Go after Kat.
He fisted his hands. He wouldn’t let it happen. Kat needed to keep her security and stay the fuck away from him.
A soft voice penetrated his thoughts.
“Every Saturday, he’d buy two chocolate caramel brownies; one for his mistress and one for his wife. The wife got suspicious, staked out my bakery and followed him to the mistress’s house.”
“How’d you find out?”
Kat laughed, and the sound arrowed straight through Sloane’s chest.
“She ordered a cake with a donkey design that said, ‘I’m divorcing your cheating ass’ and had me deliver it to his office.”
Drake’s low laugh assaulted Sloane in bittersweet waves. How many laughs did his mentor have left before they were forever silenced?
“I gave her a half dozen chocolate chunk cookies. I figured she was done with brownies.”
“And cheating husbands.”
Kat chuckled. “Hope so. Anyway, that’s the only divorce cake I’ve done so far.”
Sloane could barely breathe as regret and loss spiked into profound loneliness. The easy camaraderie between Drake and Kat sucked the marrow from his bones. The two people he cared about most in this world had become fast friends. Without a conscious decision, he strode to the hallway and stopped in the doorway to one of the two guest suites on this side of the house.
Drake lay on his stomach, stripped to the waist and one arm curved up around his head. Only faint echoes remained of the once-powerful arm, shoulder and back muscles. But what punched him in the chest was Kat kneeling next to Drake on the full—sized adjustable bed, her hands gently massaging him. The image was so sweet, tender and so beautiful, his heart skipped a beat.
Kat was in his home, taking care of his mentor when Sloane had all but thrown her out last night.
This woman couldn’t be real.
Striding into the room, he said, “You shouldn’t be on your knee like that.” He circled the bed, lifted and turned her to settle on the recliner in the corner. After crouching down, he put her foot in his lap, shoved up her pant leg and began massaging, trying to increase the blood flow to reduce swelling and prevent the spasms she got once in a while.
“What are you doing?”
He glanced up at her shocked voice. “You’ve been on this leg all fucking day at work. Your knee aches like a bitch by this time of night and you were kneeling on it.” He gently worked the muscles and tendons, wishing he could get deep enough to reshape the actual joint so she wouldn’t have to suffer like this.
“I was on the mattress.” She palmed his cheek. “I didn’t mind.”
Her whisper-soft caress and sweet words tortured him. He didn’t want to stop touching her, or taking care of her. Doing this for Kat fed him, proving he was more than a fighter, a billionaire and soon, a killer. She made him want to be so much more than just vengeful.
“Kitten, you’re killing me.” If only he could believe she was using Drake, but she wasn’t. The kind of bond the two of them had couldn’t be faked, nor was Drake easily fooled.
She leaned forward with both her hands holding his face. “I can’t stop caring about you or Drake. I’m not built that way. But if my being here really bothers you, I’ll text you when it’s my night to hang out with Drake. All you have to do is text me when you leave the gym or wherever you are and I’ll be gone before you get home.” She let go, swung her leg from his grip and stood.
It’d be so simple. Sloane could treat Kat like her parents did, pushing her out of sight and out of mind. His body twanged in furious reaction.
Kat helped Drake pull on his shirt and settle against the pillows. She kissed his cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow to check in. Get some sleep.” She glanced back at Sloane, her incredible blue-green eyes endless wells of pain. A second later, she yanked her gaze away and left.
His muscles twitched and snapped, his heart pounded and a buzzing roared in his eardrums. His hands ached to hold her, his body screamed to cradle her against him, even his cock throbbed. Sloane had trained his body into a lethal and fiercely controlled machine, but one look from Kat—one single glance—and she ripped his control to shreds and fucking owned him.
He turned his stare on Drake.
“Go.”
His control ruptured, and he went after her.
Sloane found her reaching for the front doorknob. He slapped his hands against the door, caging her between his biceps. “Don’t leave. God, don’t leave me.” He covered her hands with his, pressing his front to her back, craving the feel of her. Her warm, sweet scent rolled into him.
“You’re the one who told me to go. I wanted to stay and fight for you and us.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “You just wanted me gone.”
