The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  Her breathing grew slow and steady, and Seth knew she’d finally fallen asleep. Yet he just couldn’t seem to find the strength to pull himself away. Seth nestled his nose into her silken hair and breathed in Katie as he fantasized about every inch of her and what he wanted to do to her, with her. They would recreate Eden.

  But she was so much more to him than a feminine means to a passionate ends. Katie touched every part of him. Reached out to his body? Oh, yes. Reached out to his heart and soul? Yes. Oh, yes.

  A smile crossed his face as he thought about his angel. There had never been a woman who could anger him as quickly as Katie Murphy, but there had also never been a woman who could calm him as quickly either. Or who could send fire racing through him.

  He reflected on Kirsten for a moment as he compared his former fiancée to the woman who now slept in his arms. Kirsten’s outward beauty seemed flawless. Perfectly styled long, blond hair. Cosmetically enhanced face, impeccable no matter the circumstances. A curvaceous figure that made many a man drool. She only dressed in designer fashions and always spoke in a style that showed her breeding and refinement. Men lined up to get just a moment of her attention. Yet Seth couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever felt even half the pull toward Kirsten as he felt toward Katie.

  Katie—who dressed in frayed jeans and men’s shirts, wore more dirt on her face than make-up, and sometimes cursed like a sailor. She was the most desirable woman Seth had ever known.

  “Oh, Boss,” he whispered. “What have you done to me?” The only response was a quiet, sleepy sigh.

  So what’s it going to be, Remington? Love or money?

  What Seth desperately wanted was a way to have both. He wanted to give Katie all of the things she deserved, to shower her with the nicer things in life. He would take her to Cabo San Lucas, or Paris, or just to his luxury suite in the Remington compound. He would buy her a million-dollar horse and an enormous farm. And he’d put a flawless diamond and platinum ring on her finger.

  In his fantasies, he could have both this beautiful angel and his inheritance.

  But only in his fantasies.

  Seth closed his eyes and pulled Katie a little closer as he promised himself he would only stay a few more moments.

  And then he fell asleep dreaming of a fantasy world where a man could have everything he desired.

  Chapter 18

  What a nice dream.

  The first shards of daylight broke through the small window, bathing the room in an orange glow. Katie was surrounded in comforting warmth, and the pressure of a gentle and welcome weight covered her. Seth kissed her as he ran his hands through her hair, tilted her head, and ravished her mouth. She could taste him. It all looked so real, felt so real, was so real.

  In the erotic dream, he moved his lips from hers to kiss her checks, her nose, and her chin. Little kisses that brushed against her skin like the flapping of butterfly wings or the caress of a soft, summer breeze. She heard her own voice moan a response low in her throat. After he ran his hands down her arms and laced his fingers with hers, Seth pulled her arms over her head. He turned her hands loose, tracing his fingertips down the soft underside of her arms to her breasts where he cupped each to give a lingering stroke before he let his hands wander to her stomach.

  Such a wonderful dream. Katie could feel the brush of his fingertips on her heated skin as he grasped the hem of her shirt and lifted it slowly up her body and over her head. She arched her back and then lifted her shoulders to assist him in the task, knowing this could never be real. His warm lips immediately went to her belly where he kissed her as he slid his hands behind her shoulder blades to release the clasp of her bra. The garment was removed and fell silently to the floor. When Seth’s hot mouth and tongue began to work their magic on her naked breast, when he made her want and want, only then did the fog fade to give way to reality.

  No, it isn’t a dream. But Katie still reveled in the feeling of being outside of herself. Pretending she still slept was easy enough, and she didn’t want to apply too much sobering reason to what was happening to her. The sensations racing through every nerve were too new, too wonderful, and much too strong to allow them to die in the stark light of the new day. As Seth suckled and teased her breasts with his mouth and fingers, the rush of passion, her need of him caused Katie to lose what little will she might have found to deny him.

