Loved By The Hero (Hero Romance 3)

by Kalena Lyons

  When she was off the set, her smile evaporated and her stance became more standoffish than relaxed. Claire tried to do a bypass of her ex-lover, but he caught up to her halfway down the corridor to her office. “Claire,” he called out to her as he reached forward to grasp her elbow.

  “Don’t you dare touch me,” she said so venomously it startled even her. Claire wrenched her elbow from his grasp and swallowed when she saw someone walk past the two of them with a look of mixed fear and grotesque interest.

  “Claire, please. I just want to talk about what happened.” She felt her nostrils flaring and her teeth grit together sharp enough to jolt her. Claire took a step back from the man who had humiliated her in front of a few hundred people and felt a sick turn in her stomach. “Claire, please,” he tried again in a pathetic voice.

  “You make me sick,” she told him with a little less sharpness. “I don’t know what possessed you to think I would ever want to see your face again, but I assure you, I don’t. So please, leave before I call security.” Claire took the step back to her office and closed the door so quietly the sound was worse than a slam would have been.

  What had made her think she was over him, she couldn’t figure out. There seemed to be no end to her self-loathing as she sat down at her desk and put her face into her hands. Heated words from out in the hallway met her ears and brought her out of her wallowing long enough to look up and see Marie stepping through the door.

  “Claire,” she said as she closed the door in a stricken Eric’s face. “I knew I should have told security to watch out for him. I’m so sorry he had the nerve to come here.” The woman who had been her savior the night of her public humiliation and her knight in shining armor for the entire week after sank down onto her desk and put a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder.

  “I’m okay,” Claire lied as she sniffed and wiped at the tear in the corner of her eye.

  “No, you’re not, but you will be,” Marie told her with a reassuring smile. “If the prick would just give up and go away.” Marie pursed her lips together as if she’d said too much and Claire’s fibber radar started to awaken.

  “What do you mean if he would stop? This is the first time I’ve seen him since-” Claire couldn’t bring herself to say it, seeing him seemed to reopen the barely scabbed wound.

  Marie clamped her lips together and clasped her hands in her lap as she crossed her legs at her ankles. She looked up and out of the window that oversaw the business district of New York, City. It was a clear day with very little humidity and she could see for miles beyond the tops of the buildings.

  “Marie,” Claire started warningly as she recognized her friend’s evasive behavior. She knew Marie was hoping she’d drop the subject and leave it go, but when it came to this topic; she was like a dog with a bone.

  “He came by last week after the incident at the party. I intercepted him at the door and told him you weren’t here. He’d been showing up at the front of the building most days in the morning and I kept telling him you were still at home, but he must have figured out I was lying and snuck through security. I’ll have to give them the real run around this time,” Marie said through clenched teeth as her right hand balled into a fist. “I’m sorry I lied, Claire, but that man’s no good for you.”

  She’d thought he’d ditched her and never even come to apologize for almost a week, and Marie was just telling her that the man she’d thought she’d love for the rest of her life had been coming by every day in order to see her. “What were you thinking? Lying to me like that?”

  Claire’s chest tightened and she felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. She couldn’t put a name to the emotion as it swept over her. Perhaps it was betrayal.

  “I was trying to be a good friend. I wanted to protect you from him.” Marie could see that she wasn’t getting through to her friend. “Claire, I was trying to keep this from happening. You were happy!” She punctuated her words with her fist slapping into her left hand and stood to pace in front of Claire’s desk.

  “You’re right, I was happy. But it wasn’t because you protected me from Eric Slate. I was happy because I knew I had one person in this world I could trust, who wouldn’t lie to me.” Marie opened her mouth to respond, but Claire wasn’t going to let her make it any worse. “Please, I just need some space, okay? I have a lot of work to do for next week and tomorrow.”

  Marie recognized the dismissal for what it was and paused at the door with a hurt look on her face before she left. Claire looked at the white roses still sitting on her desk and wondered if she should even bother. This man wasn’t Eric, but it seemed everyone had something to keep from her.

  Chapter Three

  There was an empty feeling in her when she took a cab home from work and stepped through the doors of her apartment complex. “Good evening, Claire,” her doorman greeted. He was a man in his late sixties who had taken on the part-time job due to his retirement funding not being what he’d thought it would be. When he’d called her Ms. O’Donnell, she’d corrected him. It had taken her over a year to get him to call her Claire when no one else was around.

  “Evening, John. How’s your granddaughter?” Claire had overheard him talking to the manager about having to see his granddaughter two weeks ago due to the little girl undergoing an operation.

  “She’s doing well. They think they’ve removed the entire tumor and she’ll be up and playing in another week or two.” John seemed to appreciate her interest and smiled as he spoke. From the way his crow’s feet crinkled next to his brown eyes, Claire could tell he really loved the child.

  “That’s good to hear. You tell her to get better soon. It looks like you need a good chase around the lobby,” she said as she motioned around the empty lobby. It was a Saturday night and she’d worked late. Most of the apartment building’s renters were either indoors now or they were out on the streets of New York looking for a good place to eat. At the thought, Claire’s stomach rumbled and she blushed.

