Cuffed & Claimed
Page 9
She sank her nails into his back. “You feel amazing.” She breathed out as he fucked back into her.
In a low guttural voice, he told her how good she felt stretched around him. Each time he pushed back in, she pressed up to meet his thrusts. They found a perfect rhythm that had them both racing for that magic place.
Every movement of her tight body brought him closer as she fucked him with total abandon, seeking her own pleasure with as much need and passion as him. “Need you to come with me, Hales.” Maddox couldn’t contain the hunger rising to the surface. He pushed up onto his hands, his pelvis hitting her clit on each downward thrust. The orgasm just out of reach rushed closer.
She cried out, her body stiffened beneath his, then she shook as she came, crying out his name. Without hesitation, he followed her into bliss, allowing the orgasm he’d held at bay to flow out of him.
“Fucking love you, Hales. I’ll cuff you and claim you as mine, so you might as well agree to marry me,” he muttered against her neck.
* * *
Hailey had to take a moment to catch her breath. Her heart pounded in her ears, satisfaction invaded her languorous body. Maddox lay half on her, half off. His declaration hung in the air. Was she dreaming, or had he just proposed to her?
His hands flexed on her stomach, his head came up, and she stared into his gorgeous eyes. “Did you just ask me to marry you?”
“If you want to consider it me asking instead of me telling?” He gave a lazy grin.
She smoothed her hand over his head. “Maddox Lopez, you are the only man who could make a proposal sound like a demand.” Only it was one she could totally get on board with. “Since you are no longer gainfully employed, how are you going to do that?” she asked. A smile of love and pure pleasure raced over her.
“Sweetheart, I said I no longer worked for the alphabet company, I didn’t say I was unemployed. That is what took me so long to come back. I needed to make sure it was ready to roll.”
Maddox groaned then rolled out of the bed. “Let me get rid of this and I’ll be right back.”
She watched him disappear, then realized she wouldn’t have to do that ever again. Well, not the way she had.
“What’s put that smile on your face?” he asked walking back in uncaring of his nudity.
Shaking her head, she held her hand out. “I was just enjoying the view of you leaving and coming back.”
He let his hands wander down her body. “You have the most deliciously curvy ass, and a brain to boot. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life worshipping it.”
“Care to tell me about what you’ll be doing and where?”
Hailey listened to him explain how he and Royce had opened a private security firm a couple years back with a partner who had been running things in Texas. She narrowed her eyes at him. “So, you’re moving to Texas?”
“I was hoping we’d move to Texas after your term, if you wanted. Or I’d go wherever you went. I’m pretty mobile. Royce has already taken up residence down at the home office, but we will take on clients all over the States who need help with security.”
Listening to him talk about his new venture, her mind raced with how she could help. With her computer skills, and his, along with their other knowledge in the field, she could easily see them having a great future. “I’m all in. That still doesn’t explain how you can cuff me to your side.”
A wicked gleam lit his brown eyes. Reaching over her body, he pulled the drawer out and showed her a badge and held up a pair of handcuffs. “Every private detective has to have a set of these, baby.”
She laughed at his outrageousness. Being cuffed and claimed by Maddox Lopez was truly the best thing to ever happen to her.
* * *
The End
About the Author
Elle Boon lives in Middle-Merica as she likes to say…with her husband, two kids, and a black lab who is more like a small pony. She’d never planned to be a writer, but when life threw her a curve, she swerved with it, since she’s athletically challenged. She’s known for saying “Bless Your Heart” and dropping lots of F-bombs, but she loves where this new journey has taken her.
She writes what she loves to read, and that is romance, whether it’s erotic or paranormal, as long as there is a happily ever after. Her biggest hope is that after readers have read one of her stories, they fall in love with her characters as much as she did. She loves creating new worlds and has more stories just waiting to be written. Elle believes in happily ever afters, and can guarantee you will always get one with her stories.
* * *
Connect with Elle online, she loves to hear from you:
* * *
www.elleboon.com
* * *
https://www.facebook.com/elle.boon
* * *
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elle-Boon-Author/1429718517289545
* * *
https://twitter.com/ElleBoon1
* * *
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1405756769719931/
* * *
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wewroteyourbookboyfriends/
* * *
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8120085.Elle_Boon
www.elleboon.com/newsletter
Other Books By Elle Boon
Erotic Ménage
* * *
Ravens of War
Selena’s Men
Two For Tamara
Jaklyn’s Saviors
Kira’s Warriors
* * *
Shifters Romance
* * *
Mystic Wolves
Accidentally Wolf
His Perfect Wolf
Jett’s Wild Wolf
Bronx’s Wicked Wolf, Coming 2016
* * *
Paranormal Romance
* * *
SmokeJumpers
FireStarter
Berserker’s Rage
A SmokeJumpers Christmas
Mind Bender, Coming 2016
* * *
MC Shifters Erotic
* * *
Iron Wolves MC
Lyric’s Accidental Mate
Xan’s Feisty Mate
Kellen’s Tempting Mate
Slater’s Enchanted Mate
Bodhi’s Synful Mate, Coming 2016
* * *
Contemporary Romance
* * *
Miami Nights
Miami Inferno
Miami Blaze, Coming 2016
* * *
Phantom Force
Delta Salvation
Delta Recon
Delta Rogue, Coming Soon
Arresting Submission by Daisy Philips
Kinky Book Club
Cat Conroy had fallen for a bad boy before, and it hadn’t ended well. Scott Weston was trouble with a capital T. He claimed to be a CPA, but in Cat’s experience, accountants rarely carried guns to work.
