Wicked Shadows (Steele Security Book 5) Read online

  “Let’s have a drink,” he suggested then moved to the trays. He returned with two glasses—a beer mug for him and a glass of Moscato d’Asti for her. “We need a poignant toast.”

  They held up their glasses, and she waited for him to continue.

  “To old friends reuniting, creating new memories, and never regretting a single moment.”

  “To us,” she added.

  “Ready to go dance?” he asked after they’d finished their drinks.

  “Absolutely. You don’t have two left feet, do you?”

  “You just want to insult me again, don’t you? After repeatedly kissing Sammy right in front of me.”

  “Sammy. The dolphin,” she clarified.

  “Come on.” He chuckled under his breath as he took her hand. “Let’s go dance so I can pretend to accidentally grope you on purpose while we’re on the dance floor.”

  “Mr. Kane, if you keep talking like that, you will absolutely sweep me off my feet. You are such a romantic.”

  On the dance floor, in the middle of the throngs of bodies writhing to the music, Devon and Elle moved to their own beat. He held her close to him, bumping and grinding, rubbing and caressing, blocking out every other person in the room. A few hours later, the alcohol had been consumed, the food was eaten, and neither could deny where their course would take them next.

  “I heard Leslie say you’re supposed to rest and hydrate tonight. I seemed to have single-handedly screwed that up for you. Maybe we should head back to the hotel now.”

  “Absolutely,” she agreed. But sleep was the last thing she wanted.

  The ride back to the hotel was quiet, each lost in their own thoughts of how the night would end. Or wouldn’t end. When he turned into the hotel drive, the lines separating the valet parking from self-parking loomed before them.

  “Valet.” Her single-word instruction was enough to convince him.

  They exited the car, and he escorted her into the lobby. With the bank of elevators in sight, she sensed his second thoughts were getting the better of him. She took his hand in hers and faked confidence she in no way felt.

  “Come upstairs with me, Devon. Stay with me tonight.”

  Without waiting for a reply, she pulled him toward the bank of elevators and pushed the call button. His hesitation had lasted a split second before they stepped onto the elevator. But once he relented after the doors closed, he gave her hope and reinforced her confidence. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, and there was no way in hell she’d let him back out on her after they stepped out of the elevator.

  Holding his hand, she opened the door to her room and mentally noted how he hadn’t even attempted to release hers. With the door closed and locked behind them, she turned to face him, meeting his heated stare.

  “You’re sure about this?” he asked, though she knew he still unsure.

  "I've never been more positive of anything else in my life, Devon."

  With a slight shake of his head, he stepped into her and took complete control of her body. “Then I should warn you first. This is my domain, and when we're in the bedroom, I'm in complete command."

  Her lips parted with her sudden inhale, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes grew wider at his declaration. Waves of shock and excitement rolled through her. “Okay.” Her reply came out as a raspy whisper.

  His blue eyes darkened to nearly black when he leaned in closer to her, a glint of realization sparkling before he masked it. “Have you ever done this before?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  Devon hid his shock.

  He remained her hero. After all the years apart, he couldn’t help but look out for her best interests. “I warned your brother to keep the guys away from you. I never thought I’d be one of those guys I warned him about. I’m not sure how he’d feel about this.”

  “I guess this is where I should confess something to you.” She watched his expression for any subtle changes. “I always knew you’d be—” she air-quoted his words “—‘one of those guys.’” Elle searched his face and witnessed his expression soften before she spoke next. “And I don’t care what my brother thinks about it. This is my life.”

  “Elle.” Her name on his lips signaled his surrender and issued a warning.

  “Devon.”

  A sudden passionate embrace had her in his arms, and their bodies melded together in perfect harmony. Their clothes disappeared, strewn in various places around the hotel room. She barely registered the sound of the condom package ripping open before he deftly rolled it onto his impressive length. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed, then placed her in the center before he covered her body with his own.

  His deep, searing kisses branded her with a brush of his tongue, leaving his invisible mark and claiming her as his and only his. He rolled her onto her side and slid his finger along her slit, stroking the sensitive skin and dragging the moisture from her sex around her clit in a deliciously teasing movement. Her gasps filled the air as his murmurs filled her ears when his fingers filled her body. Her pleasure coated his hand when her body could no longer contain the intense sensations building from within.

  His powerfully strong muscles expanded and contracted when he rolled back on top of her. His hips pushed forward, delightfully teasing her limits. She arched her back as he slid his manhood across her drenched opening. He hovered above her, waiting for her consent while he maintained eye contact. She nodded. Her gaze never left his; her certainty never faltered. Slowly, his long, thick cock slid into her, and he became acutely aware that he was her first. The twinge of pain she undoubtedly felt would soon get replaced with waves of pleasure. He’d make sure of that. Sweat-covered skin slid across sweat-covered skin, heating each other almost to the point of spontaneous combustion.

  Their eyes remained locked as he surged into her, over and over, and a deeper connection passed between them. The knowledge they’d never be as they once were, along with the realization they both wanted more settled between them. He gripped her legs and drove into her until she screamed his name in ultimate bliss, and her body shook from the intensity.