  Powerless to stop herself, she gathered the material of Seth’s shirt into her fingers as she tugged and pulled to raise it over his head. Once free, he covered her body with his as her breasts flattened against the hard muscles of his chest. Warmth to warmth. Skin to skin. Man to woman. She lost herself in his kisses and let herself believe the dream hadn’t vanished.

  Seth had awakened to the intoxicating smell of Katie, and something fierce and primitive had taken control. The instant he opened his eyes and saw her still sleeping in his arms, he needed to possess her body, capture her heart, and imprison her soul. He wanted to wipe out any memory of any other man who had ever dared to touch her. Mine. She’s mine. All of his ability to reason evaporated as his body cried out to make her his own.

  The rush of sensation, the tightening of muscle, the ripple of visceral excitement. Seth drowned in it all as he hungrily took from Katie everything he could. She pushed him past the point of logic. Pulling away from her breast, he took possession of her lips. His tongue swept into her mouth again and again, and her enthusiastic response fueled his already raging fire.

  Katie reached for the waistband of his jeans and tugged at the buttons until they opened one by one. Seth reluctantly pulled away from her long enough to stand and shed the cumbersome denim and his boxers.

  Kneeling on the bed over her, Seth ran his hands down her rib cage as he kissed the soft, white skin of her stomach. He circled her navel with his tongue and enjoyed the way she trembled in response, savored each feminine cry and gasp. He unzipped her jeans and peeled them slowly down her hips and legs. He stopped to stroke and kiss a thigh, a knee, a calf as each was revealed.

  Katie moaned at the alternation of shivers and warmth that washed over her each time his hands and his soft lips touched her legs. Once her jeans were shed, her lacey panties quickly followed.

  Once again, Katie felt the delicious length of his perfect body covering hers. The meeting of his strength and her softness. New and exciting, yet old as time itself. Katie could feel the heat of his erection pressing against her, and knowing how powerfully his body had responded to hers only made her burn more. Her blood ran lava-hot, scalding her from the inside out. The core of her throbbed in anticipation screaming, “Now!”

  Seth whispered softly in her ear encouraging, promising, and praising. Katie thrilled at the sensations that spread through her like wildfire licking at dry grass with each of his seductive words. She wanted so much to declare her love, wanted to whisper it as he touched her, to shout it when he took her. The dread of his response made her hold her tongue. She wouldn’t ruin this. But the three magic words she longed to confess sang through her mind each time skin rubbed skin. Between the way he made her body reply to his caresses and the love she nurtured for him, she feared she would weep. The experience was almost too overwhelming to bear, almost too intense to endure.

  Rolling to his side, Seth stroked the inside of Katie’s thigh as he slowly worked his way up to caress the part of her he’d imagined a million times in his mind. The feel of her soft heat was more fulfilling than any fantasy, almost exciting enough for him to lose control. He stroked and teased as he drank in her reactions like warm brandy. He felt her shudder and heard her moan when he slid a finger inside her, and he knew he couldn’t wait much longer to bury himself in that welcoming warmth.

  Katie trembled as his fingers worked magic on her body. Passion so new, so raw, so untamed she almost feared losing herself to its intensity. Her muscles clenched and her hips rose from the bed as she felt herself building toward some release that she didn’t know quite how to reach. She cried out in fru
stration when he moved his hand away.

  Seth pushed himself above her and placed his knee between her thighs to gently force her legs further apart. “Katie? Are you sure?” he whispered as he settled over her. If she denied him, he wasn’t sure if he could even stop. He wouldn’t have been able to explain why, didn’t even understand himself, but he needed her assurance that she wanted this just as much as he did.

  Katie had never been more sure of anything in her life. She needed him inside her, joined with her, one with her. No beginning, no end, only here and only now. “Yes, Seth. I’m sure.”

