, KB
“I have a way about me, sweetheart. There was no family to take care of you?” Shae looked at me with concern in his eyes.
Hell no. “We had a drunk uncle who I paid to hang around for the social worker visits and I gave him two hundred bucks a month to make sure he showed up when we needed him to. He died of alcohol poisoning about two weeks after Ian turned eighteen.”
“Damn, I’m sorry to hear that.” Shae stopped walking and turned to me, hands on my shoulders and slowly sliding up to cup my neck and then my jaws. “You’re all delicate curves and smooth skin on the outside, Ivy, but deep down you’re pure fucking steel, aren’t ya?”
“I wish.” I’d always wanted to be the woman he described.
“You are. I can tell.”
“Can you?” His fingers traced my face, down the slope of my jaw, and the length of my throat before his thumbs brushed against my collarbone.
“I can. You’re delicate on the outside with this smooth skin and silky hair, soft woman curves everywhere. But your sassy mouth gives you away.”
“You think I’m sassy?” That was not a word anyone had ever used to describe me.
“Hell, yeah.” Somehow we had moved even closer together. Soft green leaves fell from the trees around us. His breath smelled of mint and man, all of it intoxicating.
“Sassy, sexy and kind. That’s a killer combination,” he said, his voice growing husky.
“Thanks,” I said, blushing.
Shae grinned. “You don’t sound sure. Let me help.” One hand went to my hip and the other sifted through my hair, grabbing me in a strong grip as he tilted me slightly and set his mouth on mine as gently as a whisper. His kiss started as a little flicker of energy, born of the chemistry we had from the start, but with every swipe of his tongue, every caress of his lips, the fire grew bigger. Stronger. By the time I opened for him and our tongues touched, the fire was ten feet tall and blazing, more blue than red as it began to burn up everything in its path.
All of a sudden his kiss was all consuming or maybe that was just the heat of his big, strong body. His wide back was hard, muscles tensing and flexing as his hands slid down my back and cupped my ass, pulling me closer. I moaned into his mouth and curled my fingers in his air, pulling a low groan from him. “Shae,” I moaned against his lips, panting hard to catch my breath.
“Too much?”
Was he insane? I shook my head, mouth spreading into an unstoppable grin. “Pretty damn perfect, actually.”
“Yeah?”
“Yep. Good enough for another, I’d say.”
Okay that was shameless, but I hadn’t been touched by a man in too damn long. If I thought about men who made me respond the way I responded to Shae, the answer was a complete fucking NEVER.
When our lips collided the second time, it was hotter. I now knew the shape of his lips, the curve of his tongue and the taste of him when he kissed me. He knew when to deepen the kiss, and I was drunk on the taste of us together. The kiss was electric, sending fire and sparks all the way down to my toes, lightning shooting out of every limb. And when his thumb brushed the sensitive skin just above the waistband of my jeans, my panties grew wet.
I pulled back. “Damn.”
“Damn is right. That was … unexpected,” he said, looking as shocked as he sounded.
“Not sure if that was a compliment or not but, I’m gonna go.”
“No. I just meant that, well,” Shae cut off his words and grabbed my hand and placed it on the hard length of his cock tucked behind his sweatpants. “Kissing doesn’t usually give me a boner.”
“No?”
His brows rose at the smile in my voice.
“No. I’m a grown ass man, dammit, and no doubt your ass is divine, but that’s not usually enough to get me this hard.” I squeezed because I was curious, and he was long and thick.
Just the way I liked it, or at least I think I did. Did I mention it had been a while?
“Now that is a compliment. Thank you, Shae.”
“Yeah, anytime Ivy. These fucking lips make me wish I was a different man.”
“And what kind of man do you wish to be?”
“The kind who has your beautiful lips wrapped around my cock.”
His words came out dark and intense, but I wasn’t afraid. I wanted my lips around his cock. My nipples were rock hard under my sweatshirt and my core tight. I was turned the fuck on.
Fucking aroused. “And if we were in a different place, I might do it.”
