Shane (The Mallick Brothers Book 1) Read online

  Shane’s shadow towered over me and I felt his knees plant at the edge of the bed, one on the side of my thigh, one between, looking down at me. How he was able to see anything was completely beyond me, but I could feel the heat of his gaze. His hands planted on either side of my shoulders and he moved over me, claiming my lips. I could taste myself there still and felt another wave of desire somehow break through my system.

  He released me a long time later, my lips buzzing from the attention, sensitive and just a tiny bit sore. His head tilted, his teeth nipping into my earlobe. “Rode my face. Now you’re gonna ride my cock,” he told me and my pussy clenched in agreement. Yes, God yes.

  His body lifted from mine and I could make out him sliding his pants off, his hand going to his hard cock, stroking it once before turning and moving into the nightstand. I heard the fumbling with the condom box and the tearing of a wrapper as his back was to me. I moved to my knees, sitting back on my heels. Finished, he climbed into bed, laying flat, and reaching for me.

  I moved to straddle his waist, but not lowering down. His hands slid up my thighs lazily, snagging the hem of the tee and slowly moving it up, exposing me inch by inch. My arms went up over my body as he folded up to pull the material free from my head. He moved flat again, his hands still on my thighs. I planted my hands on his stomach, moving my fingers over his abs, enjoying the new sensation of getting to know his body, the dips and edges, the smooth patches that could only be scars.

  Shane shifted his hips and his cock rubbed against my cleft, making me let out a shocked hiss as he exhaled hard.

  “Lea, baby…”

  There was need in his voice. And as much as I wanted to get to know every inch of him with my fingers, my lips, my tongue, I lifted my hips. He reached between us, grabbing his cock and holding it at the base so I could slide down on him. I lifted up higher and pressed down, feeling his cock slowly spread me, fill me, promising fulfillment. My hand moved to the center of his stomach as I paused, giving my body a second before I took him deeper. His hand moved from between us and settled on my hip, letting me take the lead, do it at my own pace. I took him to the root on a groan, half arching forward over him.

  “Fuck baby,” he growled, sounding tense. And somehow, I liked that even more, as evidenced by the way my pussy clenched around him. I liked that he wasn’t perfectly in control, that I maybe took a little bit of that away from him. “Ride me, Lea,” he demanded as I took a minute.

  Then, well, there was no more tentativeness. I moved my hips up and down, loving each perfect, thick inch as it slid in and out of me. Once I found my rhythm, Shane’s hips started to move in small circles as I moved, making me feel him even more intensely, driving me up faster than I knew was possible. My speed picked up and his stayed the same, round and round, his fingers positively crushing my hipbones as he tried to hold on as my moans became throaty cries and my sex clenched to the point of near-pain before I finally felt myself go over the edge.

  The orgasm was deep, intense, a hard, slow throbbing pulsation that rolled and rolled and rolled through me as I lost whatever bones I had in my body, liquidly falling down on top of him as my body shook. His arms went around me as he started thrusting upward, dragging out my orgasm as I groaned into his neck, then planting deep on a hard thrust and coming with my name on his lips.

  We stayed that way for a long time after, me a boneless form completely collapsed against him. His hands drifted lazily up and down my spine, making me goosebump and shiver slightly.

  I turned my face up to plant a kiss into his neck, a gesture that was a bit gushy, a bit sweet for me.

  Then, like the universe knew things were getting too intense for me, my belly let out a grumble and Shane chuckled beneath me, a sound I found way too appealing.

  “Alright. Let me up. I’ll deal with the condom and feed you.”

  On a small grumble, I did, accepting the tee when he tossed it back at me. He leaned down to grab his pants before moving into the bathroom for a minute. After that, he went to the kitchen and got us stew, coming back and handing me mine where I was sitting cross-legged in the center of the bed and moving himself to sit back against the headboard.

  We ate in silence for a long while before he broke it.