* * *
Undercover FBI agent Scott loved Cat from the moment he met her. Unfortunately, he had lied to her for just as long.
* * *
Would she be able to forgive him when the truth finally came out?
1
Sunday
Catherine “Cat” Conroy had a lot on her mind as she walked toward Night and Day, the restaurant she owned with her twin sister Maggie. Maggie ran Day, doing breakfast or brunch and lunch. Cat looked after Night, turning the family-friendly restaurant into the hottest thing in Chicago.
It was the perfect arrangement. The only thing missing for Cat was a man to share it all with. She tried not to be jealous of her sister. Maggie had Rick. He was a great guy; smart, handsome, kind, and loving. In fact, he was almost too good to be true, but Maggie loved him, and he’d courted her patiently because she was gun-shy from a previous bad relationship.
Today, Cat was coming to the restaurant earlier than usual because Maggie and Rick were hosting a get together in the private upstairs dining room of Night and Day, and Cat was going to help
get things ready. She was going to make a selection of finger foods for the crowd and a very special cake for what Maggie and Rick promised was a very special announcement. Maggie had tried to tell her what the announcement was, but Cat had put her fingers in her ears and repeated la la la over and over until Maggie had stopped trying and left. It hadn’t actually worked, though. Her twin sister was getting collared, not something Maggie really understood or approved off, but if Maggie was happy about it, then Cat would do what she could to make the announcement special, even if that meant creating a very unusual cake which she knew her sister would love.
Checking her watch, she realized she had to hurry so she wouldn’t be late. Cooking for thirty people, even for a professional chef, could take a while when you wanted to serve everyone at once. She had promised chef Tomas that she’d take care of the private party so he could handle the regular dining room. Tomas was new and temperamental, and she wasn’t entirely sure he was the best fit for her restaurant; however, he had stepped in during a difficult time and she owed him a chance to prove he could handle the job.
It was early afternoon. The weather was perfect and the crowds were thick on the streets. Making a quick decision, Cat turned down the alleyway that ran behind the stores, planning on entering the restaurant from the back. It would save a few minutes, and she was already cutting the timing close when it came to getting the food ready.
She wouldn’t take the shortcut at night, but there were always a few people in the alleyway during the day, mostly shop owners or staff taking a short break to enjoy the sunshine or a smoke. By now, she knew most of them by name or the store they worked at. She smiled and nodded at each as she approached her destination, stopping only to chat with Frank Augustino as he took out the trash and then had his afternoon smoke. Frank was a master tailor and was approaching seventy, but still worked six days a week. His wife had nagged him for years to give up cigarettes. They’d compromised, and he had one a day, generally outside behind his shop.
And he was always trying to fix her up with one of his extended clan.
Even though she was in a hurry, she stopped to talk to Frank, who was thrilled by the birth of his latest grandchild. He was showing her a photo when a large motorcycle caused them both to look up as it roared down the alley, coming to a stop half a block away, not far from her restaurant.
Frank shook his head and started to walk towards the interloper. “He shouldn’t be here. I’m going to…”
“Uncle Frank, Mr. Carlucci is here for his fitting!” The tone of the young clerk’s voice from inside the tailor’s store was urgent. Cat had heard storied about Mr. Carlucci. He was a good customer, spending a great deal of money on himself and his family, but he was also a punctilious pain in the butt. Mr. Augustino paused, clearly torn between giving the motorcyclist a piece of his mind, and not wanting to make his most lucrative customer wait.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Augustino. I’m headed that way. I’ll give him a talking-to and send him on his way.”
“Oh, Miss Catherine. He might be dangerous. You don’t want to tangle with a criminal. Let me call the police.”
“For what? He’s not breaking any laws.”
“But the noise. Surely there’s a law against that?”
She could see the old man was anxious and torn.
“Go. I’ll be fine. You don’t really to leave Albi alone with Mr. Carlucci, do you? Albi’s a nice boy, but Mr. Carlucci will eat him alive.”
