Stolen: A Bad Boy Romance (2 page)

Kathryn

I threaded my way through the sea of bodies and hazy mist of smoke in the little row house. The smell of marijuana, alcohol and shit I couldn't even identify was so suffocating that it was threatening my senses.

It was always like this. Every damn night. I couldn't remember a moment where I got any real peace in all of this shit. I couldn't sleep unless I was high or the music drowned out the noise.

Lately, I'd been high all the time, if not from my own pot, then from contact.

The days, now those were beautiful. Just me and my fiddle in the studio.

That's why I came out here. One of the best music collectives in the damn country. I thought I'd belong here. That it was a going to be a seamless transition.

But I was alone. Alone in a strange city with people who were more concerned with their high and their art than other people.

I was still invisible.

The cool night air hit me as soon as I emerged onto the back stoop. No one else out here, everyone was more concerned with the jam session going on in there.

It was my moment. So I did the thing I'd been aching to do all evening. I grabbed the joint out of my pocket and stuck it in my mouth, searching for my lighter. Fuck. I didn't want to go back in there.

I looked around the back stoop area, hoping someone left one around here.

"You need a light?" a deep silky voice asked from behind me. I turned to accept, my bottom lip sagging when I realized exactly who I was looking at.

Janson.

I should've known by the way his deep timber lit up all my senses, but it couldn't be. Not here. Still, his rock-hard form stood solid and real as he quirked a lip into a dirty smile. I shoved the joint back into my pocket.

I'd had a crush on the man ever since I was old enough to know what a crush was. It was silly, just a schoolgirl thing, following my big brother's best friend around. Dreaming he might feel the same way. I'd moved on from it as soon as high school hit, but it would always be there in the back of my mind.

Even when I was furious that my brother sent someone for me.

"What in the hell are you doing here?" I asked, more like hissed, as I took a step back from him.

I didn't need the joint. I already had a pretty good buzz going from all the pot smoke and the whiskey I'd been shooting. I tripped over my feet, and he reached out, catching me and pulling me to him.

"I came to get you," he said as he looked down at me, that chiseled jaw so close.

I could lean in. I could see what his stubble felt like on my lips. I could taste the salt on his skin.

But that would be wrong. He wouldn't like that. I wasn't that fucked up.

"So what, you just going to pick me up like a caveman and carry me out of here back to Baltimore?" That sucked all the fun right out of the night.

"Would you stick around if I did?" he asked.

Smart man.

"Fuck no."

"Didn't think so. I'm here to protect you, not kidnap you. Not yet, anyway." He released his hold on me, and my heart skipped a beat. I didn't want him to let go. It was the first time I'd been touched like that in forever. "I want you to come home with me."

"Home?"

"Back to my place, my cousin's place. Got a condo off the lake."

I should've guessed it would've been something fancy like that. Humboldt Park wasn't fancy, hell, it was halfway to being a fucking cesspool. It was the kind of place that people had been calling "up and coming" for a decade, but there was nothing "up" about it. It was a slum with hipster appeal. The kind that made me feel comfortable. I might've grown up in the suburbs in Severna Park, but I was an alien there. I'd always gravitated towards the grungy neighborhoods in Baltimore, and Humboldt fit that description here in Chicago.

But I was getting tired of the scene.

Maybe a fresh place and a shower would do me good.

A place that wasn't so filled with people, they were sleeping on the floors and in the broken down tub of the once-vacant tenement house.

"I'll go with you tonight, but I'm not coming home to Baltimore."

"I'll take that. For now." The way Janson said it, I had a feeling there was no choice in the matter anyway. If I had turned him down, he would've gone caveman on my ass.

Not like anyone would notice.

"Fine."

Janson

I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, my fingers running along the threads of the stitched leather. I avoided Kathryn as soon as she hit eighteen. She'd always had a silly little crush on me, and as soon as she was old enough to be an option, I couldn't help but notice her.

She was gorgeous, and even in this unkempt state, I couldn't ignore it.

The way those jeans hugged that tight ass and her plaid shirt dipped down into her cleavage...

Fuck.

She was barely an adult. I couldn't think about her like this. It was wrong.

And yet my cock was getting rock hard as I tried to focus on the road. I didn't know the streets of Chicago like I did Baltimore, and I couldn't afford the distraction.

There were a lot of things I couldn't afford. We had a war brewing, and I should've been there helping. Not rounding up strays.

I was mad about the whole thing and that only made me hornier.

Fuck.

I had to get it out of my head. Get her out of my head.

So I just drove and tried not to even look at her. It was all I could do. I was fucking twisted.

Kathryn

I pulled my shoes off and hesitated. My socks were just as dirty, and under those, my feet wouldn’t be much better. I’d been living like a street rat for weeks. I needed a shower, and I knew it. Badly.

“I, um.” I hesitated as Janson turned to look at me. “I don’t think I can walk on these carpets; I’ll get them all dirty.”

