All of You (21 page)

Stella reared back, all faux innocence. “Like what?”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! You are
torturing
that poor man! What the hell happened?”

Stella slammed her glass onto the end table. “You know what, Kat, don’t feel sorry for him for one second!” She pointed toward the hallway. “He and Danny were shot at last week!
Shot at
. He didn’t tell me until right before you came over. And that was only because I could tell he was hiding something and forced it out of him. They had to pull their guns. Both of them ended up getting into a physical altercation with some perps.” Stella scoffed. “
That’s
how Danny hurt his shoulder, not at the gym.”

Kat’s stomach dropped.

Stella shook her head. “He
lied
to me, Kat. The one thing I can
not
fucking handle. And he’s been lying to me for a goddamned
week
! It makes me sick!”

Stella’s eyes filled with tears and a few ran down her cheeks. She dashed them away before pouring herself another glass of wine.

“Stella, I’m sure he was only trying to protect you. I’m sure he-”

“
I. Don’t. Care
. Lying is lying and I am so furious with him I could wring his neck with my bare hands!”

Nathan appeared in the doorway of the hallway, arms crossed over his chest and muscles jumping in his clenched jaw. “Stella, I need to talk to you in the kitchen. Now, please,” he said quietly.

“Screw you!” Stella shot back over her shoulder and went back to sipping her wine.

Kat needed to get the hell out of there as soon as humanly possible, because her huge brother-in-law looked like he was about to lose his shit.

“Uh, I should probably go,” Kat said, pushing to her feet.

“No, no, no!” Stella shook her head vigorously. “You stay right there. If the
liar
has something to say, he can say it to both of us.” Stella shrugged. “Of course, whatever he says will probably be a lie, anyway, so…”

Nathan’s eyes were glued to the back of Stella’s head and his terrifying jaw muscles were twitching like crazy. “I’m sorry about this, Kat, but it’s probably better you do leave. Stella and I have some stuff to discuss.”

Kat didn’t need to be told twice.

She stood up. “Yep. No problem.”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Stella stood and turned to face Nathan, hands on hips. “My sister is staying! ‘Cause, guess what?
She’s
not a liar! But
you
?” She pointed to the front door. “
You
can leave! And don’t come back until you’ve figured out how to-”

Nathan’s patience clearly hitting its threshold, he strode over to Stella and threw her over his shoulder. Nathan turned to face Kat, oblivious to Stella’s fists pounding on his back or the hushed stream of obscenities coming out of her mouth.

“Sorry, Kat,” he said evenly.

Kat waved off his words, already pulling her jacket on. “No problem.” She took one last look at Stella’s squirming, near-violent display and smirked at her brother-in-law. “And good luck.”

*

Nathan got Stella
into their bedroom, shut the door, and tossed her unceremoniously onto the bed. When she scrambled off and tried to stomp around him, Nathan blocked her.

Stella shoved at his chest, hard. “Get out of my way, Nathan! Or, so help me God, I will smack your face off!”

Nathan grabbed her wrists and yanked her against him, loving the feel of her squirming and struggling against his body. “Oh, yeah?” he whispered huskily – sorry for his sin and pissed at Stella’s irrationality – but so fucking turned on he could hardly breathe. His lips curled. “I’d like to see you try.”

Stella’s dark-brown eyes widened and her cheeks reddened as she pushed and pulled and did everything she could to free herself. “You must be out of your ever-loving mind if you think I’m going to let you touch me now. You’ll be lucky if I ever let you touch me again!”

Nathan laughed. “Oh, you’re gonna let me…touch you and taste you and do whatever else I want to fucking do to you. Tonight. Right now.”

She laughed right in his face – or as close as she could get, given their twelve-inch height difference. “Not only are you a liar, you are a delusional-”

Nathan wrapped his right hand around the back of her neck and side of her jaw, holding her face still. “Listen to me…I did
not
lie to you. I withheld information I knew would upset you and needlessly worry you. I did it because I love you and I don’t want you obsessing over things I already have under control.”

Stella jerked her head out of his grip. “Under control?” She scoffed and shoved at his chest. “I know you’re Mr. Big, Tall, and Strong, but –
and I hate to be the one to break this to you
 – you cannot control bullets that come flying at you! And you can’t control bad guys coming at you when you’re not looking and hurting you – or…” Stella’s breath caught. “God,
killing
you, Nathan!”

Nathan scoffed. “Nobody’s gonna hurt me. Or kill me.”

“Yeah, ‘cause that never happens, right? No cops ever get killed in the line of duty! Nope, never happens! Especially not in one of the most crime-infested cities in this country!” She jabbed her finger into her chest. “
I
got shot! And
I
almost died! Remember that? And I’m not even in a dangerous occupation! So, yeah, not really beyond the realm of possibilities here, Nathan!”

When Nathan didn’t respond, because he despised remembering that day, even for a millisecond, Stella huffed.

She tried walking around him again. “Just leave me alone, Nathan. I can’t deal with your bullshit right now.”

Nathan lunged, pushing her up against the closed door, face first. He fisted his right hand in the hair at the nape of her neck and shoved his left hand into the front of her jeans, inside her panties.

“
Get off me!
”

Nathan’s fingers found their destination and he groaned, loudly, against the top of Stella’s head when he found her already dripping for him.

