by Lora Leigh
Lora Leigh
Chapter Fourteen
“Somehow, Vince managed to hire an ex-employee of the security firm to hack into their computers for the code to Marey’s house,” Daniel reported the next morning after the sheriff and his deputies had arrested Vince, taken their statements and then left them in peace.
Marey was sitting tiredly on the couch, bleary-eyed, certain she had never been so exhausted in her life as she listened to what Daniel had come to the house the night before to tell them.
Neither she nor Vince had heard the car pull up at the front of the house, but Sax had. Just as he had heard Vince through the opened bedroom window seconds before.
Moving carefully, he had let Daniel in, then together they had contained Vince. A few broken bones were the least of her ex-husband’s problems now.
“What will they do with the hacker?” Marey asked, fearing the moment when Daniel would leave and she would have to face Sax alone. She was suddenly terrified.
Not of him, but of herself.
When he had jumped across the hot tub, the rage that had filled him had been palpable. He would have killed Vince if Daniel hadn’t stopped him.
Son of a bitch, I’ll fucking kill you for touching her. Vince’s eyes had been bugging from his head, his face turning purple. Do you understand me? My fucking woman, you low-life motherfucker!
His woman. Conviction, determination, commitment had filled every hoarse word, every finger that tightened on Vince’s throat before Daniel managed to pull him away.
“They’ll arrest him.” Daniel watched her closely, but not near as close as Sax was watching her.
112
Embraced
She nodded, lowering her head again as she stared at the floor, her arms wrapped around her chest.
“I’m going to head out of here, Sax,” Daniel announced then. “I still have to stop at the sheriff’s office and take care of some more paperwork. I’ll call you later.”
“Thanks again, Daniel.” Sax moved across her line of vision, his powerful legs moving slowly across the floor.
“I can see myself out,” Daniel said. “Take care of your woman. The night has been hard on her.”
Marey shuddered.
Seconds later, the front door closed, leaving her alone with Sax.
Silence filled the house.
Emotions rose within her with a force that had her shaking in their grip.
“Marey.” Sax knelt before her, his broad hand lifting her chin as he stared back at her somberly.
Oh God. He shouldn’t look at her like that, she thought. His expression so tender, loving. She had fought so hard not to believe in happily-every-afters, in warmth and love. How was she supposed to protect her heart?
But she knew, had known for days that such protection was a long time past.
She felt a tear slip down her cheek.
“Everyone I really love leaves me,” she said. “I didn’t love Vince, and I knew it. I barely cared, but I was so damned tired of being alone.” Her breath hitched in her throat as he continued to watch her, his dark face intent, his expression filled with love.
“When I met you,” she continued. “I couldn’t believe. If I believed, I would have had to face how I’ve hidden for so long. The coward I’ve been.” She pulled away from him as a sob shook her.
“Marey, don’t do this to yourself,” he whispered. “We can talk about this later.
After you’ve rested.”
113
Lora Leigh
“I won’t have the courage then,” she cried painfully, moving away from him as she rose to her feet, tightening her arms around her chest as she turned her back on him.
“You don’t understand. You were right. All along. Vince was a crutch. An excuse to keep you away.” She turned back to him, staring back at him, refusing to hide any longer. “I had to keep you away, Sax.”
“Why?” He pushed his hands into the pockets of his slacks as he stared back at her, his brown eyes wary.
“Because you could hurt me,” she whispered. “And I knew it. You could rip the heart from my chest, and you terrified me because of it. Because Sax, in a matter of months, as you tried to make me laugh, to talk me into your bed and your life, I fell in love with you. And I didn’t know what to do with that love. Or how to handle it if you ever walked away from me… Or if you were taken from me…” She thought of her father, his patient resolve, his gentleness and the hole his and her mother’s deaths left in her life. She had spent her own life caring for them, putting it on hold, forgetting her dreams, her needs in the face of theirs.
“I can’t promise I won’t die, Marey,” he whispered, and in the rough tone, what she heard, she heard with her heart, not her ears. Hopes, dreams… “All I can promise you is that while I live, as long as I draw breath, I’ll love you. And I’ll pleasure you with everything I have.”
His arms wrapped around her then, his hands smoothing up her back as she clutched at him, tears flowing freely from her eyes, sobs tearing at her chest.
“I love you,” she cried out, her hands clutching at his shoulders as he lifted her, moving until he was sprawled into the chair Daniel had vacated, drawing her over him, her thighs clasping his while his hands tore at her robe.
