* * *
Jessica woke up warm and comfortable. She snuggled deeper and froze when her bed groaned beneath her. Her eyes blinked open, and the light from the lamp cast shadows over the room. She vaguely remembered being in her office and sitting on the couch. Which had apparently turned to sleeping.
She tilted her head up and peered at Kace. His warm hand rested on the bare skin of her back. He moved slightly. The rasp of his calloused hands made her nipples tighten with need. She shuddered. He looked to be still sleeping, but his arm at her back tensed around her as she shifted.
With the blanket around her, she felt cocooned around him.
Her legs stretched out the length of him and had slipped slightly between his. She moved her hips slightly for a better position. When she bumped the hard length, she froze. The hand at her back held her to keep her from moving.
She looked up at his now open eyes. Her cheeks flamed at the fire she saw. Uncertainty pulsed through her as her hand moved from his side to across his stomach. His breathing was shallow and rapid as she slowly moved up his chest. The muscles rippled beneath her fingers, and she itched to slip her hand under the cotton.
When she reached his collar bone, she paused and looked back up to him. Never had she been so nervous to touch a man. Maybe the earlier memories of her ex so long ago still lingered in her thoughts.
She shivered when the hand at her back moved slowly across her bare skin until it reached the hem of her dress. His fingers skimmed under slightly across the swell of her ass.
“Shit. Are you not wearing panties?” He groaned.
“Can’t wear much of anything with this dress,” came her breathy reply.
“You are going to be trouble,” he rumbled.
Kace yanked her up his body and crashed his mouth into hers. His soft lips moved with hers, and she moaned into his mouth. Taking the opportunity, he slipped his tongue into her mouth. The kiss was raw and made her ache more the longer it lasted.
His hands threaded in her hair as he moved her the way he wanted. She twisted until she was straddling him and pressed firmly against his hard cock. His tongue moved in and out of her as she rocked against him.
Her hands worked their way up from the bottom of his shirt but were stopped by the press of her body against his. She pulled her mouth away and groaned when she was finally able to feel the muscles she had been fantasizing about.
“Fuck,” he groaned.
Wasting no time, Jessica shoved his shirt up until he was forced to sit up and take it off.
She moaned when he sat up. The new position pushed her harder against him. Her hands wrapped around his neck as she drew him in for another searing kiss.
His hands were all over her now. Pushing her dress up past her ass, now nestled firmly against his thighs, his hands grabbed ahold. He pulled her in to grind hard against his hard length. She pulled her mouth away but kept her hands around his neck as she rotated her hips over his cock. No question, she wanted him.
Jessica wrapped her legs around the back of him to get better leverage. She was so close to coming and wondered if he might not be far off. Sweat prickled her skin. Her nipples were so painfully hard just a little release would be something.
When she pulled back and dropped her arm, she saw the flicker of doubt flash in his eyes. She pulled her arms through the sleeves of the dress and pulled it down to her waist. If he stopped now, she just might have to claw his eyes out.
He stared at her exposed breasts and then back at her. Her breathing slowed down as she waited for him to make a move. She had put it out there. It was up to him now.
Kace stared at her. Every rational part of his brain was fighting to stay in charge. If he did this with her, he knew it wouldn’t be a onetime thing. Neither of them were that kind of person. And even if they were, he knew there was no way he’d be able to get his fill of her in just one go.
No, this was a woman he would want over and over again. Everything about her set him off, and the harder he tried to fight it, the more he couldn’t deny that they had something. Despite her dark past or poor choice in employers, there was something about her that he just couldn’t walk away from.
She dropped her hands and started to stand up.
“Fuck it,” Kace growled.
He grabbed her hips and launched himself forward and pushed her backward on the couch. He stared down at her surprised face and took some satisfaction.
Watching her face, he moved his hands from her hips, trailing up her ribs until his fingers brushed the underside of her breast. Her eyes clouded over with lust as she tried to move his hands over the hard peaks.
Her hips bucked, but there was no relief since she couldn’t press against him.
Jessica huffed in frustration.
Kace’s chuckle was cut off when she wrapped her legs around him again and pulled him forward. He groaned when his throbbing dick pressed firmly against her. Looking down, he could see her shaved pussy spreading her juices across the front of his pants.
At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to just sink his dick and fuck her. Not the slow sweet one he had planned but the kind that would leave them sweaty and drained.
No longer able to hold back, Kace took her nipples between his fingers and rolled them tightly. She moaned again and rocked hard against him. The friction against his pants was unbearable. Any longer and he wouldn’t even make it out of his pants.
He pulled his hips back slightly. She groaned at the loss until his mouth latched onto a nipple. As he sucked and nipped at the tender flesh, his hand made its way down her body. She jumped when his finger slipped between her slick folds.
Slowly, he circled her swollen clit. Her body begged him for more.
Jessica gripped the hair on his head, her nails biting into his scalp.
“Kace,” she moaned. “Please.”
His finger pressed hard on her clit before slipping into her. The moan this time came from deep inside her. He let go of her nipple and found he was moaning along with her. Her walls clenched him as he slipped further in.
