Obsession (The Plus One Chronicles) (4 page)

“For a while. And Sloane was there, helping me fight. But the cancer is winning, and there’s a time to concede. I want to hold on until Sloane gets in that cage with Foster.”

She shook her head, cutting him off. “We can’t let him do it.”

Resignation settled on his bony shoulders like an invisible weight. “It’s gone too far for that. He needs to face down the man who killed his sister. That moment haunts Sloane.” He shifted his gaze to the dark windows holding back the night. “He came to live with me after that. He was having nightmares of hearing Sara screaming for him to help her. Sloane would rip his room apart, looking for her in his sleep, trying to save her.”

“He was only a kid.” She rubbed at the fierce, stabbing pain in her chest. “A boy. He needed help.”

“Yeah. Olivia said she was afraid of him.”

Hot rage shoved her to her feet, and she whirled. “That bitch. How the hell could his mother think Sloane would hurt her?” Olivia had made wild accusations in Kat’s shop too, blaming everyone but herself. Kat’s heart bled for Sara and Sloane growing up with a mother like that. “He would never hurt a woman. Not even her.”

“She needed Sloane to be the villain. Olivia can’t live with the truth, that she was a shitastic mother who threw her kids away, so she spun these lies in her head. And Sloane can’t let Olivia get hurt or it will prove her right.” Drake leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. “I managed to get temporary guardianship of Sloane. He’d never have talked to a therapist, so I directed him to fighting.” His gaze refocused on her. “He needs to get in that cage and face down his demon. I hate it, but I understand it. We have to hope he’s the man I think he is. Better than me.”

“You?” Kat was trying hard to keep up. “You started Fighters to Mentors. All those boys you helped, or got other fighters to help…” She trailed off, confused.

“Atonement. I was trying to help the throwaways so they’d never make the mistake I did.”

Kat’s mouth went dry. “What mistake?”

Drake’s gaze never faltered. “I killed a man. Living with that is a hell of a lot harder than this cancer.”

Chapter Three

Where was the little baker? Sloane had seen her car in his driveway. What the hell was she doing here? Dropping his gym bag on the floor, he didn’t see her in the kitchen or family room.

Oh shit, what if she was in his bedroom packing up the clothes she had here? Sloane grabbed the edge of the counter. It had taken everything he’d had to tell her to leave last night. Letting her go was the right thing to do for her. He’d already hurt her enough.

But what if she wasn’t leaving him? What if Kat was the one woman who stayed, even when shit got real? She could be waiting for him.

What if she was in his bed?

Would she do that? Christ, if he found her in his bed, he was lost. Gone. He’d never have the strength to resist her. The lure of Kat drew him in so tight and close he was tempted to abandon his sister’s memory.

Like Olivia abandoned her? Are you going to throw away Sara’s memory like trash?

Sloane sucked in a breath. Not only did he owe Sara this, but now Kat was in danger. That video of Sloane rescuing her from reporters was posted online. When Sloane last checked, it had over eight hundred thousand hits. He’d practically sent Foster a map on how to destroy him.

Go after Kat.

He fisted his hands. He wouldn’t let it happen. Kat needed to keep her security and stay the fuck away from him.

A soft voice penetrated his thoughts.

“Every Saturday, he’d buy two chocolate caramel brownies; one for his mistress and one for his wife. The wife got suspicious, staked out my bakery and followed him to the mistress’s house.”

“How’d you find out?”

Kat laughed, and the sound arrowed straight through Sloane’s chest.

“She ordered a cake with a donkey design that said, ‘I’m divorcing your cheating ass’ and had me deliver it to his office.”

Drake’s low laugh assaulted Sloane in bittersweet waves. How many laughs did his mentor have left before they were forever silenced?

“I gave her a half dozen chocolate chunk cookies. I figured she was done with brownies.”

“And cheating husbands.”

Kat chuckled. “Hope so. Anyway, that’s the only divorce cake I’ve done so far.”

Sloane could barely breathe as regret and loss spiked into profound loneliness. The easy camaraderie between Drake and Kat sucked the marrow from his bones. The two people he cared about most in this world had become fast friends. Without a conscious decision, he strode to the hallway and stopped in the doorway to one of the two guest suites on this side of the house.

Drake lay on his stomach, stripped to the waist and one arm curved up around his head. Only faint echoes remained of the once-powerful arm, shoulder and back muscles. But what punched him in the chest was Kat kneeling next to Drake on the full—sized adjustable bed, her hands gently massaging him. The image was so sweet, tender and so beautiful, his heart skipped a beat.

Kat was in his home, taking care of his mentor when Sloane had all but thrown her out last night.

This woman couldn’t be real.

Striding into the room, he said, “You shouldn’t be on your knee like that.” He circled the bed, lifted and turned her to settle on the recliner in the corner. After crouching down, he put her foot in his lap, shoved up her pant leg and began massaging, trying to increase the blood flow to reduce swelling and prevent the spasms she got once in a while.

“What are you doing?”

He glanced up at her shocked voice. “You’ve been on this leg all fucking day at work. Your knee aches like a bitch by this time of night and you were kneeling on it.” He gently worked the muscles and tendons, wishing he could get deep enough to reshape the actual joint so she wouldn’t have to suffer like this.

“I was on the mattress.” She palmed his cheek. “I didn’t mind.”

Her whisper-soft caress and sweet words tortured him. He didn’t want to stop touching her, or taking care of her. Doing this for Kat fed him, proving he was more than a fighter, a billionaire and soon, a killer. She made him want to be so much more than just vengeful.

“Kitten, you’re killing me.” If only he could believe she was using Drake, but she wasn’t. The kind of bond the two of them had couldn’t be faked, nor was Drake easily fooled.