  Lifting her knee to rest against his hip, Seth entered her as tenderly as he could. He tried to hold back, reining in the desire to plunge into her soft, moist heat with all the naked passion holding him hostage. The moment had to last an eternity because now would be all they had, all they would ever have. But her body fit his so perfectly he could hold nothing back. “God, Katie, you feel so good.”

  “So do you.” They were the last coherent words she could form as her body took command of her mind.

  Katie arched against him as she wrapped her legs around his waist and rocked her hips up. She could hear the salacious growl in his throat as the tempo of their bodies quickened, making the old bed frame squeak a melody in rhythm with their frantic movements.

  Seth tried to be gentle, tried to maintain some kind of control. Katie wouldn’t allow it as their bodies met again and again in a rough race to find release. The warmth in her body settled firmly between her legs as she teetered on the border of rapture.

  He could feel the tensing of her muscles as her legs pulled him closer, and knowing she was as frenzied as he was almost pushed Seth over the edge. With what little control he had remaining, he urged her on. As she began to tighten around him, he whispered, “That’s it, Baby. Come with me now.”

  Katie’s body exploded, a thousand rays of warm sunlight shimmering through her veins. She dug her nails into Seth’s shoulders as he buried himself inside her one last, glorious time. When he breathed her name hoarsely as he shuddered, Katie felt a delightful aftershock run the length of her body.

  Both were entirely spent, breathing as if they’d run a great distance. As if they’d changed the rules. As if they’d held back time for one incredible moment.

  Seth reluctantly rolled from her. Sprawled on his back, he pulled Katie close to his side. He held her cradled to his shoulder as he marveled in the rightness of the moment. His body had never been so relaxed, his mind so bathed in contentment.

  Katie rubbed her cheek against his shoulder and sighed in satisfaction. Her heart wanted to sing her love for this man, to shout it from the rooftops. When she loved him, there was no last will and testament, no fortune to claim, and no way to lose him.

  The insistent ringing of her cell phone intruded on their private and satisfied world. Katie grudgingly rose to answer, knowing reality could no longer be held at bay.

  Seth watched her leave the tiny bed they’d shared and had to fight the urge to drag her back into his arms. She grabbed her shirt, shyly turned her back, and pulled the garment quickly over her head. He chuckled at her modesty. She grabbed her jeans off the floor and yanked her phone out of the pocket.

  Lord, looked she pretty in the early morning light—especially when her cheeks were still flushed and her creamy legs were long and bare. The shirt barely covered her pretty backside, and Seth loved the tease of seeing the roundness of her bottom playing peek-a-boo every time she moved. He felt himself getting hard in response. So quickly, so soon. Katie absolutely bewitched him.

  Catching the gist of the conversation from listening to her words, Seth figured Brian was out of surgery. He waited patiently for her call to end so she could give him the details.

  “We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Katie promised before she flipped the phone shut. Seth wondered if she even realized that she’d included him in her pledge to Samantha. “Brian is in a room now. They put his thigh back together with nine pins, but the doctor thinks he’ll be fine. It’s just going to take time and lots of therapy.”

  “That’s good to hear. I know you want to see him. We could drive to Indianapolis after we get the horses fed.” Seth knew there was work to do, and he wondered if for once she’d put personal ahead of business.

  “Yeah, I promised Sam we’d go. We’ll just feed ‘em and clean the stalls. We can train tomorrow.” It almost sounded as if she was talking herself into making the trip. “I want to go.”

  “Then we’ll go.” Seth threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Katie blushed and turned her back to him again. “I can’t believe you’re embarrassed. I mean after what we just did...”

  “I’m not used to seeing guys... you know... naked.”

  Seth laughed. “Good.” He slipped on his boxers. “It’s safe to turn around now.”

  All of a sudden, Katie looked like someone had hit her with the force of a heavyweight title fighter. Her face contorted in pain, and she began to tremble. She grabbed a hold of the chair, her knuckles turning white. “Oh, my God, Seth. What have we done?”

