DOMINIC (Dragon Security Book 3) (34 page)

*** Brian is the first book in my

THE CALLAHANS SERIES

Cassidy

I sat at the table, my cellphone in my hands. I wasn’t playing a game or texting like most of the people around me. No, I was watching the phone, waiting for it to ring. Brianna was rarely ever late. It wasn’t like her to do this.

An hour. I’d been waiting an hour.

“Would you like more water?” the waiter asked. I could hear the roll of his eyes in the tone of his voice.

“No, thank you.”

He walked away, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before he asked me to move on. These tables were for paying customers, not for middle-aged women who just sat there all afternoon, staring at the dark screen of a cellphone.

Where the hell was she?

When my phone did ring, I jumped. I’d been waiting for it, yet it was still a surprise.

“Brianna? Where the hell are you?”

“She’s a little busy at the moment.”

The deep, electronic voice scared me more than the sudden ringing of the phone had. I pulled the phone away from my ear and double-checked the screen. It was my daughter’s face, staring at me from the picture I’d taken last month—her red hair and green eyes so much like her father’s—and her name across the bottom of the screen. It was her number the call came from.

“Who is this?”

“All you need to know is that we have your daughter. We won’t hurt her as long as you do everything we say.”

“But…I don’t have anything.”

“You have the one thing we want. So listen close…”

Brian

“How many children do you have?”

I laughed as I watched her walk around the room. Her name was Rachel Thomas, and she’d said she wanted to do some sort of article about me for a high-profile magazine.
Prosperity,
she’d said it was called. They were interested in both the business and private side of the man behind MCorp.

She had no idea what she was getting into.

MCorp started as a security firm that sold home alarm systems. It was supposed to be a small business, something Jack McGuire and I could run together legitimately to cover up the illegal activities that were our true moneymakers. But then it became this conglomerate that included everything from a small pizza franchise to a clothing manufacturing business to an interest in real estate all across the East Coast. I was the CEO, the top boss next to Jack. Jack was really the one they should be doing this story about,but again, Jack would never talk to a reporter. It was too risky.

How many people out there would love to know the truth about Jack and his real business?

“How many do you see in the photographs?”

Rachel touched her finger to a framed picture and touched each face portrayed there.

“I see four here.”

“Count again.”

“Five?”

“I have six children. Two are biological, the rest my wife and I adopted over the years.”

“Why adoption?”

“My wife was a social worker. She brought them home like other people bring home stray dogs.”

“Sounds like a nice lady.”

“She was. An angel.”

“What happened to her?”

“She died five years ago. Pancreatic cancer.”

“I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “She was a good woman, lived a good life.”

“Was it a happy marriage?”

I inclined my head as I thought of Abigail. She was a good woman. Being with her made me feel capable of good things. Unfortunately, I wasn’t with her as often as I should have been.

“We were married twenty-five years. We had our ups and downs, but I think we made each other happy when it really counted.”

Rachel picked up another of the pictures. “Which two are yours?”

I walked up behind her, enjoying the scent of her jasmine perfume. At fifty, I was tired more often than I’d been before, but I wasn’t dead. I once knew a woman like this Rachel, a young, supple woman with curves that haunted my dreams. That’d been after I married Abigail, during a brief separation that I thought was going to be more permanent than it was. I walked away from the curves, but never forgot them. Still, sometimes, I thought about her. Wondered what had happened to her.

Cassidy. It’d seemed like such an exotic name at the time.

I pointed to my boys, Sean and Killian.

“They’re handsome.”

“They work here. Sean pushes paper in the legal department. Killian is head of public relations.”

“Do you suppose I could talk to them later?”

I could almost feel the excitement humming just under the surface. She was interested in my handsome boys. Pride and disappointment mingled in my chest. I was proud that my boys could attract such a beautiful woman, but disappointed she hadn’t even considered what it would be like to fuck the CEO of MCorp.

Was I really that old now?

“And the rest?”

I pointed at the picture again, moving a little closer, practically pressing my body to hers.

“Stacy moved to New York two years ago to go to college. Kevin’s in Paris studying art. Kyle and Ian both live here in the city.”

“Quite a family. Do you just have the one daughter?”

“As far as I know.”

Rachel turned and stood against me for a moment. I was hyperaware of her body, of her breath as her breasts brushed my chest.
Christ!
I needed to get laid!

I stepped back and gestured for her to take a seat on the couch.

“Do you enjoy working here at MCorp?”

“Of course. Jack and I started this company together nearly thirty years ago. We’ve put everything into this place. It’s our baby.”

“How did you and Jack meet?”

I always wanted to laugh when someone asked that question. I couldn’t exactly tell them that Jack was running errands for the local gang when he caught me trying to steal from one of their marks. He saved my ass, convincing his bosses to bring me into the gang rather than gun me down in the streets. If not for Jack, I wouldn’t be here. That’s why, for the last thirty years, I’ve been watching Jack’s back, making sure nothing happened to him.

But that wasn’t what she wanted to know.

“We grew up in the same neighborhood.”

“Did you go to school together?”

“When we went to school.” I laughed at the surprise in her expression. “We weren’t the best kids. We found ourselves in more trouble than we probably should have.”

“So you’ve been friends for, what, forty years?”

“At least.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Not really. People have just forgotten what loyalty means. Back in the day, loyalty kept you alive.”

“How’s that?”

I smiled. There were so many stories I could tell her,but I wasn’t going to. There was a reason why they called businesses like this a front.

“What exactly is the focus of this article?”

“You. You’ve done some impressive things in building this company. And the charities you support…didn’t your family begin the Bayside Boys’ Club?”