He chuckled. “All right then. Let me carry you to the bathroom. You can get a shower, and I’ll root around and find some clean clothing.”

“What about my clothing?” I asked.

“I’m sure they have an incinerator around here somewhere,” he joked as he grabbed me and swooped me up into his arms. His big strong muscular arms. He acted like I was nothing. It would be a lie if I didn’t admit I’d dreamt of this moment more than once.

I just didn’t want to desperately need a bath when it happened.

He crinkled his nose but said nothing, and I was grateful. It was so damn embarrassing.

“That bad?” I asked.

“Smells like you lived in a cloud of pot smoke,” he admitted.

“I did.” A slow grin broke out over my face, and he walked through the hallway until he got to the bathroom where he set me down.

“Thanks,” I said, suddenly awkward.

We both were.

“I’ll go see if I can scrounge something up for you.” He ducked out of the room, and I turned and tried not to scream in mortification.

I never thought I would see any of the Fitzgerald crew again, let alone Janson Mactavish. I’d washed my hands of that reality. Of men like him.

I turned on the shower and started stripping off my clothing piece by piece. They were not in the best condition, at least that was what I thought, but I realized once they were off that he was right. They needed to be burned.

“Fuck,” I muttered as I stepped into the shower, the piping hot water bringing immediate relief. This was a nightmare. I’d come here with such high hopes, but really all I got was a steaming pile of disappointment.

The water beaded down my body as I moaned into the shower walls. It was heaven to feel that strong water cleansing away all the grime of that damn place.

“Kathryn?”

“Kat, call me Kat.” I hadn’t been Kathryn for years, at least not to anyone but my family.

“Kat, you decent?”

“I’m in the shower.” Thankfully, it was fogged up because he came in anyway.

“I brought you a nightgown and a stiff drink. Figured you might need one. I’ll leave it here on the cabinet.” I wanted him to linger, but he left. My heart returned to its normal pace. I hadn’t realized it had sped up.

I wanted him.

My body ached to be touched, to be held, and I knew the truth. I knew what I wanted. I’d spent my entire life letting anyone else, everyone else, tell me exactly what they wanted, and putting my own needs to the side.

Not anymore.

I was going to go after my desires.

I turned off the shower and stepped out of it, drying myself off before I grabbed the satin gown.

It was soft and sleek and I knew when I put it on that it would hug every single curve I had. I pulled it over my head and let it drape down me. It was a good fit. Not perfect, but good, and it hugged me in all the right places.

I grabbed the whiskey with one hand and opened the door with the other. I knew what I wanted, and I’d decided in the shower that there was no more time to waste.

I would have it.

I would have him.

Chapter Two

Kathryn

I walked into the living room to find Janson sitting on the couch that overlooked the lake. It really was breathtaking. So I sipped my drink and stared out over the landscape below.  The city lights twinkled off the reflection in the lake, the cool wind blowing on the trees below us.

“It’s gorgeous.”

“Almost as nice as the Bay,” he said as he stood and walked towards the window.

“You have a penthouse like Greyson?” I asked, looking at him through the side of my eye.

“Yeah, something like that.” His eyes lingered over me and I felt myself blush. He was looking at me in a way I hadn’t seen before. Like he was seeing me as an adult for the first time. The deep hues of his green eyes flickered across my body and down me, then back up.

Oh, he was seeing me, all right. And I wanted him to.  I felt my body respond to him, and my nipples hardened against the silky satin of the nightgown. I knew he could see it, too.  But I just stood there, my eyes half-lidded as I looked at him and said, “It’s so gorgeous.”

“Yes, it is.” He wasn’t looking at the view, he was looking right at me. It was my only chance, so I walked over to him and he stood so close to me that I could feel the body heat radiating from him. I could smell the scotch on his breath. He’d been drinking.

“Why does it seem like you aren’t talking about the view anymore?” I asked as I bit my lower lip and took him all in. He wasn’t looking anywhere else but at me.

It was wrong. We both knew it, but I’d wanted him for so long.

“Kathryn,” he said as he prepared his speech. The one that would shoot me down. I wasn’t going to let that happen, so I grabbed him around the neck and I forced my lips to his, hoping he wouldn’t push me away.

It was bold, like the new me. The one I wanted to be.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled the kiss deeper, harder. Janson’s fingers dug into my flesh as he plastered my body against his, his breaths coming out in ragged pants between kisses.

I wasn’t the only one that had been holding back. I could feel how much he wanted me in the warmth of his strong hold, not to mention the rock hard bulge in his pants that pressed right up against my belly.

“Kathryn,” he said slowly as he pried himself away from me. “We can’t do this.”

“Yes. Yes, we can,” I said as kissed his jaw. He didn’t separate further.

He smelled so good and was so warm against my skin. I knew that this wasn’t my life. I didn’t belong here. But for tonight, I could pretend it was. Pretend I could have exactly what I wanted.

And I wanted him.

