by Zoey Thames
That kiss, though. It had sparked all those feelings back to life.
What would he have done if the chauffeur hadn’t interrupted when she had? He had a good idea that they’d have ended up heading back into the luxury jet’s private stateroom accommodations in the back where there was a bed. They’d have ended up fucking. And as wonderful as that sounded to part of his mind—and especially to his aching cock—that wouldn’t help him or his company achieve what was needed. Expansion.
Then again, he didn’t for an instant believe the pretty little human with her large eyes and full lips was innocent in this deal. In a way, it was brilliant on Aaron’s part. And what impeccable timing. Lure Jackson into a kiss, then have a human reporter disguised as a limo driver slip past his touted security and “surprise” them. The only thing that would’ve worked better was if she’d burst in on Jackson down on his knees, sucking Aaron’s cock. Or why show restraint? Let’s go for straight the money shot. She could’ve taken a picture of Aaron shooting his cum all over Jackson and fully exploited their passion for money. That photo would’ve sold for quite a hefty price.
This was only another form of extortion, of manipulation. Clearly, the great Aaron Duval was threatened by Jackson’s company moving into his territory. He was willing to do whatever it took to stop the inevitable.
But Jackson had outmaneuvered him by issuing a formal challenge. Now the High Council would hear their complaints…and if things couldn’t be settled with words, there would be a physical confrontation. A battle under the old rules of the forest and jungle. He didn’t fear a fight.
This was a battle he had a great chance of winning. For six years, he had competed professionally as a mixed martial artist. It was one of the reasons he’d become a bodyguard in the first place. This was all long before Aaron got out of the military, before they’d started Dark Howl Security together and had been more successful than either of them had dreamed. Before it had all ended badly. But while Aaron was no slouch with his military hand-to-hand training, Jackson had kept up with his martial arts training and had a third degree black belt in kenpo and another in judo.
Now he had to focus on the coming fight. Distractions had to be cut off and ignored. Distractions like how strongly his inner wolf had reacted to his first sight of the human woman. For a moment it had reminded him of how his wolf had reacted to Aaron years ago. But that kind of confused thinking and distracting emotion could not be allowed to derail his plans.
One way or the other, the new company Jackson had founded, Alpha Protection Services, was coming to the East Coast. Everything would start with a victory tonight.
He only hoped the Eastern seaboard was ready for him.
* * *
They put Michelle in the luxury jet plane’s bedroom located near the tail, despite her protests and requests to call Mirage. It was weird though. At first she didn’t feel afraid. She only felt as if this couldn’t really be happening to her. But after a few minutes in the plane’s stateroom with the engines getting louder, the implications began to sink home.
She was being abducted and taken to Chicago.
As prisons went, this one wasn’t bad. The room was surprisingly large, with a masculine bed—heavy headboard, dark colors, functional pillows only—a big screen television and a stylish desk wide enough for a laptop. One side of the room had a wood cabinet/closet with ebony inlays, exotic burls, and golden trim she suspected was in fact real gold plating. The abstract artwork over the bed probably cost more than her car.
At any other time, she would’ve been thrilled to be in staying in a place as nice as this. Right now though, she was having a hard time getting over the fact that she’d practically been kidnapped. No, she had been kidnapped. She’d wanted to leave. The big shifter security goon had “guided” her into this bedroom, then slammed the door. It locked from the inside, but he was waiting just outside, preventing her from escaping with his gigantic bulk. Besides, the plane was already taxiing onto the runway. In seconds they would be in the air, on the way to the Windy City. She hadn’t even brought her handbag along, although she did have her emergency wallet in an interior pocket of her uniform jacket with ID and her debit card. A requirement for a Mirage driver because purses weren’t part of the official dress code.
The jet’s engines revved up to a scream as it shot down the runway. She peered out the windows as the city lights flashed by. Then there was that stomach-lift, indrawn-breath feeling as the plane’s wheels left the ground. They were airborne. God help her. She was trapped on a plane full of crazy shifters who thought she was some kind of spy.