When he pulled out, he pressed hard against her clit again and pushed back in. Over and over. Faster with each move. He watched her face as her orgasm neared. Mouth open, lips red from kissing and cheeks flushed with excitement, she was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.
“Faster,” she panted.
He pushed faster, his hand bumping her clit while his finger was buried deep inside. Kace could feel her frustration and knew it wasn’t enough. He pulled out and slipped in a second finger. Her walls resisted slightly as he pushed in slowly.
He could feel the beginnings of her orgasm and scissored his fingers inside quickly, his thumb rubbing hard against her clit.
She cried out as she came over his fingers, pulling him in a little more with each spasm.
Kace pulled his fingers out of her and placed them in his mouth.
He groaned at the taste of her. Putting his hands on either side of her head, he leaned forward.
“Next time it will be with my tongue, but I can’t wait anymore,” he said, his voice rough with need.
A loud clang ripped through the air. They turned to the door.
Chapter Seven
Kace cursed. This was the worst timing known to man. He sat up and listened again. The shuffle of something being moved reached him, and he bit back the string of curse words he wanted to let fly.
Not bothering with his shirt, Kace grabbed his gun from the file cabinet and stood.
“Stay in here and lock the door. Don’t open it unless it’s me,” he said to Jessica as she struggled to get her dress back on.
He groaned to himself. It had just better be a cat because he was going to beat the shit out of any person he found.
Kace turned to see her pale and scared face. His heart twisted. Without thinking he pulled her in for a kiss.
“If I’m not back in ten minutes, call the police,” he said. Jessica nodded, and he walked out the door.
When he heard the lock click, he made his way to the back storage room next door. He pulled his gun out and let the dim light from the window inside be his guide. He reached the switch on the wall and flipped it on. Movement through the window into the alley caught his eye.
He raced out the door and through the main club to the front door. After flipping the lock, he burst through the doors into the cool air. Pumped with adrenaline, he shrugged off the chill on his naked chest and charged around the corner.
He watched as a black car raced away on the dimly lit street. The pitch black street was made to hide a black car like that. By the time he raised his gun, the car was too far away to catch and not near enough to read the plate. A noise behind him put him on alert. He whirled around. Jessica was just stepping around the corner with a gun aimed at the retreating car.
Rage boiled in him as he stalked over to her. Unable to control his anger, he grabbed her arm and ushered her back inside.
Once in, with the doors firmly locked, he turned to glare at her.
“What the fuck was that?” he bellowed. “What are you even doing with a gun? Is that licensed to you?”
Jessica shrugged, and he knew the answer. It once again proved they were not a good match.
“What exactly were you planning on doing with that?” he asked.
“I was covering your ass,” she said and flipped the safety back on the gun.
His eyes narrowed on the gun in her hands.
“No, that was you not doing what I told you,” he said, stomping toward her.
Jessica held her chin up and glared back at him.
“Yeah and that was also me catching you off-guard,” she said.
They were breathing heavy when he finally stood in front of her. He really wasn’t sure if he wanted to spank her or fuck her. Or maybe both. He shifted slightly to ease the pressure in his pants from the returning erection.
“You seem to catch me off-guard often,” he said. He was standing so close that his words stirred the hair around her face.
Jessica stepped back, pain evident on her face.
“You can call it whatever you want. We both know that,” she waved an arm at the office, “was not you being caught off-guard.”
Jessica felt the pain pulse deep inside and knew that his dismissal of what had happened or how it had happened hurt. She should have known by now how this score went, but it still hurt. She turned to walk to her office but was stopped when he snatched her hand in his.
“Wait,” he said. The deep rumble of his voice sent zings to her clit. She cursed her response to him.
She turned as he closed in on her. Having no choice, Jessica backed up until she found herself flush with the column.
“I didn’t mean it to be bad,” he said. His arms lifted to frame her in, and he pressed into her. “My reaction to you is what catches me off-guard,” he said and bumped his hips into her.
She bit back a moan as his hard arousal pushed into her.
He leaned forward until his lips just brushed her ear as he spoke.
“I just don’t know what to do with you,” he whispered. “Part of me wants to spank the hell out of you for not listening. The other part wants to fuck you because you don’t.”
Jessica shivered and turned her head to his, ready to give in to whatever side he wanted to give her. Although she sincerely hoped the fucking would win.
Kace sighed and stepped back slightly, leaving her feeling slightly empty.
“But right now I need to get a hold of Reed and Finn,” he said.
She frowned. “Aren’t you going to call in the cops?”
“Something strange is going on here, and I need to go with people I trust,” he said.
She folded her arms over her chest and quirked an eyebrow at him.
Kace chuckled. “I trust Reed at least.” He nodded to the office. “Go get your stuff together, and I’ll have someone take you home. I need to stay here and make sure they don’t come back. They made such a quick getaway. I think they might have gotten sloppy.”
Hope perked up in her. If they could catch whoever was behind this, then things should go back to normal. She looked up to Kace and felt her heart speed up. Jessica wondered if, for the first time, normal was going to be good enough for her.
