She dropped her palms to his magnificent chest and let this gentle man fill her. It took a moment, his girth and length more than her body could accommodate. The contradictions of their physical bodies enticed waves of shivers. All of that velvet steel was hers for the taking. For this brief instant, she was anchored to the heart and soul of him. The man who’d breathed life into her premature baby now filled her. Her body expanded to let him in. She arched her back and looked upward, wanting every last centimeter. Giving her all. Taking his all. Needing more.
As the warm blankets slid off her shoulders, rippling fire coursed up the inside of her thighs to clench him. Adam was caught as much as she. Gloriously snared with love.
Shannon lowered her head and opened her eyes. The most glorious male lay beneath her, tucked in tight. Darkest indigo beset with turquoise embers held her fast, while Adam filled her to the hilt in an erotic rhythm of give and take. Bump and grind. She whimpered. The rippling blaze turned into a firestorm, licking her body with tongues of flames, pushing her into the stars. She hadn’t left the bed, but she flew. Higher. Highest. The most pleasant scorching blaze consumed her, pushing her until one whispered shriek escaped her lips, “Adam.”
“I’m. Right. Here,” he growled and offered one final thrust, then—he flew with her.
Quivering fireworks burst through her as she shattered. Euphoria sluiced down her spine to that intimate joining of their two bodies. And Shannon fell to earth and to Adam, a newborn star finally come home. He was very smart to hold her so tight. She knew the truth now. She was no different than him. She really could fly.
Pressed to his thundering heart, contentment filled her from the crown of her head down to her very happy toes. Relaxation beckoned as the luxury of those big, manly hands smoothed her shoulder blades, warming while they secured her safely to earth. The sensation of this mating was entirely new. Thoroughly delightful. A woman could get used to it. To him.
He kissed the top of her head. “Do you hear that? He’s talking to the bear.”
Sure enough, Jimmy Malone cooed and giggled softly from his bed.
Shannon crawled carefully up Adam’s handsome body to pause at his still wet lips. “Adam?”
“Yes, my love,” he said, his hands in her hair and the most reverent light on his face.
“I love you,” she told him, as if he couldn’t already tell.
She fell again the moment he smiled.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The morning turned to afternoon before Shannon stirred. Adam expected a startle reflex when she woke to find herself in a strange room. Instead, her hand wandered to his stomach and downward.
“You’re awake?” Soft blue eyes asked a different question than her lips.
He snagged her hand, lifting her tempting fingers to his mouth. “My hell, are you still hungry?”
“Yes,” she answered quickly, and he nearly laughed. Jimmy was quiet, so Adam rolled Shannon onto her back, his elbows at the sides of her head and the happiest glow on her face. Tracing a line that began at the end of her chin and extended up to her soft, sweet lips, he satisfied a fraction of her appetite with a long kiss. Or so he thought.
The fingers roaming up his back and over his shoulder blades turned insistent, and he was a captured warrior with no hope of quarter being granted. Not that he wanted relief from the sinfully wicked charms of this beautiful temptress. Adam succumbed. The sheets stood no chance of keeping them covered while they entwined and played again.
Shannon was very hungry, but so was he. Finally sated once more, he wrapped her up toga-style in the linen sheet, and restored his bath towel to his hips. They stood watching the sleeping baby.
“When should he eat again?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, a shadow creasing her brow. “I’ve never done this before.”
“Don’t worry. He’ll tell you when he’s hungry. Join me?” Adam tugged her away from the crib, intent on distracting her from the simple detail every mother should know about her child. Ushering Shannon into the bathroom, he closed the door. “Let’s shower.”
She demurred, her reticence reminding him how foreign romance and honest male attention must seem to her. He turned the shower spray on and unwrapped his fair lady. The angel of his dreams stepped out of the sheet and into his arms. It would’ve been perfect if she hadn’t caught a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror.
“Fuck! Look at me. I do look like Alice Cooper!” She leaned over the vanity, total disgust on her face as she scrubbed at her eyes.
