“Does she own a restaurant?”
Drew laughed, “Well, my parents entertain a lot. So she puts her skills to good use.”
Okay, so his parents were still alive then. That was good. She hated to think of him all alone in the world.
“It’s strange that I don’t really know anything about you,” she said, concentrating on her food once more. She would have had a baby with this man without knowing anything about his family or background.
Her heart kicked at the thought of the baby she’d lost.
“You know the important stuff.”
She raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Like what?”
“Hmm, you know I’m bossy,” he said and laughed when she rolled her eyes. “And you know I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”
Janey stopped eating then and looked at him. The laughter had faded from his face and all that remained was pain and regret. She stretched her hand across the table and grabbed his hand.
“Drew, you need to stop blaming yourself for what happened. It was not your fault.”
“You know, something has been bothering me. Why did you press the transponder device just when you did?”
His question took her back to that dark, horror-filled closet. She shut her eyes and shuddered. Then taking a deep calming breath, she opened them once more.
“I heard you when you came in. I tried to shout, but couldn’t. I tried hitting the wall with my knees, but it was barely making any sound. Guess I was too weak.”
She remembered the desperation, the frantic will to survive. Just breathing then had become such an ordeal. That was when she remembered the device that Drew had insisted she carry about.
“That morning when I went to the greenhouse, I’d slipped it into my back pocket. I totally forgot about it…” If she’d just remembered sooner. “I could barely move my fingers, but I was able to get it out somehow. It slipped out of my hands once, but I managed to get hold of it eventually. I was just so scared that you would leave without finding me.”
She had used her last strength to press that thing. And afterward, had blacked out.
He turned his hand and held on to hers. “I should have done more. Seeing you inside that closet, tied up and unconscious…it’s not something I can easily forget.
Janey pulled her hand away from his and stood up. Drew also made to stand up but she held out her hand, stopping him. He watched her like a hawk as she slowly walked around the table to where he was seated. She stopped beside him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, confused.
“I want to sit on your lap,” Janey said simply.
Her request took him unawares as he looked visibly surprised. In a daze, he moved his chair back and helped her settle on his lap.
When she was comfortable, Janey placed her palms on both sides of his face. “Look into my eyes, Drew Campbell,” she said quietly.
She waited till his gaze merged with hers. “What you fail to realize is that I owe my life to you.” She placed a finger over his mouth when he would have protested. “There was no way in hell you could have predicted something like that. As soon as you noticed that I was missing, you did everything in your power to find me. Can you imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t found me?” She shuddered just thinking about it.
She had made the doctor tell her what could have happened. She’d mentioned cardiac arrest, paralysis and death among the possible effects if she hadn’t been found on time. The thought was too horrendous to comprehend. Drew and his friends had saved her, even when she’d done nothing but try to push him away, he had still come after her. She felt her eyes well up with tears.
“So don’t ever say that you did not do enough. You did everything, Drew. I’m alive, I am well. I did not end up a vegetable, because you saved me!”
The tears were flowing uninhibitedly by the time she finished speaking. Drew groaned and pulled her to him in a tight hug.
“Janey, baby, please don’t cry. I’m sorry.”
Janey held on to him and sobbed quietly, the entire ordeal finally getting to her. She wept for the baby she lost…the baby she had not even known that she was having. Thinking about the baby, she was gutted. You’re having a baby, but sorry it died? What was that? It was just so terribly tragic.
Drew pulled back and used the pad of his thumb to wipe the tears streaming down her eyes. Then he held her to him once more and just let her cry, all the time whispering endearments and comforting words.
Janey cried until she had no more tears to cry, and when she was done, she rested her head on Drew’s chest, exhausted. After several minutes, she sat up and stared at the dark spots on his shirt in dismay.
“I got your shirt wet.”
Chapter Fourteen
Drew stared at Janey. There she was, her face red from crying, her lashes spiked with tears, and she was the most gorgeous woman to him. With all that she’d been through, the silly woman was worried about his shirt. Words failed him.
But as he sat there, with Janey cradled in his arms, something strange began to happen to Drew. He felt an overpowering emotion rise and occupy every part of his being. He felt at once protective towards this strong, amazing woman and tenderness for her as well.
The feelings coursed through him like a dam that had broken its banks and would not be held in. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as the realization hit him square in the face.
He was in love with Janey Moore.
Still dazed by his new discovery, Drew cradled her face between his hands. “Forget about the shirt,” he said, his voice husky from emotions.
“Let me get a towel or something,” she said, looking worried. “Or better still, you can take it off and I’ll run it through the washer. I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
Drew brought her face closer and captured her lips in a kiss, effectively stopping the flow of words. He kissed her slowly and leisurely, content to explore her lips and enjoy the taste and feel of them. He was in no hurry to take the kiss further, he just wanted to feel her in his arms and let her know how much he cared. He nibbled on her lower lip, bit it gently then ran his tongue over it in a soothing motion. Kissing Janey was not a means to an end, but an end in itself. And oh, what a deliciously sexy end.