  When he asked if she'd ever done that before, he had referred to being submissive to another man in the bedroom. She’d answered truthfully, and that excited him more than he'd allow himself to show. But the moment he realized she'd never been with another man in any way, he knew he was in over his head. The way her body wrapped around his cock, tight and wet, snug and soft, feeling as if she was custom made to fit him.

  She'd fallen asleep after their first time, but he couldn't sleep even if his life had depended on it. She lay beside him with the sheet pushed down to her waist and the moonlight streaming across her breasts. He watched her sleep for the first hour, holding on to his last shred of willpower to avoid waking her and taking her again. The cool breeze from the air conditioner drifted over her, causing her nipples to pebble.

  That was the exact moment his resolve broke.

  He leaned over and covered one of her firm peaks with his mouth, instantly warming her cold skin. One taste of her wasn't enough, and his careful ministrations turned to voracious feasting. He slid his hand down her stomach as her fingers weaved through his hair. His fingers crawled over her slit slowly at first, testing the tenderness of her sensitive tissues before delving deeply inside her.

  She slid her other hand down and covered his. His immediate thought was she was stopping him because she was too sore. But she surprised him when she spread her legs and pushed his fingers inside her wetness. Her hips bucked involuntarily, and she moaned with pleasure.

  “Mmm, that’s my girl,” he murmured in her ear. “You like that, don’t you?” He thrust two fingers into her while rubbing her clit with the callused pad of his thumb.

  Her fingers gripped his hair as she rode his hand, the waves of ecstasy rippling through her body. He slid down and settled between her legs. His mouth teased her clit with more pleasure than she'd ever known. When his warm tongue laved her
from bottom to top, the pleasure dragged her over the edge, past the point of no return, and her body shook from the intensity of it.

  After lapping up every last bit of her essence, he crawled up her body until his cock was poised at her still wet entrance. “Are you ready for me, Elle?”

  “I’m more than ready for you, Devon,” she purred. “I must have died and gone to heaven. I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

  His hips surged forward, driving into the hilt with one forceful lunge. In one hand, he held Elle's hands above her head. The other hand reached behind her knee and pulled her thigh toward her chest, changing his angle and deepening his penetration. Her screams of pleasure echoed off the walls, and his name rang in the air. It was a sound he wasn't likely ever to forget.

  Over their three weeks together, every spare minute she had away from modeling was spent with him. They took long strolls on the beach, they talked, they shared, they laughed, they played, and they inevitably grew closer. Their three weeks together felt like both the longest and shortest period of her life.

  Her last night in Miami, he’d suggested they meet for dinner at the restaurant in her hotel’s lobby, knowing she had an early-morning flight out the following day. She dreaded the moment when their dinner was over, and he stood to leave the restaurant. Something stopped him, though, and their eyes locked in a heated but silent debate.

  He stayed with her the rest of the night, making love to her twice more while he demonstrated a few of his other masterful bedroom skills before she had to leave for California. He insisted on driving her to the airport early that next morning for her flight, though the other models planned to ride together. Part of her wanted to deny his request, knowing it would be hard enough to say goodbye. But, a bigger part of her heart needed to know how he’d react to her departure.

  Would it affect him in the way she knew it would her?

  He parked in the unloading zone and left the car running. Without saying a word, she reached for the door handle, but he grabbed her other hand in his and stilled her movements. “Elle, don’t leave here thinking this was just a long one-night stand. It’s not, by a long shot.”

  “Then, what is it?”

  “It’s more complicated than that.”

  “Come to LA with me.” She blurted out the words before she realized what she was asking, what she hoped, what she begged of him.

  “Stay in Miami with me.” His eyes were sincere, his voice held no humor.

  She tried hard to fight back the tears before she replied, “I can’t.”

  He nodded, and disappointment flashed in his eyes. “I understand.”

  With heavy hearts, they exited the car. He grabbed her bags from the trunk and checked them with the curbside valet. A tender kiss was their only goodbye before she watched him drive away from inside the terminal.

  9

  CHAPTER NINE

  Five Years Earlier

  “Elle, you know how much I love you, right?”

  “I know you love me when you want something. What is it this time? My shoes? My brand-new gray ostrich leather Hermes purse that I haven’t even used yet? Spill it.”

  Beth’s devilish grin made Elle stop dead in her tracks. “Dear God. What have you done? I’ll be forced to kill you any minute now, won’t I?”

  Beth dismissed the threat with a shrug of her shoulder and the broadening of her smile. “I may have let it slip to Bruce and Josh that you’re single. Josh may have expressed considerable interest in changing your relationship status. Bruce may have suggested we go out on a double date this weekend so you can give Josh a chance. Josh and Bruce may have already made plans for the four of us.”

  “No.” The firm tone of Elle’s rebuttal contradicted her normal demeanor, catching Beth off guard even after years of being at her best friend’s side. “Beth, you know better than to set me up on a date with anyone. I’m not interested, and I won’t go out just for the sake of going and then have our pictures splashed across the front page of every rag magazine. You know how vicious they can be. I can’t believe you’d do that to me.”