Truth was, he couldn’t stop looking at her. He saw no flaws, just the other half to his soul and all of his heart. But that ugly word caught him short. It just wasn’t her. Okay, so her black eyeliner was a little smudged. She did have extra gray tearstains all the way to her jaw. Now that he looked at her, that short hair-do was standing on end, too. Still, she was beautiful to him.
“No wonder Judy looked at me like I was crazy. Fuck, you should’ve told me,” she demanded. “How could you let me look like this?”
He called the game. “Shannon. Stop with the language. You’re better than that, and honestly, that little boy out there doesn’t need to hear his mama swearing like a sailor. Stop berating yourself, too.”
The minute she turned on him, he took hold of her wrists and pulled her gorgeous naked body into his, his heart beating loud and furious. How could he let her look like that? Apparently, he didn’t see the same thing she did. All he saw was perfection. He wouldn’t change a thing.
“I’m sorry. I used to be nice, but I look like—”
Enough!
He covered her still flapping lips with his and crushed the temper right out of her, claiming that tender, swollen mouth until she breathed all that angry fire into him. Never separating, he lifted her into the shower stall with him and let the warm water cascade over her angry, bewildered face.
Hunger roared out of her. Shannon all but climbed up his body again, anchoring her slender arms around his neck while she wrapped her legs at his waist. The angle provided a waterfall over them both and the perfect position for deeper access to her.
He pushed himself into her tender folds, acutely aware that she needed this physical connection desperately. The tongue that had only seconds before been angry and mean, now lapped circles around his mouth. Over his lips. Down his chin to his neck. The sweetest heat filled his senses.
The marble tiles were cold when he pressed her back to them, but the intensity of her hunger vanquished the chill. That same feral creature that had assaulted him on the Crystal City highway, returned with fingernails that scratched and teeth that bit. She drew no blood, just seemed to need to force her love onto him. To afflict him with it. He let her play. Let her win. Let her take all she needed, for as long as she needed, while the room filled with steam and sex.
He had all the time in the world for her. Shannon was his one and only, and he meant her to know it. At last she ceased grinding her core against him, still impaled but breathing hard, her race won. He fastened her to the wall and set an easy rhythm without the angst. Only love.
All he needed in life, he now held at his fingertips. Adam took less than a heartbeat before his heavy breathing joined hers. He cradled her tender, quaking body against his while aftershocks clenched through her. Good hell, this woman was strong. And demanding. He liked that she’d taken control.
With their heads bowed together, Shannon lowered her feet to the shower floor, but then she turned away from him, her hands flat to the wall. Taking her silence for a momentary pause in the action, he grabbed the shower gel and slathered it over her shoulders and down her back to the delightful pink cheeks of her butt. The individual vertebrae along her backbone stuck out rigid against his palm, the same as her shoulder blades. “You need to eat,” he murmured, slanting the shower spray to rinse.
“I don’t know why I did that,” she said quietly.
“Did what?” He feigned innocence, pulling her back to his chest as he
cupped those soft, plump breasts. Of her entire scrawny body, only her breasts had maintained the fullness he remembered, most likely because of that breast pump thing. He wondered if it hurt when she’d used it.
She sighed, her right hand hooked around his neck while he let his thumbs strum a silent melody of love over the tips of her nipples. They pebbled instantly as he watched the reaction over her shoulder. His body sprang to attention, ready to dance again.
Shannon turned to face him, cupping his jaw. “Did I hurt you?”
There she was, a little woman of maybe five-five asking a big, tough guy like him if she’d hurt him with a little rough sex? Hell, they hadn’t even broken anything.
He grinned. “If I said no, would you do it again?”
Adam should’ve known better. She leaned into his lips, and then he could tell she was crying. He let the shower gel slip to the floor and gathered her up like the lost soul she was. “The only way you could hurt me is the day you leave. You’re not telling me goodbye, are you?”
She shook her head vigorously, and that cinched it. He dropped to one knee, bare-ass naked with his heart in his throat, right there in the Mortimer’s guest-room shower. Adam clamped onto her hand. “Shannon. You and Squeaks. Stay with me forever. Marry me.”