  “Those walls are down,” he said, his voice low. “Might be the only chance I get to ask this so…”

  “Don’t,” I half-demanded, half-pleaded. “Don’t ruin it.”

  He ignored me though, and went on. “Who fucked you over so bad that you can’t even give me a chance?”

  I paused at that, knowing a lie wouldn’t be convincing, but not ready to go there, not ready to peel back the healing layer and expose the ugly wound underneath. “Shane…”

  “Lea, fuck, baby… give me something. I’m not asking for every piece. Just… give me something.”

  There was a bit of pleading in his tone and maybe that was what did it, that made my mouth open and admit something I hadn’t admitted to anyone out loud except the people at the crisis line I had called in a particularly weak, low moment right after I left.

  “My last ex,” I started, squeezing my eyes tight even though it was already pitch black in the room.

  When I didn’t, couldn’t, go on, Shane prompted. “What’d he do to you, Lea?” he asked, his voice a comforting tone as his free hand moved out and landed on my knee, squeezing.

  I shook my head, pressing my lips together for a long minute, trying to find a way to say it without really having to say it. “He did the kind of things that makes a woman decide to leave everything and everyone she loves and not look back,” I admitted, my heart squeezing hard in my chest.

  I heard Shane’s bowl slam down on the nightstand and, a second later, felt mine pulled from my hands to join his on the nightstand. Then his arm went around my shoulders, grabbing me, pulling me against him, folding me into his side. His head turned and planted a kiss to the top of my head and I had a sudden, uncharacteristic urge to cry.

  “Okay,” he said, his voice a little rough, but calm, accepting. There was no judgement.

  That was my biggest fear in admitting the truth, even pieces of the truth- that people would think I was weak for going through it. I had felt that exact same way before it happened to me- just leave. Just fucking leave you weakass. Chop off his dick and flip off his castrated body as you hightailed it out of town.

  “I stayed…” I admitted, not knowing why.

  Shane exhaled hard. “Let me put this in a way that might help you put things into perspective, okay?” he asked, pausing and waiting for me to nod. “If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, the fucker will jump right back out. It knows it’s wrong, it hurts, it will kill him. But if you put him in a pot and slowly raise it up to boiling, he’ll stay. That’s what abuse is like. You might not even notice it’s happening at first. You’d brush it off as him having a bad day, you pissing him off. But then it starts getting worse in small ways until you’re in so deep and you’re so hot and your skin is peeling and you don’t know if you even remember you can jump anymore. That doesn’t make you weak. You got out of that shit, baby. That makes you stronger, a lot stronger, I think, than you even realize.”

  I closed my eyes again, trying not to get as emotional as I was starting to feel.

  He got it.

  He understood.

  God.

  God.

  I didn’t think anyone would ever understand.

  “You want your food back or do you want sleep?” he asked, letting it drop, and I was never more thankful for anything in my life.

  “Sleep,” I admitted, not sure it would come, but it gave me an excuse to be silent.

  “Okay,” he said, sliding down on the mattress, pulling me along with him, then situating me on his chest, one arm slung across my lower back, the other stroking through my messy and mostly-dry hair for a long time until his breath went deep and steady and I knew he was asleep.

  I stayed up for a long time, wondering what it
meant that I shared, if it somehow made it impossible to put my shields back up, if it maybe changed the way he saw me, even in a small way. My heart hurt at that idea. Because, fact of the matter was, I hadn’t given him almost anything at all. It was the cleanest piece of a giant, bloody, God-awful puzzle.

  But before I could come to any kind of conclusions or decisions about how to move forth from then on, I was lulled into sleep feeling, for maybe the first time in my life, completely safe.

  ELEVEN

  Shane

  I woke up early, as was my habit. Lea slept in, as was hers. At some point in her sleep, she mumbled “Fuck off” to some dream foe and literally kicked off of me to the far side of the bed. It was then I decided to take the time to get up, find her clothes from the night before, and wash and dry them, the power finally back on. I liked her in my clothes, but she would need something to wear when she, inevitably, demanded I take her back to her place.

