“Holly, what the fuck…” His voice was low and angry as he took in each and every one of the marks Luckston left on her, making her body burn in embarrassment as the lust enveloping her receded somewhat. She covered herself as much as she could with slender arms, sitting up slightly.
“Shane, please…” She’d been lying to everyone she knew about her abuse for so long that it was almost second nature now – and the ease with which she spoke was alarming. “We had an incident in the kitchen. A shelving unit fell and I caught the worst of it. I’m fine. It barely hurts.” That was a lie, but it was nothing she couldn’t bear.
Luckston had done far worse.
The man above her merely looked from the numerous marks on her skin to her face and then back again, his expression helpless. After a long, tense moment in which Holly wasn’t sure whether or not her lie had been enough, he finally spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
With that, he lowered himself over her once more – as carefully as if she were made of china. His mouth found a mark just beneath her collarbone, his lips brushing it reverently, and Holly melted against the sofa. She knew what it was like when Shane let his lust overtake him – when he grabbed her, pinned her against a flat surfaced and proceeded to blow her mind in every way known to man.
But this…this was different.
Now he followed the evidence of her mistreatment with his mouth, laving the site of each bruise tenderly with his tongue and lips until she was squirming beneath his ministrations. There seemed to be innumerable dark marks pocking her skin, but Shane didn’t miss a single one. He stared at the crook of her neck and shoulder and moved steadily southward.
His mouth burned a path down her chest, over the swell of her breasts to where the black cotton hindered his advance. When he slid his hands beneath her, urging her to arch her back so he could get at the clasp of her bra, Holly didn’t hesitate. She gave him the access he desired, and a moment later, her breasts bobbed free.
Though Luckston hadn’t marked her there – he preferred less sensual, more painful places, Shane lingered. His fingertips plucked at her peaked nipples until she whimpered before he soothed the hurt with his dexterous tongue. As he bit and sucked at her sensitive aureoles, Holly gripped at the leather beneath her in catlike spasms, her head falling back at the pleasure that assaulted her.
With Shane’s mouth at her breasts, his hands were free to wander – and wander they did. Over the flat expanse of her stomach, stroking up and down her inner thighs until she quivered in anticipation. As Shane tugged at a nipple with his teeth, his palm covered the heat of her through her underwear, applying just the faintest pressure.
Inhaling sharply, Holly tossed her head, biting her lower lip as she arched her hips into the strength of his hand. She needed more…needed it more than she needed her next breath.
“Please, Shane…” Was that her voice, breathy and insubstantial? “God, please…”
The man raised his head to release her nipple, his smile wicked. “’Please what?”
Holly’s face flushed and she looked away, trying to catch her breath. “Touch me.”
Lowering his head against her belly, Shane chuckled, his tongue tracing hot circling whorls over a new grouping of bruises. “Touch you where?”
Fuck, she was going to kill him. She was going to absolutely murder him…right after he made her come. Holly groaned in frustration. “There…touch my clit, make me come!”
Shane hissed his assent, jerking her hips against his in stark need. “Yes. That’s my girl.” His hand returned to its former position between her legs, where he stroked her firmly through the barrier that separated them. He teased her only a moment before his fingers curled around the hem of her panties, tugging them down her toned legs.
The thought crossed her mind that it wasn’t fair that he was still clothed while she was completely naked – right before the man’s dexterous, calloused fingers slid over the length of her sopping slit. Holly cried out softly, remembering at the last moment to muffle the sound in the leather backing of the sofa. Shane found the opportunity to sample the line of her neck, biting at it hungrily as he stroked her – back and forth.
Holly’s entire body was on fire – her nipples at painful attention and every muscle in her body taut. She was so tense then when Shane finally did touch her clit, his thumb pressing against the small, sensitive nub with gentle pressure, her calf seized up and a yelp of pain escaped her.
Shane stopped immediately, raising his head to gaze down at her in concern. “What? What is it?”
A breathless, embarrassed laugh escaped her. “My leg…I have a cramp.” Shane glanced from her pinkened face down to her stiff leg and back again before sighing.
“Baby, you’re going to have to calm down…We can’t have you tense.” He lowered his head to nip at her earlobe. “I want you nice and relaxed for my cock…when we get there.”
His promise sent intense tingles of arousal inching over her skin – which was almost enough to make her forget her goddamn leg.
But Shane hadn’t forgotten.
He inched down her torso, his mouth leaving a trail of kisses in his wake, until he reached the line of her hipbone. There, his lips lingered as his fingers gently took hold of her spasming calf and gently massaged until the tension eased from it. Holly sank back into the sofa with a low groan of gratitude. “Thank you…”
Shane, far from answering her, merely kissed each of her hipbones lightly before lowering his head between her legs to close his mouth over her clit. Holly inhaled sharply, her fingers curling tightly into the leather beneath her as her back arched. Far from the first time he’d kissed her there, where he’d mouthed her incessantly and all but forced her over the precipice of her orgasm, this time Shane lapped at her gently – druggingly, each stroke of his tongue coiling her muscles tighter and tighter.