“Feel me, Marey,” he groaned, throwing the robe to the floor before he shifted, his hands tearing at his pants as hers ripped at the buttons that held his shirt together.
Naked. She needed him as naked as she was, bodies, hearts and souls bare to one another. Embracing each other.
114
Embraced
When he surged into her, her head fell to his shoulder, her arms wrapping around his neck as his circled her back. He moved into her powerfully, thrusting hard and deep as she undulated against him, driving him deeper, gasping, crying out as he whispered his love, his lips moving over her shoulder, her neck, his tongue stroking trails of moist flames as his arms tightened around her, holding her still as he began to drive inside her harder.
Waves of pleasure suffused her, overtook her. Perspiration built along her body as she fought to breathe, to reach the peak of rapture that she knew she could find only in Sax’s arms.
The closer she came, the more she could feel opening inside her soul. She cried into his shoulder, gasping her love, her need, her regret that she had waited so long to accept what she had known was in his heart.
“Hold me, Marey,” he growled at her ear. “Just hold me, baby.” He was moving stronger now, his cock pushing to the very depths of her, burying to the hilt over and over again, impaling sensitive nerve-ridden tissue as his love had impaled her soul.
She was held, just as she held. Her pussy clenched around his erection, tightening as the bands of pleasure began to explode. Her arms held him to her, his held her as well.
Her strangled cries echoed around them as her orgasm finally erupted. Unlike any other, it swept her reality, sizzled through her body, and left her shuddering in his arms as his hoarse shout filled her ears and she felt his release explode inside her.
Embracing. Embraced. And for the first time in her life, free.
115
About the author:
Lora Leigh is a wife and mother living in Kentucky. She dreams in bright, vivid images of the characters intent on taking over her writing life, and fights a constant battle to put them on the hard drive of her computer before they can disappear as fast as they appeared.
Lora’s family, and her writing life co-exist, if not in harmony, in relative peace with each other. An understanding husband is the key to late nights with difficult scenes and stubborn characters. His insights into human nature and the workings of the male psyche provide her hours of laughter, and innumerable romantic ideas that she works tirelessly to put into effect.
Lora welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at 1337 Commerce Drive, #13, Stow, Ohio 44224.
Also b
y Lora Leigh:
B.O.B.’s Fall (with Veronica Chadwick)
Bound Hearts 1: Surrender
Bound Hearts 2: Submission
Bound Hearts 3: Seduction
Bound Hearts 4: Wicked Intent
Bound Hearts 5: Sacrifice
Cowboy and the Captive
Coyote Breeds 1: Soul Deep
Dragon Prime
Elemental Desires anthology
Feline Breeds 1: Tempting The Beast
Feline Breeds 2: The Man Within
Feline Breeds 3: Kiss of Heat
Law And Disorder 1: Moving Violations (with Veronica Chadwick) Legacies 1: Shattered Legacy
Legacies 2: Shadowed Legacy
Legacies 3: Savage Legacy
Manaconda anthology
Men Of August 1: Marly’s Choice
Men Of August 2: Sarah’s Seduction
Men Of August 3: Heather’s Gift
Men Of August 4: August Heat (12 Quickies of Christmas) Ménage a Magick
Wolf Breeds 1: Wolfe’s Hope
Wolf Breeds 2: Jacob’s Faith
Wolf Breeds 3: Aiden’s Charity
Wolf Breeds: Elizabeth’s Wolf
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC
on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
www.ellorascave.com
SHAMELESS
An Ellora’s Cave Publication, March 2005
Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.
1337 Commerce Drive, #13
Stow, OH 44224
ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0149-4
Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned): Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML
SHAMELESS Copyright © 2005 LORA LEIGH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
Edited by Sue-Ellen Gower.
Cover art by Syneca.
Warning:
The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. Shameless has been rated E–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (Erotic), and X (X-treme).
S- ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.
E- rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as
“fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.
X- treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.
BOUND HEARTS:
SHAMELESS
Lora Leigh
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Velcro: Velcro Industries B.V.
Shameless
Prologue
Courtney lay silently, a frown on her face as she stared at the dimly lit ceiling above the bed. Cool air wafted across her body, drying the fine sheen of perspiration that had built there over the past hour. Her hand strummed idly against her stomach, her index finger flicking against the emerald belly ring that pierced the flesh above her navel.
The feel of her nails rasping over her flesh was a pleasant sensation. In many ways, more pleasant than the experienced caresses of the man who lay beside her. Not that he hadn’t tried, not that she hadn’t tried, but satisfaction lingered just out of reach, an ethereal promise that she knew would remain unfulfilled for a while yet.