Janey whimpered at the back of her throat and the sound was so erotic that his manhood responded. He felt himself grow harder. The need to take the kiss deeper was suddenly very strong. He flicked his tongue at the gate of her mouth, seeking entry. She closed her eyes with a sigh and parted her lips. Drew groaned in response.
Kissing Janey was a hot, passionate and erotic experience. His hands moved to her waist and when her arms circled his shoulders, he felt like he had received the biggest gift ever. He closed his eyes and gave himself up to kissing her. Teasing, tasting, touching…their tongues met and mated in a wild dance that was like liquid fire in his bones. He knew she could feel the hardness of his erection beneath her. She pressed her chest against his in a sensuous move that made him even harder, then moved her backside suggestively over his erection.
Drew broke the kiss then and groaned. He held her in a tight embrace.
“You’re trying to kill me,” he said softly into her ear.
“I want you, Drew.”
At first, he was not sure if he’d heard correctly. “Janey?”
She pulled back so that she could look into his eyes and said clearly, “Make love to me, Drew.”
Drew was torn in two. On the one hand, he wanted nothing better than to make love with Janey, this time with the lights on and their clothes off. However, she had just returned from the hospital that very day, and he was afraid of hurting her.
“You need to get better,” he said, trying to be strong for them both.
“I almost died. I want to know that I’m alive and this is the best way for me. So won’t you make love to me?”
Instinct warned him that she was not going to repeat her request again, so if he turned her down this ti
me, that was it. Then he thought about her words and realized that after her near-death experience, she wanted to feel alive again and nothing said life more than copulation.
He knew that there was no way in hell he could refuse her. What he could do, though, was be gentle. So he stood up from his seat, still cradling Janey in his arms. He walked the short distance to her room and placed her gently on the bed.
“Are you sure about this, Janey?” he asked.
She looked at him solemnly. “I have never been surer of anything else in my life.”
Drew nodded slowly and then joined her on the bed. “You said you don’t know me,” he said softly.
Janey nodded. “Yes, but, what’s that got to do with anything?”
“Then get to know me.”
“What, now?”
“We are about to get as intimate as any two people can get. Ask me whatever you want to know.”
Janey sat up and rested her back against the headboard. She thought about what to ask him, but she really just wanted to know one thing.
“Your parents?”
“Both alive and living in New Orleans.”
She looked at him in surprise. “New Orleans? Wow, are you originally from there?”
Drew rolled over to his back and shut his eyes. “Yeah.”
Hmmm, he seemed almost reluctant to talk about his parents, she wondered why. It was intriguing.
“Siblings?”
“Two brothers. One older, works with my dad and one younger. A race car driver.”
Janey frowned. “Do I know him, the race car driver?”
“You might. Julien Carron.”
Janey felt her mouth fall open. Drew opened an eye and stared at her, an amused smile on his face. He lifted himself up on one arm and used the other to gently shut her mouth.
Julien Carron. Her mind immediately pulled up the mental image of the dark-haired, gray-eyed, cocky badass who had won the Grand Prix twice in a row. He was Drew’s brother?
She took a second look at the man smiling beside her and she saw it. Drew’s eyes were more striking and he had a depth to him that hadn’t been captured in the pictures she’d seen of the other man. Still, it was clear that they were closely related.
“But you’re Campbell,” she said at last.
Drew shrugged. “As soon as I was able to do so legally, I changed my name.”
He took her hand and absently trailed a pattern on her palm. Janey knew what he was doing. He was trying to distract her. And she was not going to let him.
“You changed your name,” she repeated, suddenly breathless when he used his tongue to follow the same pattern on her palm.
“Mhmm.”
“Drew…”
He glanced up, looking innocent. “What?”
As if he didn’t know what he was doing.
Janey pulled her hand away from him with a frown. “What was your name?”
Drew turned his attention to her feet. Using the tip of his tongue, he traced the indentation between her toes, slowly paying attention to each one. It was torture. Janey’s breath was coming in short bursts already. Then he took her big toe and gently sucked on it. She gasped, holding on to the sheets as several bolts of pleasure shot up her body.
“Drew…” His hands had left her feet and travelled up the side of her legs till they got to her waist. He shifted his weight, moving up so he was almost sitting beside her.
His gaze met hers, intense and hungry. He brushed a hand over her shoulder, his touch gentle and light. Then leaning closer, he brought his mouth to her ear.
“Andre.”
By then all thought had fled Janey’s mind. She looked at him, confusion written on her face. “Huh?”
Drew smiled. “My birth name… Andre Carron.”
Then he covered her mouth in a kiss that was slow and deliberately passionate, unleashing feelings that threatened to overwhelm her. She lifted her hands and placed them on his wrist as her lids dragged down. She kissed him, parting her lips so she could drink him in. Janey felt like she was drowning…drowning in this man who was so wrong for her, yet so right.
