Taken Page 44

  He framed her face with one hand, his thumb brushing over her tear-drenched lips as they parted in shock—and was that hope in her gaze?

  “You love me?” Her hand gripped his wrist. “You love me?”

  “With everything in my soul.”

  Her lips trembled. The scratches on her face still seeped blood, tears still filled her eyes, and she was the most beautiful thing in the world to him.

  “I’ve always loved you,” she whispered. “I thought I’d never see you again, Casey,” she suddenly sobbed. “I thought I’d never get to tell you I love you. That I didn’t understand, until I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, that the only reason was because you loved me.” Her breathing hitched as his lips touched her. “I wanted to tell you, and then there was glass exploding around me.”

  He laid his finger against her lips. The horror of hearing that gunshot would live in his nightmares the rest of his life.

  “I have you,” he swore. “I have you, Sheila, and I’ll never let you go. That son of a bitch will never get the chance to touch you again.”

  Because Casey was determined to kill him.

  His lips touched hers. Tears, a hint of blood, and the overwhelming knowledge of love filled his senses as her lips parted for him, her hands moving to his neck, his hair, as her lips met his.

  “I love you,” he swore again before he kissed her deeply, licked her, tasted her. He let the knowledge that she was alive seep inside him. Let the truth of it wrap around him.

  Because Casey knew he couldn’t have survived otherwise.

  chapter 13

  one week later

  ross mason was led from his hotel room in Corpus Christi in handcuffs.

  Once, years before, he might have been a handsome man, the man Sheila Rutledge had believed she loved, though it was rather doubtful.

  A weak chin, plain brown eyes, shaggy hair, and a plump midsection—it was hard to imagine he had ever drawn the gaze of a woman as lovely as Miss Rutledge.

  Though, perhaps her once-deep shyness and the loss of her mother had caused her to look beyond the surface to that weakness beneath and unconsciously believe he would be the one who would not leave her, would not betray her.

  That had nothing to do with looks. Betrayal came in all shapes, sizes, races, and creeds. Betrayal came when one least expected it, when one could be destroyed by it the most.

  It was a lesson that only the strong survived.

  Miss Rutledge had survived that lesson and lived to find a man who might or might not know honor. Who seemed to understand it, live by it.

  There was no doubt now Nick Casey wasn’t Beauregard Fredrico.

  Beau knew nothing of trust, honor, or true love. He knew nothing of holding a woman tight or of risking his own life to save hers, as Nick Casey had done.

  No, Nick was not Beau.

  The call had not been made before Ross Mason had been revealed as the attempted murderer of the young and lovely Miss Rutledge. There had been no reinforcements called out, no waiting army of loyal men willing to give their lives for the one their fathers had pledged to defend. And those sons would readily pick up arms now and travel across the seas if it meant the heir to the past would return and retake the legacy that had been meant to be his.

  The past was truly dead and gone, though. There was no way to convince those men that there was no way to resurrect that past, that glory, or that wealth.

  Not that the Fredricos had understood the business anyway.

  Giovanni Fredrico, once known as Gio the Giant, hadn’t ruled the families as he should have. There had been no blood shed for infractions, just as the whores had not been punished when they fell in love and defected, and the drug dealers had not been murdered, painfully, when they stole the product that was the lifeblood of the organization that had once ruled with a steel fist.

  Once, before Giovanni had taken the mantle of leadership.

  Once, before his son Beauregard had turned his nose up at the legacy that he had been honor bound to claim.

  The bastard.

  A fist clenched, the jaw tightened, and the familiar rage began to burn like a wildfire within a chest that had been ripped open, the very heart extracted so long ago.

  No, Nick Casey was no Beauregard.

  That suspicion had been there before Sheila had left the bar the night Ross Mason had followed her.

  It was the reason only Ross had been following at first.

  Realizing there was trouble following Miss Rutledge hadn’t been easy. Diverting suspicion had been even harder.

  Casey had nearly caught sight of the shadowed figure moving through the darkness to take the pictures needed.

