July Flames

by Mari Carr

  He was amazed by the nerve of her. “You have two seconds to move your hand.”

  Rather than respond to the genuine threat in his tone, Candace smiled, though she did release him. “Oh, Aubrey. You’ve definitely bitten off more than you can chew with this one.” She looked back at him, staring at him as if he was a steak and she a starving wolf. “If you ever want a real woman in your bed,” she murmured softly.

  Aubrey had once described her mother as beautiful, the type of woman to draw a man’s eye, to make him want her. Fergus saw none of that. Everything about Candace was fake—from her hair color to her heavily made-up face to her so-called motherly concern. Once again, he thought of his mom and how much she cared about him. He hated that Aubrey had never felt that pure, unshakable, unending love.

  “You know, there was always some part of me that hoped, even after everything Aubrey said, that you’d somehow redeem yourself. That you’d realize how special, how wonderful your daughter is. But I can see now that’s never going to happen. You’re selfish to the core.”

  Candace narrowed her eyes briefly, just long enough to let him know he’d struck a chord. “You’re wrong. She’s the selfish one. She’d be nothing without me—and every now and then, she needs to be reminded of that fact. Don’t you, dear?”

  Fergus’s jaw clenched with anger.

  “No. I don’t.”

  He turned, surprised to see Aubrey walking toward them. She didn’t stop until she was standing directly next to him. “Why are you here?”

  “I thought…it’s high time we put this lawsuit nastiness behind us. You know you don’t want to sue me. I’m your mother.”

  Aubrey laughed, though there was no humor in the sound. “You know you’ve lost. You can’t win when our case goes to court. That’s why you offered the settlement with that condition. What did you think would happen? I’d see you with Fergus and fall apart?”

  “Your demands in that settlement are ridiculous. You wouldn’t be anything without me, Aubrey. It’s time you stop pretending you know what you’re doing, time to drop the suit. I was very good for your career and I can be again. You must see that.”

  “Are you insane?” Fergus started, but he stopped when Aubrey placed a hand on his arm.

  “I see things very clearly actually. I recognize all the ways you put me down throughout my life, always insisting it wasn’t my talent that got me where I was, that it was your skill as a manager. And you worked very hard to make sure that I never got close enough to anyone who might build up my self-esteem, who might open my eyes to your game.”

  “I brought you to L.A. I opened those doors for you,” Candace said, her anger palpable.

  “I was three years old, Mom,” Aubrey said bitter, drawing out Mom as if to prove it meant nothing to her. “And the only door you opened was the one to your bedroom.”

  Candace’s hand was up and flying through the air in a flash. Fergus was quicker. He caught her wrist before her slap connected with Aubrey’s face.

  Fergus had never been more furious in his life. “Don’t you ever raise a hand to her again. I promise you, you won’t like the results.”

  “That’s my boy,” Dad said.

  Fergus’s gaze shifted toward the entrance to the ballroom. His parents and Pop Pop were standing there. From the dark looks they were shooting in Candace’s direction, it was obvious they’d been there long enough to hear what was happening.

  “Good catch, son,” Daddy added.

  Fergus might have laughed if he weren’t still tense, still holding onto her mother’s arm.

  “Here’s how this is going to play out,” Fergus said to Candace. “You’re going to crawl back into your hole—but before you do that, you’re going to sign that settlement agreement and give your daughter back the money you stole from her. If her lawyer can’t make that happen, you can be damn sure the ones in my family will. And then, you’re never going to speak to her again.”

  Candace tugged her arm away from him, her eyes narrowed in anger. “You’re just the bodyguard, and while you may think you can control her, can steal her money, I can assure you that I won’t stand by idly and allow that to happen. You have no say in her life or—”

  “Actually, he does,” Aubrey said. “They all do.”

  His family had moved closer.

  Pop Pop placed a protective arm around Aubrey’s shoulders. “She has a new family now.”