Holly thrashed, gasping and moaning as she tried to escape the cruel, devastating pleasure his mouth brought her, but Shane merely held her firmly in place, lapping and sucking at her lower folds hungrily.
When she came, Holly shuddered almost violently, her release washing over her on a wave of ecstasy that left her limp in its wake. Her eyes fluttered shut, her bare chest and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her breath, and for a moment, nothing else existed. Just she and the earth-shattering orgasm that Shane had just given her.
When she did come back to earth, it was to the sensation of Shane stroking gently along her still shivering lower belly as he pressed soft, open-mouthed kisses against her neck. “That was fucking gorgeous…” Shane growled lowly against her throat, nipping it softly. “You’re going to have to take a day off to sit on my face, babe…I can’t get enough.”
Holly groaned, shaking her head. “I’d probably pass out.”
With a low chuckle, Shane undid the buttons on his shirt one by one. “Probably?”
But Holly was too fixated on the expanse of bare chest he was revealing to reply. Gorgeous, carved and inked upon almost every inch…she reached out to smooth her hands over it, almost shoving his shirt the rest of the way down his arms.
When she reached up to draw his face down to kiss her, his arm wrapped around her, crushing her against his bare skin.
Holly didn’t think she’d ever felt anything as delicious as the slide of his skin against hers. As Shane’s tongue slid against her bottom lip, she bucked her hips against his, the rough fabric of his jeans against her bare lower lips driving her half insane. “Please, Shane…” She groaned against his lips. “I need you. I need you so goddamn bad…”
Shane groaned, one arm tightening to hold her as the other reached for the button on his slacks. The powerful man worked his hips enough to free his straining erection from the fabric a moment before nudging his way in between her legs. As the heated column of his cock slid against her, Holly whimpered in appreciation.
“Look at me, Holly.” She forced herself to lock eyes with the man above he
r, and the heated intensity she found in Shane’s gaze took her breath away. Never breaking her gaze, he slid into her, his glorious erection filling her inch by glorious inch until a low moan ripped from Holly’s throat. “Holly…”
He began a slow, almost torturous rhythm and try as she might, Holly couldn’t break it. She squirmed, she bucked and she clenched around the heavenly invasion of his cock, but Shane only pinned her hands above her head, continuing with his long, sinuous strokes until she was all but sobbing every time he thrust home. Just knowing Shane was watching her…every shudder, every moan, every hungry buck of her hips…it was enough to make her come apart with his name on her lips. “Shane!”
Holly clung to him, her entire body quivering like a bowstring as he bucked his hips against hers frenetically until he groaned, long and low, hot spurts of completion coating her inner walls in a glorious deluge.
When he collapsed atop her, all Holly could think was that she wasn’t hot, and his weight wasn’t unwelcome. It was almost as if he belonged there, and be it exhaustion or complacency, she was reluctant to move.
It was Shane who eventually lifted himself from her, making her inhale sharply as he slid from her body. The broad man rearranged himself, buttoning his pants before he stood over her, all imposing muscles, ink, and a satisfied, fond look that filled her with a warmth she thought she’d forgotten. Reaching for the tissues on the coffee table, he gently cleaned her between the legs as she watched him in a blissful, post orgasmic haze.
When he was finished, surprisingly, Shane bent to lift her into his arms and Holly emitted a small sound of surprise before clinging to him as he carried her up the stairs and to her bedroom. After nudging the door closed behind them, he set her down in the bed, spreading the sheets out over them before he settled behind her. Though Holly thought she had gotten used to sleeping alone, the feel of Shane’s arm wrapping around her – pulling her close- brought tears to her eyes that she quickly blinked away.
What was she doing?
She didn’t want to hurt this man. Despite Shane’s rough exterior, he was kind, caring and gentle. He was great with Maddy and never hesitated when she asked him for help. He’d sought her out because she was all he had left and she repaid that by using him for her own selfish purposes.
As a mental barrier for Kirk Luckston’s punishment. As a method to forget her troubles.
But now, it threatened to become more than that. She felt a growing attachment growing to Shane that was enough to put him directly in the path of Luckston and whoever he represented…and she would die before she let something happen to him.
She couldn’t lose Shane. Not like she’d lost Tommy.
She wouldn’t be able to bear it.
Chapter 17
When Shane’s phone buzzed, he groaned. He had no idea what time it was, but he knew it was too goddamned early to be getting phone calls.
The second time it went off, he jerked slightly. He’d worn his pants to bed and his phone was in the back pocket. He cracked an eye open to reach for the device – and froze.
Goddamn.
Holly was a fucking vision when she slept. Her lips slightly parted, hair all over the place, one beautiful breast peeking from beneath the sheet to tempt him to taste…
He wanted her all over again in that instant. Just remembering the previous night, the way she’d given to him, the way she clenched around his cock as she came…it was enough to make his erection press into the small of her back. He was wondering what it would take to ease her awake when his phone buzzed again and he cursed softly.
Carefully, Shane eased his arm out from under her before turning over to stand up and edge his phone from his pocket. At the sight of no less than four missed calls, he frowned, reviewing the caller ID.
It was Alex.
Almost immediately, he sobered. One glance at the clock told him it was barely past six, and he could think of no good reason his friend would call him at such an hour. Quietly, he slipped from the room and into the hall as he dialed Alex back.
