by Jani Kay
“Christ, Natasha means war.” I pulled Rebecca into a hug, pressing her to my chest while rubbing up and down her back. She was shaking so hard I could hear her teeth clatter.
I patted Brent on the back. “Thanks guys. You did a great job. I know I can trust you. We’re okay now.”
Understanding I wanted to be alone with Rebecca, they grinned at me and got into the SUV, driving it to the garage around the corner.
I held Rebecca at arm’s length and studied her beautiful but terrified face. “Baby, I'm sorry you had to go through that. Are you okay?”
Wide-eyed, she nodded without saying a word. I wasn’t used to a quiet Rebecca. She always had something to say. Frowning, I placed my arm around her waist and walked her into the mansion, taking care to walk slowly in case her legs were unsteady. She gave me a small smile, and let me lead her inside.
I closed the heavy doors and locked them with every available moving device—triple sliding locks on doors that weighed a ton and were intended to keep anyone out who didn’t belong there. The place was designed like a fortress, but with the luxury becoming of royalty.
“Max,” she sighed as I pulled her back into my arms. I kissed her before she could say another word. My body had been yearning for hers since I'd left her place last night.
She kissed me back with so much passion all the doubt I may have had about my choice evaporated. It was worth every bit of trouble just for that one damn kiss. My hand slid up and down her spine, comforting her as I took my time to taste her mouth.
“You’re safe here with me. We’ll figure out a plan together.” I smiled down into her eyes, never having felt more at peace in my heart than at this moment. There was a shitload of crap coming our way, but I felt as if I could take on the world with Rebecca by my side. Something about her brought out the protector in me: I'd fight to the death to keep her safe.
She had no fucking idea of what lengths I would go to for her.
Chapter 27 — Maxwell
“Lily. We have to get her to safety, too,” Rebecca croaked, her voice still hoarse and shaky.
“Of course we will. I'm working on that right now. There are a few special men at the hospital now, guarding her. She’ll be fine till we can move her here.”
“And Kurt?” The distress in her eyes sent a jealous rush through my veins. Why was she so concerned for him? Did he mean more to her than she was letting on?
My voice was gruff. “We’ll need him here. Along with nursing staff, to take care of Lily. So don’t worry your pretty head about the good doctor.”
“Thank you. It means a lot to me,” she whispered.
Fuck. Just how much did he mean to her? Was I inviting my opponent into my fortress?
I pulled away, anger seething below my calm exterior.
Rebecca is mine.
When would the other pricks in her life understand that?
I'd had James do a complete check on the German doctor. Seemed he was squeaky clean. Yet I never trusted anyone who didn’t have some sort of skeleton in their closet. It just wasn’t normal.
Everyone has something to hide.
The young doctor was definitely a catch for any woman—with his blond hair, blue eyes and strong fit body, years younger and in better shape than mine;; I could imagine women vying for his affection.
I'd have to hit the gym harder; keep my body in peak shape. I'd hire a kickboxing instructor to help me hit the bejezus out of a punch bag so I didn’t give in to the urge to smash the German’s face every time he smiled at Rebecca.
Grimacing, my mind flashed back to the previous night. Just as I’d pulled my dick from Rebecca, a knock at her door startled us.
Rebecca changed as if someone had flipped a switch. “You need to leave. Now.” She picked my clothes from the floor and shoved them into my hand, then showed me to the guest bathroom. She quickly pulled her jeans and T-shirt on, sans underwear, and padded her way to the front door.
I heard a deep voice from the bathroom, wondering if it could be a cop with news about Lily. But when I stepped back into the room where I'd just fucked Rebecca, I found her in another man’s arms, hugging him closely and soothing him.
What the fuck? I coughed, but that didn’t separate them. They kept clinging to one another. Rage bubbled through my veins and I fucking stood there, opening and closing my fists as I watched. I stepped closer.
“Rebecca.” My voice boomed through the silence.