  Elle’s hands shook, her voice quavered, and her heart raced. She was angry with Beth and her boyfriend of the month, Bruce, for being so presumptuous and cavalier with her career. But she didn’t want to face the deeper underlying reasons fanning the flames of her anger. At that moment, she found it was easier—safer—to place the brunt of it squarely on Beth’s shoulders.

  “I’m sorry, Elle. You know I’d never hurt you. It hurts me to see you pining your life away for a man who obviously doesn’t feel the same about you. It’s been three years since you started this insane relationship with him in Miami. It’s not even a relationship.” Beth search for the right word, and her agitation grew with each passing second. “It’s an arrangement to benefit him! He just happens to show up out of the blue, and you drop everything to spend a few weeks with him. Then he leaves again, and you don’t hear from him for several months.

  “Think about it, Elle. Who’s here to pick up the pieces of your shattered heart when he kills every hope and dream you have? Me. I’m the one who loves you and shows you every single day. How could you even think for a second I’d do anything to hurt you?”

  The verbal slap from Beth’s words didn’t sting nearly as much as knowing she was right did. A vision of all the times Beth had stayed up all night, whispered comforting words, and kept her arm wrapped around Elle until they’d both fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion flashed through Elle’s mind. Beth had been her best friend for more years than not, had been with her through the best and worst moments of her life, and had only ever shown loyalty.

  “Beth, I—”

  “You know what? Save it. Bruce and I have a date tonight, but I think I’ll just go to his place instead of him coming here. Don’t wait up for me.”

  With that, Beth stormed out of the apartment and slammed the door behind her. Elle sank down onto the couch, bent at the waist, and rested her face in her hands. As usual, Beth called it like she saw it—no holds barred, no sugarcoating, and no excuses. Almost every other time Beth had interjected, her frankness had been Elle’s saving grace. The exception to the rule was when the discussion involved anything remotely related to Devon.

  “Beth, I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right,” she confessed to the empty apartment. “Everything in my life fades to background noise when Devon shows up. It’s not even a conscious choice that I make. Every time there’s a knock at the door, my heart races and thumps like a bass drum because I hope he’s there. I look for him everywhere I go, hoping he’ll appear out of thin air.

  “And you know what else? I wouldn’t even question it if he did. I’d just be so fucking happy that he was beside me, the reason why wouldn’t matter. I guess that creates another question, doesn’t it? I’m so in love with him. I’m so happy to get a few weeks with him now and then, I don’t ever question why that’s all I get. Why do I settle for less than I want or deserve?”

  Even though she couldn’t say the words to Beth, she believed getting the thoughts out of her head and into the open was a step in the right direction. She looked up, dried her tears with her fingers, and released an exasperated breath. A rap on the door caused her to jump, then her eyes dropped to the side table where Beth’s keys laid. She’d stomped out of the apartment in such a huff, she didn’t grab her keys first.

  “I’m glad you forgot your keys,” Elle called out through the closed door. She swung the door open wide and held the forgotten keys out in the palm of her hand.

  “You haven’t given me any keys,” Devon replied with a sexy smirk. His eyes traveled up and down her body, drinking in every inch, branding her without a single touch. “But whatever you’re offering, I certainly won’t refuse.”

  She squeezed her fist around the keys. The sharp metal tips bit into her skin, but all she felt was complete exhilaration that he was there. The initial ardent expression in his gaze, the sexy timbre of his voice, and the confident a
ir he projected create the ultimate lady-killer package. But the way he looked at her when his eyes softened said he never wanted to leave her. When his arms snaked around her waist and held her tightly against him, he revealed he’d missed her every bit as much as she’d missed him. The way he buried his face in her hair and deeply inhaled her scent exposed his vulnerable side, the one that wanted to hide away with her and never be found.

  This is why I can never refuse him, she reflected. This is what keeps me coming back for more. Every. Single. Time.

  Still holding her in their intimate embrace, he gently pushed her backward until they’d walked into the apartment and locked the door behind them. Time passed while they clung to one another, but neither was prepared—or capable—of letting go. He returned with a different demeanor each time. Just as she never knew when to expect him to show up, she also had no idea what kind of mood he’d be in.

  When he returned sullen and quiet, she automatically knew his only solace was found in her touch. For the first few days, while he worked through whatever weighed on his mind, she’d learned not to move out of his reach. Though she had no idea what drove his need, she knew he needed the closeness their physical contact provided.

  On the rare occasions when he was agitated and easily annoyed upon his reappearance, he took his dominance in the bedroom to a stratospheric level. His commands were direct and without mirth. He expected and accepted nothing less than full submission from her. She complied with his instructions the moment they were spoken, offered more than he requested, and bit her tongue. Once he’d worked through what bothered him, he became more like himself again, albeit a more subdued version.

  As she stood there in his embrace, she tried to assess his frame of mind. His sexy, playful remark when she opened the door more resembled his usual demeanor. But the way he held her signaled something was different. Something had happened that affected him deeply.