“We did. It was a pet project of my wife’s. Now that she’s gone, Killian runs it.”

“You’ve done amazing things for this community. That’s why we want to do a story about you.”

“I haven’t done any more for this community than other businessmen like me.”

“You have, though. Your donation to the Cancer Society—”

“How do you know about that?”

She shrugged, a flirty smile slipping over her thin lips. “I have my ways.”

“That donation was supposed to be anonymous.”

She gave me this look, her eyes wide and innocent.That look might have worked a few minutes ago,but I didn’t like the way this was going. I was a man of secrets. I didn’t like it when one of my secrets was revealed.

I moved closer to her on the couch and touched her knee. “You’re good at what you do, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“You think you can turn over all my moss-covered stones?”

“I think it’s possible.”

I ran my finger along the curve of her jaw, wondering just how far she’d be willing to go. She answered that question when she leaned into me, her thin lips slightly parted as they came dangerously close to brushing my chin.

“I think it’s time for you to go.”

I stood so abruptly that she nearly fell sideways, her cheeks burning red, as she scrambled to gather her things.

“Mr. Callahan—”

“It was a lovely conversation, Rachel. But I think we’ll leave it at that.”

“Don’t you want the publicity that my magazine can offer you?”

“We’ve done quite well before you, we’ll do well enough without you.”

I touched the small of her back to lead her to the door. She turned, forcing my hand against her lower belly.

“What are you afraid of, Mr. Callahan? Are you afraid I’ll find something out about you that you don’t want put out?”

“I think you’re highly ambitious. I think you’d write anything if you thought it would propel your career up to the heights you desire.”

“Is that so bad?” she asked, sliding her hand over my chest. “You’re one of the most elusive men in Boston. Do you know how many reporters at my magazine have attempted to find something on you and failed?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Almost all of them. Everyone wants to know what secrets you’re hiding.”

I pushed her back, trapping her against the door. “Including you?” I asked, my lips as close to hers as they could be without touching.

“Especially me. I love mysteries.”

She ran her hand slowly over my chest, a twinkle coming into her eyes.

“You’re in good shape for a man your age.”

“If you’re trying to seduce me, that’s not the way to do it.”

“You don’t like to be reminded of your age?”

“I don’t have a problem with my age. I just don’t like people assuming my age means I’m weak or frail.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Good, because I’m not.”

To prove it, I grabbed her wrists and pressed them to the door above her head. She smiled, making it pretty clear she didn’t mind having my body pressed up against hers. When she wiggled her hips against mine, it made it pretty obvious she didn’t mind. This girl was hot and clearly in for just about anything. Unfortunately, it was also pretty obvious she was in it for the story and nothing else.

But since when have I cared what a woman’s motives were?

I brushed my nose against hers, pulling back when she moved her jaw in an attempt to catch my lips. I pressed my forehead to hers and stared into her eyes, loving the way she continued to wiggle her hips against mine. I was so fucking hard, and I was pretty sure she was aware of it. She reached up to kiss me, but I pulled away again just a second before our lips touched. She groaned, straining to follow my movement, pressing her slender, lithe body against mine.

“You’re so beautiful,” I said with a sigh.

“Do you want me?”

“I do.”

She smiled, a self-satisfied smile. “Then I’m yours.”

I moved my hands, trapping her wrists with one hand while the other tugged at her skirt. She was wearing one of those pencil skirts that followed the natural curves of her body, tight enough to show off her gorgeous legs, but loose enough that I was able to drag it up her side. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her hips brushing up against me again, but she stood still when my hand managed to slide under her skirt to cup her ass.

So firm…her ass was so firm. I tugged her closer against me, grinding my cock against her lace-covered cunt. She moaned, her lips moving close to my throat. I turned into her and thought about a kiss, but then my mouth moved down to her throat, my teeth nibbling at her neck. She smelled like lavender and tasted like vanilla. It’d been a while since I’d held an ass so tight, tasted a body so fresh. I loved Abigail. But this…I missed the heat of sex just for the sake of sex.

She was breathing hard as I made my way down between her luscious breasts, nibbling at her flesh with a need that only built and built. My fingers searched for her moist lips, a sigh slipping when I brushed her swollen little clit. My mouth was on her throat again, her hands searching for the buckle of my belt. I let her undo my pants, let her reach inside…
hmm,
the feel of those warm hands on my cock was the most delicious thing I’d felt in weeks, months…
so good!
I tugged at her panties, watched them slide away, down her slender thighs. There was nothing better than the sight of a woman’s panties sliding away…

“Tell me you want me,” I groaned against her ear.

“I want you,” she said, her voice breathless.

She guided me to her, removing any doubt that might have remained. I lifted her, just enough to set her at the perfect height, then slid inside, closing my eyes as her hot body surrounded mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck and we began to move, slowly at first, finding a rhythm that was a little on the rough side, knocking her hard against the door with every inward thrust. She moaned, her hands moving through my hair, under my jacket, eventually coming to rest on my ass, tugging me closer and closer to her with each movement.

It’d been too long…so long.

I bit my lip to hold back the groan that wanted to escape when I came. She pressed her body hard against me, grinding her hips, rubbing that beautiful little clit against me as she, too, reached her climax.

We stood there a long moment. Then she slowly pulled away, bending over to pick up her panties.

“Pick me up at eight.”

“For what?”

She glanced over her shoulder at me. “Dinner.”

I barely had time to fix my pants before she disappeared through the door. I watched her go, catching the disapproving look on the face of my assistant as I turned to go back inside.

“What?” I asked.

She glared at me, turning away when I stared back.