  The one of Ross Mason pointing that gun at the girl’s head just seconds after firing into the car and causing the wreck would be a haunting memory.

  But it was over now. The authorities had the pictures that proved Ross had been behind the assault on the woman Nick Casey now guarded so diligently.

  Not that she seemed to mind. There was a smile on her face that hadn’t been there before, and a joy and youth to her that would stay with her for many years to come. Because the man she loved, the man who loved her, refused to let her out of his sight.

  Just as Ethan Cooper loved his Sarah, Nick Casey loved his Sheila.

  That left three: Jake Murphy, Iron Donovan, and Turk Rogan.

  A weary sigh filled the inside of the truck that held the eyes of the past. A tired, disillusioned sigh. It wasn’t over yet. Not yet.

  And there could be no peace until it was.

  chapter 14

  there was a heat surrounding him that Casey knew he would never escape. One he never wanted to escape.

  As he lay with the woman he loved more than life itself and pulled his lips from the kiss that was pulling him headlong into a complete meltdown, he realized how he was looking forward to that final surrender to her.

  Until then— He looked down at her kiss-swollen lips, the drowsy sensuality in her gaze and her flushed cheeks, and he reminded himself that getting there was just as heated, just as incredible.

  Beneath him, Sheila arched closer, her lithe, naked body twisting as the blunt, heavily engorged head of his dick prodded at the swollen lips of her pussy.

  Slick silk. Damn, that was what her bare, satiny pussy felt like. Like the softest, hottest syrup saturating a silk so pure and fine it could only be made in paradise.

  “Casey, please,” she whispered as his lips descended to her breasts. “Oh yes, lick my nipples.” She arched closer yet, whimpering as his lips closed over them and he let her feel a hint of his teeth. “Suck them,” she moaned. “Suck my nipples. Make me come.”

  Taking one of the hardened tips between his lips, Casey sucked it hungrily, the taste of her, the passion that flowed from her, making him desperate for more as her fingers fisted in his hair to hold him closer.

  That slick, wet silk surrounding the head of his cock, his hips moving as he ate at the tender tip of her nipple. Slowly, with precise gentleness, he began working his cock inside her, feeling the snug muscle and tissue as it parted beneath each slow, easy thrust.

  Oh God. It was like being buried, like being wrapped in pure, wild heat. Her juices eased between her flesh and his, another caress that made him ready to growl with pleasure. To snarl with the demand to come.

  He’d be damned if he would let himself go that easily. If he would allow Sheila to go that easily.

  He didn’t want to leave the hot, milking grasp of her pussy until he had no other choice. Pushing inside the liquid heat, slowly, working his cock inside the tender portal, he had to clench his teeth to keep from riding her hard and heavy and spilling his seed inside her.

  His balls were drawn tight beneath the iron-hard shaft, his muscles locked tight against the ecstasy threatening to claim him.

  With his dick encased inside her, his tongue playing erotic games with her nipples, Casey knew his control wouldn’t last much longer.

  Her
silken inner thighs caressed his flanks as her legs bent and clasped his hips. Her hips rolled against him with each thrust of his dick inside the searing depths of her pussy; each time he had to work his way past the tight muscles rather than slamming inside her.

  Fuck, he wanted to ride her hard. He wanted to thrust fast and work inside her and feel her clenching on his cock, sucking his seed straight from his balls.

  He wanted to fuck her with the inborn passion that he knew had only come when he touched Sheila. A hunger he’d never known before, and he knew it was a hunger he would never know for any other woman.

  Giving a final lick to a cherry red nipple, Casey lifted his gaze to stare down at her.

  Her head was thrown back, her hair spread around her like a dark blond halo. Small hands were clenched into fists, holding on to the sheets beneath her, her eyes staring up at him with a hunger that matched his own.

  “Fuck me harder.” The words slipped past kiss-swollen lips. “I dare you, Casey. Fuck me like you mean it.”

  For all the challenge in her voice, he also heard the love. A love Casey knew would last him until he took his final breath.

