Decadent (34 page)

Kimber broke away. “If you loved it so much, why did you fight it so hard?” 314

How did women do that? In two-point-two seconds, cut right past the postcoital talk and sweet words and get knee-deep in shit?

“Kitten, not now.”

“Yes, now. Despite my limited experience, I understand that twelve hours in the sack doesn’t entitle me to make demands, but there’s something going on with you.

I—I want to know what.”

“It’s in the past. It’s not important—”

She pushed off his lap. “If you had to be bullied into sleeping with me, then it’s obviously important and not in the past.”

Hell, hadn’t he just had this conversation, more or less, with Luc?

Shayla Black Decadent

“Because I’m an idiot with noble ideas who didn’t want to just snatch your virginity without you being really sure. Can we just enjoy being with each other now, rather than getting into all this?”

Deke reached for her again. She backed away.

“No. Whatever it is you’re not telling me is the reason you didn’t want to have sex with me. It’s the reason you fucked Jack Cole’s pretty wife.” Blood rushed up his cheeks. “Actually, that was at Jack’s request. I didn’t—”

“But Jack thought of you because you only do
ménages
. And this mystery reason is the cause. It’s standing between us, and I don’t know what it is.” Damn, she was right. So right. When had she pieced all that together? She might be younger and less experienced, but she excelled at people.

315

“One day at a time, huh?” He sighed. “I’m here with you now. I’m not going anywhere. What’s that cheesy movie line; you had me at ‘hello?’ That’s pretty accurate here. Part of me is stubborn and didn’t want to fall in line, but I have.

We’re together. Let’s just accept that for now.” Kimber crossed her arms over her chest and pressed her lips together. That wasn’t the end of this conversation, not by a long shot, but she was tactically retreating for the moment. He let out a big sigh of relief.

“Fine.”

It wasn’t fine, but he hoped he could…distract her from the subject. If he told her the entirety of his screwup, she’d run screaming.

Treading softly, he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. She stood stiff, those arms still crossed. Clearly, she’d learned how to Shayla Black Decadent battle on her terms. She couldn’t fight him physically, but her stubborn will was a more than worthy adversary, he’d bet. He ignored her resistance and simply felt her. With a soft hand caressing her back, he dropped a kiss on her forehead, brushed one across her mouth, lingered at her neck.
Heaven.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d kissed a woman without any intent to fuck her in the next ten minutes. Just standing here and breathing in her scent, her presence, was a treat.

“You fight dirty,” she grumbled, tilting her head to give him better access to her neck.

“This isn’t fighting. It’s giving you affection. You got a problem with that?” He slid his thumb over her bottom lip.

Before she could answer, the phone rang. Deke jumped.

316

Only one of two people could be on the line, and both represented news about the explosion and its aftermath.

“Yeah,” he barked into the line.

“Deke.” It was Logan. His voice sounded heavy.

Turning away, Deke held in a curse. “I’m here.”

“It ain’t good.” He sighed. “Kimber…”

“Tell me.”

Logan did, and Deke couldn’t hold in a rush of four letters.

“What is it?” Kimber asked.

“I’ll let her know,” Deke promised.

Shayla Black Decadent After a long pause, Logan replied. “Thanks. Any news from Jack?”

“Not yet. The police?”

“What is it?” Kimber demanded.

Deke shook his head at her. He wanted to give Kimber his undivided attention when he gave her this news.

“Nothing concrete,” Logan answered. “Lots of questions. No answers. But it’s weird, man. No one at the hospital has even twitched the wrong direction. Nothing suspicious here at all. Lots of phone calls from some guy, though, wanting to know where Kimber is. I tried to figure out who he is, trace the call, keep him talking. Too smart. He disconnected.”

Fear struck a cold bolt down in Deke’s chest. The psychobomber hadn’t moved in 317

on the Colonel’s hospital room. That sounded like he was fixated on Kimber instead. It could be the press, looking for a slant on Jesse’s ex and the latest drama.

But the same person calling over and over?

“Shit,” Deke muttered. “Call us if anything changes.”

“Will do. Give Kimber my love.”

“Yeah.” Then he hung up.