He let out a tortured groan and pulled me closer so I could feel his hardness pressed right against me. “Tease.”
I licked my lips, still tasting him. “You think so?”
“I hope not.” His light eyes went black with heated desire. “I want you, Ivy.”
His words were simple but true, I knew it because it was what I wanted too. “I want you too, Shae. But not until you’re better.” And then I got out of that flowering place that was acting like an aphrodisiac before I forgot he was still recovering from a beating and jumped his hard lean body. He’d have to get back to his room on his own.
What was it about gorgeous men that made women so damn stupid?
Chapter Eight
Shae
I knew why I didn’t bother with women outside the need to feed my cock what it craves. Because women were a damn distraction that I couldn’t afford. I’d been reliving that kiss with Ivy, thinking about soft lush lips pressed against mine, the way her tits were pushed up against my chest and the way her ass felt in my hands. Kissing her down in the atrium was hotter than I thought it would be, and I’d been trying to talk down a boner for an hour. But all of that I could deal with because I was alone.
I was alone in my own private dreamland reliving every moment of that kiss when I felt a presence in my room. I opened my eyes and found two dip shits looking at me. Frank and Gio Milano.
“What the fuck are you idiots doing in my room?”
“Big fucking talk from a guy laid up in the hospital.” Frank leaned over me with a disgusting sneer and day old onion breath.
“Isn’t this how you like me best? At a disadvantage? Let me stand up and then we can go at it, pussy.”
Gio got in my face, sweaty palms and bloodshot eyes told me the rumors around Rocket were true. He was into some dealers for a lot of dough. Shit was starting to make sense now.
“Where would the fun be in that?” he hissed.
“Men in bed your specialty, Gio? I guess the rumors are true.” I knew it was stupid to taunt him, especially with me being in a vulnerable position, but I couldn’t help myself.
“You asshole!” He pulled back his meaty fist and cracked me right on the side of my face. Damn! It hurt like a motherfucker.
I laughed. “Someone finally taught you how to throw a punch I see. Come closer, let me critique your technique, Gina.”
His nostrils flared. Gio was so damn easy to rile up, just a hint that he liked to suck a little cock and the guy saw red. When he lunged for me, I wrapped the call remote cord around his neck and squeezed tight.
“You’re fucking dead, Shae,” he wheezed, choking.
I grinned and squeezed just hard enough for his skin to turn red and his eyes to bulge.
“Is that what does it for you, Gio, dead guys? Is it freshly dead so you can pretend he wants to be there or ice cold?”
The more he fought the tighter I gripped the cord around his neck until he lost his footing. Frank grabbed my arm, and I pulled the cord until there was no more slack.
“Touch me and I’ll call for the nurses. They’ll call security.”
Frank stepped back. “Need a bunch of old ladies to fight your battles?”
“Like I said, take a fucking step back and we’ll see what’s what. Then again, I could just snap his neck.”
“We didn’t let you live out of mercy, you motherfucker.” Gio could barely speak., Honestly, I didn’t know how he even got the words out with how tight I pulled the cord.
“I didn’t reall
y think you did,” I smirked.
“Let him go!” Frank growled over my shoulder, but I just smiled up at him.
“Take a step back asshole,” I snarled at him, “or I’ll snap his fucking neck.”
When Frank took a step back I said, “I’ll let him go when you tell me what the fuck you’re doing here.” I gave the cord a quick yank to show I meant business, and Gio gurgled a profanity.
“We wanted to make sure you delivered the message to Patrick. Did he get the message?”
A loud laugh exploded out of me. “Oh, he got the message all right, but we’re gonna need some time.”
“Time? To get used to sharing the pie with the Milano family?” Frank asked, his sneer unmovable.
Damn, they were dumb shits. “No asshole, time to get your whole family fitted for some fucking pine boxes. How fat is Lorenzo now? Should we make his a double wide?”
The minute I let Gio go, Frank lunged and grabbed my throat before I could shove his ass off.