He closed his eyes, absorbing that blow. He’d hurt her and yet she’d come back. Even now, he held her flush to the door, and she let him keep touching her. Sloane lifted her hands from the wood, fitting her back to his front and held her to him. “I’ve never felt like this, baby. Never cared this much or wanted anyone like this.” Burying his face in her soft hair, he said, “I don’t know how to do this. I have to finish the job with Foster, but I don’t want to lose you.”
She leaned back against him. “I don’t know either. But I thought that being in love meant we’d figure out how to get through this together.”
Her words stunned him. As did the way she gave him her weight, knowing he would hold her. His baker had trusted the wrong man and ended up badly hurt. But she trusted him every damned time. Hot intensity seared him. Turning her in his arms, he looked down and felt that same kick he always got when their gazes met. “I fucked up and you didn’t leave.” He still couldn’t believe it.
Her eyes shimmered with the vulnerable truth. “I’m here unless you don’t want me anymore.”
Sloane lost his breath. She was afraid, but she’d risked him rejecting, hurting and humiliating her, to support and love him. He’d battled the fiercest competitors in the cage and boardroom, but no one had ever made him feel this insane adrenaline rush, fear and deep, hot possessiveness that Kat did. She was everything to him.
Wrapping an arm around her waist, he cradled her face in his palm. “I want you too much.” Was he turning into his mother? Chasing a goddamned dream, and right when he thought he had it, it would shatter and destroy everything in its wake? But he couldn’t let her go. “Kitten.” The word spilled out of him as he sank into her mouth, desperate to taste the woman who gave him so much. Sloane didn’t know if her love for him could survive what he had to do.
He just knew he couldn’t let her go.
She opened for him, her warm, sweet taste firing an ache for more. Sloane stroked her jaw as he brushed his tongue with hers. His heart rate surged at her flavor and scent. He needed more, needed to give her more. Breaking the kiss, he swept her into his arms and headed up the stairs. “I’ll show you how much I want you.”
Her face flushed and her breath hitched.
Sloane closed them in his bedroom and shifted Kat so they were eye to eye, her legs clamped around his waist. Moonlight flowing in from the French doors shimmered over her. “So damned gorgeous.” Feverish need sizzled straight down to his cock with a stark, primitive drive to claim her. He braced her against the wall and brushed his mouth across her lips.
She softened and yielded, tilting up to give him access.
Sloane took it, sliding his mouth along her jaw, pausing at every inch to lick and taste. The flavor of her satiny skin teased him until he closed his mouth on top of that delicate pulse point at the base of her throat and sucked.
Her thighs clamped around his hips, and a whispery moan vibrated beneath his lips. “Don’t stop.” She twisted, grinding against him.
Her pulse beat faster and stronger beneath his tongue, driving him insane. Dragging his head back, he drew his thumb over that red spot on her throat. Shit. Too fucking aggressive. “I left a mark.” He wanted to love her, not harm her.
“I want yo
ur mark on me. I want to see it and know you wanted me that much.”
He jerked his head up. The vulnerability and desire swimming in her eyes punched him with possessiveness. “You wanna be marked by me, baby? Wanna know how badly I burn for you every goddamned second?”
She sank her white teeth into her lower lip and released it. “Yes.”
“We’ll start here.” He swooped in, capturing that lush lip and outlining it in slow licks.
Kat dug her fingers into his biceps.
Sloane sucked her lip into his mouth, scraping his teeth over the tender flesh, then traced those tiny marks with his tongue until she moaned and writhed. He turned his head enough to plunge into her hot mouth. Christ, she tasted so damned good. He clamped his hands around her thighs, holding her where he wanted her. Through her jeans, the heat of her pussy glided against his engorged cock. Not enough.
With Kat, it was never enough. She wanted his mark, he’d give it to her.
Breaking the kiss, he took in her heavy-lidded eyes. “I’m going to kiss and mark your nipples, move down your belly, then spread your thighs to kiss your pussy with slow, penetrating strokes. I won’t stop no matter how many times you come, or how many times you scream, until I have your taste memorized and I’m sure you’re branded by the feel of my mouth on you.” He dragged air into his lungs. “Then I’ll put my cock exactly where I belong, buried inside you. So deep you’ll know you’re mine.”
