Conned (18 page)

Anything.

The steady beat of my heart was like a drum in my veins.
Every one of my senses was tuned into Emily and the tightening in my chest
wasn't as painful as it had been so many times before. I welcomed it and that's
when I knew.

I love her.

It wasn't a huge explosion like I expected it to be. It had
crept up on me and burrowed so deep, my life before her didn't feel real
anymore. I knew from the very beginning that Emily was different and my world
had shifted somehow. The last several weeks were spent with nothing to do but
talk while we were together and I wasn't under any illusions that I knew
everything there was to know about her, but the little I
did
know was
enough to pull me in.

Fighting it didn't do a damn thing.

I was hers.

Period.

I just needed to make her
mine
. Preferably before I
lost her forever.

I found my bag and pulled on some underwear. Normally I only
slept in my boxer briefs and I debated on wearing the sweats I had packed. I
glanced down at her figure curled into a ball on the edge of the bed and
decided to just crawl in next to her as I was. If she freaked when she woke up
next to me, I would deal with it.

I shifted the covers and pulled them over both of us. She
shifted a bit, but settled in with her back to me once I stopped moving. The
heat of her next to me was distracting and my staring contest with the ceiling
became futile.

I turned to face her and reached out to smooth my hand
gently down her arm so I wouldn't wake her. I just needed to touch her, to know
that she was really there next to me. She made a sleepy sound and turned over
until she was just inches away from me. I pulled her into my arms and when she
was stretched out against me, I wrapped myself around her and felt her settle in
until her head was back in the nook of my shoulder and my nose was buried in
her hair.

"Sleep tight, Emily."

"Hmm, Conall?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah, babe?"

She didn't respond, but her hand moved up my torso and
stopped on the inked skin over my heart. I covered her hand with mine and
promised myself that no matter what happened, when this whole thing was over, I
would be the man Emily deserved.

I would be the family she never had.

***

"Ow! Shit!"

The shouted whisper pulled me out of a dreamless sleep and I
opened my eyes to see a shadow crouch down in the corner of the room by the
bathroom. My empty arms alerted me to the fact that Emily was no longer next to
me and the shadow was too small to be another man coming to take her away.

"Emily?" I said groggily.

She gasped and whirled around to see me sit up and rub the
sleep from my eyes.

"What are you doing, babe?" My voice was rough,
but it still came out softer than I had intended. She should be resting, not
wandering around.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep, Con."

I watched her shadow move around for a minute before I
realized she was putting all of her stuff inside her duffel bag.

"You going somewhere?"

Sighing, she stood up and raked a hand through her hair. My
eyes had adjusted enough to see that she was dressed in a t-shirt and was about
to put on a pair of jeans and my senses immediately went on high alert.

"What the hell are you doing?'

"I can't stay here."

I threw the covers off of me and stood from the bed, sleep
leaving me completely. I wasn't worried about her running because I stood
between her and the door and there was no way she would be able to get passed
me.

"What?"

"I can't stay here, Conall. It's not safe for you or
your family. I can't do this anymore."

She'd finally snapped and any kind of preparation I had made
for this moment was useless because my pulse jumped and it wasn't at the
thought of failing at my job. It was at the thought of never seeing her again.

I wasn't going to let her go without me. Not after realizing
how deeply I was in love with her. How much I wanted her to be a part of my
life, without all this shit hanging over us. "And where are you going to
go, Em?"

"I don't know," she cried. "Anywhere! I just
have to do something other than what I'm doing."

"Baby, I know you're stressed, but-"

"Stressed? You think I'm stressed? God, that's the
understatement of the century!"

"Emily…"

"No, Con. I can't do it anymore. I've got to make
things right and if I don't do it now, I'll chicken out and everything will
just…"

I moved toward her as she tried to say whatever it was she
had to get out and once I was close enough I slid my arms around her waist and
pulled her against my chest. She dropped the jeans in her hands to the floor,
trembling and gasping for air. Her arms automatically wrapped around my
shoulders and held on tightly as I buried my face in her neck.