  “Yeah, right,” Candace snorted. “You can act all high and mighty, but I’m not buying it. You see what’s she’s worth.” She looked at Aubrey. “You’re a fool if you fall for this. They’ll all have their hands out soon enough, ready to steal whatever they can get from you.”

  “No. The only one who does that is you.”

  Aubrey had told him once that everyone was out to take her money. He could see now where she’d gotten that idea from.

  “Aubrey,” her mother said. “Don’t you see? You aren’t like other women. You’re talented and rich, a star. You can’t trust anyone. If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that men are users, plain and simple. I know I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you when you were younger. I’m willing to make that contract right. I just…I want to be a part of your life again.”

  Aubrey frowned. “A part of my life?”

  “It’ll be just you and me. We can own the world.”

  Fergus recalled all the things Aubrey had told him about Candace. About Aubrey’s father kicking them out before she was born. About all the men she’d slept with to advance Aubrey’s career. About how her mother slept with all of Aubrey’s boyfriends. Listening to her now, it felt as if she genuinely believed everything she was saying, that she was determined to be the only person in Aubrey’s life.

  “You’ll never share the cash cow,” Aubrey murmured. “Will you?”

  Candace scowled. “What are you talking about?”

  Aubrey looked at Pop Pop, who still had his arm wrapped around her. She smiled at him. “I’ve found something here you’ll never understand.”

  “Aubrey—”

  Aubrey raised her hand. “There was only one condition tied to that settlement. That we see each other. Mission accomplished. I’m calling Ross to tell him I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain. Sign the agreement or prepare for court. Either way, this—this—relationship,” she said, though it was clear Aubrey didn’t want to use that strong a term, “is over.”

  “I’m always going to be your mother. The only one you’ll ever have,” Candace said, somewhat desperately.

  Fergus smiled when his mother moved into their circle, reaching for Aubrey’s hand. “Not the only one,” Mom said.

  Aubrey glanced appreciatively at his mother, tears filling her eyes. He read the words thank you on her lips, aware that Aubrey was too touched to speak.

  “I don’t…you can’t…” Candace was sputtering, trying to understand. It occurred to Fergus Aubrey’s mother had never seen this side of her, never fully comprehended how strong her daughter was.

  “Goodbye, Candace,” Aubrey said. Fergus had never heard a more final farewell in his life.

  And apparently neither had her mother. Candace stared at her daughter, her arrogance dimmed. She was speechless for several moments before walking away without saying anything else.

  “Are you alright, my dear?” Pop Pop asked.

  Aubrey nodded. “You know, I spent the entire day soaking up what it felt like to be a part of your family, of being a Collins. The whole time, I kept waiting for someone to pull the rug out from under me.”

  Fergus reached for her, but she shook her head.

  “No one is going to do that. I won’t let them.”

  Mom tugged on Aubrey’s hand and gave her a sweet, motherly kiss on the cheek. “I’m so proud of you, of the way you stood up to her. I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”

  “Actually, it was. Because you were all standing here with me.”

  Fergus smiled. He’d lived a lifetime with his family at his back. H
e’d never had to consider what it would be like not to have them there. Seeing what it meant to Aubrey made him fully appreciate something he’d always taken for granted.

  “I think we should leave these two alone to chat,” Pop Pop said to Fergus’s parents.

  The four of them returned to the ballroom, leaving Fergus alone with Aubrey.

  “So…that was your mother,” he joked after a quiet, awkward moment of silence.

  For the first time since she’d shown up in the hallway, Aubrey laughed, the color returning to her too-pale cheeks. “That was her. Quite a gem, right?”

  “Are you okay?” he asked, sobering up.

  Aubrey nodded. “I have to admit, when I first saw you standing here, talking to her…for a split second…”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Aubrey, I would never—”

  “Betray me,” she said, cutting him off. “I know that. Know it as well as I know my own name. I trust you, Fergus. Trust you with my life—the one you saved last night. But more than that, I trust you with my heart.”

