STONE (Daring the Kane Brothers)

by Kelly Gendron

  I hate that I miss him. Most of all, I hate that he made me like him, and then he went to a different country!

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Okay, but please, honey, call Steele. You know he worries about you.”

  “I know, Ma.” I lift a finger to Trigger as I try to finish the call with Ma. She’s the only incoming call I can’t swipe red on. I’m gonna kick Steele’s ass. He always gets her involved when he can’t reach me.

  “Oh, and don’t forget, everyone will be here in November.”

  “Ma, I’ll be there.” I wave Trigger on. It’s going to be a longer call than expected. He gives a thumbs-up before leaving me behind in the hotel room. I sit down at the table in the massive room. “I wouldn’t miss your birthday for the world.”

  “I know, Stone.” Her voice softens. “And happy birthday to you, Stone.”

  “Thanks, Ma.” I smile. Steele called a few times. He eventually gave up and sent me a text wishing me happy birthday. “How’s Dad?”

  “He’s good.” I hear her sigh into the phone. She knows how I am about my birthday. It’s no big deal. “He’s been tinkering in his office.”

  “Cool. I was kind of worried he’d have a problem adjusting, but he seems to be doing okay since retiring.”

  “Yes. Now, I need to get me some more grandbabies, or I’m going to have to find something to keep me busy.” She laughs.

  “They’ll come soon enough. All your kids are in a relationship. It’ll happen soon, Ma.”

  “Oh, Stone! You met a girl!” The excitement in her voice breaks my heart. I’d love to tell her about Jaggs, I’m dying to tell someone, but I’m not even sure it’s going anywhere.

  “No. I wasn’t counting myself in the equation.” I chuckle to lighten up the conversation. “So how is everyone else?” Specifically, Jaggs? Now, I know I can’t come out and ask. Ma likes her, and she’s brought Jaggs up in these kinds of conversations in the past. That’s how I’ve kept my tabs on her over the last year.

  “Oh, let’s see, Token and Harley are good. Harley’s been working a lot. Nix is good, and Becca seems to really like having Payton around. She’s good for them. Steele, he went off to Texas with Jay for a job. He promises to be back by November as well. You really need to talk to him. I think he might have some news about him and Jay, and I know he wants to talk to you about it first. He hasn’t said anything to me, but something’s going on. Call it a mother’s intuition.”

  “I’ll call him, I promise. And Crash?”

  “Oh, I’m worried about him with Jaggs being gone—”

  “Gone?” The word gets stuck in my throat. “What do you mean, gone?”

  “Oh, dear, I guess that came out wrong. She’s been off sick for the past few days. Maggie has been a little under the weather too, but thankfully, Cody’s okay. We’re in the start of the flu season, ya know.”

  “Yeah,” I say, my paranoia crawling to the back seat. I thought she was gone, like she left gone. Honestly, if she were to leave Cali, left my family, I wouldn’t know until a conversation like this happened. Shit! What if she decides to leave? What if I never see her again? The last time I saw her, she made it pretty clear she didn’t want anything to do with me. I hoped with some time that maybe she’d forgive me.

  “Your sister, Lulu, is doing good too,” Ma says with a hint of disappointment in her tone.

  “I was going to ask you about her.” I smile into the phone, knowing I’d get a snap of Ma’s dishtowel if I were standing in front of her right now.

  “You need to call home more.”

  “I know, Ma.”

  “Are you going to stay with Dad and me when you’re in town?”

  “No.” I hadn’t really thought about it. What self-respecting, thirty-something addict stays with their parents?

  “You know, you’re always welcome here, right?”

  “Yeah, Ma. Listen, I gotta go. I’m meeting the guys for dinner.”

  “Okay, honey. But be sure to call Steele, okay?”

  “Yup.”

  “I love you, Stone.”

  “You too.” I click off the cell. Yeah, I haven’t been able to say the actual words I love you since Iraq. It’s hard to salute love when you’ve seen so much death and destruction. It’s not that I don’t love Ma. I do. It’s hard for me to express it. I wasn’t always like this. I wasn’t always afraid of love.

