Allure (28 page)

‘I’ve just got to nip to the bathroom, OK? I won’t be a minute.’

I watch her go, and I know I have to see Joey before we leave. I think I quite possibly owe him, big time.

He looks up as I walk in, but I stay at the back of the room.

‘Get over here, handsome.’

I can’t help but laugh. I really like this guy. ‘Joey, I… I just want to say thank you.’

‘For what?’

‘For making sure she comes with me this afternoon.’

‘Listen, Blue Eyes, if she really had changed her mind there wouldn’t have been a thing I could have done to change it back. She can be a real stubborn bitch when she wants to be, and that’s a warning, right there, just so you know.’

I smile, and briefly bow my head, shoving my hands in my pockets as I stop by the side of his bed. ‘She wanted to stay, though. Didn’t she? She wanted to stay here. With you.’

‘She’s my baby girl, Neal. I just want her to be happy.’

‘But she wanted to stay.’

‘She did. But her argument was crap. Because her eyes were telling me something completely different to what was coming out of her mouth. She wants to be with
you
, Neal.’

‘Does she?’

‘Trust me. I know her better than anyone, and she might think I can’t but I can read her like a book. And her eyes were telling me she wants to be with you.’

‘I’m not taking her away from you, Joey.’

‘Well, you are, handsome. But I know what you mean.’

He smiles and beckons to me to come closer, and I know he’s gonna hug me, and I let him. ‘I really mean it, Joey. Thank you.’

‘Just look after her, OK?’

He lets me go and I straighten up, my hands back in my pockets. ‘She says she doesn’t need looking after. And I kinda think she’s right, don’t you?’

‘She says a lot of things, Neal. You’re just going to have to try and work out which ones she really means.’

‘I’m gonna give her a good life, Joey. I promise you that.’

‘Just be happy, Neal. Both of you. Whatever it takes, just make each other happy.’

I give him another smile and head back towards the door. ‘We’ll see you later, alright? Before we leave.’

‘You can count on that, Mr Cannon.’

I open the door and start to walk out.

‘Neal?’

I turn back around.

‘Do you love her? I mean, really love her? And by that I mean Kira Hardy, not Kira Blu. Do you love
her
?’

‘I love both of them, Joey.’

His face breaks into a grin. ‘There goes a man who’s going to get his cake and eat it.’

I grin back, and know that my life really is about to change now.

Twenty-Nine

Kira

I look out at the rain pelting down on to the tarmac. It’s a dark, grey afternoon but my mood doesn’t in any way match the weather. I feel almost serene as I continue to stare out at the planes and the people running about outside. One of those planes is about to take me somewhere I’ve never been before. It’s about to take me to a whole other world, a brand new life, and I’m both nervous and excited about what lies ahead.

I feel his arms wrap around me from behind and I lean back against him, reaching up to touch his face. He catches my hand and kisses it and I let my stomach dip and my insides melt at the feel of his lips on my skin.

‘This is it, baby,’ he whispers quietly in my ear and I close my eyes, just briefly, at the sound of his voice.

Yeah. This is it. The day I take the biggest leap of faith I could ever take.

‘Still sure you want to do this?’

I nod, opening my eyes again and turning my head slightly, and he kisses me, so, so gently, and that seals it for me. I’ve never been more sure.

It was hard, saying goodbye to Joey and Benni and the Bam-Bams family, but I’ll be back. At some point. And I’m not leaving them, not really. I’m just moving a little further away, that’s all.

‘Joey’s gonna be fine, Kira. You know that, don’t you?’

‘Yeah. I know.’

He was out of hospital in time for me to say goodbye to him properly, and I’m happier, knowing he’s home now and Benni’s looking after him. He’s going to propose, when Joey’s up and about. He told me, as we said those goodbyes and tried not to cry too much. He’s going to propose and they want me and Neal to come over for the wedding, which, of course, we will. In a heartbeat. So I’m happy, knowing they’re good and everything’s working out for them. I can only hope I’m as happy as they are, one day.

‘This is a new beginning for us, baby.’

His mouth rests on my neck as he murmurs those words, his lips vibrating against my skin and I shiver, because I’m beginning to wonder if I’m ever going to be able to survive more than a few hours without him touching me, in some way. He’s an obsession that’s growing stronger, it’s not waning.

‘A whole new beginning.’

