No Regrets: Jani Kay (Firebird Trilogy Book 2) (17 page)

Calling her name as I got closer to the SUV, fear struck my heart as she ignored me and climbed into the vehicle. Was it because she didn’t hear me, or was she purposely avoiding me? I couldn’t believe my luck that I'd found her this easily, although her reasons for being at the airport were unclear.

“Rebecca! Wait,” I called, catching my breath as I reached the vehicle just before the driver closed the door. He was a large burly man, and under his tight black T-shirt I could see the outlines of a weapon. He glared at me, his hand sliding to his hip and resting on the gun as he stepped between Rebecca and me. Christ, I didn’t have time to play with security personnel.

Wide green eyes ran up my torso, past my chest, to my face. Eyes just like I remembered; rimmed with long dark lashes. Her beautiful mouth formed an O as her gaze snapped to mine and she sucked in a breath as our eyes connected. An instant spark ignited in my soul, buzzing through my body as if I was on crack. I’d never had this happen to me before.

Staring, I drowned in the eyes that softened the moment her gaze met mine. Two souls searching for their other half collided with such undeniable force it knocked me sideways.

How is this possible?

Not a word had been spoken, yet everything was communicated in that one moment. She felt it just as surely as I had.

“It's okay, James, you can step aside,” she asserted.

Staggering backwards, as if a physical force had been emitted, I gaped at her. Both hands resting in her lap trembled lightly, but she never broke eye contact—as if she had been waiting for this moment and knew
this was it
.

The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile. She cocked her head sideways, amusement filling her eyes. “You have mistaken me for my sister. I’m Chloe. Are you a friend of Rebecca’s?”

Virtually identical in every way to Rebecca: poised, breathtaking, and beautiful. Auburn hair, green eyes, long legs, sexy body made for fucking. Yet there was something different about her. She oozed confidence. Trust radiated from her as if she’d never been hurt or cheated on.

“Yes...I—” Stammering and at a loss for words, I recalled Rebecca telling me she had two younger sisters. The woman laughed at my confusion, as if she was used to people mixing her up with Rebecca.

“Chloe?” I reached out a hand to her. “I’m Alain du B...Rebecca’s friend. We met on our way to Paris when she first came to Europe.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “
You’re
Alain? The French guy—” Her hand rested on her chest for a moment as she digested the information. “No wonder you looked so familiar, as if we’d met before.” She bit her bottom lip in the same way as Rebecca always did when she was deep in thought.

She placed her hand in mine. My fingers curled around hers, an electric current passing between us at the first contact. For a moment, it was as if we were the only two people on the planet, nothing else mattered but us.

The man who’d been watching all of this transpire without a word, cleared his throat. “Ms. Clarke, I’ve been given clear instructions to take you directly to the house. I’m afraid I need to follow those orders and ask the gentleman to leave.”

My senses returned. I let go of her hand and stepped away from the car, without breaking eye contact. “I’m on my way to see Rebecca. I’ll follow in my car.” Chloe would lead me straight to Rebecca. We could have our talk and iron out our problems.

She smiled and nodded, seemingly pleased that she would see me again. I closed her door and darted to the waiting car behind hers, giving the driver instructions to follow closely, and to ignore red lights if necessary to keep up. I had a feeling the burly guy was going to try to shake me off.

B
rent called from the SUV. He’d picked up Rebecca’s sister from the airport and was bringing her back to the secure house. As far as I knew, nobody except family and my group of staff had any idea she was flying in from Australia today. So to say I was surprised when he called to tell me a man who apparently knew Rebecca was following him, would be an understatement. It was only when he described the guy and mentioned his thick French accent that it dawned on me it was the fucking Frenchman, Alain. I cursed into the phone.

What the fuck is he doing in Germany?

Rebecca lay on the couch, her head on my lap, watching television. I’d been running my hand through her thick, lustrous hair, massaging her scalp and base of her neck to help her relax while we waited for Chloe to arrive. My fingers stilled as I gritted my teeth. She could easily overhear the conversation, even though I wished she couldn’t. I wanted to get rid of the fucker, but it wasn’t really up to me.

“Alain? Are you serious?” Rebecca sat up, frowning as she scanned my face.