  Fergus had held back his feelings for weeks, giving her time to get comfortable with him, with them. He couldn’t do it anymore. “I love you.”

  The tears that had gathered in her lashes finally fell and she sniffled and smiled. “I love you too. I’ll never doubt you again. Not even for a second. Although I’m not sure I can make the same promise about doubting myself. I’m kind of a train wreck, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  Fergus laughed. “I can deal with a train wreck. As long as you can handle the fact that I’m a control freak.”

  Aubrey stepped into his arms. “I have absolutely no problem with that,” she said suggestively, her hands reaching under his tux jacket so that she could run her fingers over his chest. Fergus cursed his shirt.

  “We’re wearing too many clothes,” he grumbled.

  “Society sort of frowns on public nudity.”

  “Then society is really going to have an issue with this.” Fergus took her in his arms and kissed her, long and hard and deep.

  When they parted, she placed her hand on his cheek, her fingers stroking his beard. “Take me home?”

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I like the sound of that. Home.”

  As Fergus walked her back to the ballroom, ready to grab her purse and shawl and offer their goodbyes, his feet never touched the ground.

  He was walking on air.

  Colm muttered something about the Collins curse claiming another sucker, prompting Kelli, a close friend of the family, to punch him in the arm.

  Everyone laughed, but Fergus was too distracted by Aubrey—her smile, her beauty, her genuine happiness.

  Nothing could touch him in this moment. He was so fucking grateful that she was here, safe, alive.

  His.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Aubrey had barely made it two steps into the hotel suite before Fergus picked her up and carried her to the bed.

  Rather than take her back to the pub, they’d decided they needed privacy. So, they were taking advantage of her suite.

  She laughed when he tossed her onto the mattress. Pulling her heels off, she tossed them across the room.

  Fergus watched her with hungry eyes. Very hungry eyes. He took a step toward the bed, and there was no misreading his intent.

  Rising to her knees, she narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Not so fast, bodyguard. Where’s my foreplay?”

  Fergus grinned briefly before adopting that stern, sexy, dominant look that made her panties wet. “Oh, it’s foreplay, you want, huh?”

  Aubrey knew right then and there, she’d screwed up. “Wait.”

  He shook his head. “No. No waiting.”

  “Fergus,” she started again.

  “From this point on, there’s only one word that will stop me. Do you want to say it?”

  She shook her head quickly, giggling. “Are you crazy? Hell no.”

  Aubrey thought perhaps he was fighting the desire to smile, but she couldn’t be sure. The man had an amazing poker face.

  “Turn around.”

  She did as he said, feeling his weight dip the mattress when he planted one knee behind her to unzip her dress. Fergus tugged it over her head, then made short work of her bra. He snapped the elastic on her thong—with surprising ease—and just like that, she was naked.

  Aubrey shivered when he ran the tip of one finger along her spine, starting at the nape of her neck and ending just above her ass, before journeying back up again.

  “Fergus,” she whispered.

  “Shhh. Foreplay.”

  He stroked her back over and over, each time adding something else to the mix—be it a soft kiss to the side of her neck, or the lightest of slaps on her bare ass.

  He spent a good fifteen minutes just touching, kissing and caressing her back.

  She started to turn twice, but both times, he held her in place, facing away from him, threatening—if he could call it that—to spank her if she moved.

  Aubrey had never had so much attention paid to just that one area of her body.

  Finally, mercifully, he told her to lie down on her back.

  If she’d thought that meant the end, she had another think coming.

  Fergus shifted lower on the bed, picking up one of her feet, massaging it as she moaned in sheer bliss. Then he repeated the same glorious kneading to her other foot. He was seducing her in slow, tantalizing, driving-her-out-of-her-mind degrees.

  Next his hands slid to her calves, rubbing firmly, as every drop of tension in her body just fell away.

  She giggled when he placed soft kisses on her knees. “Fergus,” she whispered.