“What the hell is it?” She looked pissed and desperate. She wasn’t going to be brushed off or let this be glossed over.

Deke took her by the hand and led her to a chair, then sat her down. He drew in a deep breath. What the hell to say?

“Tell me now. Oh my God…” Her voice shook. “My dad. Tell me he didn’t…” Shayla Black Decadent

“No. No, kitten. He’s alive.” He kissed her palm, trying to soothe the blow to come.

“But they did some extra tests yesterday and realized he had something foreign lodged in the back of his head. It was causing swelling. They had to operate this morning, and he went into shock. He slipped into a coma.” Kimber dissolved. No other way to put it. Tears filled those hazel eyes, and Deke found himself wishing he had some way to take her suffering away. He’d gladly put it on his shoulders so she wouldn’t have to bear it. But life didn’t work that way.

As he reached to draw her into his embrace, let her cry on his chest, she surprised him by standing and drying her tears. “We have to go to him. Right now.” Deke froze. “Kitten, I know you’re upset, but we can’t do that without careful planning. There’s still a psycho on the loose who may be after you—”

“I don’t care! My father might die, and I might not get to say good-bye.” 318

“No one said anything about him dying.”

“He’s in a goddamn coma! Now I’m not a doctor, but in nursing school, I learned that’s bad and that some people go from coma to death.” Her sarcasm was understandable, but not helpful.

Softly, he said, “And some people come straight out of it.”

“I’m not taking a chance that I’ll never see him alive again.” She ripped off her robe in the middle of the kitchen and marched for the bedroom.

Deke watched the sway of her bare ass as she retreated into the shadowed room and started rummaging around the sheets for her clothes. He marched in the room and grabbed her shirt and underwear out of her hands.

“You’re not going now, especially not by yourself.” Shayla Black Decadent

“The hell I’m not. You can’t stop me.”

“If I have to wrestle you to that bed myself and tie you to it to keep you from presenting a public target to this maniac, don’t think I won’t.” Kimber marched toward the door. “I’m an adult and I make my own decisions.

You don’t own me.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. “Last night, I claimed you, remember? I took what you’d given no one else. In my book, that makes you mine.

I’m not letting you be used for target practice. You’re safe and hidden. You’re going to stay that way.”

“You son of a— What are you doing?”

Deke dragged her across the room, toward the bed. She wasn’t listening, wasn’t 319

going to hear logic.

He tossed her onto the bed and held her down as gently as possible—keeping all his force behind the grip. “Keeping you safe.”

A quick glance around the room proved futile.
Damn!

“What is going on in here?” Luc demanded, taking in the scene with a horrified expression.

Deke explained the phone call. “And now Florence Nightingale here thinks she’s going to the hospital on a mercy visit in the next ten minutes.”

“You can be such an asshole,” Kimber groused, struggling to break his hold.

“Luc…”

Shayla Black Decadent

“Sweetheart, he’s right. Call, talk to Logan, have him put the phone to your father’s ear so you can speak to him for now. But you can’t just leave and risk the danger of exposure.”

“So now I’m being held captive?”

“That’s not my intention, but if that’s the way you want to look at it…” Denying her troubled Deke, but he wasn’t backing down. “Either way, you’re staying.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I agree.” Luc crossed his arms over his chest, and Deke was damn glad for the backup. “Promise us you’ll stay put until we can work out a plan, and we’ll let you up.”

Kimber pressed her lips together mutinously and said nothing.

“You know the minute we turn our back on her, she’s going to try to sneak away.” 320

Luc hesitated, glanced at Kimber, and nodded. “It seems.” But Deke had an idea. Master Jack’s cabin came fully equipped.

“Hold her down.”

Luc shot him a curious glance, but crossed the room to take Kimber’s wrists in his grip. He straddled her as Deke made for the door and disappeared around the corner.

“I may not have been an Army Ranger, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t learned a few tricks over the years,” Luc warned her. “You’re not getting away.” Satisfied she was in good hands, Deke fished a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door to Jack’s secret room at the end of the hall. He wound his way past the computer and desk, to the door at the back of the room, and flung it open.

Shayla Black Decadent A dominant’s paradise with every manner of toy, paddle, dildo—and, of course, restraint—known to man.