The blond Adonis loosened his grip around her and she turned to me, face flushed and eyes wet with tears. I wanted to be the one holding her when she cried. Why was he doing it?
He had the audacity to grin sheepishly as he stepped back from Rebecca. She introduced him as her friend, the doctor. “Kurt has been my rock through all of this. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him.” Her rock. Fuck.
He held out his hand, his arm still around my woman. I shook his hand, squeezing the life out of his fingers while flashing him a fierce warning. We communicated silently—man to man.
Smart man. He got the message and let go of Rebecca.
“Kurt, I’ll see Maxwell to the door, then I’ll make us a cup of tea, okay? Be a darling and put the kettle on please?”
Yeah, I’d noticed the looks they exchanged. There was a connection between them I didn’t understand.
“Tea? I’d love to have a cup of tea with you and Kurt. Besides, I'm not tired in the least. New York is six hours behind Munich, so it's not even close to my bedtime yet.”
There was no fucking way I was leaving with the German at Rebecca’s place. I'd come to claim my woman. She was mine. And I fiercely guarded what belonged to me. As long as Kurt understood that, we wouldn’t have any problems. But if he stepped into my territory, there would be hell to pay.
*****
I showed Rebecca to our room, promising that James and Brent would go back to her place to collect her and Lily’s clothing and other personal items. I wasn’t letting her go back there. The paps would be swarming the fucking place for weeks.
“Why can't we go to the hospital to see Lily? The doctors have cleared us. I need to see her, please.” The look in her eyes nearly broke me. If I weren’t so worried about her safety, I would’ve crumbled and taken her there. I didn’t care what the media made of it for myself; my concern was with how it would affect Rebecca and her family.
“I’m sorry, baby. It's not safe for you to go there. It's better to bring Lily here. I promise every precaution will be taken to take good care of her.” I lifted her chin so I could look into her eyes. “Trust me?”
My guys had been digging for info on the attack. What they’d found so far wasn’t looking good. Some crazy fucker was running loose. I had to protect my woman and her sister until we got to the bottom of it.
“I do.” She slipped her arms around my waist and rested her cheek against my chest. In spite of everything that was happening around us, I felt at peace for the first time in a long, long time.
Chapter 28 — Alain
Desperation had led me to fly to Munich to talk to Rebecca face to face.
She’d ignored my calls, and at first I believed it was because she didn’t want to speak to me. Then I saw the news flash about the attack on her sister and understood that she was distraught and preoccupied with other matters. Still, how could I explain the change in circumstances to her if she wouldn’t take my calls or reply to my messages?
There was only one solution; I'd have to force her to listen to me, just as I'd had to do the day I tracked her down at the Louvre in Paris. But more than that, I wanted to be there for her and support her through her ordeal. I wanted us to go back to the way we were before I made my crazy decision.
A decision that’s no longer valid.
Since I’d stormed out of Valerie’s house a week ago, I’d contacted my lawyers to dissolve the prenuptials they were in the process of drawing up. Relief had washed over me that I was free from the duke and the pressures of duties he forced on
me while I believed I was his son.
I made my way out of the airport to the car that waited for me in front of the exit doors. The crowd thinned, most passengers making their way to the taxi ranks. The sooner I got to the car, the sooner I could be on my way to track Rebecca down. I couldn’t stand to draw this out any longer.
The sliding doors opened to a beautiful sunny day. I reached for my sunglasses in my jacket pocket, taking long determined strides toward the waiting car. My breath hitched as I drew closer, my gaze falling on the long, wavy, red locks of the woman standing beside the black SUV in front of my car.
Rebecca.
The driver was talking to her, so she had her back to me, but there was only one woman who had legs like those—from her dainty feet in death-defying heels all the way up to her luscious derrière in a tight navy skirt. Her beautiful hair glistened in the sunlight.
God, I missed her. I couldn’t wait for the chance to bury my face in her hair again, sucking in the sweet aroma surrounding her.