"I don't know what you think you can make right, but
leaving me won't do it. I'm going with you and I'm not leaving your side until
you tell me to beat it." I pressed my lips to the soft skin at the base of
her neck and kissed a trail up to the sensitive spot behind her ear and back
down. "Maybe not even then."

"Conall," she breathed.

"Don't argue with me. Not now. Not about this."

"I can't let anything happen to you," she murmured,
her voice strained from her worry.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and filed this moment away
in my memory. She cared about me and not for what I could give her. For me.
There was a chance her feelings may run as deep as mine and for the first time
in a long time, I saw a future.

"Same goes for me, beautiful. But you leaving… that
will tear me apart."

I pressed my lips under her jaw and opened my mouth to tell
her how I felt. I thought I had been in love before, but I knew now it wasn't
love.

This…

This was love. Raw and gut-wrenching, irrevocable, life
changing… unconditional.

The need to protect her, to destroy whatever made her
unhappy, to be a better man, for her. It was all I could think about.

She moaned softly, effectively scrambling my brain to
anything but the feel of her in my arms. "Please."

My heart pounded furiously against my chest and my voice
cracked, "Please what? Tell me what you need, Emily."

Her breaths came in quick and her soft body trembled against
me, but I didn't stop my exploration of her neck. I darted my tongue out to
taste her skin and her knees buckled beneath her.

"You. I need
you
."

I kissed up her neck again and over her jaw until my lips
hovered over hers, just a breath away from taking what I wanted. "Don't
you know? I'm yours."

I kissed her like a man starving, ready to consume her until
every last drop was a part of me. She pressed her body into mine and the heat
of her body seeped through her shirt and onto my skin. The taste of her, the
feel of her, the sounds she was making… I was gone for her.

Her tongue tangled with mine and it was a fight to get
closer. I moved my hands down to grip her ass and lifted her tiny body easily.
Her legs wrapped around my waist as I turned and made the short trip to the
bed.

Sex had always been a means to an end for me. Whenever I got
horny, I'd find a way to take care of it. Even when I had been with Sarah, it
was just a way to snuff out the arousal.

What I was experiencing with Emily was nothing like that.
This wasn't just a desire to race to satisfaction. I wanted to consume her and
be consumed by her. I wanted to watch her fall apart from my touch. Only mine.

We fell to the mattress and I tore my mouth away from hers
and moved back down her neck, frantically nipping and licking along the way. I
had never tasted anything like her, a feminine sweetness that had nothing to do
with products she used. It was all her and I couldn't get enough.

I pulled the collar of her shirt aside and kissed the
sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder. She gasped and goose bumps
covered her skin so I did it again, using my teeth and tongue to pull at her
skin.

"Conall…"

My name on her lips had been one of the things that drove me
crazy about her these last weeks. It was enough to make my control wither away
now. My hand smoothed over her shoulder and across her chest. Her nipples had
hardened and when I cupped her breast over her shirt and caressed the hard tip
with my thumb, she moaned and arched up into me.

I needed to see all of her, to touch all of her and make her
body sing a God damned opera for me.

I curled my fingers around the hem of her shirt and lifted
it slowly, revealing the expanse of her belly inch by inch. My knuckles grazed
the smooth skin and those same goose bumps broke out over her skin, following
my hand up her torso. She raised her shoulders off the bed and let me pull the
shirt over her head. She hadn't been wearing a bra and when she was splayed out
before me in nothing but a small triangle of black cloth that covered the area
between her legs, beads of sweat broke out over my skin.

"You're so beautiful. Better than I imagined. I…"

Her eyes were locked on my chest, the street lights seeping
through the crack in the curtains shined right over my tattoo. She reached out
and traced her fingers over the symbols that were woven together with a vine of
Celtic knots. Loyalty, family, honesty.

I watched her eyes roam across my chest and over my shoulder
where the vine curled around it. When she looked back up at me, her emerald
eyes were dark and hooded. I leaned forward and kissed her softly as I ran my
hands over her heated skin.