  I wasn’t stupid. Girls like her didn’t just change overnight. She wasn’t going to turn into a mushy chick who wanted to hang around my place and tell me about her hopes and dreams. She had softened the night before, likely because of some world-class sex and a feeling of connection. But when she woke back up and realized what she had given to me and what that could mean to her defenses, she would scramble to push me away again.

  I was prepared for that.

  I didn’t like it.

  But I would deal.

  Now that I knew she had some bad shit go down with men, I understood her attitude better. She didn’t trust herself to make a good decision with the opposite sex. And she wouldn’t respond to me trying to force my way in. She had too much of that. She needed patience and a bit of softness when she wasn’t in the mood to open up. And then she needed me to press when she was, even if she didn’t realize she was in the mood to share.

  I wasn’t above using sex to get her there.

  It seemed to be the only time she wasn’t hiding, wasn’t trying to push me away.

  Why I was willing to put all that work in, yeah, that was beyond me. I was usually too busy getting inside a chick’s pussy to worry about what was going on in her head. All I can say is- something was different with Lea. And every interaction with her made me more sure she was worth the hassle. Hell, even the way she dismissed the hostess at Famiglia was a turn-on for me.

  I just plain like the chick.

  It wasn’t new and novel for me. I liked plenty of women over the years. But very rarely was that feeling attached to attraction. I didn’t fuck women I wanted to spend time with because I wasn’t ever interested in settling down. But Lea, I liked her. And I sure as hell wanted to keep burying inside her sweet pussy too.

  So, never really being the type to over-analyze or deny myself something I wanted, I just decided to go with the flow, see where it took us.

  My cell vibrated on the kitchen counter and I reached for it, seeing Fee’s number and picking up. “‘Sup, Fee?”

  “I can’t get in touch with Lea,” she said, voice uncharacteristically hysterical. If Fee was anything, it was chill. Maybe she was a bit prickly and opinionated, but with her tragic past, not much got to her. “She was at work last night and I told her to leave and get home. She was supposed to call me as soon as she got in. She hasn’t called. Hunter went over to her apartment but there was no response at the door. Her car is still outside the office, but she’s nowhere in sight. I don’t know what the fuck to…”

  “Fee,” I cut in, voice loud to be heard over her rambling.

  “What?”

  “I got her. She’s here.”

  There was the barest of pauses before she made a weird shriek-sound. “She’s there? She was there overnight?”

  “Yeah, Fee, she was here all night. Her car wouldn’t start and I was on my way home from Chaz’s when I saw her running down the street.”

  “So you knight in shining armor’d her?” she asked and I could just picture the smile she had on her face. “I knew you guys couldn’t stay away from each other! Where is she? Can I talk to her?”

  “She’s sleeping,” I said, looking over toward my bed to see her completely out of the covers, laying on her stomach, her leg cocked up, giving me a great view of her long legs. Her hair was bed-messy and my tee was just barely covering her ass. I realized right then that I would be a pretty fucking happy man to wake up to that view for a good long time.

  “Oh, I’ll bet she is,” Fee said, voice heavy with innuendo. “Okay. Well, that’s one worry off the list.”

  “What else is on the list?” I asked, refilling the coffee pot.

  “Well, three of the windows broke at the office so I need to get down there and get that taken care of. Lea’s car needs to get off the street. The township is street sweeping and it’s in the way. Chaz’s lost a tree. It didn’t do any real damage, but it needs to get gone. Hunt’s car got slammed into by some idiot out driving in the storm…”

  “Busy day,” I said, turning on the machine. “Tell you what, you deal with your office. Let Hunt deal with his car. Mark and Ryan and Pops can deal with Chaz’s so strike that. I’ll deal with Lea’s car. How did your place do?”

  “We just lost some branches and there is water in the basement. So much for it being dry. Those lying bastards who owned this place before us even signed the paper swearing it was dry. The fucks. How’s your place?”