  When I was younger, I used to sneak into my parents’ bed after Dad went off to work in the morning. I’d rest my head on Ma as she’d run her fingers through my hair. I swear, it’s one of the best feelings in world. Sometimes, when the bombs were going off all around me, I’d close my eyes and imagine I was back in her room. She’d ask me what I had planned for the day and I’d tell her things like I was going to slide down a rainbow or sail a pirate ship. She always played along.

  I don’t really remember my birth mother, and honestly, I don’t want to. Steele remembers her, but he doesn’t talk about her. We talk about everything else, though. Well, we used to. He’s having a hard time with the post-Iraq me as well. He’s tried everything to get us back to where we were when we were younger. I’m just not ready.

  I walk into the tavern across the street from the hotel. They have great wings. The band’s sitting at a table cluttered with food and beers.

  “How’s Mom?” Trigger asks, handing me a glass of water.

  “Thanks, good.” I sit down on the stool, checking out the place, my eyes landing on the tall redhead I recognize from last night. She was with a group of women waiting for us in the back of the venue. She worked really hard to get me to take her home for the night. It was difficult to walk away from her perfect tits and red lips. I couldn’t get Jaggs out of my head long enough to take care of my other head. The redhead waves at me from across the room. These chicks, they never give up.

  I grab a wing, watching as she rises her five feet and, at least, nine inches and walks toward us.

  “Shit!” Getty looks at me.

  “Damn, she’s gorgeous,” Derrick says with a whistle, shaking his head.

  “Yeah and she’s got you in her sights.” Trigger turns to me.

  “No thanks.” I toss the cleaned chicken wing bone into the bucket.

  “You still stuck on that chick? Jaggs?” Derrick says, not taking his eyes off the groupie nearly to us. “If you don’t want her, well, then, hello!” He stands in front of me, greeting the unwanted chick.

  Large blue eyes peek around Derrick’s head and find me. “Hi!”

  I give her a quick wave before reaching for another wing. “These are good.” I hold one up to Getty.

  “I’ll order more.” He laughs.

  After a few words passed between her and Derrick, the redhead moves toward me. She smells sweet and girlie. She snuggles her soft body against mine. She smiles. “Hi.”

  “Hello, again.” I grin.

  My cock hardens, and fuck, I know what’s going to happen next.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  I crawl out of the cab and gaze up at the huge building. How did I get here? I mean, I know how. But what am I doing? This is crazy! If you asked me a year ago where I thought I’d be right now, this isn’t it.

  If Jenny and I hadn’t planned that trip to the Caribbean, not that we made it there, I wouldn’t have a passport to get here.

  So thanks, Jenny. I glance up at the bright and sunny sky, and it’s as if she’s smiling down on me, saying you’re welcome.

  I lug my bag over my shoulder and hand the cab driver his money. “Thanks.”

  The text was unexpected when I received it Tuesday night. Come see me this weekend. I bought you a ticket. You leave on Friday, after work, and return late Sunday night. You have no excuses. Click the link for your tickets and get your sweet little ass here - Stone.

  My body went through a sort of different things when I saw the text. My heart sped up. No surpri
se there. I haven’t stopped thinking about the hot wannabe rock star since I left Fresno. Then my hands clenched into tight balls because after being around the Kane family, oh, about a month back, I promised myself I wasn’t going to screw this up. I want to be a part of this family more than any of the others, and I’ve had a lot of families. So Stone Kane remains off-limits. If we were to become a thing, in any form, it could ruin my future with the other Kanes. Lastly, like a powerful and unstoppable tidal wave, my hormones came crashing over my heart and my clenched hands. It washed out everything going on inside and out of my body. There’s no denying my hormones what they want. I’ve deprived them for far too long, and after getting a few days of Stone back in Fresno, they won’t calm down for anything. Well anything but him. And that’s why I rescheduled the flight and came a few hours earlier. My goal is to see him, fuck him, and set him straight about us, that we cannot be a thing, all in that order.

  After checking his text for his room number in the five-star luxury hotel, I get on the elevator, and it takes me all the way to the top floor. I lift my arm and give myself a sniff. Well, considering it was over a ten-hour flight, I’ll have to change my order and take a shower before I have sex with him. I glance at my watch.

