Shattered: A Billionaire Romance Series (Contemporary Romance Novels)

by Love, Michelle

  Description

  Revenge. Lust. Resolve.

  Lucas had been on his way to putting the feisty, redhead, Sloan, behind him forever when she showed back up. Just as he was set to forget her, watching her without her knowing, ignited the fire which had been slumbering inside of him for her.

  Sloan found herself face to face with the man who she thought had betrayed her trust. She wasn’t pleased to see another woman on his arm again. A thing Lucas made sure she saw.

  Sloan ran from the scene and as she fled the club, she saw a couple of interesting people in the parking lot who didn’t even notice her as she’d donned a jet black wig for the evening.

  Now that she was fairly certain who was setting Lucas up, she felt compelled to let him in on what she saw. As she sat in her car, she waited and watched and learned a hell of a lot.

  She’d gotten rid of Lucas’ phone number so she wouldn’t be tempted to call him and she’d blocked his number so there was no way to reach him. She’d have to go see him to tell him and she knew that it would be hard to stay in control of her body that ached for the man.

  But when she was spotted, the chase began and the odds were against her as she tried to get to Lucas before they got to her.

  Get ready for more twists and turns as Lucas and Sloan reach the conclusion of their arrangement, forever.

  Chapter 1

  Sloan

  Randi put the finishing touches on my made up face and made sure the jet black wig of long, straight hair was securely fastened to my head as I slipped into the tall heels she let me borrow. She didn’t have to push me too hard to make me go out with her. I needed a distraction, a huge distraction to help me put Lucas out of my mind.

  Thank God for my thesis work or I’d never have had the self-control to stay away from him. I don’t know why I ever let myself believe in the man. He was a playboy, plain and simple. No matter how it had felt, it was as fake as he was.

  At least now I knew that for certain.

  I’d let Randi glob on the makeup and put the wig on me as well as one of her tight dresses to make myself look completely different. Not that I was trying to hide, but I was trying to be someone else for the night.

  My plan was to let my inhibitions go, for that night, anyway. My sexual sessions with Lucas had loosened me up. I felt sexier than ever as I now had knowledge that I wasn’t a drag in bed and Lucas taught me a lot too. So I was looking for a piece of strange man to make me feel better.

  I didn’t care about much, I just wanted a man to make me feel like I wasn’t the biggest damn idiot in the world. I wanted to know if I really was attractive to the opposite sex or did Lucas pick me because he knew I was neither sexy nor smart enough to find out he was fucking someone else on his lunch hour.

  And that total rich bitch at that!

  The only thing I feel bad about is not slapping the shit out of them both. Now that would’ve felt great and maybe then I’d have some closure. But I felt like there were some strings left untied. Some things I’d like to have known but knew I never would because I couldn’t ever talk to that man again. I deleted his phone number and blocked his phone numbers so he couldn’t call me. I thought of it all and went away this last week to stay with another friend of mine because I knew he’d come to my apartment to try to get his, dumb ass, piece of ass, back.

  But I’d grown smarter and would not be slipping back into that man’s bed, no matter how nice it felt. I actually thought we were getting close!

  We’d sit on the couch watching television and doing lame shit that couples do. We’d play footsie under the sheets each morning then have awesome morning sex and I could swear he looked at me with my bedhead and sleep filled eyes with something more than lust and desire. I could swear I saw caring and even a touch of love in his dark eyes.

  I shook my head to clear it, I needed to stop thinking about that asshole!

  “Time to go!” Randi shouted as she clapped her hands, enthusiastically. “I can’t believe I talked you into this!”

  “I have to get out.” I got up and grabbed my purse and put the long strap over my shoulder and around my neck to make sure it stayed securely with me. I planned on shaking my booty that night, come hell or high water, I was going to have fun if it killed me!

  As we walked out to the parking lot, Randi took my hand and started dragging me to her car. “You’re coming with me.”

  “No!” I shouted as I pulled out of her grasp. “Randi, I’m taking my car tonight. I have to be able to escape if I start to have a meltdown. Or I may need it to take my ass to some guy’s place and I’ll need to have a ride home.”

  “I get you,” she winked at me. “Okay, take your car and I’ll take mine. But stay close so we can walk into the club together. If I go in alone, I’ll get scooped up and we won’t even get to have one drink together before the mating rituals kick in.”

  We high-fived and walked away to our separate cars. I was a little worried about what she’d say about me taking my own car and I was happy she didn’t try to change my mind.

  I followed her to the Club 9, the place where it all started, and we parked next to each other. As we walked in, side by side, I could’ve sworn I heard a familiar man’s voice and the giggle of some woman. But when I turned to look back, I saw no one.

  I had hoped it was not the beginning of a paranoid night. If I kept hearing men who were close to Lucas, I wasn’t going to have a very good time.

  Randi took us straight to the bar with the good looking bartender who eyed me for a moment then he laughed and pointed at me with a big grin on his pretty handsome face. “You! The redhead, right?”

  I was flattered that he remembered me. That had been weeks ago and yet he even recognized me under all the makeup and the wig. “Wow! How did you remember me?”