Her job was toast. She might as well start working on her resume. Of course, maybe she’d win enough in her wrongful abduction lawsuit to pay her rent until she could find another job. Because she was so suing these bastards for malicious kidnapping. That was…unless they ate her.
No, that was silly. Shifters were powerful, even dangerous, but there hadn’t ever been a verified case of a werewolf eating a human.
Of course, she could always be the first.
Michelle plopped herself down on the edge of the bed, her thoughts still reeling, wanting to kick herself and her damn impulsive nature. In what universe did a person think it would be a good idea to run around Mr. Security Rhino and barge in on a billionaire? But she’d been desperate. Oh, and there was the little bit about how she didn’t like to be told no. When she’d been a wheeling and dealing stockbroker, no one had told her “no.” Not when she’d had her clientele’s money to invest. But then she’d had to go and get romantically involved with that scumbag Barry Schneider. Her boss. A man who cheated on her with one of his personal assistants who sported a body straight out of a swimsuit issue magazine. And then he fired Michelle when she called him on it.
Fired her.
She sighed out a long breath, trying not to get angry about it all over again. She had moved on. She worked for Mirage Confidential now…as a kidnapping victim, apparently. Or she should say, she worked for Mirage for now at least. Tomorrow morning she might be getting fired.
Again.
There were voices outside the stateroom door. Then the door opened, and Mr. Aaron Duval stepped inside. Yes, he was still drool-worthy handsome. Her mind flashed back to seeing him kissing the equally-hot-but-probably-crazy other shifter named Jackson. Stumbling in on that had been both embarrassing and one hell of a turn-on. She found herself wishing that Mr. Aaron Duval would kiss her with that same level of passion. Heck, these days it would be nice if any man would kiss her with that level of intensity. She’d been alone since that pond-scum-reject Barry Schneider.
“Hello,” Mr. Duval said, giving her a friendly smile. For someone so alpha and powerful, his smile really lit up his eyes with a heat that seemed to pour across her like melted caramel. “First let me say that I am so, so sorry for this entire misunderstanding.”
She cocked her head to the side but remained sitting on the bed. “I am ninety…maybe ninety-three percent sure I’ve been kidnapped, Mr. Duval.”
He laughed. She loved the sound of his laughter, until she forced herself to remember that he and his crazy lover were the reason she was currently shanghaied onto a plane to Chicago. But when Mr. Duval moved to her and bent in a rather charming bow, then held his hand out to her, part of her was ready to forgive him anything.
“Please call me Aaron,” he said.
“I’m not sure I can do that, sir,” she said, but her hand lifted before she could stop it. He took it in both of his very large hands. His touch was gentle, but his hands were so big she could only imagine how they would feel on her body, cupping her breasts, caressing her face, clenched in her hair as he drove his cock into her heat—
She had to suppress a shudder of desire and quickly redirect her wayward thoughts.
His manner grew serious. “I would be honored if you would call me Aaron. In fact, I insist.”
“Like you insisted I come along on this trip to Chicago? I’m not a reporter. I didn’
t mean to barge in on you like…like that,” she finished lamely.
His grin had a bit of little-boy mischievousness. “Of course not. And I didn’t expect to be kissing Jackson at the time.” He leaned toward her, still holding her hand in both of his, and said in a conspiratorial whisper. “We used to be involved…a long time ago. I think everyone at my company, including my stockholders, would be outraged to hear I’d just been kissing my chief business rival.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and she couldn’t help it, a laugh burst out of her.
He let go of her hand and stood back to his full height. “Jackson Smith is a good man, but he’s suspicious of humans. It was bad timing, you have to admit. But because of that bad timing, he’s insisting on this High Shifter Council nonsense.”
“Am I in danger?” she asked, sitting up straighter, looking him in the eye.