* * *
Fierce heat burst over Kat’s skin. Sloane’s intensity jacked her pulse and made her ache. Letting him hold her, she toed off her shoes, tugged off her shirt and bra. Then she framed his face. “You have me. I’m not going anywhere.” She’d been so scared he’d shove her aside. Push her out because he wouldn’t want her enough to figure out their problems together. The amber chips in Sloane’s eyes smoldered. He braced one hand on her back and drew his rough tongue over her nipple.
She gasped at the wet friction.
Sloane latched on, tugging hard, every pull streaking right to her core. Switching sides, he lavished his brand of sensual torture on her other nipple, heating her to molten need. His thick hair spilled through her fingers as she hung on, helpless to do anything but ride the sensation. Sloane ground his cock against her through their clothes. Her clit swelled, and every touch made her whimper.
He caught her nipple in his teeth, biting lightly.
That tiny streak of pain drove out everything but white-hot need hitting her deep between her legs. She clamped her thighs around him. “Sloane.”
He raised his head, revealing the hunger in his eyes. “Not there yet. Kiss me.” He took her mouth as if starved for her.
The firm, demanding press of his lips roused her untamed greed to taste, take and possess him entirely. Turning her head slightly, she opened beneath his assault.
He swept his tongue in, sliding against hers with blazing friction. His taste flooded her. Like sinful chocolate, the flavor provoked her craving for him. His T-shirt rubbed against her sensitive nipples. Too soft, the material wasn’t what she wanted rubbing against her. She grabbed the shirt and tugged it up.
Sloane set her on her feet and stripped off his shirt and shorts. Kat pushed her jeans and panties off. When she stood up—whoa. Sloane’s eyes blazed in his jaggedly beautiful face. The strong column of his throat spread into massive shoulders and arms. His chest rippled down to insanely cut abs, and his dark pubic hair framed his hard, thick cock. As she watched, a drop of fluid formed on the tip.
He stalked toward her, heat rolling from his pores.
Dragging her gaze up, she was suddenly unsure. He wanted her physically, but was it only sexual chemistry and nothing more? He’d shoved her aside the second she’d gotten in his way. “Sloane?”
“On the bed, baby.” He eased her down until he loomed over her. “Sex has never been like this for me. Until you.”
Hunger yawned painfully in her chest, a craving so vast and wide, Kat clutched the comforter to keep from falling into it. Desperation to be more than the right set of body parts at the right time burrowed deeply into her heart. “What?”
He cradled her face in his palm, his eyes melding into hers with raw honesty. “The way I can show you how I feel. Before you, sex was just a release. Now…it’s how I love you. We hold nothing back. Lift your knees around me and spread your legs. Show me what you won’t share with anyone else.”
God, what he did to her. She absorbed his words, letting them soothe and fill her ache to be loved. His gaze stayed on hers while her body drowned in heat and twisting emotions. Sloane had only had touch and comfort through sex. It was all he’d ever known, and he was giving that to her with his love. She drew her legs up along his sides, letting her knees fall open. Cradling his face, she said, “Only for you.”
His eyes flared, pupils swelling. With easy grace, he slid down her body, taking time to lave and lick between her ribs, scattering tiny bites down her belly until she shuddered with need. Finally he settled on the floor between her spread thighs. He angled his huge hands beneath her bottom, leaning in and drawing his tongue through her folds, circling her clit. Then he latched on to the little bud, stroking and sucking.
Hot sparks scorched through her. Tension built, pulling so tight she cried out.
Sloane shifted, working two fingers deep inside her. The full sensation ramped up her fierce ache. She rode him, canting her hips, going too tight, too fast. Like an overfilled balloon, she was going to explode.