  He leaned in close as he set two tequila shots on the bar in front of him. “Your eyes, sweetheart. And these are on the house. You and your friend are on me tonight. Just remember to come back to my bar for all of them, I’d like to see a hell of a lot more of you. I’m Clark, by the way. And you are?”

  Wow, already, a hit! “My names, Sloan.” I stuck my hand out to shake his and he took it with a laugh and shook it. “Nice to meet you, Clark.”

  He looked to one side and gave the other guy working with him a nod. “Cover for me, will you, Steve? I’d like to take this fine young thing out on the dance floor for her first dance of the night.”

  I was shocked. I hadn’t even been there but two minutes and already I had a very hot prospect. Before I knew it, I was gathered up by the man and taken out to the dance floor where he held me tight while we gravitated our bodies to the hard beat.

  Thanks to Lucas, I had learned how to really shake my hips and move my body in ways that seemed to entice the man. Clark was pretty built himself, his eyes were a light green and he had a happy go lucky demeanor. Nothing like Lucas.

  I found myself comparing them as his cock pressed up against me as we seemingly dry humped each other on the dance floor. Everyone else was dancing like that, so why not?

  But something was missing. I felt no heat. No urgency to fuck him. He was handsome and had a dimple in one of his cheeks. He dressed nice, smelled great, I mean there was not one thing wrong with him except for the fact he was not Lucas.

  So I decided I’d just have to drink until I forgot about Lucas and could only see Clark in my future. My future for that night, anyway. We danced for a little while longer then I saw him look around me at the line at the bar and he let out a deep sigh. “Sadly, I have to end this. I have work to do. Come sit at the bar and I’ll fill you full of alcohol and dance with you again as soon as I clear up that line.”

  I gave him a nod and he took my hand and led me back to the bar. But just before he let my hand go to go back behind the bar, He pulled me in very fast and kissed me hard.

  Our tongues roamed around the others and I could hear some cheering from the people waiting to get something to drink. Then he pulled
back and held our clasped hands up. “She’s with me, tonight, boys! So hands off!”

  Then he took me to a barstool close to where he’d be working and I felt happy. So damn happy that I really was attractive enough for that man to remember me and be so possessive of me from the get go. Then my happiness turned into aggravation.

  What was I doing? Was I really about to let myself become another man’s possession? Why in the world did every man I met suddenly want me for themselves? And was that a really such a bad thing?”

  I was about to be twenty-five. The age when a lot of women get into serious relationships. Those kind of relationships that move into marriage and family. I was of the age to become someone’s everything. And the guy behind the bar was giving me all the right signals that he’d very much like that.

  He placed a very nice looking drink in front of me before he took a single order and leaned over and gave me a quick kiss before he got busy taking care of the other people. Some woman leaned in to say, “He must really love you. How long have you two been together?”

  “We aren’t,” I told her.

  She fanned herself and said, “Well, get ready for some action tonight. That man has a definite hard on for just you.”

  I looked back to find Clark pouring and shaking drinks and the moment I looked back, he caught me looking and gave me a smile. “Having fun?”

  I nodded and sipped my drink that tasted like a strawberry vanilla milkshake. It was yummy and creamy and nothing like a drink Lucas would’ve ordered for me. Then I turned to look out at the people dancing on the dancefloor and thought I saw, Lucas.

  Why can’t I get him out of my mind?

  Chapter 2

  Lucas

  I hadn’t seen Sloan in a week. I desperately wanted to explain what she had seen. I wanted to explain that the photos in her hands were before I even met her. I wanted to make it right. Even if she didn’t come back to me, I needed her to at least not hate me.

  Randi just coldly informed me that Sloan was working on her thesis some place private. I tried to get Torrence to search for her, but he’d told me to let it go.

  I nearly fired him over it.

  The week had felt like months in hell.

  And now it was over. It was probably for the best. I could focus on work.

  I could fuck whomever I wanted.

  As I signaled to the bartender that I wanted another drink, a tight body in a slinky red dress squeezed herself next to me. “Hi,” she said in a sultry voice.

  Deliberately, I cocked my head as my eyes roamed down her body. Nice perky tits. A full round ass. Cock-sucking cherry-red lipstick. Lustful eyes that told me everything I wanted to know.

  She’d let me take her home and do whatever I wanted.

  “Hi,” I muttered.

  “Buy a girl a drink?”

  “Do you really need a drink?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise before she laughed. “No one has ever asked me that before. You look like the kind of man I could spend a little time with completely sober.”

  “I’m not a happy man right now,” I said softly.

  “I don’t need you to be happy. I just need you to be hard.”

  It wasn’t enough to make me stir, but it was enough to grab my attention. The next glass of whiskey appeared in front of me, and I knocked it back while she watched. I didn’t say anything as I sat it on the counter.

  “So what do you say? Take a girl some place more private?”

  What did I say to that?

  The best way to get over one woman was with another. I had done nothing wrong to Sloan. There was no reason I couldn’t enjoy the sexy and willing woman in front of me.

  Signaling to the bartender, I pointed to my empty glass and held up two fingers.

  “Does that mean you’re going to buy me a drink after all?” she said as she put a hand on my chest.