  It’s two a.m. my time. So that makes it nine a.m. here.

  I get off the elevator, hoping he’s awake. There’s only one door, and when I get to it, I notice it’s opened a little. I peek my head inside. Shit! The place is huge and beautiful! There’s a kitchen and living area all in one space. Looks like a penthouse suite.

  “Hello?” I push the door open and let myself in. “Hello,” I say louder.

  Getty’s beanie hat pops up from behind a sofa. He’s got a pair of headphones on.

  “Oh!” He clicks off the game he was playing on a sixty and some inches flat screen. “Jaggs.” His voice cracks as he stands up, pulls off the headphones and tugs on his wrinkled tee shirt. He glances at the hallway. “I thought you weren’t coming until later this afternoon?”

  “Yeah.” I take another gander at the place. It’s a far cry from the Airbnb back in Fresno. “I took an earlier flight.” My eyes shoot back to an anxious Getty. “Stone here?”

  “Oh. Yeah. He’s in bed. I’ll get him.” He heads toward the hall, and I follow behind just as a tall, beautiful redhead turns the corner.

  Hips swaying like a runway model and wearing a halter top that’s having a hard time keeping everything in, her large blue eyes size me up, and my five-four isn’t much compared to her. Shit, her legs are nearly as tall as me. “Hi.” She smiles and then winks at Getty. “He doesn’t want to be bothered by anyone.” She shrugs her naked shoulders at me with a false pout before heading out the door.

  And just like that, it hits me! “What the hell!” I spin around and follow the gorgeous amazon woman out the door.

  “No! Jaggs, wait!” I hear Getty calling after me. “Wait!”

  “Tell him to fuck off!” I pull my bag up over my shoulder and go to slam the door shut. My hand jerks back.

  “Oh-ho!” In nothing but a pair of boxers, Stone walks out the door. “No, you don’t.” He pushes me up against the wall, pinning me there with his dark amber eyes. He looks at me for a second, and that’s all it takes for me to turn into a pile of pureed anger and lust right there at his feet. I hate that I want him right now. Hate it! “Candy,” he says in a loud stern voice, keeping his eyes fixated on mine.

  “It’s Sandy,” I hear the redhead pout.

  “Come here.” Stone doesn’t break from the staring contest we’ve got going on.

  “Why?” She stomps over to us like a twelve-year-old just told to go clean her room.

  “Sandy, could you please tell this beautiful woman who came very far to see me who you were with last night.”

  “Well.” Sandy’s hip shifts. “I wanted to be with you.” She smiles up at Stone as if he’s her next shiny pair of shoes. Her false façade drops as she turns to me. “But I had to take the lead singer instead.”

  “Derrick,” Stone says still not breaking from our locked eyes.

  “Right.” Sandy shrugs. “So you must be ‘the one’?” She inspects me a little closer like I’m an onion in a bushel of apples, totally out of place.

  She’s right, why would Stone want me? Wait. Did she say “the one” like I’m Stone’s one? She must be mistaken.

  “Thanks Candy, you can go now.” Stone smiles down at me.

  “Whatever!” She waves her hot-pink fingernails in the air, and within a few seconds, she disappears into the elevator as if it recognizes stuck-up bitches and eats them up whole.

  “Now.” Stone’s right eyebrow rises. “Did you really think I’d invite you here for the weekend and take some random chick to my bed the night before?” He pauses and waits, head tilting to the left. “What time is it, anyway?”

  “Nine.” I finally speak, somewhat embarrassed, but not completely. It looked like what it looked like. “I took an earlier flight. I had Friday off, and I don’t know what you would do with random chicks, so yeah, maybe.” I smirk.

  “I wouldn’t, Jaggs.” I think his jaw clenched. It’s hard to tell under that beard. “Since you left me in Fresno, I haven’t been able to think about anything or anyone else.”

  I try to shy away. My eyes go to his bare chest, then to his boxers, the only thing covering his almost naked body, and that kick-starts my damn hormones all over again. “I need a shower,” I say, dedicating myself to the claim. I will not touch him until I have the airport grime off me.