  * * *

  Sheila wanted to scream in pleasure. She wanted to beg, demand, and cry out with the sensations building inside the exquisitely sensitive muscles of her pussy.

  Casey stretched her until he was certain she could take no more. He filled her, heated her pussy, and stroked inside it with a rhythm that was driving her insane.

  She wanted more.

  “Harder,” she gasped, her hands lifting from the sheets to grip his shoulders, her nails biting into the hard flesh and iron-hard muscles as his hips ground against hers.

  He was teasing her. Pushing her higher. He was filling her with such incredible pleasure, sensations that sizzled across her nerve endings before speeding through her system and tightening every muscle in her body with the need to orgasm.

  “It’s so good,” she moaned, nearly incoherent with the pleasure that burned inside her. “Oh God, Casey, I love you. I love you so much.” It was a plea. “Please let me come. Please, I can’t stand it any longer.”

  Flames were building inside her, spreading outward, threatening to set the world ablaze if she didn’t find her release soon. She could feel the clenching around the flesh penetrating her, tightening and spasming as the swollen bud of her clit began to throb warningly.

  “Yes,” she moaned. “Oh yes, Casey.” Neck arching, she felt it begin, felt it rushing through her, over her, tearing into her with a force that had her trying to scream as her orgasm began to detonate inside her.

  Casey wasn’t but a second longer.

  As he buried his cock to the hilt, Sheila felt the hard, fierce throb, the feel of the brief expansion, then the fierce, jetting spurts of his cum shooting inside her.

  His release mixed with hers, burned and melded until there was no longer just Casey, no longer just Sheila. Until the two of them were suddenly joined and made whole. Made one.

  “I love you,” she cried out desperately. “Oh God, Casey, I love you.”

  With his head buried at her neck, his arms wrapped around her, his very life pumping inside her, Casey whispered, “You’re my soul, Sheila. My home.”

  His home.

  As he was hers.

  And together they were creating the dream Sheila had believed she would never know.

  That dream of belonging.

  also by lora leigh

  the bound hearts

  forbidden pleasure

  wicked pleasure

  only pleasure

  guilty pleasure

  dangerous pleasure

  navy seals

  dangerous games

  hidden agendas

  killer secrets

  elite ops

  wild card

  maverick

  heat seeker

  black jack

  renegade

  live wire

  the callahans

  midnight sins

  deadly sins

  secret sins

  anthologies

  real men do it better

  honk if you love real men

  real men last all night

  men of danger

  legally hot

  about the author

  #1 New York Times bestseller LORA LEIGH is the author of the Navy SEALs, the Breeds, the Elite Ops, the Callahans, the Bound Hearts, and the Nauti series. You can visit her at www.loraleigh.com.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  TAKEN. Copyright © 2014 by Lora Leigh.

  “Reno’s Chance,” by Lora Leigh. Copyright © 2005 by Lora Leigh. First published in Honk If You Love Real Men, 2005.

  “For Maggie’s Sake,” by Lora Leigh. First published in Real Men Do It Better, 2007.

  “Atlanta Heat,” by Lora Leigh. Copyright © 2008 by Lora Leigh. First published in Rescue Me, 2008.

  “Night Hawk,” by Lora Leigh. Copyright © 2010 by Lora Leigh. First published on www.heroesandheartbreakers.com, 2010.

  “Cooper’s Fall,” by Lora Leigh. Copyright © 2009 by Lora Leigh. First published in Real Men Last All Night, 2009.

  “Sheila’s Passion,” by Lora Leigh. Copyright © 2012 by Lora Leigh. First published in Legally Hot, 2012.

  All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.stmartins.com

  Cover design by Danielle Fiorella

  Cover photograph © Barry David Marcus

  eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Leigh, Lora.

  [Short stories. Selections]

  Taken / Lora Leigh.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-1-250-04545-4 (trade paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-4668-4408-7 (e-book)

  1. Man-woman relationships—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3612.E357A6 2014

  813'.6—dc23

  2014008533

  e-ISBN 9781466844087

  First Edition: July 2014