  “I’ll see you around,” John said as he raised his hand and Claire smiled at his kind dismissal.

  “You, too,” she told him as she turned on her heel and adjusted her purse on her shoulder. The oversized, beige number was starting to get a little too full. Claire took a deep breath and let it blow out as she turned and punched in the number to her floor.

  She could see her reflection in the metal doors of the elevator and swiped a stray curl out of her face. Claire had gotten the pixie cut because she thought Eric would have liked it. He’d said it made her look like a darker version of Halle Berry with curled hair, but the way he’d said it had been demeaning. He had treated her as if she were a cute child that he was indulging, and that night he hadn’t touched her hair.

  Claire swallowed away the lump in her throat and rolled her eyes to the ceiling to get rid of the tears. There was no reason for her to still be crying over this man. She was done with him and she was done with liars. Tonight, she would go out on a date with a man whom she barely knew anything about, and they would go back to his apartment and she’d take out all her day’s frustrations on him in the form of headboard banging sex.

  Feeling a little better about where her evening was heading, she stepped off the elevator and hummed as she walked down the hall to her door. There, she found a note taped to it and immediately recognized the handwriting. Frustrated that she couldn’t seem to get rid of him, Claire tossed Eric’s letter into the trash and grabbed a glass of wine before she got ready.

  Halfway through her glass of wine, she’d washed off the day’s grime from her face and applied a light, airy makeup to her face and neck. Claire swiped some eyeliner on the inside of her bottom lids and put on a soft, nude colored matte lipstick. She pulled on a pair of gray slacks, some wedged heels, and a ruffled front, white button down blouse. It was the complete opposite of what Marie would have chosen for her, but if James didn’t like it then he wasn’t for her.

  Her cell phone rang, but she didn’t answer it when
she saw it was Marie. There was a text from her friend earlier, yet Claire ignored it and turned her phone off. She didn’t want anything to interrupt her sultry seduction of a tall, white man with dark hair and dark eyes. Claire hadn’t thought she’d ever date a Caucasian man, not that she really cared about skin-tone, but her skin was so dark she figured a man of James’ complexion wouldn’t be interested.

  “There you go again,” she whispered to herself as she picked out a smaller purse and transferred her wallet, keys, and phone into it. “Always thinking that you’re not worth someone decent, someone nice,” she mumbled.

  I am beautiful, she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. There wasn’t anyone who would change her opinion of that. She had struggled with self-image problems as a young girl and through college. It wasn’t until she’d met Marie that she’d started to see she was worth something.

  Claire let out a sigh and pulled out her phone. She glanced over the text sent from Marie apologizing for her screw up. Claire was about to text her back that it was okay when she heard the doorbell to her apartment ring. She dropped her phone back into her purse, took a deep breath, and smiled as she walked to the door.

  When she opened it, the man she’d wanted to see all day was standing in front of her. He was wearing a dark suit, but he’d left the hat at home this time. His, dark, unruly hair looked like he’d run his hands through it a few times. Claire looked into his dark brown eyes with the green rings and felt her worries melt away.

  “Hey,” he said as he graced her with a mischievous smile.

  “Hey,” she responded as she stepped aside to let him in.

  Chapter Four

  “So tell me again about what this guy did?” Claire took a sip of her mojito and swirled the straw around in the ice for something to do.

  “Dumped me in front of all my coworkers and my boss; not my manager, but my actual boss,” she told him as she stared at the ice swirling around. The restaurant was cozy, but it will still nice. Everyone wore their good clothes and Claire could tell it was a place where the wealthy went yet didn’t bother wearing their best. She fit in with the crowd and she felt good about that.

  Soft music played in the background as their waiter brought their appetizer. “Tell me again why you were dating him?” James asked seriously as he arched an eyebrow at her. She could tell he was genuinely curious about what she’d seen in Eric, and part of her wondered if James was worried about what she might have seen in him.

  “I honestly don’t know. He was sweet at first; maybe a little rough around the edges, you know? But he was reliable, I guess.” Claire tried to find something else to say about the man she’d dated for three years and she couldn’t really think of any redeeming qualities. The man has been nothing more than someone who was present, and that was about it. Sure, they’d had sex and he’d been good sometimes, but towards the end, he was like a floppy, wilted noodle. That should have been her first clue.

  James took one of the crostini from the platter and delicately topped it with a slice of cheese, a thin slice of apple, and a thin spread made from cream cheese and wine. When he leaned over the small table they were sharing, Claire obediently opened her mouth and let him slide the crostini in. The restaurant seemed to disappear around them as she bit down delicately and got a dab of the spread on the corner of her lip.

  She flicked out her tongue to swipe away the cheese and closed her eyes as she tasted the heavenly, simple tidbit. “Mmm, that’s delicious,” she said as she opened her eyes. A flush crept up her neck when she realized James was intently watching her, ready for the second half. He dipped his fingers in between her lips as he fed her the second piece, and she felt a shiver down his arm.

  “Do you want more?” he asked huskily as he watched her.