“Since you gave Patrick the message, I could just fucking kill you right now, and they’ll say it was complications from whatever put you here in the first place.”
I swear that fucker licked his chops. Fucking psychopath.
“You could, but then you’d be a dead man before the sun set, and I think you’d like to jackoff inside your sister one more time before you die, right?”
There was murder in Frank’s eyes, and I smiled, a wide-eyed, crazy as fuck smile. “That’s what I thought.”
“Asshole,” he growled.
“Shae?” came a sweet voice from the door.
Ah, Ivy. The angel came to my rescue once again. “Hey, baby.”
“Everything okay?” Her blue gaze slid from my face to the hand wrapped around my neck and my hand covering Frank’s wrist.
“Everything is just fine, sweetheart,” Gio cooed. His condescending tone toward Ivy pissed me off.
“I’m not your sweetheart,” she growled before she turned to me. “The investigators are here, wondering if they could question you, I’ll just—” Ivy took a step toward the door before she was damn near plowed down by two scared Milano bitches.
“Aww, sweetheart, you do care,” I threw at Gio’s ass as he raced out the door.
Chapter Nine
Ivy
What in the hell had I walked in on? Some dark-haired creep had his hand wrapped around Shae’s throat while the other looked like he’d been waterboarded. I was pretty sure the guy choking Shae was one of the guys who dumped him in the parking lot. “What the hell was that?” I said when they tore out of the room at the mention of investigators.
“Nothing, babe. Work stuff. My family’s company hires their company to do some work for us, and now they want more money.”
I didn’t buy that for one second. It might be the truth, but it was a very whitewashed version. “You could just tell me to butt out, you know? It’s really none of my business.”
I was starting to think that no matter how much I liked Shae, his business or his life in general was shady as hell. Too shady for me to get involved.
“I just answered your question, Ivy.” His bedroom eyes gave me a chill, and I knew I had overstepped.
“Right. I’ll just let a nurse know that you need some assistance.” I pointed to the bruising that had already begun around his throat.
“No. Wait, Ivy. Please.” That low gravelly sound in his throat was what stopped me from leaving. “Come back.”
“Look Shae, I’m not asking you for anything. I mean, I don’t think I have.”
“You haven’t,” he sighed, but the corners of his mouth twitched with amusement, which, damn him, set my own lips trembling.
“Then don’t assume I’m trying to be all up in your business. I’m not. If you don’t want to tell me then don’t, but don’t insult me by lying.”
My chest heaved when I was done with my little speech, and my skin felt a little heated. I wasn’t used to confrontation. I didn’t lie because I didn’t find it necessary, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t under the right circumstances.
“You done?” he asked with that damn smirk that made my knees weak.
I crossed my arms and notched up my chin. “For now, I guess.”
“Good. I’m sorry.”
That deflated my anger in a heartbeat. “You’re sorry?”
“Yep. You’re right. Though I didn’t lie. That’s the truth, just not all of it.”
“Duh.” I rolled my eyes and took a few more steps inside his hospital room. “You sure you don’t want me to get a nurse in here to look at that mark on your neck? It’s turning a few different colors.”
I knew it was just bruising from that guy trying to strangle him, but damn, it didn’t look good. My fingertips touched the discolored skin, and he gasped, grabbing my hand in his.
“You could nurse me back to health, Ivy. And this is the perfect opportunity for you to get your hands on me.”
The amount of charm oozing out of Shae should have been illegal but I was a greedy little fiend and wanted it. “I could, but what would I get out of it?”
“A damn good time,” he growled and pulled me until I was sprawled across his chest. “You doubt it?”
I opened my mouth to contradict him simply because verbally sparring with Shae was so much fun, but his lips crashed down on mine before I could do anything other than open up to accept the fire that was his kiss.
By the intense hunger in every swipe of his mouth, I would have never known he’d been attacked by two thugs. But I’d seen it myself. He kissed me like we had all the time in the world to explore the sparks arcing between our lips, to stoke the fire burning deep inside of me. But we didn’t. We were in a hospital. Filled with sick people. And Shae was hurt.
