Private Release (3 page)

The bear growled again, displeased.

He wanted her.

Jared wanted her.

Red bloomed in her cheeks and she looked askance at him. Jared realized he was stark naked, with a hard-on, in front of a total stranger.

“I’m so…sorry. I thought…I thought it was a closet.” She was quaking.

Confused, Jared realized he was standing on her coat, which was now soaking wet. He noticed two crutches scattered on the floor leading to her and it dawned on him she wasn’t shaking from fright, she physically couldn’t support herself.

Not thinking about his nudity he rushed forward and caught her in his arms as her knees buckled from under her.

“Fuck,” she cursed as she clung to him. Her head plastered against his chest, his face was nestled in her dark hair, which smelled like green tea. Exactly like the woman from his dream. “Fuck. Dammit all to hell.”

She had quite the potty mouth on her.

“Are you all right?” He managed to ask, but still held her close against his body.

“Just embarrassed.” She pushed against his chest feebly. Jared helped her stand, but still held her up.

“What do you need?”

“My crutches.” Her cheeks were still pink and she wouldn’t look him in the eye. The poor thing was humiliated beyond all recompense and he didn’t know why, until he remembered he was still stark naked.

“I apologize for my lack of attire,” he offered, but he wasn’t that sorry. The inner beast in him was positively purring, begging to strip her down to nothing and make up for this indiscretion in other ways. He scooped her up and carried her across the room to his overstuffed armchair and set her down. Then he turned and retrieved her crutches. She took them and held onto them, but still wouldn’t look him in the eyes.

“Can I do anything else for you?” Jared asked.

“You could put on some clothes.” A smile quirked the corner of her luscious, pink, full lips.

“Again. Sorry.” He jogged back to the bathroom and shut the door and quickly toweled off. He opened the other door, which led into his bedroom. He should take over his parents’ old bedroom. At least their bathroom wasn’t off the entrance way, then he could’ve avoided that situation that just played out, but since his parents’ death he couldn’t take over their old room on the other side of the penthouse. It hurt too much. He just remained in the bedroom that he’d had since he was a kid. Of course when Étienne heard about this, his head of security was going to insist he move into his parents’ old room for privacy. He went into his closet and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

His dick was still hard as a rock, because her scent lingered on his damp skin. He had to get hold of himself before he went out to see her, even though that was the last thing the bear inside him wanted.

The wound in his hand was nearly healed and he tossed the towel away. The cut was closed, but still pink and angry. It would be gone in a couple of hours. Hopefully it wouldn’t bother the human female.

Razor-sharp claws elongated from his nail beds and sharp incisors punched through his gums. A growl rumbled deep in his chest.

Yes.

He was shifting.

No.
He couldn’t shift into a polar bear. She was human and had no idea about their world. If she saw him like this no doubt she would bolt and their secret would be exposed… If Étienne didn’t kill her first. Jared snarled at that thought. There was no way he’d let another
Mukswa
male touch her.

Jared took a deep, calming breath and tried to focus on something else. Finances mostly, to try to contain his inner bear. His fangs and claws retracted. Only when he knew he had his bear under control did Jared venture out through his bedroom door.

She was still in the living room, but was not sitting in the overstuffed armchair. She was standing beside it, with the use of her crutches. In her hand was a briefcase he hadn’t notice before. The front of her suit had damp splotches, the front of her white shirt had a big wet spot, but she still looked poised with her head held high.

A warrior,
his bear said appreciatively.

He glanced at the foyer and saw her coat was still sopping wet on the floor. Without a word he strode over to it and picked it up. He slid back the paneling and hung the jacket on a hangar.

“I’ll have someone dry clean this for you.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “It’s late at night.”

“We have our own dry cleaner on staff here.”

Jared lifted the receiver on the wall and called down to someone in laundry to retrieve the jacket and to clean it ASAP. Though, not too quick. He wanted to keep this enchantress around for as long as possible.

“I’m sorry again,” he said, offering another apology.

“No. You have no reason to apologize, Mr. Stevens. I’m the one who blundered in. I had no idea the closet was hidden.” A blush tinged her coppery cheeks and she dropped her head.

“We can apologize all night, but how about we do something a bit more constructive. You already know my name, but please call me Jared. Mr. Stevens was my father.”

She looked up at him again, relief evident as she grinned, and her shoulders relaxed. “I’m Adele Banks. Gordon Thomas recommended me.”

This is Adele?

Her smile disappeared. “I know, you’re probably wondering about my qualifications… I can assure you that although I am impeded I am a damn fine investigator.”

Jared cocked his head to one side and he was angry that Adele felt the need to explain her situation to him. He moved closer to her, her dark eyes widened again as her gaze focused on him, assessing him.

Sure, she required the use of the crutches, but he didn’t give a flying fuck in space about that. Adele’s scent wafted up to him, even from a few inches from her.

God.

All he wanted to do was bury his face in her hair and his dick in her pussy. Hampered by the crutches or not, she was still a damn sexy woman and he could tell she was just as affected by him. Jared could smell her arousal. He seriously needed to get his shit together.

“There’s no need to explain, Ms. Banks. My brother-in-law recommended you highly and I trust him implicitly.”

“Just call me Adele, Jared.” She said his name with such hesitation, but he liked the way she said it. He raked his hands through his hair, cursing himself inwardly for acting like some kind of horny youth.

He cleared his throat and moved a safe distance from her. What he thought was a safe distance anyway, but it wasn’t working. “Well, let’s get started.”