I quickened my pace as the driver opened the door of the SUV and held out his hand to help her in. Fate had brought us together again, and this time, I wasn’t letting go until I had a wedding ring on her damn finger.
Calling her name as I got closer to the SUV, fear struck my heart as she ignored me and climbed into the vehicle. Was it because she didn’t hear me, or was she purposely avoiding me? I couldn’t believe my luck that I'd found her this easily, although her reasons for being at the airport were unclear.
“Rebecca! Wait,” I called, catching my breath as I reached the vehicle just before the driver closed the door. He was a large burly man, and under his tight black T-shirt I could see the outlines of a weapon. He glared at me, his hand sliding to his hip and resting on the gun as he stepped between Rebecca and me. Christ, I didn’t have time to play with security personnel.
Wide green eyes ran up my torso, past my chest, to my face. Eyes just like I remembered; rimmed with long dark lashes. Her beautiful mouth formed an O as her gaze snapped to mine and she sucked in a breath as our eyes connected. An instant spark ignited in my soul, buzzing through my body as if I was on crack. I’d never had this happen to me before.
Staring, I drowned in the eyes that softened the moment her gaze met mine. Two souls searching for their other half collided with such undeniable force it knocked me sideways.
How is this possible?
Not a word had been spoken, yet everything was communicated in that one moment. She felt it just as surely as I had.
“It's okay, James, you can step aside,” she asserted.
Staggering backwards, as if a physical force had been emitted, I gaped at her. Both hands resting in her lap trembled lightly, but she never broke eye contact—as if she had been waiting for this moment and knew this was it.
The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile. She cocked her head sideways, amusement filling her eyes. “You have mistaken me for my sister. I’m Chloe. Are you a friend of Rebecca’s?”
Virtually identical in every way to Rebecca: poised, breathtaking, and beautiful. Auburn hair, green eyes, long legs, sexy body made for fucking. Yet there was something different about her. She oozed confidence. Trust radiated from her as if she’d never been hurt or cheated on.
“Yes...I—” Stammering and at a loss for words, I recalled Rebecca telling me she had two younger sisters. The woman laughed at my confusion, as if she was used to people mixing her up with Rebecca.
“Chloe?” I reached out a hand to her. “I’m Alain du B...Rebecca’s friend. We met on our way to Paris when she first came to Europe.”
She drew in a sharp breath. “You’re Alain? The French guy—” Her hand rested on her chest for a moment as she digested the information. “No wonder you looked so familiar, as if we’d met before.” She bit her bottom lip in the same way as Rebecca always did when she was deep in thought.
She placed her hand in mine. My fingers curled around hers, an electric current passing between us at the first contact. For a moment, it was as if we were the only two people on the planet, nothing else mattered but us.
The man who’d been watching all of this transpire without a word, cleared his throat. “Ms. Clarke, I’ve been given clear instructions to take you directly to the house. I’m afraid I need to follow those orders and ask the gentleman to leave.”
My senses returned. I let go of her hand and stepped away from the car, without breaking eye contact. “I’m on my way to see Rebecca. I’ll follow in my car.” Chloe would lead me straight to Rebecca. We could have our talk and iron out our problems.
She smiled and nodded, seemingly pleased that she would see me again. I closed her door and darted to the waiting car behind hers, giving the driver instructions to follow closely, and to ignore red lights if necessary to keep up. I had a feeling the burly guy was going to try to shake me off.
Chapter 29 — Maxwell
Brent called from the SUV. He’d picked up Rebecca’s sister from the airport and was bringing her back to the secure house. As far as I knew, nobody except family and my group of staff had any idea she was flying in from Australia today. So to say I was surprised when he called to tell me a man who apparently knew Rebecca was following him, would be an understatement. It was only when he described the guy and mentioned his thick French accent that it dawned on me it was the fucking Frenchman, Alain. I cursed into the phone.
What the fuck is he doing in Germany?