“Well, he’s following the SUV. Brent is waiting on instructions. If we want to lose him, just say the word.”

I watched several emotions flicker though her eyes. Some unsettled me, turning my insides out as I worried that she still had strong feelings for him. She chewed on her lip, dropping her gaze to the floor. Why didn’t she want me to see into her eyes? Was she still in love with the prick?

After a beat, she lifted her gaze to mine and shook her head. “No. Let him follow the SUV. I need to speak to Alain.”

I wanted to protest, tell her it wasn’t a good idea. I opened my mouth then shut it again. At least if he came here to talk to her, I was close by. There weren’t any guarantees I wouldn’t want to punch him in the face and throw him out, but I'd take my chances. Grimacing, I nodded and spoke to Brent, “It's okay. Let him follow you. Just make sure nobody else is tailing you though.”

“Yes, sir,” he replied, his surprise obvious in his tone. He cleared his throat. “ETA twenty-five minutes, sir.”

“Thank you, Brent.” I ended the call and rubbed at the pain invading my temples.

Rebecca voiced my questions aloud. “Where did Alain come from? More importantly, how did he find Chloe and know to follow her?”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out pretty soon. They aren’t too far away.”

She wrung her hands together, and a crease formed between her brows. “Oh, God, I really don’t need this right now. It's hard enough having to deal with Chloe—”

“Baby,” I breathed, pulling her into my lap. She wasn’t the only one feeling insecure. I needed to hold her and re-establish our connection before the playboy Frenchman tried to charm his way back into her life.

What if she wants
him
? Fuck.

My heart twisted, fear gripping my insides that Rebecca would want him back. I wasn’t giving her up, not after everything we’d been through. Yet she needed time with him. Even though she tried to hide it from me, I'd seen the massive number of missed calls on her phone.

“Max, this doesn’t change anything between us,” she said softly as if she could read my mind. “It's over between Alain and me.”

“How can you be sure?” I asked, trying my level best to keep the concern and jealousy from my voice.

A small smile twisted at the corners of her lips. “I just know,” she said, placing her palms on either side of my face. There was something else she wanted to say, but I sensed her reticence.

She leaned forward and brushed her lips over mine, sending a tingle down my spine. Her gesture was so gentle, so loving, I almost forgot my nemesis was on his way here.

I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against hers. “Rebecca, I can't lose you now. I need you to understand that.”

“I know, baby,” she whispered. It was the first time she’d called me
baby
. At least I had a straw to cling to while I watched the Frenchman make his moves on her. Every inch of my self-control would be tested.

Tipping her chin up, I leaned in for a kiss. I covered her mouth with mine in a sweet lingering kiss, wanting her to know how much I wanted her. She pushed her chest against mine, grinding her hips into me. Was she trying to appease me? She definitely knew how to get my cock hard in no time. My hand slid to her thigh and disappeared beneath her skirt, my palm feeling its way up her silky smooth skin until it reached my favorite place. My fingertips brushed over her lacy panties, then pushed them aside and slipped into her warmth.

She groaned into my mouth, biting my bottom lip as she spread her legs wider.

“Fuck, baby. You’re so fucking wet.”

Was she thinking about him? His dick sinking into her? His fingers fucking her? Even though her body was here with me, I had no way of knowing what was going on in her mind.

“Hmmm,” she hummed, sucking on my lip.

Two fingers found their way into her slickness. “Oh, God, Max,” she cried out. I loved having her at my mercy, making her come. Lifting her top, I pushed down the cup of her bra, and sucked a hard nipple into my mouth. “Jesus, Max, you make me want you so much,” she moaned, grabbing at my aching cock that pushed against the fabric of my jeans.

I needed to be inside her, spill my come into her before the Frenchman arrived. It was primal. Caveman. I didn’t care. All I wanted was to fuck Rebecca. Even better if he walked in and saw us, my dick inside her. But I wouldn’t do that to Rebecca or her sister. I was still a gentleman.

Leaning over, I lay her on the couch and pulled her panties down her legs, then placed her legs over my shoulders and dove into her pussy with an urgency I couldn’t control. My tongue swirled around her clit, eliciting loud moaning from above me. Her fingers curled in my hair, pulling at the strands. She arched her back, pushing up so I could slip my hands under her ass and lift her to my mouth to coax an orgasm from her body.