  What have we done? Seth started shaking as hard and fast as Katie and a wave of nausea rolled through him. “Just... just let me think for a minute.” He took deep breaths to keep the panic rising in him from spilling out.

  “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.” Katie grabbed the rest of her clothes and ran to the bathroom. The slam of the door was followed by the crash of objects being hurled around the bathroom.

  Seth felt like a man torn in two. Making love to Katie had been the best experience of his life. Hell, he’d never felt anything half as wonderful. But was the strength of that feeling enough to give up millions of dollars?

  And the person he wanted to talk to the most, the one he trusted above all others, was the woman who might be taking away his fortune. What had he done? What had they done?

  Hearing Katie’s soft sobs, Seth pulled himself out of his stupor. He couldn’t allow her to bear the entire responsibility for their actions. He’d wanted her. He still wanted her. Going to the bathroom, Seth raised his knuckles, intending to knock when the door suddenly jerked open.

  Her eyes were puffy and red, but she had one of those determined looks on her face. “It never happened,” a fully-dressed Katie declared. Then she sat on the bed and pulled on her socks and boots as if the day was nothing more than routine. She kept muttering to herself. “It never happened.”

  Denial. The most basic of the defense mechanisms. He sighed in resignation of having to live with the reality of their actions. “Boss, it happened. We’ve got to deal with it.”

  “No. No dealing with it. It never happened. No one knows, Seth. And no one has to know.”

  Katie was throwing him a lifeline, much as he had done for her once upon a time. There wasn’t anyone who knew they’d been together, and no one ever had to discover the truth. Brian and Sam were in Indianapolis, Chris was at the Mitchell farm, and Ross had traveled back to Chicago. Katie was probably right. No one had to know.

  But he’d remember. He’d always remember.

  Love or money?

  Katie watched Seth closely to gauge his reaction. He couldn’t possibly know the depth of what she felt, nor would she ever allow it. Her body still burned from his touch, and the love she felt for him smothered her until she could barely draw air into her lungs. Her heart was breaking in its positively insane desire for Seth to throw aside his inheritance and claim her as his own.

  Things like that only happened in fairy tales or romance novels. She lived in the real world, and the real world revolved around money. Katie silently vowed she would never be responsible for taking a fortune away from the man she loved. Seth had a life of his own before he became her groom. He was forcibly taken away from a world where he enjoyed the very best of everything, and he’d made the best of it because his fortune would be waiting in the end. If she could do nothing else, Katie would give Seth back his life. Even if it killed he
r. “Let’s get the horses fed. Then you can take the truck to the track to clean up and I’ll catch a shower here. We can get to the hospital by lunchtime,” Katie said as nonchalantly as she could manage.

  Let it go, Seth! Just let it go!

  “Fine. Let’s get to work.” His tone was so flat, he could have been discussing as mundane as a shipment of grain.

  Katie’s heart shattered into a million pieces and littered the floor around her.

  Chapter 19

  “I hate hospitals,” Katie muttered to herself.

  The smell of a hospital had burned into Katie’s memory with startling clarity—the smell of pain and grief.

  She’d been so young when her parents died. Many of the memories she once had of them had all but faded away. She still found it hard to remember exactly what they looked like, unsure if what she saw in her mind were truly memories of them or just recollections of pictures she’d seen. She couldn’t remember the sound of their voices or the touch of their hands.

  But there was one thing she would never forget, one thing that would always remind her of her family. The disinfectant smell of a hospital.

  She’d been lying on a gurney all by herself when she’d heard the policemen talking. She’d been in so much pain, but she still heard every word, every syllable. They must not have realized she rested just behind the thin curtain. To hear her beloved mother and father had died from two men talking so casually they might have been discussing their plans for lunch was something Katie could never, would never forget.

  Seth held the door open, obviously waiting for her to go through.

  I can’t. I just can’t. She looked away and hoped he wouldn’t see the hurt clearly reflected in her eyes.