"Do you have any idea how much I've wanted you?" I
mumbled against her lips. "I've never wanted anything so much in my life.
You've changed
everything
for me."

Her tiny hands smoothed up my arms and over my shoulders
until her fingers were laced together at the nape of my neck. I had been
holding myself over her so I wouldn't crush her, but she pulled me down so my
weight settled on top of her. The moment our skin touched, the air left my
lungs. She tilted her hips up to meet mine and the friction caused my aching
erection to pulse.

"Show me."

Emily

When Emily had opened her eyes to find her nose pressed
against a hard chest, she had immediately known it belonged to Conall. The
smell of his skin was masculine and spicy and his heat wrapped around her like
a blanket, making her feel safe.

She loved him.

God, did she love him.

That was why she had decided to make an attempt to sneak out
and book a flight back to Denver and confess everything.

She loved her brother, but it wasn't enough to bring him
back to her. She just hoped he would forgive her eventually and understand that
her heart would shatter if anything happened to Conall or his family.

She'd made good progress until she had reached into her
duffel bag and found the phone she had hidden in there broken, the plastic
pieces sharp enough to scratch her. She wasn't sure how it had broken, but in
all the chaos earlier that evening, she wasn't surprised.

Conall's voice had washed over her and immediately set her
nerves to a dull roar. Why did he have to have that effect on her? She'd tried
to push it away and keep focused on the task she had set herself to. Then he'd
wrapped his arms around her shaking body and lit her up like a Christmas tree.

Now, she found herself pressed against him once more, only
this time she fought to get closer.

He trailed hot, wet kisses down her neck to her breasts and
took his time making her insane with his attention. Her nipples ached for him
and when his lips wrapped around them, the sensation was such sweet agony. She
buried her fingers in his hair and held him against her, not wanting him to
pull away for even a second. Then he smoothed his hand over her stomach, his fingers
slipped under her panties and between her legs, finding her drenched core.

He pulled his mouth away from her breasts and hovered there,
his breath caressing her skin, "This is for me. Only for me."

"Yes!" she cried as he dipped a finger through her
folds and inside her. Her hips bucked as his body moved down hers and she felt
his soft lips circling her navel.

He pressed another finger deep inside and curled both of
them up to find the spot that took her breath from her. His low growl hummed
against her thighs and suddenly, her panties were being pulled down her legs
and his lips were down there where she needed him most, replacing his skilled
fingers and forcing the pressure inside of her to build.

He held her hips in place as he worshipped the sensitive
bundle of nerves until she couldn't take it anymore. She tried to slide her
body away from him, pull him closer, she just couldn't decide, but he held her
steady and kept going.

"Please, I can't…"

He brought his hand around and pressed those two fingers
back inside of her and the pressure topped out. He groaned as she cried out her
release and didn't relent as wave after wave crashed over her. His fingers
massaged and caressed her thighs, her hips, and maneuvered beneath her to grip
her backside as she slowly came back down. When she had caught her breath, he
moved over her body and settled his hips in the cradle of her own. His chest
pressed against hers and she couldn't ignore how well they fit together.

"Beautiful," he breathed into her ear and nibbled
her earlobe. "So damn perfect."

She felt him grind against her and realized he was still
wearing his underwear. It wasn't enough. She needed more of him. All of him.

"I… I need you," she pleaded. She had been ready
to tell him she loved him, but had the sense to think twice about it. She knew
he cared for her, but sharing those words in the passion of the moment wasn't
how she wanted him to find out. Her entire body ached for him, needed him
inside her, all around her. She couldn't wait any longer. He'd been slowly
tormenting her for weeks, making her want things she'd never had, making her
priorities shift until there was only him.

"I don't have a condom," he stated, the
disappointment evident in his voice. He swept a lock of hair behind her ear and
combed through the strands tenderly. "It's okay. We can wait."