  “Yes.” He leans down and presses his lips to my forehead. “Let’s take a shower.” He grabs my hand and pulls me back into the penthouse suite, kicking the door close behind us.

  I grimace at Getty as we pass by. Stone stops at the door long enough to take my bag and toss it inside. He smiles at me again, and well, honestly the adorable asshole had me at “shower.” I keep my resting smirk face intact, but those damn hormones let him take me into the huge bathroom equipped with a double-headed shower stall.

  He closes the door, turns to me, and everything goes into slow motion as he moves his hot, ramped body toward me. Two months is way too long for my body to be starved of the man.

  “Fuck.” He sifts his hand up the back of my hair and drags me to him. He plants a wet, intense, and toe-curling kiss on my ready and willing lips. “Fuck,” he growls, taking a few quick breaks. “I’ve missed you, babe,” he says like I’m truly his one and only babe. He grabs my shirt and pulls it up and over my head. “Fuck, your tits…” Tugging my bra to the side, he bends down and takes my hard nipple into his inescapable mouth.

  Shit! Here we go!

  My hands reach for him, drawing his head closer and begging for him to suck me harder. His mouth takes another break, and with my swollen reddened bud lingering so close to his lips, he looks up at me. Everything inside melts. “Did you miss me?”

  “Yeah.” I squeeze my thighs together. “We need to talk about that…Shit!” I bite my bottom lip as I watch his mouth slide over my aching nipple. “That’s not fair.”

  “Oh, babe. You should know by now that I don’t play that way.” His hands slide from the back of my hair down to the middle of my back. He easily robs me of my bra before his dexterous fingers slip along the edge of my yoga pants and my dripping with wetness underwear.

  “Up until a couple of months ago, I didn’t even think you knew how to play,” I tease, watching his mouth, waiting for it to proficiently devour any part of my body. Oh, what the man can do with his tongue between my legs, along the curve of my hips, and don’t get me started on my ass. The last time we were together, he spoiled my body. Gave it so much more than I ever thought it deserved, and when I thought it’d gotten it all, he surprised my body by giving it something new. I’ve never had a lover like Stone Kane. So unselfish and intuitive. It’s as if he knows what I want, what I need, and what I desire, depraved or not, without e
ven asking.

  “Really?” He pulls my pants down. “Allow me to prove you otherwise.” He steps out of his own boxers. “And then we can talk about whatever you want…”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  You know, I hear dudes sing about it, see it in the movies, and my parents represent it, but I never thought I’d ever experience it. Yet here I am, falling for her. Fuck, she’s perfect. She’s like Luna; the second I laid my hands on her and strung her strings, I knew she was the one. I never do a show without her close by.

  Jaggs and I took a stroll pass Buckingham Palace, had some scones at The English Rose Café and Tea Shop, and checked out Big Ben. She laughed and smiled from morning right through to late afternoon. When we get back to the hotel, I notice the crowd by the door, and I pull my baseball hat down.

  “Look over there!” One of the girls in the crowd of at least twenty points at us.

  Shit!

  “It’s Stone!” The crowd yells out my name.

  Jaggs looks at them and then me. “It’s like they were waiting for you.”

  “Yeah,” I say, not about to tell her it’s been like this for the past two months. The UK is crazy for SAM. I hold the door open, ushering her inside the hotel as the crowd moves toward us.

  “I’ll take care of them, Mr. Kane.” The huge bodyguard-looking doorman nods as we enter the hotel.

  “Thanks.” I nod back and turn to Jaggs with an embarrassed smile.

  “I had fun today. Thanks.” Her cheeks flush red as she takes another look behind us at the wild crowd.

  “It’s the least I could do after I kept you up all day.” Hands shoved in my front pockets, I head toward the elevator. “You must be jet-lagged.” We step inside the empty cart. I press the sixteenth floor, and the doors close. “We can take a nap if you’re tired?”

  “Yeah, right. I’m convinced the bed in your room is not made for sleeping.” She laughs.

  “Seriously.” I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to me. “You must be exhausted.”