  “It’s a warehouse, Fee,” I laughed. “Nothing can knock it down. And I don’t have any trees or a basement.”

  “Right, just the first floor you refuse to remodel. You know, your heating and cooling bills would go down if you finished that floor.”

  “Sure. I’ll just catch all the rats and raccoons and drop them off in the park next to your house.”

  “You’re an ass,” she laughed.

  “You love it.”

  “Yep,” she agreed.

  “Well you get going. I have some calls to make now.”

  “Oh, and Ryan did call us this morning,” she said and I knew what was coming. “So we will see you here around… three-ish next Saturday to move furniture?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “And you’ll bring Lea. We’ll feed you.”

  “Ah…” I said, knowing Fee was great at a lot of shit. But cooking was not one of them.

  “Hunter will grill, you ass,” she said, not offended.

  “Alright. Sounds good.”

  There was a pause. “I’m really happy you guys are hitting it off,” she admitted before she ended the call.

  As I scanned through my contacts, I silently agreed with her.

  “Yup?” his voice answered on the third ring, sounding distracted.

  “That’s how you answer your work phone?” I asked, shaking my head.

  “What’s up, Shane? Busy day. I think every car in this county got hit or rolled into a ditch. It’s crazy.”

  “Got a favor to ask, Colt,” I said, walking over toward the front of the building and looking down at the street. Colton King was someone we all grew up with, one of the few kids at school who had enough attitude not to be intimidated by us. He set up roots as a mechanic and had been working on all our cars and bikes since.

  “Don’t tell me you were fuckin’ stupid enough to ride that bike in the hurricane,” he said and I heard slamming noises around him.

  “Nah. I have a car I need you to pick up and work on.”

  “You just got a truck…”

  “It’s not mine.”

  There was a pause and, when he spoke, I could hear a sneer in his voice. “This is for a chick, isn’t it?”

  “Easy, Colt. I can call that Repo kid to do this for me.”

  To that, he chuckled. “That won’t be necessary. What’s wrong with it?”

  “I just know it’s dead. It was a death trap to begin with. So fix whatever killed it and every fucking thing else while you’re at it.”

  “If it’s that big of a clunker, it won’t be worth the work I put into it,” he said, e
ver the honest mechanic, something that kept his customers loyal to him. He’d never con you into a brake job if you had a while left to go before you needed it.

  “Yeah, I know. But she can’t afford a new one and wouldn’t ever let me get her a new one. As it is, she’ll flip shit that I had it fixed for her.”

  “A chick that can put your stubborn ass in your place? I’ll have to meet her. Alright,” he said, and I could hear him slamming the door to the tow truck. “Where am I headed?”

  “Out front of Fee’s place. You’ll know it when you see it.”

  “Alright, I’m on it. I’ll get back to you once I look it over.”

  “Appreciate it,” I said, hanging up.

  “Appreciate what?” Lea’s voice asked, sleep groggy, and I turned back to see her sitting up on my bed, self-consciously trying to tame her hair. And damn if it wasn’t the fucking sweetest thing.

  “Nothing, babe. Want some coffee?”

  “God, yes,” she said and I smiled at the desperation in her tone.

  I moved to the kitchen to get it for her as I heard the door to the bathroom close. She came out a couple minutes later, taking the coffee from my hands and breathing it in deeply before taking a sip.

  “How’s the damage out there?”

  “It’s not pretty, but it could be worse.”

  She looked away a little awkwardly, staring at her cup. “Thanks for letting me crash here.”

  I fought the urge to sigh, to let her know that those words, however innocent she may have intended them to be, had a lot deeper meaning than she realized. Because women you were interested in, who you were dating, when you brought them back to your place, went down on them, fucked them, fed them, then slept with them, yeah… they didn’t fucking thank you for letting them crash. Whether she was aware of it or not, that was her guard slowly going back up.

  “Come here,” I said.