Her thighs quivered as I lifted her higher, only her shoulders and head remaining on the couch. “Oh, God,” she screamed. “Baby!” I continued my onslaught on her clit, feeling her pussy grip my fingers when I shoved them into her.

“I want your cock. Fuck me, Max.”

I sat back and undid my zipper, hardly able to get the tight jeans down my legs. She made me lose control. I was as horny as a fucking schoolboy who couldn’t get there fast enough. I rubbed the head of my cock along her slickness, making her cry out my name again. “Please,” she begged. “Come inside me. Make me yours.”

“You are mine,” I growled. “Fucking
mine.
Nobody else will touch
my
pussy.”

Jesus, I was like a madman, the scent of her arousal drifted to my nostrils, making me crazy.

I pushed into her all at once, filling her to the hilt.

“Yes,” she hissed, her arms tightening around my neck. “Oh, Max.”

“Baby.
My
baby,” I cried as I rocked my hips and drilled into her, erasing any thoughts about every other man who’d been inside her. Julian. Alain.
Fuck them
. Rebecca was my woman. They’d had their chances. They’d fucked up, and I was claiming what I’d waited for.

I wasn’t letting her go.

Ever.

N
othing existed beyond our bodies, Max deep inside me, fucking me with a possessive ferocity only Maxwell Grant could muster.
Making me his
. He didn’t know, but he already owned me—heart and soul.

I pulled away just enough so I could see his beautiful face. His skin was damp, and his muscles taut as he drilled into me. His mouth, only inches from mine, pulled into a determined line. His gaze shifted to mine, penetrating into the depths of my soul as if he wanted to know everything about me, every thought, and every desire.

I opened up to him; let him see the real me. Read whatever he needed to know from the only place of truth. The place I couldn’t hide or lie about. Couldn’t run from.

“God, baby, I want you so much.” His words rumbled from his chest before his mouth closed over mine and kissed me with so much force I could hardly breathe. We shared the same oxygen, inhaling one another.

He broke the kiss, and stared back into my eyes. “I need you,” he growled, “more than air.”

“Max,” I whispered, “Oh, God, Max.”

“Come with me, baby.”

I did. I let go of everything I was holding back and allowed the sensation to take over my body. Panting, with our chests heaving, we came together. I nuzzled my nose into Max’s neck, overcome with so much emotion that I didn’t want him to see my face. He whispered my name as he held me in his arms, gently stroking over my hair. I wanted to stay like this forever: him in me.

Whole.

Two parts making one.

The buzz of an intercom broke the spell, bringing me back down to earth with a rude thud.

“Fuck.” Maxwell pulled out of me. “I'm sorry. I got carried away. I only meant to kiss you.”

I laughed. “Really? That’s all you wanted?”

He stilled for a moment before answering, “No. I want it all. I can never get enough of you, Rebecca.”

My breath hitched. “Really?” I whispered.

I'd been too stubborn to acknowledge it before, wanting to do the right thing. But this...it was so right, so perfect; it couldn’t be any other way for me. I'd fucked two men before Max, thinking I knew what love was, but nothing could prepare me for this. I wanted to crawl under his skin, inside his heart, possess every part of him. Never leave.

He wanted to own me. He wanted to fuck me. I was fine with both, yet I yearned for him to love me. Love me as if he couldn’t breathe without me. Because that was how I loved him. My heart squeezed in my chest, aching with longing.

It was his turn to laugh. “
Really
. Now run off like a good girl and go clean up. Your ex and your sister won’t be impressed to see your just-fucked hair and my cum leaking down your legs.”

He pressed a kiss onto my forehead and pushed me toward the door. I looked back to see him tucking himself back into his jeans, a grim expression on his face as he pressed the buzzer to speak into the intercom.

S
o this was where Maxwell fucking Grant hid Rebecca. I'd known from the first time I'd laid eyes on him that he wanted Rebecca. She couldn’t see it, but it was clear as daylight to me. Everything about him was centered around her. And now he had his prize because I was stupid and let her go in a moment of madness and misplaced loyalty to my family.