“I don’t like to leave you to deal with the likes of him on your own.”
“Uncle Frank, Mr. Carlucci wants to know about his new suit…” She could see that the worry over his business was struggling against his desire to be a gentleman and protect her.
“Mr. Augustino, thank you for wanting to protect me, but I’ll be fine. It’s broad daylight and he’s right beside the restaurant. Any problems and I’ll call Rick for help.”
She could see Mr. Augustino’s relief. “You have any problems, you call me and I’ll show him what’s what.” He patted her arm. “I’m not too old to deal with the likes of him.” Then he turned and shouted. “Albi, I’m coming, I’m coming. Get Mr. Carlucci a cup of coffee and a biscotti while I get his suit ready for the fitting.”
Cat watched the door close behind him. She kept a bright, reassuring smile pasted on her face until the door closed.
Taking a deep breath, she turned and walked toward the back entrance of Night and Day. And the motorcycle. And the motorcyclist. He was off his bike now, leaning against it with an insolent grace as he watched what she quickly realized was the back entrance to her restaurant.
He was tall and his dark hair was long, almost touching his shoulders. He didn’t look like he’d shaved in a few days. He was wearing a leather jacket over what looked to be a white t-shirt. His jeans were faded with rips at the knees, and he had his helmet under his arm. She watched as he sat the helmet on the seat of the bike and checked his watch as if he were impatiently waiting for someone.
From her angle, she could only see his profile, and not much of that because of the sunglasses he was wearing, but there was something familiar about him, something horribly, dreadfully familiar.
Her respiration sped up. It was the dark hair and the bike, she told herself. That’s what was familiar. But there were a lot of tall men with dark hair and three-day beards who rode motorcycles. They thought it made them look cool, like a bad boy. It was the type she was recognizing, not anyone in particular, especially not him. Besides, her bad boy was back in Seattle, and the last time she had seen him, he was being led away in handcuffs, along with the owner of the restaurant where she worked and several regular customers.
It had been the worst experience of her life and no one, not even her sister, knew how she’d fallen head over heels in lust with a criminal. Hell, she’d thought she was in love with him. To make it worse, she, along with the rest of the staff, had been taken down to the police station, though thankfully not in handcuffs, and questioned for hours.
In the end, the police had realized that she and the majority of the staff had no knowledge of the money laundering operation her boss had apparently been a part of, and they’d all been released. It had been a nerve-wracking week of waiting, but eventually, the District Attorney had decided that they weren’t even required to testify. Apparently, the police had enough evidence without them, thank goodness; not that she’d really known much.
She had been so excited by the news that she’d thrown her arms around the portly District Attorney and bought herself a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
It was only the morning after, that she realized that life would never be the same. During that very tense week while she waited to be cleared, she had holed up in her apartment, not going anywhere and ignoring any phone call that wasn’t the police, her lawyer, or the DA’s office.
Afterward, she’d thought things would go back to normal, but they didn’t. Friends still avoided her, restaurants were no longer hiring. And then there were the calls. Fewer than when the police were questioning her, but there had still been several daily. Most were from the press, but a few came from a number she didn’t recognize that had the name blocked. She ignored all calls for days, until one day she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Whoever you are, just leave me alone! I don’t know anything.”
“Cat, it’s me, Scott.”
“I hope you aren’t wasting your one phone call on me, when you should be calling a lawyer.”
“Cat, it’s not what you think!”
“So, what is it? You mean you weren’t involved in a money-laundering ring?”
“No, yes. I mean, it’s not what you think.”
“Are you trying to tell me you are innocent? That you want to see me again?” Her stupid heart leaped at the thought.
“I’d love to see you again, Cat, but I can’t.” Her heart plummeted. “I have to go away for a while. A year, maybe longer, but…”
Somehow, that struck her as funny
, and she started laughing.
“Of course you can’t. You’re going to jail, or is it prison? Because you are a criminal. Is that how long you got? A year?” Her laughter petered out.
“I told you, it’s not what you think!”
“Then what is it?”
There was silence and then a sigh. “I can’t tell you, Cat. Not now.”
“When, then?”
“Hell, I don’t know. Maybe not ever.”
She started laughing again.
“Then why are you even bothering to call me? To dump me? I saw you being led away in handcuffs, and hearing from the police what you were involved in, well, no other words are necessary. Now, stop calling me.” She slammed down the phone as her laughter turned to tears.
2
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been crying when the phone rang again. She was about to turn the phone off, or maybe just throw it against the wall, when she saw that it was a Chicago number. Maggie?
It had seemed like a sign when Maggie had called her that night, raving about the location she’d found for the restaurant she wanted to start, and begging her to reconsider coming back to Chicago and joining her as a partner. A week later, she was back in Chicago and she’d never looked back.