“No. Absolutely not. I give you my word you will be protected. You’ll be even safer than you would be sitting at home. I run a security company after all.”
“But you won’t allow me to go?”
“I’m very sorry. Jackson is insisting you come with us to the High Council meeting. He honestly believes you will sell the story, try and influence our negotiations. It’s all very tinfoil hat.” He stopped and chuckled. “If you can imagine a wolf wearing a tinfoil hat.”
A grin slowly spread across her face. “Yeah. Him I could imagine.”
“But you don’t need to be afraid. It would be my honor if you would be my companion tonight.” He held up his hands quickly. “Nothing more than that. I promise to be a perfect gentleman. But I will make sure you have your own room in the Hotel DeMarkay. Dinner, if you haven’t eaten. Breakfast. And I’ll fly you back to New York tomorrow morning when this is all over.” His face turned serious again, and she could understand why, despite his easy charm, that he held the position of alpha. There was steel in his gaze. “Don’t worry about Mirage. I’ll clear up any issues with them. My people already informed them that you will be attending me in Chicago. Don’t take this as a payoff or any kind of slight to your honor, but I will also pay you twenty thousand dollars for your time tonight.”
Payoff? He could call it whatever he wanted, but she would have to be an absolute lunatic to turn down money like that if all she had to do was stay in a fancy hotel and eat out. Although it did reassure her to hear that he was thinking of her honor. Her cheating ex would never have done the same.
But before she could reply, he raised his hands again as if to calm any fears she might still have. “Again, nothing more is expected of you than to attend this Shifter Council meeting as my guest. You will never be in danger.” He smiled. “And you will have a nice little story to tell friends over drinks once this is all over.”
“Well…I suppose. Okay.” As if she would ever turn down enough money to pay her rent all year for something so easy. “But can I call my work? I just want to make sure they know—” She almost said, “know where I am” but she changed it to “know I’m fine” at the last second.
“Certainly,” he replied as if it were nothing. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number, then handed it to her. After she took it, he stepped back enough to give her some space.
Michelle raised the phone to her ear in time to hear Mandy’s wonderful voice chirp, “Thank you for calling Mirage Confidential. We’re here to meet all your transportation needs. How may I help you tonight?”
“Mandy, it’s Michelle. I’m—uh, I’m on my way to Chicago.”
“Girl, that’s what I heard. Mr. Duval called us not five minutes ago, told us you were headed with him on an emergency meeting to Chicago. We’ve been trying to contact you.”
“I left my phone in the limo. At the airport.” With her good luck charm.
“Okay, okay. Understandable. Now tell me, you remember our code word?”
She was referring to the code word Red, which meant there was some serious issue, criminal-level, that involved her safety or the safety of a client. “I remember.”
“For the record, are you using that code word now?”
She glanced at Mr. Duval—Aaron. He was standing with this hands clasped behind his back, looking like a male model in a suit that cost more than the pony she wanted as a little girl. Would she be safe with him? All her instincts told her yes. But then again, all her instincts had told her Barry Schneider was marriage material, and look how that turned out.
Still, now that she’d talked to Mandy, she felt better about the whole thing. Her people knew where she was. And not to be mercenary, but there was twenty thousand dollars on the table.
“I’ll be okay, Mandy. I’ll call you in the morning. The client is flying me back to New York tomorrow.”
“Well, that’s just fine then. He didn’t even blink when I told him the across-state-lines, twenty-four hour service rates for our personnel.” She laughed. “Billionaires.”
Michelle laughed too, and thought about the purple Drifter Coach carryall she’d been eying since last Christmas. After tonight, she was going to buy that handbag as a special present to herself, even if it was last year’s design. She caught sight of Aaron’s smile out of the corner of her eye and realized that with his heightened hearing he could probably catch every word Mandy said.
“Gotta go, Mands,” she said quickly. “Talk at you later!”