He grabbed a pair of velvet cuffs and some silken ties to wrap around Kimber’s dainty ankles. He paused to contemplate a pair of nipple clamps.

Focus,
he told himself. Keep her safe.
Right now, she’s going to be too pissed to fuck
you.

Putting the toys in his pocket and in the
later
category, he rushed back down the hall to see that little had changed. Kimber was questioning Luc’s parentage and masculinity with insults she’d probably heard from her brothers over the years.

Luc looked unfazed.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, sweetheart. How much worse would I be if I cared more about your name-calling than your safety?”

321

Rushing back into the room, Deke reached Kimber’s side, took her wrists from his cousin and cuffed her in two seconds flat. He quickly discovered that the silken ties were plenty long to reach from her ankles to the thick posters on the antique bed. Only when she was fully restrained and spread out on the bed did Deke realize she was also totally naked.

And at their mercy.

Deke had never been a huge fan of bondage; he could take it or leave it. At the moment, the idea held appeal. He stifled the impulse.

“Okay,” he said, dragging his gaze away from her breasts.

They really were beautiful, and the memory of their tender nipples… Damn, he had to focus! “I don’t like letting you out of hiding yet, but I understand it. I will find a safe way for you to visit your father. Give me a day or two.” Shayla Black Decadent

“What if he doesn’t make it that long? Please.” Her eyes teared up, and it tore at him. “Can’t we go now?”

Deke wished he could say yes. But he couldn’t give in to his wish to be the good guy. His job—his responsibility—was to keep her safe. “No, but as soon as possible.

I promise.”

“But—”

“If your father was awake to put in his two cents, kitten, you know he would agree with me.”

She sighed with resignation. “Please hurry.”

Deke stepped out of the room. Damn it, he didn’t want to do this, but she was close to the Colonel. Denying her was hurting her, and he couldn’t do that. With a 322

sigh, he picked up the phone and called Jack Cole and Logan, along with another buddy. He was gone five minutes, tops.

When he returned to the bedroom, Kimber was no longer tied up. She lay in Luc’s arms, listening to his whispered reassurances. Deke couldn’t help but look at her, and he was sure his eyes glazed over with lust. Damn, he had to get his mind off sex and on protecting her.

“Jack and Logan will contact us soon. You’ll see your father. We’ll have a plan quickly, I promise.” He kissed her mouth gently.

With a cry, she opened to him, arched to him. Deke hesitated, surprised. Then he dove into all the kiss offered and tasted her thanks, as well as her desperation for reassurance.

He lifted his head. “Kimber?”

Shayla Black Decadent

“Hold me. Please.”

The pools of tears gathering in her eyes tore at Deke’s heart. He wasn’t really good with cuddling, but how could he say no to her now? Why would he, when he take any excuse just to be near her?

He relaxed his body at her side again, nuzzling his face in her neck, his arm across her middle. “I’m here.”

“Touch me.”

If he touched her any more, he’d be groping her, and his mind—along with all the blood in his body—would go south. But she needed comfort, so he stroked her side in a soothing caress. Or tried. He just wasn’t good at being a cross between a teddy bear and just a friend. He got lost in her eyes, her scent, that sexysoft skin. He couldn’t be around her and
not
get hard. Feeling like a perverted shit, he closed his 323

eyes.

“Deke,” she murmured.

“Yeah, kitten?”

“Make the worry go away for a while. Please.” She arched her hips toward him.

“Love me.”

God, temptation.
The offer of fucking paradise. Deke swallowed. “Kimber, honey…”

“I know what I’m asking for. Touch me. I know you can. Make it better.” On the other side of the bed, he glanced at Luc. His cousin didn’t say a word, but he went hard in an instant.

Kimber noticed, too. “See. You want me.”

Shayla Black Decadent
Always.
But she was upset now, and only a class-A prick would take advantage of her now, right? On the other hand…distracting her might take the edge off her worry. Yeah, he was probably rationalizing because she was naked and whenever he gazed at her, he was horny. But it was either sex or watch her cry, agonize, and panic over something she couldn’t change.

Deke voted for sex. In wordless seconds, he stripped. He didn’t have to look up.