"I don't want to wait. I'm clean, on the pill, and I
trust you." A blush crept over her skin when she recognized that she was
actually begging him. She'd never begged before.

"Hey, what's this?" he grinned and trailed his
fingers down her neck and over her chest where her blood was heating her skin
to red. "Don't be self conscious, Emily. You know how much I want you.
It's killing me to hold back from you."

She did know. She could feel it pressing against her. He
bent to run his lips over her breasts, placing tiny reverent kisses across her
skin, driving her arousal higher and higher with each one.

"Then take me, Conall. I don't want to beg, but I swear
to God I will."

He pushed his upper body up off of her and shifted his hips
again, forcing her to feel his need for her. "You never have to beg, I'll
give you anything."

He stared down into her eyes for a moment, his lips parted
and his heavy breaths stroking her sensitive skin. Something passed between
them, something larger than life and she saw it in those dark sapphire eyes
before he took the first breath to speak.

"I love you, Emily. From the moment I saw you, my world
shifted." His eyes never left hers while his fingers never left her skin.
"I'm not good with words, you know that."

Her heart stuttered and picked up again. She was floating
and soaring and for the first time in her life, she saw a brightness ahead of
her. She could get through whatever she had to as long as she had him.

Please forgive me.

"I-"

"No. Not yet," he pressed a finger to her lips and
stroked it down her chin. "I'm going to show you first. I may not have the
words, but I can show you."

Before she could even wonder what he was going to show her,
he pulled away and quickly shoved his underwear off. Her eyes widened when she
saw him, thick and hard, and the ache that had started up again at her core
amplified.

He crawled back over her and took her lips in a passionate
kiss as he wrapped an arm beneath her. She felt him slide through her folds,
sending a new wave of pleasure shooting over her body. He held himself up with
his other arm, the muscles flexing and pulled her hips up off the bed. A slight
shift and he was at her entrance. He didn't stop kissing her until he pressed inside,
then his eyes were on hers. He watched her face as he pressed deeper and it
took every bit of effort to keep her eyes open. She stretched around him as he
filled her and she couldn't remember ever feeling so complete.

"You're tight, baby." He exhaled long and slow
before he slid in all the way and she gasped as he stilled above her. She could
already feel the clenching inside her, begging for release and she wrapped her
arms around his shoulders and tried to move her hips.

He growled low in his chest and his fingers dug into her
backside in an attempt to stop her. "Baby, I need a moment-"

"No you don't," her voice pleaded.

Those three words were enough to snap the last threads of
his control apart. He started to slide out of her and she feared she had
crossed the line and he was going to end this, but at the last second, he
pushed forward, slow and deep, and she was gone for him.

He dropped her hips back to the bed and pressed his weight
down on her chest, staying seated deep inside of her. He cupped the side of her
neck and stroked his thumb over her jaw before crushing his lips to hers. Then
he started to move. He thrust in and out, slow and steady, worshipping her body
as he explored her mouth.

His rhythm never faltered and she slid her hands down his
back, digging her nails in, asking for more. He thrust harder, but kept the
same slow and steady pace and she dug her heels into the bed to meet him thrust
for thrust. Her hands moved down to his muscular ass and pulled him harder,
begging him to push her over the edge. It didn't take her long to reach the
point of no return and her muscles tightened as the pressure built inside her.

He slid a hand beneath her and lifted her hips once more.
"Yes. I can feel you there, baby. Let it go for me."

Closer. She was so close. Reaching for it yet not quite
grasping it.

"I'm right there with you, Emily. Come for me."

He shifted a fraction and the next thrust tipped her over
the edge.

"Conall!" Her body convulsed and her eyes closed,
welcoming the pleasure sliding over her. Emotion filled her heart and tears
leaked out of the corners of her eyes.

The love she felt for him in that moment surpassed anything
and everything. Nothing in this world could make her feel this whole, this
complete. Nothing but him.

He buried his face in her neck and groaned when his body
went rigid above her. He thrust twice more and collapsed on top of her. She
welcomed his weight and kept her arms around him while they both tried to catch
their breath.