“Have fun girl. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Michelle grinned. “Oh yeah? What wouldn’t you do?”
“Anything that involved jellyfish. I can not abide them.” Mandy disconnected on a wave of Michelle’s laughter.
“So, we’re all set?” Aaron asked, as if he hadn’t overheard the entire conversation.
“We are good to go.”
Aaron bowed to her again, such an old-world gesture, she found it charming. But his gaze…it was heated, not anger but desire. An intensity. It surprised her to be the subject of such a scorching look. Wasn’t he gay?
“Great,” he said, and his voice was thicker, growlier. “I’m going to go smooth things over with Jackson. I only hope I might have the honor of getting to know you a little better after this is all past us, Ms. Ross.”
“Oh, please call me Michelle,” she replied quickly, loving the way his eyes lit up with pleasure at this intimacy she allowed him.
“I would love to, Michelle.” He nodded to her again and headed for the door. “This will only be a moment.”
“Wait,” she called. He paused, looking at her curiously. Her damn mouth ran away from her again as she impulsively blurted out, “Aren’t you gay? I mean. You like men…? And. Uh.”
His grin slowly spread across his face, and those eyes heated with desire again, so hot she felt the temperature of her own skin rising. “I love men. And women. Often both at the same time.”
She blushed furiously. That would teach her to ask intimate questions of…oh God, of her client. She was bound and determined to get herself fired tonight.
But Aaron only laughed gently. “You are stunning when you are blushing,” he said and closed the door behind him.
CHAPTER FIVE
Some fool had once told Aaron that time healed all wounds. Maybe that was true. But as he left Michelle behind in the plane’s bedroom suite, it was the memories of Jackson that came back and hit him hardest. They were a kick to the gut, driving the breath out of him. Leaving him gasping for air. He’d believed he’d put all that behind him. But that fucking kiss. That kiss that he had forced on Jackson had brought it all back with the force of a tidal wave. The memories. The feelings.
The passion.
There were a hundred different moments, different memories that all seemed to want to invade his mind as he eyed the other man sitting in his leather chair and sipping a martini. But one memory shoved its way straight to the front of his mind. Years ago, when they’d been sailing outside of Morocco on a month-long vacation, the sun had been setting, the bright light glinting on the water. Jackson had been naked, tanned from so much sun.
His body perfect. The curve of his cock dangling between his muscular thighs so tempting. Jackson had been looking off toward the sunset. The setting sun had been glowing both on the water and on Jackson’s skin, making him look like a god. The sight had taken Aaron’s breath away.
He’d come up behind the other man, naked himself, pressing himself against his bare ass. He slid his hand across Jackson’s thigh, reveling in the quick, in-drawn breath his touch inspired. He began to stroke and caress Jackson’s cock until the other man’s head lolled back in pleasure, and his cock stood out long and proud. He trailed kisses along the other man’s neck, getting even harder himself, until every moment he wasn’t inside his lover was torment.
It only took seconds for him to lube himself up, never letting go of Jackson’s cock as he did so. The man’s moan as Aaron nudged him forward, bending him against the railing and coating the other man’s entrance with lube only made his heart pound harder. The next instant he was burying his cock deep within the other man. They had fucked as the sun set, the only sounds their moans and heavy breathing, the slap of the waves against the hull, and the slap of their naked flesh as Aaron drove into his lover and came so hard he barely had the strength to keep standing.
For a long time, when he’d been alone and horny, that had been one of his favorite fantasies to pull out of his memory. It always got him off. But he’d had to retire it. Thinking of Jackson after their relationship had crashed and burned was too difficult. For his sanity, he’d been forced to move on.
He shook away the memory again. After that kiss, dwelling on how good they’d been together in bed would only be agony.
Instead, he stormed over and stood in front of the other man. It was time for confrontation.
“You should apologize to her,” he said, struggling to keep both the growl and the ex-military out of his voice. But no matter how he tried, it still came out rough with command.