“Doesn’t mean anything,” she spat out, still struggling. “You know I get turned on when you press me up against stuff like this.” Stella gasped when Nathan slipped a finger inside of her. “Just because my body likes you right now doesn’t mean I do!”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to like me right now. But you’re sure as fuck gonna come for me right now.”

Nathan quickly unbuttoned Stella’s jeans, pulled down her zipper, and yanked her jeans down around her ankles. Two seconds later, his jeans were down, Stella’s panties were pushed to the side, and Nathan had positioned himself behind her amazing ass.

Stella could hardly
wait.

She was still pissed and she was still scared, but, at this moment, her desire for Nathan was overriding all of that.

Stella pushed her ass back against him and hated/loved his triumphant, husky chuckle. “Oh, yeah, Little One?” Nathan brushed her hair aside and lowered his lips to her ear. “Interesting…why don’t you tell me what exactly it is that you want, Stella?”

She scoffed, but it was an embarrassingly weak one. “Nothing from you.”

Nathan laughed again, the vibrations traveling through his chest and into hers, raising goose bumps everywhere. “Who’s the liar now, baby?” He buried his hand in her hair again and tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck.

Nathan used his other hand to shove her panties down and then continued the brutal assault on her nether regions as he gently bit, licked, and kissed up and down the side of her neck.

“
Damn you
,” she whispered between pants. “
You know I love that…
”

Nathan pressed a soft, sweet kiss to the sensitive skin behind her ear. “And you know that I love
you
.”

Stella sagged back against him, eyes filling with tears. “Let me turn around, Nathan,” she whispered.

Nathan loosened his hold and Stella turned to face him, tears streaming down her cheeks. His expression softened and his eyes searched hers as he brushed her tears away. “
Stella…
”

Stella threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him when he lifted her up and held her against his body. She kicked at the jeans and panties around her ankles until she was free, then wound her legs around his waist.

She cradled his face in her hands and pulled him down to meet her mouth, kissing Nathan with all of the passion, love, and fear she felt for him. And Nathan gave it right back to her, making love to her mouth with his until they were both too frenzied to wait a second longer.

Nathan pressed her back against the door, grabbed her ass with both hands, and – in one smooth, hard movement – entered her completely.

“Oh,
God
…Nathan!” Stella cried out as he stretched her. Filled her. She grabbed his face and went back at his mouth as he slammed into her again and again.

Nathan broke their kiss and pressed his face to her neck, panting. “
Stella…God…I love you…
”

A few more pumps and they broke apart together, crying out in unison, as the amazing waves of pleasure overwhelmed them both. After a few minutes, their heartbeats slowed, their breathing evened out, and Stella sagged in Nathan’s arms. She pulled on his neck until Nathan’s eyes lifted to meet hers. His old-soul, whiskey-colored eyes shone back at her with nothing but love and adoration and Stella knew she was the luckiest woman in the world.

Stubborn, silly, adorable man.

Stella pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I love you, too. So very, very much. With every fiber of my being. For always.” Stella gripped his chin hard, met his eyes, and smiled her sweetest smile. “But if you
ever
lie to me or ‘withhold information,’ from me again, I will kill you myself. And it won’t be anywhere close to being as quick and painless as a bullet. Do you understand me?”

Nathan nodded like the naughty, duly-chastened boy he was.

Stella kissed him again before sliding down his body. “Good. Now let’s get our PJs on, eat pizza in bed, and watch some DVR’d Lifetime movies.”

When Nathan groaned, Stella shrugged. “That’ll teach you. Punishment’s gotta fit the crime.” She swatted his butt as she walked by. “You’re an officer of the law,
caro
. You should know that better than anyone.”

*

As it turned
out, Danny didn’t call Samantha.

Or anyone else.

Especially the one person he was dying to call.

Instead he jerked off in the shower, ate an entire Meat Lover’s Pizza, and drank a six-pack of Bud Light sitting in front of the TV.

On the couch Kat had ruined.

Danny actually considered hauling the damn thing out to the curb.

Two thousand bucks down the drain was a small price to pay, because every time he looked at it, all he could think about was her soft sighs, that scream as she’d come for him, and all the sweet-as-shit cuddling they’d done afterwards.

The way Kat had run her fingers through his hair, mind-fucked him with her kisses, and tried comforting him after he’d been weak enough to admit all that crap to her was playing on repeat in his brain and Danny couldn’t shut it off.

Or maybe he didn’t really want to.

He ran his hand over the cushion where she’d sat, feeling like some dumb-ass, lovesick douchebag in one of those stupid movies Stella was always forcing Nathan to watch.

Might as well throw it away, ‘cause you’re sure as hell not gonna to let any other woman sit on it.

Now that Danny thought about it, he felt the same way about his bed. Now that Kat had slept in it, the thought of screwing another woman in it bordered on disturbing.

Oh, yeah, that makes perfect sense. You can’t have
her
, so the plan is to refurnish your entire house and become a monk?

Danny knew, despite the depth of his intense feelings for Kat, that wasn’t what would happen. At least not the monk part. He couldn’t live without the distraction mindless sex provided…the distraction and the assurance of control.

Danny had no choice but to pick up right where he’d left off.