She leaned forward with both her hands holding his face. “I can’t stop caring about you or Drake. I’m not built that way. But if my being here really bothers you, I’ll text you when it’s my night to hang out with Drake. All you have to do is text me when you leave the gym or wherever you are and I’ll be gone before you get home.” She let go, swung her leg from his grip and stood.

It’d be so simple. Sloane could treat Kat like her parents did, pushing her out of sight and out of mind. His body twanged in furious reaction.

Kat helped Drake pull on his shirt and settle against the pillows. She kissed his cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow to check in. Get some sleep.” She glanced back at Sloane, her incredible blue-green eyes endless wells of pain. A second later, she yanked her gaze away and left.

His muscles twitched and snapped, his heart pounded and a buzzing roared in his eardrums. His hands ached to hold her, his body screamed to cradle her against him, even his cock throbbed. Sloane had trained his body into a lethal and fiercely controlled machine, but one look from Kat—one single glance—and she ripped his control to shreds and fucking owned him.

He turned his stare on Drake.

“Go.”

His control ruptured, and he went after her.

Sloane found her reaching for the front doorknob. He slapped his hands against the door, caging her between his biceps. “Don’t leave. God, don’t leave me.” He covered her hands with his, pressing his front to her back, craving the feel of her. Her warm, sweet scent rolled into him.

“You’re the one who told me to go. I wanted to stay and fight for you and us.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “You just wanted me gone.”

He closed his eyes, absorbing that blow. He’d hurt her and yet she’d come back. Even now, he held her flush to the door, and she let him keep touching her. Sloane lifted her hands from the wood, fitting her back to his front and held her to him. “I’ve never felt like this, baby. Never cared this much or wanted anyone like this.” Burying his face in her soft hair, he said, “I don’t know how to do this. I have to finish the job with Foster, but I don’t want to lose you.”

She leaned back against him. “I don’t know either. But I thought that being in love meant we’d figure out how to get through this together.”

Her words stunned him. As did the way she gave him her weight, knowing he would hold her. His baker had trusted the wrong man and ended up badly hurt. But she trusted him every damned time. Hot intensity seared him. Turning her in his arms, he looked down and felt that same kick he always got when their gazes met. “I fucked up and you didn’t leave.” He still couldn’t believe it.

Her eyes shimmered with the vulnerable truth. “I’m here unless you don’t want me anymore.”

Sloane lost his breath. She was afraid, but she’d risked him rejecting, hurting and humiliating her, to support and love him. He’d battled the fiercest competitors in the cage and boardroom, but no one had ever made him feel this insane adrenaline rush, fear and deep, hot possessiveness that Kat did. She was everything to him.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, he cradled her face in his palm. “I want you too much.” Was he turning into his mother? Chasing a goddamned dream, and right when he thought he had it, it would shatter and destroy everything in its wake? But he couldn’t let her go. “Kitten.” The word spilled out of him as he sank into her mouth, desperate to taste the woman who gave him so much. Sloane didn’t know if her love for him could survive what he had to do.

He just knew he couldn’t let her go.

She opened for him, her warm, sweet taste firing an ache for more. Sloane stroked her jaw as he brushed his tongue with hers. His heart rate surged at her flavor and scent. He needed more, needed to give her more. Breaking the kiss, he swept her into his arms and headed up the stairs. “I’ll show you how much I want you.”

Her face flushed and her breath hitched.

Sloane closed them in his bedroom and shifted Kat so they were eye to eye, her legs clamped around his waist. Moonlight flowing in from the French doors shimmered over her. “So damned gorgeous.” Feverish need sizzled straight down to his cock with a stark, primitive drive to claim her. He braced her against the wall and brushed his mouth across her lips.

She softened and yielded, tilting up to give him access.

Sloane took it, sliding his mouth along her jaw, pausing at every inch to lick and taste. The flavor of her satiny skin teased him until he closed his mouth on top of that delicate pulse point at the base of her throat and sucked.

Her thighs clamped around his hips, and a whispery moan vibrated beneath his lips. “Don’t stop.” She twisted, grinding against him.

Her pulse beat faster and stronger beneath his tongue, driving him insane. Dragging his head back, he drew his thumb over that red spot on her throat. Shit. Too fucking aggressive. “I left a mark.” He wanted to love her, not harm her.

“I want your mark on me. I want to see it and know you wanted me that much.”

He jerked his head up. The vulnerability and desire swimming in her eyes punched him with possessiveness. “You wanna be marked by me, baby? Wanna know how badly I burn for you every goddamned second?”

She sank her white teeth into her lower lip and released it. “Yes.”

“We’ll start here.” He swooped in, capturing that lush lip and outlining it in slow licks.

Kat dug her fingers into his biceps.

Sloane sucked her lip into his mouth, scraping his teeth over the tender flesh, then traced those tiny marks with his tongue until she moaned and writhed. He turned his head enough to plunge into her hot mouth. Christ, she tasted so damned good. He clamped his hands around her thighs, holding her where he wanted her. Through her jeans, the heat of her pussy glided against his engorged cock. Not enough.

With Kat, it was never enough. She wanted his mark, he’d give it to her.

Breaking the kiss, he took in her heavy-lidded eyes. “I’m going to kiss and mark your nipples, move down your belly, then spread your thighs to kiss your pussy with slow, penetrating strokes. I won’t stop no matter how many times you come, or how many times you scream, until I have your taste memorized and I’m sure you’re branded by the feel of my mouth on you.” He dragged air into his lungs. “Then I’ll put my cock exactly where I belong, buried inside you. So deep you’ll know you’re mine.”