I turn around in his arms and he kisses me, deep and dirty, and I don’t care that we’re in the middle of a crowded airport. I don’t care about anything, except this man and what our life together is going to be like.

I really don’t care about anything.

Except him.

Neal

I still feel like she’s leaving a part of herself behind, here, in
Newcastle
. But I can’t stop that from happening. I can only hope that she brings the greater part of her with us. That she brings that home.

‘You ever join the Mile High Club, beautiful?’

I grin and she smiles back. ‘No. But I’ve also never been arrested and thrown off a plane, either, which is what’ll happen if you try to enrol me today.’

I pull her closer, and even here, in the middle of the airport, my cock is crying out for some relief. ‘You telling me you can last all those hours without feeling me inside you?’ I move my mouth right next to her ear as I speak, and I feel her moans come from deep within her. We should have more self-control, we’re not horny teenagers, but I really can’t leave her alone.

‘I don’t have much choice, Mr Cannon.’

She moves her head and catches my mouth and we’re kissing again. And I need to find somewhere, anywhere that’ll give us just a few minutes alone. Or as alone as we can be, given where we are.

I take her hand and look over towards the rest rooms. All I need to do is wait for a lull…

‘Come on.’

‘Neal!’

I don’t give her any choice as I quickly drag her into the ladies rest room, pulling her into the first free cubicle there is, my heart beating so loud I’m almost sure people will be able to hear it from outside.

‘I don’t believe you,’ she laughs, and I shush her, but I can’t stop laughing, too. This is risky, and if we’re caught I have no idea what they’ll do to us, but I’m starting our new life as we mean to go on – taking risks and having fun.

I slide a hand around the back of her neck and tangle my fingers in her hair, pulling her head back slightly as I kiss her, and she responds. Oh, Jesus, does she respond!

She unzips me before pushing me down onto the closed toilet seat, ripping off her panties and shoving them in my jacket pocket as she straddles me, taking my cock in her hand and stroking it lightly, but it’s already hard. It’s very rarely anything else these days.

She raises her hips slightly then eases herself down over me, and the second I’m inside her everything makes sense again.

We hear voices outside, and she buries her head in my shoulder to stifle her moans as she grinds against me and I hold her, my face in her hair to drown out my own groans. But it’s not easy. She makes me want to cry out, she does that to me. She makes me want to shout so loud the whole world can hear.

And then she takes my face in her hands and for a second we just look at each other – eyes meet eyes and it’s like that first moment all over again; the moment that crazy attraction hit, and never once let go of its hold on us. The feeling’s too strong, the pull too great and I can’t regret a second of what happened between us, because it brought us here, to this. To a brand new future we both needed to find.

She kisses me, and I hold on to her as we continue our stolen fuck. We started this journey as two broken people, but in finding one another I think we made each other whole again. Whereas once we didn’t want to feel anything, now all we want to do is feel. We want to live again, not hide behind the people we’d thought we were; the people we thought we needed to be to survive, to get through the kind of life we weren’t really living, we were just existing. But we’re living now, and I’m never going back to that cold empty shell I once was.

She buries her head against my shoulder again and I feel her thrusts start to quicken, her hips grinding harder into me and she squeezes tight with those crazy, insane muscles and I’m coming, too. I’m coming, and I’m kissing her to stop ourselves from crying out and it’s the most incredible feeling.

‘You are going to get me into so much trouble, Mr Cannon.’

I smile, and she kisses me again, and I feel like every birthday and Christmas has come at once. ‘That’s my intention, Ms Blu.’

We may be on an uncertain journey here, but that’s what’s making us both feel so alive.

‘Take me home, Neal.’

New York
is within touching distance.

My girl and me, we’re almost there…

The story continues…

Book #2 in The Forbidden Series will be released early 2016.

About the author…

Michelle Betham is an ex-media technician turned author of hot, edgy, gritty romance, usually involving rock stars, sports stars, and bikers. But not usually all in the same book. Yet. She is both self-published and published through HarperImpulse, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.
Addicted to binge-watching TV dramas she struggles to think of a life before Netflix, loves rock music, tattoos, spicy food, and Keanu Reeves - a crush that's lasted over twenty years, and one she blames entirely on 'Point Break'.
Her dream is to ride a Harley. And visit Las Vegas. And be able to eat any amount of chocolate without putting on weight.
She lives in County Durham, north-east England, with her husband and West Highland Terrier, where she can be found most days drinking tea and making up stories.

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