But she couldn’t.
At least she’d have the picture?
“Hook your thumbs in your—yeah, like that.” She tried to not think about how low those jeans were getting on his hips…
This wasn’t something she’d show off. This….this was for her. A greedy, selfish indulgence she’d keep only for herself. If she owned a home, she’d print this out and blow it up, life sized.
“That’s it.”
“That’s it—you’re done?” Kade held his hands out.
“Yeah.” She could snap dozens of pictures, but why ruin perfection?
He was her vision brought to life.
She could stare at him like this all damn night.
They couldn’t keep doing this. She was going to hurt him if they kept going. That’s what she did. Shelby was broken in a fundamental way. She might feel for him, but in the end she could never be what a guy like Kade needed. Deserved. She’d meant to tell him that tonight, but it’d all gotten so tangled up.
15.
You should just shower that off. It’ll be easier.” She placed the camera back in the case. “Let me get you a towel.”
Shelby straightened.
Kade was right there.
She sucked in a breath, pressing her arms tight to her side.
When had he gotten so close?
“Sorry,” he mumbled. He didn’t sound the least bit repentant.
“Shower’s this way.” She side-stepped him, hustling ahead toward the bathroom across the loft.
She felt more than heard him behind her.
He wasn’t just a paramedic, he’d been a soldier, too. She kept forgetting that detail. Her mistake. It didn’t make them any more alike.
Kade made his choices under the guidance of faith. He believed in goodness. That there was a cause greater than him. That he should fight for that.
Shelby?
She believed in herself. She’d never had the luxury of considering others until her actions cost her. It was only then that she discovered her conscience, and now she’d spend the rest of her life cleaning up after herself.
They were fundamentally different people, a fact she would do well to remember.
Shelby pushed the bathroom door open. While most of the loft was rustic and unfinished, the kitchen and bathroom were completely upgraded. Pure luxury, in her book. Especially the huge, stone shower with multiple spray nozzles. It was like whoever built it knew a painter would live here for a bit and need to get paint off the most unusual places.
“Here you go.” She pulled a towel off the rack and turned toward Kade.
His jeans had slid farther down his hips. They were barely hanging on.
“I’ll, um…just leave this here then.” She set it on the vanity and edged toward the door.
Now, if Kade would just get out of her way.
“What? You’re leaving?” He reached out so fast she didn’t even have time to jump. His hand wrapped around her wrist, tugging her closer.
“Well…yeah.”
“Come on.”
He toed the door shut.
Oh, dear.
What about her commitment to stop this?
It seemed Kade was dead set on doing everything in his power to erode her resolve. He didn’t care if they only had tonight, a few days or a week. None of that seemed to matter. Except the more he touched her, the deeper he kissed her, the more intense her desire—her need—for him became.
When this ended—what then?
“Unless you want me to get this paint on your clothes, you might want to help me.”
Shelby had her shirt off before he finished the sentence. There were few enough of her clothes not splattered in paint as it was.
Kade laughed.
“I thought so.” He sounded so smug.
“Clearly, you don’t have much experience trying to get paint out of clothing.”
“Nope.” He stood back, watching her.
“Well, it’s a bitch to get out of stuff.” She reached into the shower and turned on the water.
“Obviously, I need your help then. I don’t know what I’m doing.” He wiggled his painted hands at her and took another few steps closer.
She snorted, but didn’t call him on that bullshit.
Kade toed off his boots. She managed to get hers off without painting anything besides the zipper. Her hurried wash up job was only so good.
“What…are you doing?” She watched Kade swivel his hips. “Are you… twerking?”
“There’s paint on my hands, what else am I supposed to do?” He laughed.
“You—are ridiculous.” She shook her head. “Come here, twerk machine.”
Silly wasn’t a word she’d have used to describe Kade before she’d gotten to know him. He didn’t often show this side of himself. It was a part of him she wouldn’t have believed, after having met his brothers. But somehow, every so often, he showed his true colors.
She hooked her thumbs in his jeans and tugged both pants and underwear down. She kept her focus on keeping her paint-streaked index fingers away from him and not the last time she’d done this.
Kade stepped out of his clothes and under the water.
She could duck out now. He couldn’t stop her. But she didn’t want to leave.
Shelby shimmied out of her jeans, panties and socks, chanting I’m just going to help him clean up to herself. She was getting good at lying to herself.
Almost.
At least until she glanced up at Kade with his back to the wall, watching her through the open shower door.
Yeah, the minute she stepped past the glass there was no going back.
Five days ago, if Rusty would have asked her if she could handle Kade she’d have scoffed. Of course she could. This wasn’t her first time turning someone into an asset.
That was before she’d met Kade.
She was in over her head, and she didn’t really care. It was what came after that worried her. When he was gone, when she had to pick up the pieces, when he wasn’t there anymore. That was what she was worried about.