She blinked, her lovely lashes glistening with droplets of water and tears. Damn it, he’d made a fool of himself. He should’ve waited. He should’ve known better. At least he should’ve dressed for the occasion. Women liked flowers and romance. Diamonds. All she was getting was some crazy, naked guy who—
“Yes,” she hiccupped.
He could barely hear her answer over the shower and the pounding in his heart. “Did you say—?”
“Yes. I said yes, Adam. I would love to marry you.” The most gorgeous smile filled up her very pretty face, big black raccoon eyes and all.
Judy’s taco dinner turned into her usual lavish affair with bowls of homemade salsa, mounds of grated cheddar cheese, and a tray filled to overflowing with sliced melon, wedges of pineapple, and fresh pears. Izza supplied a piping hot platter of homemade tortillas while Ember and Rory teamed up to fry enough sopapillas to feed an army. Connor missed dinner. He’d driven to Adam’s apartment to rescue Seamus from his crate. But the best happened when Shannon lingered in the kitchen with the ladies after dinner.
Adam would’ve stayed with her, but soon as the women started discussing childbirth, he learned more about breast pumps than any guy needed to know. He quickly excused himself and joined the manly conversations out on the Mortimer front porch, where Alex and the guys had congregated.
A friendly face beamed up from the steps beside Alex. Adam reached for Mr. Moore’s hand. “Terrence. You made it. How’s the head?”
“Ah, that tweren’t nothing.” Terrence waved it off. “But if I ever catch the guy who did it, he’ll be wishing he was fishing.”
“Do you remember what happened yet?”
“Nope. One minute I’m filling my coffee maker with water. The next, I’m seeing stars.”
“Whoever it was took something though,” Harley added. “Tell them.”
One of Terrence’s eyes squinted nearly shut, his brow arched over the other. “That joker stole my Reagan Industries I.D. right out of my wallet. When I got to the gate this morning, the guards wouldn’t let me in.”
Adam frowned. That set the plan back. Now what?
“Don’t worry none. I’ve got old age and treachery on my side, son.” Terrence held up another I.D. card with a sly smile. “Knew I’d need this rascal one of these days.”
“So you were able to check the serial numbers? Was I right? Do they match the ones from the island?”
“Not only were you right, but I found all five drones. Not four.”
“Five?” Adam hadn’t seen that one coming.
Terrence nodded. “Yessirree, Bob. All five prototypes are sitting in their cradles in the lab. They’re scheduled for destruction first thing tomorrow.”
“He’s working with the Koreans,” Adam hissed. “He’s been behind this whole thing from the start.”
“The bastard called while you were asleep,” Alex added grimly.
That raised Adam’s brows. Alex hadn’t let on during dinner that he’d heard from Reagan. “What’s he want?”
“To talk to his daughter, like I believe a damned thing that comes out of his mouth.”
“No,” Adam snapped. “He had his chance. All he did was hurt her. No more.”
“He said he was sorry.” Alex dropped another piece-of-shit Reagan lie before he climbed down the steps and faced the parking lot that had once been the Mortimer lawn. Now it looked like a parking lot for trucks, Jeeps, and Izza’s Hummer.
Adam joined him. “You’re not seriously thinking of talking to Reagan, are you?”
Alex shrugged. “It won’t hurt to listen.”
“When? Where?”
“Tonight. His place.”
“Reagan Manor?” Adam rubbed the creepy shiver off the back of his neck at the mention of that hellhole. He’d only been inside the one time, but the memory lingered, and none of it was good. Even before he’d seen Shannon that morning, he’d felt the darkness hovering over the place.
“I’ve already notified the CIA, but Atchison needs evidence. We’ll wear wires.”
“So now he wants our help?” Adam let out a deep breath of who gives a shit. Atchison could go to hell for what he’d said about Shannon.
Alex twisted his neck from side to side with an audible pop. “He’s a fed. What do you think?”
“The answer is no. Shannon isn’t going anywhere near her father.”
“He won’t let us in without her. Don’t you think you and I can keep her safe?”