Doubts assailed her in that moment, as well as a lingering regret. She hadn’t imagined this as her first sexual experience. She had envisioned an event much more earth-shattering, one that would fulfill not just her sexual desires, but those that filled her heart as well. Unfortunately, there were sacrifices to be made for the dream she had carried in her heart for so long. Her virginity was one of those sacrifices.
She breathed in carefully, deeply, restraining the weakening emotion that assailed her at the thought of what could come. She wasn’t leaving her country or her home without knowing exactly what she was doing. She had studied her objective, learned every facet of his character possible and planned each move out carefully. She couldn’t fail. Too much was at stake to fail. Her future, her very heart and the dreams she had carried since childhood now lay on the line.
“Well. I can honestly say you are my one failure, darling.” Sebastian DeLorents leaned casually on his side as he interrupted her musings, his voice filled with amusement.
She turned her head, a smile quirking her lips as she stared back at perhaps her dearest friend on this Earth. Bastian had led her through many of her most important adventures and helped her ensure that her father never suspected that his little princess was perhaps a tad bit more reckless than he would have wished. Dane Mattlaw believed his perfect, innocent daughter was unwary of the world, unknowing of the darker side of life that could be found outside the walls of the estate he had raised her in. He had no idea of the free spirit, the reckless, outrageous woman his daughter had become.
She wasn’t trying to be cruel in keeping him in the dark. She just knew how he worried, how he fought to always protect her from any harm that could come her way.
He wasn’t overbearing, merely overprotective in a very fatherly way. And she understood the reasons why, had lived those reasons for three long, nightmarish years at her grandparents’ home in Spain when she was a child.
But she wasn’t a child any longer.
5
Lora Leigh
“Don’t take it personally.” She turned to him, heedless of her nudity, staring back at his darkly handsome face, the well-muscled, powerful body, the wicked glint in his black eyes. “I told you, I was saving myself for another, Bastian. I had only to get rid of that pesky shield of virginity to set my plans in motion.” He grimaced, though she knew he accepted it good-naturedly. She hadn’t deceived him. She had been aboveboard, honest. She couldn’t lie to Bastian, the very thought was abhorrent. Besides, he had wicked ways of getting even with those who crossed him.
She wasn’t frightened of him, but she had a healthy respect for the code of honor to which he adhered.
She reached out, trailing her fingers along his cheek as his arms came around her, pulling her close against his body. There was no sexual tension, no arousal. The friendship they had formed throughout her life was a comforting, supportive relationship that had given her the courage to go after her greatest dream. He had given her a memory to treasure, if not one of satisfaction, this night. He had tenderly, lovingly taken that last barrier to womanhood and given her the freedom to chase after her final dream.
“I will miss you, la luz más, querida.” My little light. He had called her that for years.
He kissed the top of her head as he sighed heavily. “You keep the world brighter.” A soft laugh escaped her at that. “You mean I give you a reasonable shield between you and the calculating mommas and baby girls snapping at your heels. Come on, Bastian, you need to settle down someday.”
She followed as he rolled to his back, groani
ng lightly as she propped herself against his chest, staring down at him as laughter welled within her.
Her Bastian was one of the finest-looking men Spain and England had ever beheld.
He was a product of a Spanish aristocrat and an American mother, the pure blue blood of his ancestors diluted by the hated American sludge. At least, this was his grandfather’s point of view.
For Courtney, it was the opposite. Her mother was the youngest daughter of one of Spain’s oldest bloodlines. Her father, though, was pure blond American mutt, as he referred to himself. An Army man, tall, strong, dominant enough to stand up to the combined disapproval of Marguerita Catherine Santiago Rodriquez’s maternal and paternal families.
Thankfully, Courtney had not been required to spend a vast amount of time around her Spanish relatives. Marguerita had been unfortunate enough that during her relationship with Dane, her family had learned of her lifestyle, and had nearly destroyed her with their efforts to “save” her. Escaping them and the life they would have confined her to had not been easy.
Courtney had been seven when her mother had taken her to visit her relatives, and the three years they had been confined there had been hell. Thankfully, her father had finally seen through the lies her mother’s family had told him of their deaths and had rescued them both. It was a time her parents never forgot. Her mother had once told her 6
Shameless
that it served to remind them both of how fragile life can be, and that they should never take a single day for granted. It was a lesson Courtney had taken to heart.