Rebecca lay on the couch, her head on my lap, watching television. I’d been running my hand through her thick, lustrous hair, massaging her scalp and base of her neck to help her relax while we waited for Chloe to arrive. My fingers stilled as I gritted my teeth. She could easily overhear the conversation, even though I wished she couldn’t. I wanted to get rid of the fucker, but it wasn’t really up to me.
“Alain? Are you serious?” Rebecca sat up, frowning as she scanned my face.
“Well, he’s following the SUV. Brent is waiting on instructions. If we want to lose him, just say the word.”
I watched several emotions flicker though her eyes. Some unsettled me, turning my insides out as I worried that she still had strong feelings for him. She chewed on her lip, dropping her gaze to the floor. Why didn’t she want me to see into her eyes? Was she still in love with the prick?
After a beat, she lifted her gaze to mine and shook her head. “No. Let him follow the SUV. I need to speak to Alain.”
I wanted to protest, tell her it wasn’t a good idea. I opened my mouth then shut it again. At least if he came here to talk to her, I was close by. There weren’t any guarantees I wouldn’t want to punch him in the face and throw him out, but I'd take my chances. Grimacing, I nodded and spoke to Brent, “It's okay. Let him follow you. Just make sure nobody else is tailing you though.”
“Yes, sir,” he replied, his surprise obvious in his tone. He cleared his throat. “ETA twenty-five minutes, sir.”
“Thank you, Brent.” I ended the call and rubbed at the pain invading my temples.
Rebecca voiced my questions aloud. “Where did Alain come from? More importantly, how did he find Chloe and know to follow her?”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out pretty soon. They aren’t too far away.”
She wrung her hands together, and a crease formed between her brows. “Oh, God, I really don’t need this right now. It's hard enough having to deal with Chloe—”
“Baby,” I breathed, pulling her into my lap. She wasn’t the only one feeling insecure. I needed to hold her and re-establish our connection before the playboy Frenchman tried to charm his way back into her life.
What if she wants him? Fuck.
My heart twisted, fear gripping my insides that Rebecca would want him back. I wasn’t giving her up, not after everything we’d been through. Yet she needed time with him. Even though she tried to hide it from me, I'd seen the massive number of missed calls on her phone.
“Max, this doesn’t change anything between us,” she sa
id softly as if she could read my mind. “It's over between Alain and me.”
“How can you be sure?” I asked, trying my level best to keep the concern and jealousy from my voice.
A small smile twisted at the corners of her lips. “I just know,” she said, placing her palms on either side of my face. There was something else she wanted to say, but I sensed her reticence.
She leaned forward and brushed her lips over mine, sending a tingle down my spine. Her gesture was so gentle, so loving, I almost forgot my nemesis was on his way here.
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against hers. “Rebecca, I can't lose you now. I need you to understand that.”
“I know, baby,” she whispered. It was the first time she’d called me baby. At least I had a straw to cling to while I watched the Frenchman make his moves on her. Every inch of my self-control would be tested.
Tipping her chin up, I leaned in for a kiss. I covered her mouth with mine in a sweet lingering kiss, wanting her to know how much I wanted her. She pushed her chest against mine, grinding her hips into me. Was she trying to appease me? She definitely knew how to get my cock hard in no time. My hand slid to her thigh and disappeared beneath her skirt, my palm feeling its way up her silky smooth skin until it reached my favorite place. My fingertips brushed over her lacy panties, then pushed them aside and slipped into her warmth.
She groaned into my mouth, biting my bottom lip as she spread her legs wider.
“Fuck, baby. You’re so fucking wet.”
Was she thinking about him? His dick sinking into her? His fingers fucking her? Even though her body was here with me, I had no way of knowing what was going on in her mind.
“Hmmm,” she hummed, sucking on my lip.
Two fingers found their way into her slickness. “Oh, God, Max,” she cried out. I loved having her at my mercy, making her come. Lifting her top, I pushed down the cup of her bra, and sucked a hard nipple into my mouth. “Jesus, Max, you make me want you so much,” she moaned, grabbing at my aching cock that pushed against the fabric of my jeans.