Adam raked a hand over his head. “It’s not that. It’s him. I don’t trust the son-of-a-bitch, and neither do you. He’s up to something.”
“And so are we,” Alex replied evenly. “Listen. We can let the CIA run with it, and you can bet your ass they’ll screw the pooch on putting this bastard in prison, or we can go in prepared and nail him to the wall. Reagan’s no dummy. He stole those UAVs back from the Navy for a good reason, and we need to know what that reason is. Tonight. Shit, Adam, maybe the Korean’s weren’t the only ones involved, did you ever think of that? What if ISIS in on board with Reagan’s treason? Or China? What if he sold the damned things to two different buyers?”
“No,” Adam said firmly, his mind made up. “Find another way. Shannon isn’t going. Don’t even ask her.”
“Don’t ask me what?”
Adam pivoted smartly, and damn it. There she was, at the top of the porch stairs. He swallowed hard at the determination in her eye, not sure how much she’d heard. “Where’s Squeaks?” he asked, stalling for a way out. “How’s he doing tonight?”
“He’s fine. Judy’s playing with him. What’s going on, Adam? What don’t you want me to do?”
Alex picked a good time to keep his big mouth zipped, damn him. Still Adam stalled. Shannon was nearly herself again, her eyes bright with her old zest for life. She’d relaxed to the point of sharing Jimmy with people she trusted, because she could, damn it. How could he risk all of that again?
“Your father wants to see you,” he admitted honestly, “but you don’t owe him or anyone else a damned thing, Shannon. Go back in the house and stay there.”
A small but genuine smile fluttered over her face. One brow lifted. “Did you just tell me what to do?” she asked almost coyly.
He blew out a long-suffering sigh at that loaded question. He hadn’t meant to boss her, but then again, maybe he did. She was his bride-to-be, his woman, but mostly, he couldn’t risk losing her the same day he’d finally got her back. He’d never survive. “I just don’t want you anywhere near your old man. Let the CIA take him down. He’s their problem now.”
“But you need my help to do that?” she asked Alex pointedly.
“Yes,” Alex answered in that brusque, no nonsense way of his that
was really pissing Adam off. “But Adam’s right. You’ve been through enough. We’ll find another way.”
She rubbed her palms up her arms. “No, Mr. Stewart. I’ll go, but only because I want to tell him to his face to go to hell.”
Adam bowed his head, his body once more clenched for war with that rat bastard Paul Reagan, only this time Shannon was square in the middle of the firefight. Worse, she’d had time to think. She wanted to be there. She wanted that one last word with the man who’d nearly destroyed her, and damn it to hell. Reagan had it coming, but nothing about him was as it seemed. The man was a slick, snake-oil salesman, his promises full of poison. A liar through and through.
Connor chose that moment to pull up in the driveway, and in seconds, a flurry of red hair and long legs bounded out of his SUV. Seamus was officially in the house, or at least on the porch and mugging everyone in sight. Ordinarily, that would’ve made Adam smile. Not tonight.
“Is dinner ready?” Connor asked innocently.
Adam growled, pissed at the world all over again. “Not yet. Get your gear. You’re coming with me”
Shannon cringed, and every time she did, her shoulder and neck muscles tightened up. Her heart pounded too hard, but she had to do this. She had to face her father one last time.
They were in Connor’s SUV and headed back to Reagan Manor. Alex rode shotgun. She and Adam sat in the rear, while Rory and Harley followed in another TEAM vehicle. The only good part of this hazardous road trip was that Jimmy was safe with Judy. It didn’t hurt that Harley had loosed every last one of his adult dogs to roam the Mortimer premises before The TEAM hit the road.
When Alex mustered his troops, he’d called a veritable army. Not only did Sasha show up within seconds of his call to arms, so did Mark Houston and David Tao, as well as a few other TEAM hunks she hadn’t met before. Better yet, they’d arrived in tactical gear, only to be attacked by two little boys who called them all ‘Unca!’ at the top of their lungs. There was Unca Gabe and Unca Maverick, not to mention Unca Taylor, Unca Zack, and Unca Lee, plus a few other uncles whose names she hadn’t caught.
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