Those thoughts brought me up short. “As nice as that was, and it was, we’re not exactly in the right place for this.”
One of his eyebrows arched and a seductive smile spread across his face. “Lock the door.”
“What? These doors don’t lock.”
His words sank in, and I shook my head. I was as adventurous as the next girl. Okay, maybe not the next girl, but I enjoyed a healthy—but safe—dose of adventure in my life. “You don’t mean … you can’t.”
“I do, and I can. Lock the door. Just close it and push that chair up under the handle.”
Oh. Fuck. My mind raced to catch up with what he was saying, what was happening and how my body was responding, but all the while my legs carried me to the chair. I pulled it across the floor and wedged the back of it under the door handle. What. The. Fuck?
“Good girl. Come here.” It was not a request; it was an order.
I turned to face Shae, using the chair to hold up my wobbly legs, and smiled. “No.”
“Why not?”
I didn’t want to tell him my knees were so weak I was afraid I’d fall flat on my face. “Why don’t you come to me?”
He grinned. “Because the bed is right here, and this is where I want you.”
Was it weird that all I heard was I want you? I knew what was happening, even as I tried to fight my desire for Shae. It built every time we saw each other, and right now if there was a machine that measured chemistry and desire, it would ring loud enough to wake the whole city.
“Is that so?”
“It is.” He grinned, his voice low and playfully seductive.
“What do you want to do to me over there?”
He licked his lips and raked a hand through his thick waves. “First I want to strip every inch of clothing off you so I can see how pink your nipples are. I want to see how you look when you’re wet and aching for me. Then I’m going to taste your sweet pussy. Is it sweet, Ivy?”
“How would I know?”
“Come here.” His gaze was determined, his voice low and dark.
I went to him and stopped beside the bed, gasping when he slid his hand across my stomach. His thumb slicked across the strip of skin exposed by my t-shirt, and I sucke
d in another breath. “Shae.”
“You’re so fuckin’ lovely, Ivy.” His words were sweet as he yanked open my button and pulled on the zipper of my jeans, slipping his fingers inside the band of my panties and over my hair until his middle finger touched my pussy lips and, “Oh, God!” came out of me in low, stunned tones.
“Not God, sweetheart, just Shae.”
He was so arrogant, but with his hands down my pants he had every reason to be with the way he made me pant and moan and thrust against him. It was just the tip of his middle finger moving back and forth and then in circles against my clit, but I was breathless, my skin sweaty as I hurtled toward an orgasm. “You’re close,” he growled and stopped.
“What the hell?” I protested.
Shae chuckled and stood until we were chest to chest, and then he knelt down in front of me, tugging my jeans and panties to the floor before he pushed me onto his hospital bed.
“I just want to feel how wet you are for me. So wet I can’t wait to slide my cock into you, Ivy. But I will.”
He stood, towering over me as he removed every piece of clothing I had on and stared at me. And stared. And stared some more. “Carnation pink nipples, pale and dusky. Lickable.”
His words were like a moan when he leaned over and pulled one nipple and then the other, into his mouth. The fear that we could be caught any second, and the feel of him was intoxicating.
“Shae.” His name was a prayer on my lips as his lips, his teeth and his tongue tortured my nipples and breasts, pulling me right up to the finish line without letting me go over.
“Pale skin dotted with freckles. So pretty.”
He kissed his way down my ribcage, my belly, just below my navel. “More strawberry than blonde.” His fingers tangled in the neat trim that covered my pussy as his breath fanned over my slick lips. “Raspberry pink.”
Then his lips closed around me, and I was lost in a sea of electricity and arousal, each one only fanning the other into greater intensity. He licked and sucked, flicked over and over until I wrapped my legs around him, bucked up into his mouth. “Oh fuck, Shae. Yes! Oh, yes.”
He growled against me, a low purr as one finger slid deep, and I flew apart like fragile glass shattered by a sledgehammer. It was how battered I felt as I came down from that orgasm, but still my body craved more.