“Are you going to take that bra off, or am I?” He ran his hands up and down his arms, the water turning colors.
Shelby shrugged out of her bra, pushed her shoulders back, and walked into the shower stall.
If she was going to regret something, it’d better be something worth the regret. If she was going to pick up the pieces, she wanted the memories to hold onto.
“Here.” She squirted some soap in a loofah. “It’s kind of scratchy.”
“I’m good with that.” He held out his arm.
She shook her head and scrubbed, treating his skin the same way she did her own.
“Ouch,” he hissed.
“I thought you liked it.”
“Oh, but I do.” He wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her closer.
“Not helping,” she said.
Between the close proximity, the beer, and the water temperature, her body was too warm. She scrubbed, keeping herself focused. It would be easy to lose herself in simply feeling him and the way water ran over his body, but she did have a purpose.
His hand slid up and down her back. He palmed her ass. There was a familiarity to his touch, as if this were perfectly normal. As though this was simply how it was with them. As if this was how it was always going to go.
When had things changed?
Was it because, from the moment they’d begun, she’d been off balance?
Would things be different if she’d never been off her game?
Kade’s hand pressed against her cheek, tipping her head back.
He kissed her and pulled her closer. Their bodies slid against each other. His erection prodded her hip, a reminder that they were both caught in this current.
“Kade?” She held onto his shoulder.
“Hm?”
Oh, fuck it.
She fisted his hair, bringing his head down, deepening the kiss. She sucked his tongue and he groaned, the
sound animalistic and ragged. God, she loved when he forgot to be domesticated. There was a part of him that was as rough as he liked to pretend he was polished.
Kade pushed her against the wall. She tripped over her own feet, but his grip kept her pressed up against him. Her back hit the cold tiles and she gasped. He bit down on her lower lip and she dug her nails into his scalp. He forced her up on her toes, his thigh pressed between her legs. He cupped her breasts, covering her.
At some point, she’d forgotten lust could be like this. All-consuming. Wild.
There was a marked difference between heist-adrenaline fucking and this.
A lot like a drunken one night stand that only needed to be washed away, whatever was eating at her—at Kade—was different. This was a driving need, not a sky-high thrill. This wasn’t going away. It was pushing them closer together.
He cupped her mound, his talented fingers stroking, toying. She double-fisted his hair and rocked her hips against his hand and thigh. He pumped his fingers into her, his muttered words lost in the sounds of the shower and her moans.
God damn, this man’s hands.
Kade sank to his knees.
She swayed on her rubbery legs, the lust and lack of oxygen causing her head to swim and swirl.
He nipped her inner thigh. She jerked away, unconsciously widening her stance. He chuckled and slid his palms up her legs.
Crap. She hadn’t met a guy who could find a clit with his mouth and knew what to do with it. At this point, she’d really just rather his cock.
“Kade, I really don’t—”
Her spine arched and her lungs stopped working, but only for a moment. His lips zeroed in like a clitoris homing device. She slapped her hands against the wall, her vision blurring. Her legs trembled.
Clearly, someone had paid attention in anatomy class.
He stroked his fingers along her folds. His tongue probed the delicate skin over her bundle of nerves.
“Oh—God.” She dug her hand into his hair and tilted her hips.
There.
His fingers plunged into her. Not one. More than one.
She rocked her hips faster. He braced his other arm against her stomach, picking up the pace and keeping her immobile. Something—another finger—brushed against her anus. She gasped, remembering the last time all too well. He didn’t penetrate the back door, but he wasn’t afraid of it either.
Why was she surprised Kade knew how to touch her? It was like he already knew her without having met her.
She leaned her head back and let her eyes close.
The man played her body like a master.
His tongue teased and stroked her while his fingers stretched her entrance, touching all the right nerves. All at once, the air whooshed out of her lungs, her muscles rippling as bliss so sweet it threatened to drown her took over.
God, she could fall in love with this man, given enough time.
Iestyn wiped the blood from his fingers.
Sometimes work was such messy business. He sighed and settled into the arm chair. Tomorrow, he’d go to Seattle. Plans would begin to unfold, and soon he would have the partner he was always meant to have.
He opened the laptop with one hand and pulled out his phone with the other.
Yuri had called while Iestyn was otherwise engaged. He jabbed the redial button and reclined in the chair.
“Iestyn, how good to hear from you so soon,” Yuri said.
“Of course. Is everything going well?”
“It is, it is. I had a question for you.”
“Go ahead.”
“The set dressing, do you care how it is disposed of?”
“It’s set dressing, why would I care? What do you normally do for something like this?”
“We have a cocktail of drugs we administer to the participants. It makes their minds malleable and memories unreliable.”
“Have you used it before?”
“Yes.”
Iestyn might have use of a drug like that.
“Then you—what? Sell them?”
“Sometimes. This time, we will not keep them. I do have my eye on two subjects that I’d like to keep, unless you are opposed?”