* * *
Kace ducked behind the brick of the building when a car pulled down the street. They moved slowly, and he wondered if the creep from before was back for more. He pulled out his gun. This time they weren’t going to get the drop on him.
He sighed when Finn and Liam pulled up. It was luck that they happened to be together at that moment. He tried not to think about why they would be. Liam had made it pretty clear about his feelings for that side of the family. Although he also knew that since Reed had called in a favor with Finn, Liam had been the one to take on the favor owed.
Whatever they were together over he likely didn’t want to know about. It would be one thing to take in a bastard like Finn, but taking in Liam, well, he was practically one of the family. He had been coming to Sunday meals for years now, and if he ever decided to pull his head out of his ass, they could make it official when he married Meg.
Kace sighed. This easy promotion gig was turning out to be far more complicated than he ever wanted. Involving his family was only a small chunk of the problem, with Jessica being the biggest chunk. He didn’t even know where he was going with all this, but the idea of not going anywhere with it had him nearly sick. As odd as it seemed, it was more a risk not to see where things went.
“Where’s Jessica?” Finn narrowed his eyes at him, and for the first time, Kace wondered what exactly he felt for her.
“Her sister was up and came by,” Kace said.
Finn’s mouth formed a thin line. “Her sister shouldn’t have to be up,” he snapped. “And what were you even doing here this late?”
He knew someone was going to ask. Kace sighed.
“We fell asleep,” he said simply.
Finn continued to stare, clearly not believing what he had said.
“If you two are finished pissing on stuff, I’d like to get this shit over with, so I can go home.” Liam was already hunched over the window ledge, examining the ground and ground level window.
“Whatever,” Kace said and walked into the dark alley. A light flickered at the end of the alley, near the back of the building, but it wasn’t enough light to make much of anything out.
He was surprised when Finn followed behind him quietly.
“Find anything?” Finn rumbled to Liam.
Liam looked up from his spot on the ground.
“Doesn’t look like forced entry.” He pointed to the lock at the top.
Kace frowned, as that didn’t make sense. “I locked this window the other night. I’m certain of it.”
Liam and Finn exchanged a look.
“Looks like you were right,” Liam said.
“Right about what?” Kace crossed his arms and leaned against the cold brick. He hated being out of the loop, especially when that loop could get him killed.
“Not only have we been coming up short on booze, but someone is skimming the accounts. It’s still not certain if they are related. The skimming is far more sophisticated than the theft. I tend to think that if they are the same group, it’s not being done by the same person,” Finn said.
“On top of all that,” Liam stood and continued, “it looks like some of this is an inside job.”
It did make sense. Otherwise, they would have to assume these people were smarter than they appeared, and nothing from the break-ins indicated that was the case.
“So do you have any leads?” Kace asked. He watched Finn as he spoke.
“The little waitress,” Finn said flatly.
It wasn’t a surprise she was a suspect. She had been cagy since Kace started watching the place, but taking into consideration her situation, it wasn’t all that shocking he thought otherwise.
“It’s not her,” he said.
Finn smiled. “Jessica convince you she’s not in on this?”
Kace frowned and stepped around the trash bin. “No. More like her boyfriend did.”
Silence filled the alley as Finn’s mood shifted to something far more deadly. “What do you mean?”
His voice cut through the air despite how quiet it was actually spoken. Kace could see why so many feared him.
“She came in with bruises, and apparently, this wasn’t the first time,” he said. “Jessica has been monitoring the situation, and they talked tonight.”
Finn’s fists clenched at his side. “And why didn’t she come to tell me this?”
Kace glanced from Finn’s fists to his hard face. “Maybe she didn’t think you’d have the best reaction.”
Finn threw his arms up. “And what reaction should I have when I hear that a little woman like that is being beaten?”
“A legal one,” Kace said flatly.
Finn laughed bitterly and stepped onto the sidewalk outside the alley. The light from the club lit his face. “You know the problem with your solution? They take a guy like that in, and if she’s lucky, he gets six months in. That gets reduced the two for good behavior.” Finn sneered. “Then he’s right back out to do it all again. My way, a piece of shit like him gets the beating he deserves, and he doesn’t ever fucking touch her again.” Finn stepped forward. “Tell me again that my way is wrong.”
Kace took a step forward himself. “It’s not legal your way. We have laws for a reason.”
Finn leaned forward. With a twisted smile on his face, he whispered, “But tell me my way is wrong. That they don’t fucking deserve it. That my way doesn’t make the world just a little safer at night.”
Kace breathed in heavy through his nose. His anger was kept just barely in check. As much as he wanted to say it wasn’t true, he knew it was. For all the times he pointed to the law as this great thing to uphold, he knew that some people slipped through and got away with murder. Finn was a prime example of that. But then, so was the boyfriend.
“You know the problem with you?” Finn stepped back and turned to the cars. “You think we’re worlds apart, but seem to forget I’ve met your family. We do what we have to for those who mean something when the time comes.” He turned to stare him in the eyes. “No matter the cost.”
Kace (Allen Securities) Page 6