I love you
, she thought and was desperate to speak
the words, but her voice wouldn't let her. Would he forgive her for lying to
protect her brother? For ignorantly putting his family in danger?

"I'm crushing you," he whispered after a few
minutes and kissed her neck.

"Never," she whispered back and held him tighter.

He chuckled and continued to kiss her wherever he could
reach. "Good."

I'm crushing
you.

She needed to find a way to fix this. In the morning, she
would call Rayce and tell him it was over.

***

Her body was sizzling.

She must have been dreaming about a fire, because heat
surrounded her, but she needed more of it.

Her eyes fluttered open and her sore muscles begged for the
attention she was getting down below. A moan slipped from her lips before her
breath caught in her throat at the sight of Conall kissing every inch of her
and his hands mastering her body.

"Good morning, love," he mumbled against her skin.

He had woken her once more in the middle of the night to
make love to her. After the first time, she had slowly drifted off to sleep
after he rolled them to their sides and pulled her against his chest. She'd
spent a long time tracing his tattoo with her fingers and lips, hovering over
the symbol for honesty.

She'd been close to losing any hope that he would forgive
her for what she had done, but then her eyes focused on that symbol for family
and a part of her thought there was a chance. She knew without a doubt he would
do anything for his family. Even if it meant lying. She just hoped he'd
understand.

"Good morning," she muttered and pushed her heavy
thoughts away for now. She wanted to enjoy this moment. Soak in as much of him
as she could before her fate was decided. She loved him so much her chest hurt
with the need to be with him. He would protect her with his life, he would take
care of her, and she would take care of him. Being with him also meant gaining
a family who she would cherish forever.

He was her future and she hoped he'd give her a chance to be
his.

When he woke her the first time, it was to have her hard and
fast. He'd pulled her legs around his hips and she gave herself over to him,
loving every hard stroke and bruising kiss. Now, she didn't think it had been
more than a couple hours since and she was ready for more.

He slid up her body and kissed her fully. "I need you
just one more time before we have to go back to reality," he mumbled
against her lips.

"Mmmm…" She didn't want to go back to reality. She
wanted to spend every minute with Conall and let him show her how much he loved
her. She started to wrap her arms around him, but before she could lock him in
tight, he was gone. It was a second later that her entire body was flipped over
until she was sprawled out on her stomach.

He ran his tongue down her spine and snaked his hands
beneath her until her ass was pointed in the air and her head was pressed into
the pillows. Then he was pushing inside her and covering her with his hard
body. One hand held her hips in place and the other smoothed up her stomach and
between her breasts before he pulled her torso upright. She was on her knees
practically sitting on his lap and her back was plastered against his chest as
he drove into her.

He wrapped his fingers gently around her throat and nipped
her neck.

"You feel so fucking good, I can't get enough of
you," his voice growled in her ear and sent a shiver through her.
"This body is mine and I'm never letting you go."

His hand slid away from her throat and down over her
breasts, massaging each one thoroughly before sliding down to her core. "I
love the feel of you coming around me, love the noises you make when I'm inside
you," he whispered in her ear, his hot breath caressing her sensitive
skin. "Give it to me one more time."

She moaned as his fingers found her swollen nub and circled
it slowly, drawing out the pleasure before finally pressing against it and
helping her find her release.

"You're mine, Emily," he breathed as her body
detonated around him. "And I'm yours."

He shouted her name as he came, his arms locking around her
as he spilled himself inside of her.

She could barely hold back the tears as he gently lowered
her to her stomach and stretched out behind her, keeping their connection. He
whispered things to her as he kissed her neck and shoulder and held her close.
Things she'd never heard whispered to her once in her life. Things she could
only hope he wouldn't take back when he discovered the truth.

***

Conall

I waited until Emily turned on the shower before I stepped
out of the room and called Captain Miller. It was nine in the morning in Denver
and I hoped he'd had enough time to make all the necessary arrangements for me
and Emily.