Adele nodded. “Just point me in the direction of a computer and we’ll see what’s going on.”

Jared took her over to the computer station, just off the sunken living room. “I hope this is adequate.”

Adele set her briefcase on the desk. “More than adequate. Will I be able to access your company’s financial records from this location?”

“Yes.” Jared quickly logged on, giving her access to everything. “Anything you can do to track down the missing funds would be most appreciated.”

“I’ll do my best.” She moved past him, her long hair brushing his cheek like silk. The growl erupted from his throat so quickly he didn’t have time to stop it. Adele glanced up at him, surprised, but said nothing. She just turned back to the computer.

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Jared moved away from her, across the room. “Just holler if you need anything.”

“Will do,” she answered, but she wouldn’t look at him as she set her crutches against the desk beside her.

Jared headed to the couch, so he could still see her, but she was far enough away to not tempt him.

Yeah. Right.

He leaned back against the sofa and closed his eyes, but she invaded his mind. One thing for certain, he needed to get her out of sight.

He headed toward his bedroom and shut the door. His cock was hard and heavy as he undid the fly to his jeans and grasped his erection. A bead of pre-cum clung to the tip and he slid his hand up, rubbing his thumb against the head while his mind distracted him with her.

Only her.

“Come here, Jared.” Adele beckoned. She was naked, her glorious body bared to his as she walked across the room toward him. He didn’t know how she got in his room and he didn’t give a damn. “Let me take care of that for you.”

She dropped to her knees, her hair brushed his thighs as her small, soft hand encircled his dick. She began to stroke it, before her hot, wet mouth claimed it.

Jared quickened his stroke, wanting to come.

“My pussy is wet.” She lay on his bed, spreading her thighs, as he’d pictured a thousand times before he knew her face. Her pussy is pink, wet and so inviting.

“Ah fuck.” The pressure building inside him exploded and he cried out as he released. It erupted from him violently and his body tensed as he came. He continued to stroke himself, savoring what he’d been denied for so long.

Release. Blessed release.

Crap. I can’t remember a thing. I’m a fraud. A total fraud.

Adele shook her head and stared again at the computer screen, going through spreadsheet after spreadsheet, but it was all beginning to blend together. All she could think about was Jared Stevens, naked.

It’d been a while since she’d seen a man naked, with a raging hard-on. Hell, it was the first time she’d ever walked in on a man masturbating. It scared her, but thrilled her, fired her blood and made her ache with need.

She was painfully aware how long it’d been since she’d been pleasured by a man or had even pleasured herself. Her sex drive had been at an all-time low during recuperation.

Jared Stevens was like some kind of magic woman’s Viagra or something. And he was just the way she liked them. He was easily six foot two and broad-shouldered. She’d never seen a man like him before, maybe on the movie screen or something, but not in real life…in Winnipeg.

It wasn’t so much his rugged good looks that appealed to her, though they helped, it was that Jared Stevens exuded something dangerous and magnetic. Those blue eyes drew her in and seemed to pierce her very being. Adele had always prided herself on being a quiet and protective person, but one look from him and she felt so vulnerable.

Usually she wasn’t one for feeling so unguarded. Not in her line of work. Since the attack she’d kept her emotions, her desires to herself, but one look from Jared Stevens exposed her to the very nerve endings of her body.

Adele closed her eyes and pictured him in the shower with the water running in rivulets down the hard planes of his body, over his chest, his tight bare ass and thick, muscular thighs. Heat flooded her veins, creeping up her neck to bloom in her cheeks. She touched her face and it was hot.

God, please don’t let Jared see me like this.

What if he did? What would she do? In the safety of her mind she knew exactly what she’d do. She’d tell him to fuck her.

Hard.

She imagined joining him in the shower. His blue eyes fixed on her as she dropped to her knees and palmed his thick cock, giving it a stroke, luxuriating in touching him before running her tongue up the length, tasting him.

After she sucked him off, he’d pay her the same courtesy and she’d gladly spread her legs to have him lick her pussy. His hot tongue probed her folds to circle around her clit, sucking her and stroking her to make her come, before pressing her against the tiled shower wall and ramming his cock into her sheath.

Thrusting in and out and with each movement his balls would slap her ass. His shaft stretching her and filling her so completely, chasing away the emptiness, the loneliness that had overtaken her life.

Damn.
She was so turned on, by one of the sexiest men she’d seen in a long time. How he managed to stay out of the spotlight was a mystery to her.

Perhaps it was that bodyguard.

Adele shuddered thinking about that beast of man who brought her up here and thrust her head-first into the most embarrassing moment of her life. She groaned and buried her face in her hands, in the process she knocked the keyboard. The computer made a funny sound and the spreadsheets disappeared in a blip.

In fact the whole monitor went dark.

“Shit,” Adele cursed under her breath. She tried for a few minutes to recover what was lost, but a password locked her out. She scanned the room, but Jared had disappeared. The last time she’d seen him he was sitting on the couch.

Now he was nowhere to be seen.

“Mr. Stevens?” she called out, but there was no answer. “Jared?” She tried uneasily, still uncomfortable with using his name. It was too personal, even though she’d seen him naked and jerking off.

Still no answer.

After a few minutes she got up and snapped her braces on. She was going to have to find him. If she was locked out she couldn’t do her work and that’s what he was paying her for. She knew one thing, there was no way she was going to open any closed doors. Not after what happened the last time.