  He lifted his head. “Foreplay,” he whispered back, giving her the wink of a scoundrel. He knew exactly what he was doing to her.

  Because every comforting touch was provoking two different sensations—complete relaxation layered with painful need. She started to squirm, trying to press her legs closed to still the empty clenching of her pussy.

  Fergus was wedged between and not giving way as he dragged the tips of his fingers up and down her thighs, inching closer to the place she needed him most without ever getting there.

  When the need grew too much, she reached for the spot herself. It was a move Fergus had been waiting for. From the smug smile on his face, she could tell he’d set her up.

  “Tsk tsk,” he said, shaking his head as if disappointed.

  He moved off the bed, his sudden departure catching her unaware. The bed was colder without him in it.

  When he rifled through her luggage, pulling out a scarf, she decided to poke the bear and perhaps buy herself three seconds of relief.

  She ran her fingers along her slit, rapidly rubbing her clit as her eyes closed. “God,” she murmured.

  That was all she managed before he was back on the bed, on his hands and knees above her, her wrists captured in his very strong grip.

  Fergus made short work of her bondage. It wasn’t like she was fighting him. She’d been in his cuffs just once and loved the feeling.

  Tonight, he was taking it a step further. He secured her wrists together with the scarf, then tied it to a slat at the center of the headboard.

  “One night, I’m going to tie you spread eagle—ankles and wrists—while I go down on you, make you come on my mouth, over and over. But tonight, I feel the need for variety. I’m going to want access to every part of you.”

  “Wow,” she mouthed. Fergus was the master of dirty talk. And she loved it. She felt the strong urge to put everything he just said to music.

  He returned to the spot between her legs, resuming his stroking of her thighs. For a moment, she thought perhaps they were finally getting to the good stuff.

  She should have known better.

  For the next thirty minutes, Fergus drove her slowly out of her mind, kissing her stomach, caressing her sides, licking long, wet lines from just above her pussy, through the valley of her breasts to her neck. Then he
spent a good fifteen minutes on her breasts, alternating between sucking and nipping at her tight nipples.

  By the time he stood up and started to take off his tux, Aubrey felt feverish, her body aching with unslaked needs. She took advantage of his departure from between her legs to squeeze them together, shimmying almost, as she sought her climax.

  Through all the foreplay, he’d failed to touch the part that needed him most. Aubrey suspected he could blow on her clit at this point and she’d go off like a bottle rocket.

  She licked her lips when his pants hit the ground. Damn. She wasn’t the only one hot and ready to go. Her gaze was glued to his cock.

  He growled, and her eyes flew to his face.

  “What—”

  Before she could ask what was wrong, he bent and untied the scarf from the headboard. Her hands were still bound together and he took advantage of that, using the scarf to pull her up and over to the edge of the mattress.

  He stroked her lips with his thumb, silently urging her to open up. She had a split second to smile before he gripped his cock and guided it to her mouth.

  Now that she had the use of her hands—even though they were bound—she was able to touch him, grasping the root of his cock as she took the head, and then more, between her lips.

  Fergus’s hands threaded through her hair, his fists closing, holding it, pulling it as he moved her mouth—forward and back—on his dick.

  “God, Aubrey. Yeah. Butterfly. So good…”

  Aubrey hummed with pleasure. As much as she wanted him inside her, hearing his groans and words of praise made her just as hot.

  She tightened her grip on the base of his cock, moving faster, taking him deeper, all at his urging as his hands drove the pace. When she felt certain he was there, close to coming, he pushed her away.

  “Ferg—”

  Once again, her words were cut short as he bent down to kiss her hard. With strong hands, he half-lifted, half-scooted her back to the middle of the bed. She lifted her arms, wrapping her bound hands around his neck as they continued to kiss.

  Fergus came over her, his body radiating heat. It rolled off him in waves and warmed not only her skin, but scorched a trail inside her that led straight to her pussy.