“Adrian set his brother up. Made it look like his brother betrayed his father, when it was Adrian who did it.”
There is silence then, followed by more silence, before the door shuts. Then there is no movement, no sound, and I think Shane has left with Derek, while Derek’s words and accusations have not: Shane is like Adrian. And Adrian is a brutal monster. Derek believes it too. He’s built Shane up to be the enemy when he is not. Yes, Shane wants to kill Ramon. I believe that 100 percent. I try to get my head around that. It’s wrong. I get that too. It’s murder, as Derek pointed out, but I simply can’t condemn Shane for trying to protect us all, and for something he hasn’t even done yet.
Suddenly a pair of familiar legs appears in front of me. Shane’s legs. I swallow hard and scoot forward to be offered his hand. And when I press my palm to his, heat that has nothing to do with sex—okay, maybe a little to do with sex, but more so our connection—slides up my arm and across my chest. He pulls me to my feet, and I lean against the desk while he presses his hands on the wood on either side of me. “How long did you know I was there?”
“The entire time.”
“How did you know I was there?”
“I could smell you, feel you.”
I’m stunned. Confused. Pleased. Trapped by my own bad actions. “I’m sorry. Your father came in hacking when I was already bending down to get something, and I just … I couldn’t deal with him again right at that moment. Only it wasn’t just him looking for me, and I couldn’t figure out how or when to make my presence known.”
“Do you know one of the things I love about you?”
“What?”
“That even when it’s painful, like now, even when things don’t go as planned, you tell me the truth.”
“You know about my family. You know honesty is important to me.”
“And you know my family. You know me, Emily.”
“I do know you.”
“Then I think you know this as well. I am a Brandon. At my core, I know Derek is right. I am cold. I am calculating. I do want to win. And I will not let Martina win.”
“I see all those things.”
“The things that torment me relate to my family, and to you. I will not lose them. I will not lose you. I will, however, kill Ramon, and when it’s done, I will wake up relieved, not tormented.”
My hand settles on his chest, his heart thundering under my palm, telling me that beneath his calm, unaffected demeanor, he is, in fact, affected. And what he feels worries me more than what he says. “I’m afraid of this changing you.”
“This is me, Emily. I’m not changing. I’m just being me in these circumstances. That’s what I’m telling you.”
“People change, Shane. Life changes them.”
His fingers slide under my hair and wrap around my neck, dragging my mouth to his. “We won’t change.” His mouth brushes mine, tongue doing a sultry, slow lick before he vehemently murmurs, “I love you too damn much to lose you.”
I want to respond, to tell him he won’t, and that I love him too, but he doesn’t give me a chance. He kisses me again, this time with a deep stroke of his tongue, followed by another, and I feel it everywhere, all over, inside and out. And he’s different now, the torment of last night gone, as if he’s stopped fighting who, and what, he believes himself to be. I don’t know if that is good or bad. Good, I think, because he’s clear-minded. Because he’s being honest with himself and me.
I lean into him and he into me, and it’s as if a charge ignites between us. Suddenly, our kiss is deeper, our hands are all over each other, and there is nothing but this need to feel each other. This hunger between us, this burn. There is no alarm. There is no smoke. No problems. There is just our need for more of each other, and I barely even know how my dress is up to my waist and how I’m sitting on the desk, my legs wide, as they were on his father’s desk earlier. How his fingers find my naked sex and his pants get unzipped. There is just the moment he’s inside me, driving deep. The moment when we are holding on to each other, him inside me, our lips lingering a breath from each other. The moment when that turns into another hot kiss and then him lifting me off the desk, one of his hands cupping my naked backside, my fingers gripping his jacket. And finally the eternity that is too short when I tumble into absolute bliss and he shakes and makes these sexy, intense sounds and follows.
He holds me, seeming as resistant to letting go of us right now as I am, but he caves and sets me down on the desk, his hands going to my face. “I can’t seem to get our clothes off and make love to you.”
“That wasn’t what we needed. Not right now.”
“I do,” he says. “I very much need to make love to you properly. To tell you I love you at the right time and in the right way.”
“Anytime you tell me you love me is the right time and in the right way.”
There’s a knock on the door. “Shane, can we talk?”
It’s Seth, and Shane kisses my forehead, thankfully handing me a tissue he gets from I don’t know where. He pulls out of me then, and I feel the absence, beyond our bodies, but there’s no time to process why. He rights his pants, helps me right my dress, and sets me on the floor before crossing to the door. I slip on my shoes and round the desk to meet him and Seth in the center of the office.
“I closed the office for the afternoon,” Seth states. “Nick and I handled the police. They believe this is related to a case Ted worked for Nick.”
“And Ted was okay with that?” Shane asks. “Is he even able to communicate?”
“He’s improving and agreeable,” Seth says. “The man’s a warrior. We’re keeping the press away from him and planning to get him on a plane to a vacation destination with his family when he’s able.”
“What about the press?” I ask. “Do I need to do anything on that front?”
Seth gives a nod. “Derek and Jessica are actually working together. I’m not sure how or why that’s happening, but they leaked the story to the press, and the stockholders want you or your father, and your father says you need to get your ass on the phone and handle it.”
“Derek has decided that if we don’t save the company, we have nothing to fight for,” Shane says. “But his relationship with Teresa is a potential problem. She’s in love with him, and he at least has some feelings for her.”
“He’s also sleeping with his secretary,” I remind them. “The feelings he has can’t be that profound.”
“I’d point out that he’s my father’s son,” Shane says, “but that’s true of me as well.” He looks at Seth. “What else do I need to know?”
“It’s what I need to know,” he counters. “Any word from Adrian?”
“Not a word,” Shane says, “And I won’t be giving him the reaction he’s seeking, which is me begging him for mercy. He can come to me. He can ask for mercy.”