  “Nothing wrong with buying a gorgeous woman a drink,” I muttered.

  Nothing wrong with that at all.

  Only, something inside me told it was wrong. Something in my head told me to get up and walk away from the vixen. But then the drinks came and I took mine and took a drink and looked her over again. I could’ve used a good roll in the sheets. God knows I missed sex. But the sex I missed was with Sloan and that wasn’t going to happen again.

  I wasn’t even sure if she showed back up and told me she was sorry for not trusting me and not giving me a chance to explain things to her, it would be enough for me to take her back. To tell her we could go back to our agreement and continue as if she never went off the deep end.

  “My name is, Veronica,” the woman said. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a clip and she let it out of the clip, making it fall around her narrow shoulders. “And you are Lucas Montgomery.”

  “I am,” I said as I looked into her light blue eyes that were almost gray and found no depth to them at all. So I said something to see if she had any. “How’d you like to get fucked by the Lucas Montgomery?” I took another drink and watched her eyes light up.

  Her hand moved over my shoulder and she leaned in. “I’d do anything for you. And I do mean anything.”

  Her breath was warm on my face and the smell of the liquor was unappealing. The way her hand moved over my thigh and up to touch my cock, which wasn’t at all enthused with her, made my skin kind of crawl. But she was a warm body that had the parts necessary to please me for a little while so what the hell.

  Then my mind slipped in a word that came out of my mouth without me realizing it, “Why?”

  She blinked and pulled her head back and looked at me with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

  I shook my head to rid myself of the depth Sloan had brought into my life. Sloan would never say anything so stupid and simple before really knowing a man.

  But I needed to stop comparing women to Sloan or I’d never want to fuck another one again. So I ran my hand along her jaw and whispered, “I want to take you in my car first and if you please me, then I’ll take you to my place. But I have to warn you, I’m not a happy man at this time and I feel the need to take out some aggressions. You don’t mind a spanking, do you?”

  Her face came close to mine and her lips brushed mine as she spoke, “Not from you, I don’t. Tie me up and do with me what you want, Mr. Montgomery. I am yours for the taking.”

  As hard as she was trying and as much as she was willing to give to me, it wasn’t enough. “Let me think on it, Veronica.”

  She sat back and took a drink from the short glass and when she did I could see down out of the second story to the dancefloor on the ground floor. And there was a woman dancing with some man and making movements that caught my eye.

  The way she was all up on him had me hot in a flash. I stood up and walked out to look at them over the balcony. Her dress was tight and red. Her hair was black but it was obviously a wig, a cheap one at that. I looked all the way down to her shoes and they were black and shiny.

  There was something about the woman, the way she moved, and the way her curves filled that dress out. Then they moved around a little and I saw her face.

  “Sloan!”

  She had a ton of makeup on and that damn wig to cover her wild red hair, but it was her. That alabaster skin and those emerald eyes told me as much. When you threw in the way she was moving her body, I had no doubt.

  Suddenly the man was saying something to her and he led her off the dancefloor. I watched every step they took and when they got to the bar he pulled her in and kissed her.

  I stopped breathing, stopped thinking, and had to stop myself from hauling ass down to get her. I watched her hands move up and hold his shoulders as they obviously kissed using tongues and my insides turned to acid.

  How could she?

  Then they stopped kissing and he held up their hands and said something that had the people around them cheering and I watched him pick her up and set her down on a barstool then he went behind it and she was smiling like she was the
happiest girl in the world.

  My heart was barely beating. She was truly done with me. She must’ve moved on to that guy soon after that day she threw the pictures on the floor and left me.

  I guess the looks I had been seeing in her eyes were all lies. I thought I saw more there as we spent our evenings and nights together. I thought I saw caring and even a little love in her big green eyes. But it couldn’t have been if she moved on so damn quickly.

  Fuck! It’s only been a week!

  Soft hands moved over my arms as I’d rolled up my sleeves. A soft voice whispered to me, “I’m ready to go when you are.”

  Veronica was right behind me. All ready for me. So I placed my drink on the little table next to the railing and turned back to her. “After a dance.”

  Nearly dragging her down the stairs, I made my way to the dancefloor and made sure I got close enough so I could easily drift us close enough for Sloan to see me from her perch on the barstool her new lover had placed her on.

  I caught them kissing again as he placed some drink in front of her and fury nearly consumed me. How could she move on so quickly?

  I knew we had this agreement to just have sex and keep it light but damn it! She wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain that Iris was being a slut like always and I was throwing her out. I wasn’t even going to get any information out of her. And I desperately needed that information.

  During the last week, not one bit of information had come up to get us any closer to finding out who the hell was out to ruin me. And I sure could’ve used Sloan at my side. I needed her like I had never needed anyone. And she just left!

  I danced us over and when we got close enough, I moved in and took Veronica by the waist and pulled her into me as I ground on her and kept heading toward Sloan who was chatting it up with some woman.

  When the woman stepped back in line to order a drink, I saw Sloan’s eyes roam over the dancing crowd and made sure I was turned toward her. I was not far from her at all and stared right at her as her eyes moved over me then right back to me.