He picked up on the first ring. “Shane, man. I found out who those calls came from.”
Shane immediately stiffened. Over the course of the past three months, he’d gotten not one, but two more calls similar to the one he’d received when Holly was in the hospital. There would always be a text – a different number each time – prompting him to call. If he didn’t call, he’d be called just the same.
The threat was always similar. Whoever was on the other line wanted their product, and they wanted it yesterday.
Luckily, Shane hadn’t received any more of these calls when he was with Madison or Holly, which led him to believe that whoever was calling him knew nothing about them. But what they didn’t know was that Shane couldn’t give them their shit back if he wanted to.
Alex had sold it long ago – the seed for one of many self-made empire he built.
When they had stolen it all those years ago, among a hail of bullets and chaos, Shane remembered cursing himself for stealing goods from someone they didn’t even know. He could have guessed the wrath of God would come down upon their heads – and it had. Just not for the reason he’d been expected.
The drugs were all but forgotten in the face of the bullet that had ricocheted, killing a man in the upscale hotel they’d snuck into. It was the first time Shane had ever seen a man die, and he remembered having nightmares about it for long after he was incarcerated.
Long after he took the rap for Alex’s misfire.
“Who?” He demanded immediately, his voice hard. If he was going to be with Holly, then this needed to be cut off. Now. He wouldn’t have anyone or anything threatening her, Maddy, or the restaurant.
“It’s the Luckstons.” Shane’s heart stuttered in his chest, his blood running cold.
The Luckstons. They’d stolen from the Luckstons and eight fucking years later those bastards still couldn’t let it go. Fuck.
Everyone in Miami’s filthy underbelly knew about Rob Luckston, his nasty little brother Kirk, and the bat-shit organization they ran. They had most of Miami in their back pocket through a ring of smuggling, gambling, counterfeit and prostitution rings that encircled the entire city. Half of the denizens of Shane’s particular prison had, at one point or the other, been part of the Luckston circle.
And they were some nasty motherfuckers.
“Turns out that shit we lifted years ago was part of old man Luckston’s personal stash. Even though he’s fucking kicked the mortal coil, his son’s still trying to get it back.”
“Shit.” Shane cursed lowly, shaking his head as he ran a hand through his hair. “What are we going to do about it?”
“We?” Alex’s answer was immediate and incredulous. He laughed softly. “My son, you are legit, remember? Got sweet Holly in your back pocket, doing the Uncle thing. You’re not doing shit. We’re keeping you as far away from the fire as humanly possible. You just leave everything to me.”
Shane frowned, leaning against the nearest wall. “So I have to worry about your ass getting torn to shreds? No thanks.”
“Shane,” When Alex next spoke, his tone was deadly serious. “Brother, I know what I’m doing. I don’t plan on making any waves. I’m not stupid. The Luckstons have power. I’m going to do it simple and quiet. See if I can pay them off. Don’t you worry. You just concentrate on what you got going there.”
Shane exhaled a long breath, warring with himself. While a part of him wanted to watch Alex’s back, the older man was right. He was well connected and well protected. If Shane moved in to help, he could be compromising that.
Goddamn it.
“Fine.” He expelled the word only reluctantly, his frown still firmly in place. “Just watch your back, man.”
“I always do. Shane, listen: Could you do me a favor?”
“What’s that?” Straightening, Shane arched a brow in inquiry, his worry not quite assuaged.
“Check in on Kelly for me, would you?”
Shane’s
eyes immediately widened in surprise. “Kelly? What the hell are you talking about?” There was no way on earth she had managed to get around him and start dating Alex without his knowing, and anyway, wasn’t she still dating the trader guy?
“I don’t know.” For the first time since he’d known his friend, Shane heard a note of uncertainty in his tone. “I talked to her…and you were right, she put me off. But I got her number and I’ve been pursuing the cause. She staved me off with an excuse that she and her trader boyfriend were going away for the weekend yesterday…three days ago.”
Shane rolled his eyes. “You better let that ship sail. I don’t know how much time Holly gave her off, but if she went somewhere with the guy, that means business.”
“All right, all right.” Alex chuckled, and Shane could all but see him shaking his head in good humor. “Sorry. She’s not mine to chase…but I can’t help but worry about her.”
“If you knew Kelly, you wouldn’t worry,” Shane returned dryly. “She’s prone to flights of fancy, to say the least.”
“Gotcha. Alright then, man. I’ll keep you posted.”
And with that, he was gone. Shane stared at the phone for at least a minute, smirking. If Alex was worried about a girl he hadn’t slept with, that was a big deal. Kelly had better watch herself. She might soon have one of the most powerful men in Miami after her.
Speaking of being after women…Shane remembered the one he’d left sleeping. Now that he was secure in the knowledge that Alex was taking care of his past, he could work on his future.
With Holly.
He couldn’t remember the last time his heart had been so light.
Chapter 18
Holly was torn.
She sat in the restaurant’s office, staring at the last weeks’ figures. Though she tried time and time again to make comparisons, the numbers kept slipping from the forefront of her mind.
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