He shifted his hands to her hair, tangling his fingers in them, and her hands fell off his wrists. She could feel the pressure building as Drew expertly stoked the fires. The kiss that had started out slow and gentle, had become hot.
Without breaking the kiss, Drew shifted positions so that he was leaning against the headboard, then he moved his hands to her thighs and lifted her so that she was now straddling him. This brought Janey in intimate contact with his erection.
They both moaned at the feeling. Janey felt her panties dampen. Her nerve ends tingled and she shivered in response. Drew focused on the sensitive spot on her throat, lightly grazing his teeth over the area.
“Drew…” Janey moaned.
“That’s right, sweetheart, just Drew,” he murmured against her skin. His hands moved to cup her backside and he pressed her firmly against his erection, groaning in the process.
He used his teeth to pull the neck of her sweater dress aside and then placed his lips there. Janey threw her head back, giving him better access. Drew was doing several delicious things with his tongue and she did not want him to stop. But he did.
She whimpered in protest.
“Patience, darling,” he said in a raspy voice.
Her dress had a front zipper, which stopped just above her cleavage. Drew gently brushed his hands from her shoulders to her wrists and back up again.
“I can kiss you forever,” he said, looking into her eyes.
Janey smiled. “What’s stopping you?”
He chuckled and brought his mouth to hers once more, teasing, nibbling and sucking at her lower lip, then moving to her upper lip and repeating the same.
He fanned the flames of her desire, then soothed them again. It was slowly driving Janey crazy. She slipped her hands under his shirt and ran them over his chest to his back. The feel of his bare skin was an amazing feeling. She brushed his taut nipples and heard his sharply indrawn breath. She repeated the action and his response was the same.
Breaking the kiss, Drew pulled down the zipper and slowly peeled back the dress. Janey shrugged out of it. She held on to the hem of his shirt and tugged, until he was bare from the torso up.
Janey stared at his body in awe. The guy was incredibly built. Every part of his body was hard. She ran her hands lovingly over his abs and watched in amazement as his muscles rippled.
“Oh my!” she said softly. Was this what she’d been missing?
“Keep looking at me like that and I’ll forget to be gentle,” Drew said, shaking his head wryly.
Janey glanced at him from beneath her lashes. “Who said I want you to be gentle?”
His gaze heated up, but he chuckled. “We’ll go slowly, but I promise, once you’re fully recovered…” he left the promise hanging in the air.
His ran his hands over her back and her bra fell off.
“Wow, you’ve got magic hands,” Janey teased even as her breath hitched just watching the way he stared at her chest with such heated passion.
He brought his hands reverently to cup her breasts. “I can’t believe how perfect you are,” he murmured. He leaned forward and captured a peak in his mouth.
“Ah…” Janey gasped and arched her back to give him better access. She held on to his arms as he sucked and teased her nipple. The effect had her panting as liquid heat pooled in her center. Feeling after delicious feeling coursed through her and she felt like she could come right there, just from what he was doing.
Drew moved to the other breast and when he took the tip in his mouth, Janey bucked. Tiny sparks of pleasure shot through her body. She began to move, gently at first, moaning each time her damp core brushed against his hard manhood. Then she increased her pace, lost in the feelings Drew aroused in her.
As she felt her orgasm build, she called out his name, “Drew…Oh, Drew…”
“That’s it, babe. Come for me.”
Drew lifted his head from her breasts and ran his hand over her hair, gently tugging at the ends. He lifted her off him and quickly got rid of her clothes. He got off the bed and Janey thought he was going to get rid of his as well, but he went down on his knees by the bed and pulled her naked body to the side of the bed.
As soon as she realized what he was about to do, Janey could have sworn that she immediately became wet once more. Her breath hitched in anticipation.
Drew planted his face right between her thighs and proceeded to drive her out of her mind with his tongue and his incredibly talented fingers. Before long, the pressure was building once again and Janey let out an ear-piercing scream as the second orgasm racked her body.
Janey was depleted. She lay on the bed in a daze. She had never felt so relaxed or languorous. She really could get used to this orgasm thing—addicted more like.
“Scoot over,” he said, joining her on the bed.
Janey shifted, making space for him. Drew pulled the covers over them and turned her so that she was backing him. Then he placed an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him until her back was resting against his chest.
“Drew…” she tried to turn back, but he held her firmly.
“Shhh.”
“But you—”
“Don’t worry about me, Janey. I want you to rest a bit first.”
Janey didn’t understand it. She had never had a man look after her needs this way. Drew had given her two orgasms and hadn’t pushed to satisfy his own hunger. She could feel his erection pressing into her backside and she knew that he must still be aching to slake his desire. Yet he had seen her exhaustion and was willing to put his own needs aside for her.
She held on to his arm and relaxed against him. She felt like she was right where she was supposed to be. Lying in Drew’s arms this way felt…perfect. Right. She wished she could freeze that moment in time.
“You are a good man, Drew,” she said quietly before dropping into a light doze.
Silver Shield Security Box Set Page 35