  “No, it’s my turn,” Claire said as she scooped up a crostini from the platter and laid it out as James had for her.

  He took it all into his mouth and caught the edge of her thumb. Claire shivered when she felt his teeth put a tiny bit of pressure on her thumb as if he were claiming her in front of all these people. She grew warm between her legs and felt her nipples tighten beneath her bra.

  “More wine?” James asked as he made a motion for their waiter to come by.

  “Sure, yes,” Claire corrected with a small smile. What she really wanted was for him to scoot beside her and let her feel just how much their feeding each other had excited him.

  As if he’d read her mind, James quietly asked the waiter for a more private, secluded booth. The waiter assured them he would bring over their appetizer as they were not done yet, and seated them further away from the bar. James settled beside her rather than across from her.

  “What are you-” Claire didn’t have time to finish her question. She felt his hand on her knee first and wished she’d worn a skirt rather than trousers, but she would have worn tights anyway.

  “Shh,” James told her as his fingers played up her thigh. His hand rested on the inside of her thigh as the waiter brought their appetizer and wine by. If he moved his pinky finger, he’d be touching the molten hot crevice of her nether region with just the thin material of her pants between them.

  The waiter asked them if they needed anything else and James politely told him that they were fine for the time being. He watched as the man walked away, and then he flicked his pinky gently over Claire’s hot core. “Tell me if you’re uncomfortable,” he told her as he leaned in and kissed her ear. There were people in earshot, but none of them could see around the booth.

  “James,” she whispered breathily as he flicked his finger over her again.

  “You’re so hot, and I bet you’re fucking wet right now, too,” he whispered in her ear. “If we weren’t here right now, I’d be sliding my cock in and out of your pussy. Would you like that?” he asked her huskily.

  Claire felt her nipples tighten painfully beneath her bra and wanted him to be able to dip his head down and lap at them with his rough, agile tongue. Her swollen nub pulse with each flick and she felt her chest and face heat partly with excitement and partly with embarrassment. Was he going to make her come in public, without even having to touch his fingertip to her clit?

  “Would you like that, Claire?” he asked again and slid his hand up to the delicate button of her gray slacks. Why had she worn them? She couldn’t remember.

  “Y-yes,” she whispered.

  “Take a sip of wine,” he told her gently and she reached out with an unsteady hand to take the wine glass. Claire did as he said and sipped the wine. The combination of the warmth from the alcohol and the feel of his finger sliding down between her flesh and her panties made her feel relaxed and loose.

  His other hand slipped down the front of her blouse, so delicately that she thought it was just her imagination at first. He tweaked her nipple and she gasped aloud. “Fuck,” he whispered as he caressed her already hard and ready nipple. “I want to fuck you right now, right here, in front of all these people.” As he described what he wanted to do, she could see it.

  In her mind he was bending her over the table, wrapping his large hand around her neck gently as he pulled her head back, and he was ripping down her pants, and then her panties. She could see her dark, round ass bare for everyone to see and she could see James’ ready, hard member slick on the mushroom head with his want. He’d twirl his thumb around it gently to lubricate it, and then he’d slid it into her tight and needing pussy.

  “James,” she gasped when she felt his finger brush over her swollen, hard nub. He took the small piece of flesh between his thumb and forefinger and gently squeezed it.

  In her mind, he was pounding into her at a steady rhythm, quickly bringing her to climax. But he didn’t stop there. He kept going, taking her over the edge and making her cry out in front of all those people. He was claiming her and making her feel alive.

  Claire felt her walls tighten and the heat exploded between her legs as she came. Her head dropped back and she felt James’ finger dive
into her, stroking her g-spot and prolonging her climax. Claire opened her eyes as it was still rocking her body and looked into his dark eyes. What had she gotten herself into? This man was as dangerous as they came-

  The thought was cut off as he took her nub again and quickly brought her to a quivering, searing hot climax a second time. Then he deftly removed his hand from her panties and left her nub rubbing eagerly against the fabric. Claire wanted him to make her come again, but he’d pulled out a tissue from his suit pocket and was cleaning up.

  By the time their waiter had brought their main meal, she was composed enough to graciously say thank you.

  Chapter Five

  “I’m sorry I have to go like this, but I have a meeting tomorrow morning in San Francisco and I have to catch a flight.” James had his hand on the small of her back and she was leaning into him as they waited for a taxi.

  “Are you sure you can’t take just half an hour? My apartment isn’t far-”

  “You’re not satisfied?” he asked her with a concerned tone and turned her so that she was facing him. Claire smiled at his puppy dog eyes and nodded meekly.

  “Oh, I’m satisfied, but I just figured you weren’t.” She should have reached over and given him as much pleasure as she had taken. James could see the knowledge in her gaze and shook his head as he dipped his lips down to claim hers. It was a long, languid kiss and she wanted it to never end.

  “I’m satisfied, my minx. Seeing you come like that, in there, I think I could die tonight and be a happy man.” She found she didn’t mind the pet name one bit. His hands were on her waist underneath her jacket and she could feel how warm they were. “Now, I’m going to see you home and then I’ll have to leave, right away I’m afraid.”