“No, far be it for me to tell you how to do your job.”
“Fantastic.”
“Anything else?” Iestyn powered on the laptop, eager to put this day to rest.
“Nothing further.”
They bid each other goodnight, and Iestyn brought up his surveillance interface. At any given time, he had a number of people to keep his eye on. But Shelby, she was special.
He brought up the cameras, toggling between them.
The loft was empty.
No—no it wasn’t.
The camera in the bathroom was fogged over, but he could still see forms moving.
Iestyn clenched his fist. He wanted to win Sharon back, and he knew it had to be this way, but he didn’t have to like it.
Movement in another frame caught Iestyn’s attention. He frowned at the figure slipping into the loft.
Iestyn hit a contact on his phone and pressed the phone to his ear, watching the figure.
“Uh, yes, sir?” The man in the video glanced around, phone up.
“Get out.”
“Oh…uh, yeah. I was just about to leave.”
“Now.”
Iestyn ended the call and leaned back into his seat.
When this was over, when Sharon was his again, he’d make this man pay.
16.
Kade kissed Shelby’s stomach, the flare of her hip. He braced his hands against the wall and rose, taking his time. She flinched away from his touch to her breast.
Was she the type whose body became hypersensitive following orgasm?
That could be a fun kind of torture.
There was a certain flavor of rightness when he kissed her. The taste of her. The feel of her body. The energy wrapped around them.
Her eyes cracked open and she panted for breath. Her skin was flushed, cheeks rosy.
She was such an adorable little badass, but he’d never say that to her face. He liked not getting his nose broken.
“Let me guess, you got an A in anatomy?” She chuckled.
“I got an A in everything.” He leaned in and kissed her throat. He could feel the flutter of her pulse against his lips.
“Of course you did.” She slid her arms over his shoulders. There was a delicious, boneless quality to her movements.
An orgasm always did the body good, especially one under as much stress as hers.
“For a moment, there, I thought you were going to make good on your threat,” she said.
“To what? Stick a finger in?” He gripped her hip.
“Yeah.”
“Maybe I will. When you aren’t expecting it.”
In his experience, it was a lot more fun to play with the forbidden.
“That doesn’t sound promising.” She smiled, the expression relaxed, unguarded.
Her hand wrapped around his cock, stroking him with a familiar, lazy feel.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
Not a request.
She pulled on his hair, tugging him closer. He pressed his mouth to hers, her tongue stroking his lips, dipping into his mouth. God, she was like a drug he couldn’t get enough of. He could spend hours just kissing her, but the moment her hands touched him he got other ideas. Like being inside of her. Hearing her moan. Those little love bites she was so fond of.
“Condom?” Shelby leaned back.
“You sure?”
“Now.”
He wasn’t going to argue.
Kade took all of three stiff steps out to where his jeans lay in a pile and fished his wallet out of his pocket. He ripped it open and rolled the latex on, far too eager to wait.
Shelby was still propped up against the wall, watching him.
She was something else. Totally unique. So much sass shoved in a curvy package.
He grasped her by the hips, hauling he
r up against him. Kade lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around him, her arms circling his neck.
When she smiled like that—one corner of her mouth higher than the other and that light shining in her eyes—it was hard to see her as anything but Shelby. The woman who’d peeled back his layers so fast and taken him unaware.
She twisted his hair around her fingers and kissed him.
He braced her back against the wall. She sucked in a breath around his lips and shivered.
Kade grasped his cock. She shifted her hips, aligning their bodies.
They fit together so damn well.
Her body yielded to the intrusion. She groaned into his mouth and tugged on his hair. He felt her tighten around him. Still sensitive from orgasm? He could only hope so. After tasting her, feeling her come apart around his fingers, he didn’t have much faith in lasting long.
The hot water sprayed against his side, splashing their faces.
He flexed his hips, sinking his length into her. She tipped her chin back, groaning.
Yeah, that felt pretty damn good for him, too.
Her eyes snared his. He pressed his forehead to hers, mesmerized by her, the way her features changed.
Kade withdrew.
Shelby’s cheeks sank in.
He thrust.
She gasped.
Never once did she look away.
In these moments, when he saw pleasure written so plainly on her face, he saw who she was underneath everything else. The woman who called to him. The one who fit his broken soul. They were two ships, cast into the ocean without a home, and they’d found each other.
It might be corny and stupid, but it was right.
She was right.
For him.
He bent his legs, thrusting deeper.
Her lashes fluttered, but still she didn’t look away.
“Come on, Shelby,” he whispered.
The slick sounds of their joining, her moans, filled the bathroom. Her nails raked over his shoulders.
“Kade.”
Her spine arched and her pupils expanded.
“Fuck!”
He thrust into her tight, hot vice of a pussy, the contractions of her orgasm stroking him. He growled, rocking his hips into her as release set him free.
Her Prince (Twisted Royals #2) Page 14
