I walk out of Liam’s bedroom and lean back against the wall, letting the waves of relief wash over me. Lisa and Matt have checked Liam’s dressing again and all of the bleeding has stopped. His injuries are all going to heal. There will be no permanent damage. He is going to be okay. Alexei is dead. We’re all safe.
The door opens again and Shane steps out of the room. He stands directly in front of me and I swallow as I stare at him.
He reaches out and brushes his hand over the cut on my cheek, his fingertips leaving trails of electricity in their wake. “Did you get that looked at?” he frowns, his face full of concern.
“Yes,” I rub my own fingers over it absent-mindedly. “Lisa insisted on looking at it. It doesn’t need stitches and there is no fracture.”
“Good,” he whispers.
“You okay?” I look him over and don’t see any obvious injuries.
“Yeah. And now that we know Liam is okay,” he nods and I see his Adam’s apple bob. Why does he look so damn nervous? Holy fuck! Just when I thought I was going to have some time to take a breath, Shane is about to hit me with another bombshell. I can sense it. Is he going to ask me to leave now that we’ve dealt with Alexei?
“I should get back in there to him,” I say, but he puts a hand beside my head on the wall and stops me from moving. I stare at him, and the change in his face is almost instantaneous. There is no nervous energy there now.
“No,” he shakes his head. “He’s going to be knocked out for the rest of the day and night. I’ve asked Conor and Mikey to stay with him.”
“But I want to stay too,” I protest. Why isn’t he letting me back into the room?
“I get that. And I know he’ll need you when he wakes up, but that won’t be for at least eighteen hours. The doc has given him some heavy duty shit.”
“So? In the meantime, I do what?”
He takes a step closer to me as he places his other hand on the wall beside me until I am caged in by him. My breath catches in my throat as the heat from his body penetrates the thin fabric of my tank top, and I unconsciously bite my lip.
“Dammit, Jessie,” he groans. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
“Push your buttons?” I arch an eyebrow at him, trying to ease the growing tension from whatever the hell is going on here.
He edges closer, until our bodies are just a few inches apart. “Well, yeah. You drive me fucking crazy.” He narrows his eyes at me.
“You didn’t answer my question. What am I supposed to be doing if I can’t stay with Liam?” I breathe, because the answer that is becoming increasingly more obvious, can’t be the right one. He has made it more than clear we can be nothing more than friends.
He presses his body against mine until I’m pinned against the wall by him and the wet heat rushes between my thighs. “Liam will need you tomorrow and probably every night for the next week. But I need you now, sweetheart. Stay with me?”
I draw in a deep breath as pleasure floods my body and a whole raft of emotions overwhelm my senses. “Just tonight?”
“Well, I’ve thought about tying you to my bed and keeping you there forever, but I think my brothers would kill me. Besides, like I said, Liam will want you there when he wakes up tomorrow.” He drops his head to my neck and plants soft kisses along my collarbone, and my legs tremble as the heat flushes across my chest.
“You’re not playing fair,” I pant as I writhe beneath his touch and he responds by pressing his body even closer to mine. His hard cock digs into my abdomen and I bite my lip as I try to stop myself from groaning his goddamn name. This man is a devil, and he plays my body like a finely tuned instrument.
“I never play fair, sweetheart,” he murmurs against my skin as his kisses move up my neck, and the soft scratch of his stubble on the delicate skin sends pleasure skittering along my spine. “So, what is your answer, and I will warn you, there is only one I’ll accept.”
I plant my hands on his chest. I need to stop his maddening teasing because I can’t think straight at all, but he grabs my wrists and pins them against the wall either side of my head and glares into my eyes, as though he is trying to peer inside my soul.
“Is that so?” I narrow my eyes at him.
“Yes.”
“Then it isn’t really a question, is it? More a demand?”
“Semantics,” he says with a shrug.
“You’re an arrogant asshole, Shane Ryan,” I try to scowl, but somehow I can only smile. “And I believe that I asked you a question too.”
“And what was that?” he says as he starts his maddening teasing again, peppering soft kisses along my throat as he grinds his cock against my groin.
“Do you only want me for tonight? Is this a one-time thing?”
He lifts my wrists above my head so he can pin them easily with one hand, while his free hand slides down to the button of my jeans. He opens it easily before he pulls down my zipper and slips his hand inside my panties and between my thighs and the rush of wet heat makes me gasp out loud. “Just say yes, Jessie?” he growls, and that doesn’t answer my question at all.
“Shane,” I groan loudly and he chuckles against my skin.
“Fuck! You’re soaking wet. Are you ready to answer me yet, Hacker?” he growls.
“No,” I breathe.
He doesn’t seem fazed at all by my response. “No, you’re not ready to answer, or no, you won’t spend the night with me.”
“No, I won’t spend the night with you,” I hiss as he begins to rub my clit in slow, teasing circles.
“Wrong answer, Jessie,” he growls as his kisses become fiercer and he sucks on my neck as his hand slides further into my panties before he pushes a finger inside me.
“Shane!” I cry out as he begins to finger fuck me against the wall in the hallway. “What if Lisa or Matt come out here?” I breathe as my body shudders from the orgasm he’s already coaxing from me.
“Then let me take you to bed and I’ll fuck you properly,” he groans as he keeps on thrusting his fingers in and out of me and rubbing the knuckle of his thumb over my clit. I hear voices approaching the doorway and swear one of them is female. Shit! Dr. Lisa is going to come out here and hear me come while Shane finger bangs me, and I will die of embarrassment because I don’t think anything is going to make him stop.
“Okay!” I finally relent.
“Good girl,” he says with a deviant smile as he slides his hand from my panties. Then he looks me in the eye as he sucks his fingers clean and the wet heat floods my core. He releases my wrists and takes hold of one of my hands instead.
I stand there, looking at his face. Damn, I love him so much. My body is practically screaming for his touch. “Shane,” I say as he is about to start walking us to his room.
He stops and turns back to me. “What is it?” he frowns.
“I can’t do this with you,” I shake my head, realizing this was a huge mistake. “I’m sorry. But I can’t do that with you. Not anymore.”
His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard. “Can’t do what, Jessie?”
“Just sex,” I whisper. “It would mean so much more to me than that. I can’t just turn off my emotions like that, and I can’t only have a part of you when I know what it’s like to have all of you.”
He steps back and pushes me against the wall, his hand fisting in my hair and his mouth crashing over mine. He kisses me so fiercely that my lips feel bruised and I whimper into his mouth. When I expect I might pass out from lack of oxygen and the raging endorphins racing around my body, he lets us up for air. “Just give me one night, Hacker?” he presses his forehead against mine. “I need you.”
I take a deep breath and, despite every part of my body aching for him, I push him away. “I can’t, Shane,” I shake my head. “I’m not some toy you get to use when you have an itch to scratch. Not if I can’t have all of you. I’m sorry.”
“I can’t give you all of me, Jessie,” he breathes. “Not again.”
“I understand that,” I say as the tears sting my eyes.
“Can’t this be enough?” he says, his eyes pleading with me and weakening my resolve with each passing second.
“No. And I know that it might be unfair, but I need all or nothing, Shane. Because you will always have all of me.” I plant a soft kiss on his lips and then I walk back into Liam’s room. I don’t even dare glance at him again because I might run back into his arms and tell him that one night with him is worth the pain of losing him all over again.