He thrust his fingers, reaching the spot of pure hip-pumping pleasure while sucking her clit. It spiraled her higher at a dizzying speed. Kat barely hung on, riding the crest without release when he dragged his thumb between the cheeks of her ass and pressed against an unfamiliar erogenous zone. A new set of nerves flared hot and wicked. Her belly clamped down, and her orgasm burst over her. “Sloane!” She heard the scream, didn’t care. The waves of rippling pleasure owned her.
Sloane rose and loomed above her. “I have your taste. It’s mine. You’re mine.” He plunged into her, hard and deep. Lowering his chest to hers, he ravaged her mouth, filling her with their mingled flavors. Bracing on an elbow, he lifted her hips and drove all the way into her body, so full it took her breath away.
Pulling from the wild kiss, he sucked in a breath. “Take me. All of me.” He locked his eyes on her, driving in. Hitting a place that was his, only his.
She clutched his shoulders, his ripped muscles covered in hot skin and slicked with sweat. “Give me everything.”
His face went stark, eyes hot, jaw bulging, the cords on his neck standing out as he powered into her. He gave her everything as he filled her, taking her to heights of need she couldn’t express and couldn’t control. Kat twisted until his powerful shoulder, slick with sweat, flexed over her mouth.
The insane need to mark his skin as he had hers took command. Kat turned and skimmed her mouth and teeth over Sloane’s bulging biceps. Despite a thin whisper telling her not to do it, she bit down on that raging muscle.
His taste rushed her with tangy heat as his cock hit home deep inside her. Some tiny part of her tried to surface with outrage at her actions: She was biting him.
“Oh fuck, baby. Do it harder.”
His arm swelled as she clamped down. His fingers dug into her hip. Streaks of pleasure twisted and tightened. Her body bowed as he fucked her. So close, so…
“More.” He shifted to one arm, cupping the back of her head and bracing her to his shoulder. “Mark me.”
His erotic order ripped away any shred of resistance, and she bit down firmly. His fierce growl of approval blazed through her, setting off her white-hot orgasm. The ferocious pleasure forced her mouth off his shoulder to gasp for air. Sloane slammed in and jerked hard, shoving her across the bed as he released into her, his cock marking her as completely as her teeth had marked him.
Minutes later, Kat was boneless as Sloane gently kissed her. “You marked me.” He glanced at his shoulder.
The light
imprint of her teeth marred his skin. She’d lost control, maybe hurt him. A thread of shame niggled. “I didn’t intend to.”
Sloane’s eyes penetrated hers. “Your lips and teeth on me were so fucking hot.” His cock throbbed inside of her, proving he meant it. “I wanted your mark, told you to bite hard. When your teeth clamped down, I fucked you across the bed. Came so hard I thought I was going to die of hardcore pleasure.” He twined his fingers with hers. “You marked me, baby. I’m yours.”
Warmth flooded her, drowning out the sliver of worry about the future. They had now, and that was pretty damn special. Kat traced the scar bracketing one side of his mouth, then the other by his eye. “I—”
Her cell phone rang, cutting off her words. Mentally shifting, she said, “That’s Marshall’s ringtone.” Why was her brother calling?
Sloane pulled out of her, leaned over the edge of the bed to grab her pants and handed the cell phone to her.
She took it, pushed up against the headboard and answered, “Hi, Marshall.”
“Hey, Katie, sorry it’s late. This is the first chance I’ve had to call. I talked to David about the picture.”
The picture. With everything that had happened, it’d slipped her mind. Her mouth dried. “What did he say?”
“That he doesn’t recognize the guy in your hospital room, and said the guy probably walked into the wrong room.”
“He’s lying.” Kat pulled her good leg up, hugging it to her chest.
Sloane’s heavy arm settled around her, drawing her into his side. “What’s going on?”
“Is that Sloane?”
“Yes. Hold on, Marshall.” Once he agreed, she took the phone from her ear, muted it and met Sloane’s gaze. So much had happened in the last two days. But did he want to get drawn back into this?
“We figure things out together. Isn’t that what you said to me?”
He heard her when she talked to him. Reassured, she nodded. “I went through the pictures of me in the hospital on the flash drive that my dad gave me.”
The amber chips in his light brown eyes hardened. “You found something.”
Obsession (The Plus One Chronicles) Page 3