“Fuck,” he swore as he breathed my scalp in deep. “You can’t possibly want this. Want me. You don’t know what you are getting yourself into.” He sounded so conflicted that I almost felt sorry for him, but I was too damn hot for him.

“I don’t care, Janson. I’ve wanted you for years. I begged you to look at me, look at me the way you did tonight. I want that. I want now. I don’t care about the rest.”

I wanted that. I wanted that more than anything, but my worries wouldn’t go away.

Until he kissed me one more time, his strong arms holding me as he washed away all my worries. All my problems.

And that was okay.

“You have no idea how tempting you were,” he said slowly. “From the time you turned eighteen, I knew I’d have to keep my distance. Knew I’d want you just as badly if I let myself be swayed.”

I melted, his inability to say no fueled by the responses of my body. The heat flushed through me and flooded my most sensitive areas. The sticky wet feeling that followed it all too familiar.

My body lusted after him and there was nothing I could do. I just had to enjoy the ride.

So I did.

I kissed him deeply, my tongue invading his mouth, letting me know his passion. He was responsible for what happened next.

“Fuck it, I want you too much,” Janson said as he grabbed me and picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist. It was undignified, but completely sexy. “Tell me that you want me.”

“I want you, Janson.”

“How much?” he asked.

“Enough that I am willing to go against everything, against the family, in order to have you.” I kissed his neck and that only seemed to be fuel to the fire. He walked through the condo and back to the bedrooms, opening what I assumed was the master suite and set me down next to the bed so that I could stare up at him.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I kissed his neck.

“Admiring the view.” I didn’t need to turn around in order to see that there was another glass wall like the one in the living room of the condo. The city lights that shown in illuminated everything.

I kissed him again, showing him just how much I wanted him. All of that emotion. All of that need, that fear, all that raw passion.

“As beautiful as you look in that silky little number, I want to see you out of it.”

I wasn’t wearing anything under the gown, and as soon as it was gone, I would be completely exposed to him, so I hesitated. He looked at me expectantly, but I didn’t move.

I swear there was just a bit of agitation in his eyes as I stood there. The kind that made him angry.

He was even sexier when he was angry.

“Take off the gown, Kat.” He grabbed the straps of it and pushed them down my shoulders, revealing my bare arms. I pushed it down, though, past my breasts so that it hung on my hourglass frame. I was small, but my frame was curvy, and I really liked that I had hips.

“Even more beautiful than I imagined.” He reached down and pushed it further, each little bit of satin giving way to my delicate skin.

“So beautiful,” he murmured, kissing down my skin. “So, very beautiful.” He sunk his teeth into my shoulder, the strong bite of him making me moan and buck as I fought to remove the rest of the gown.

I didn’t want to let my fear show, not any of it. I’d lived away from home for months, I’d always been a brave woman, but I’d never…

I swallowed. I’d never been with a man before. I wanted it to be Janson. Always fantasized it would be. I mean, sure, I’d done things with guys, but never this.

Never this.

“You have no idea how much I’ve been dreaming about this.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I realized I was saying them. I reached up to his oxford shirt and started unbuttoning it. His jacket was off when I came into the room and I spread my hands across his muscles in between buttons. Oh dear god, he was so fucking sexy.

“Kathryn,” he said slowly as he grabbed his shirt and shucked it off, “you need to know exactly what you are getting into. I won’t be easy with you, I won’t be gentle. I can’t be. I’m not the kind of man-”

I silenced him with a kiss. I didn’t want him to know the fear running through my veins, didn’t want him to see how I was feeling inside. I just wanted to feel him inside of me. I didn’t want to think about anything else.

“I don’t care, Janson. I want you. I’ll take you any way I can get you.” I meant it as I said it, but the worry that he would be too rough was already seeping into me. I couldn’t tell him, couldn’t let him know the truth. Because if I did, I would never have him.

But I could tell from the way he spread my thighs and growled out my name that it was something he wanted to hear. I knew the truth about who he was. About what he was. I wasn’t oblivious to the life he led, I wasn’t immune to the truth of it all. He was a stone cold killer, just like the rest of them. Except for the soulful look in his eyes. It made me see something more. It always had.

I reached for his pants and unbuckled them, but his own hands took over and he kissed me as he expertly removed them.

I snuck a peek as I pulled away from him. I’d done some things with guys, sure, but never a man as big as that. Holy fuck, he was huge. I gulped air in as I admired him and then looked back up into his eyes.

I must’ve been white as a sheet because he grinned with a fierceness that said only one thing. He was taking pleasure in my fear.

Janson grabbed me and pushed me down onto the bed so that my back was flat against it. “Fuck, Kat. I want you so bad that I can’t wait any longer.” He kissed my earlobe and then down my entire jaw, leaving little bites as he caressed my body with his hands.

“Janson,” I said as I arched my back into him. Fuck. He knew exactly the right ratio of pleasure and pain to make me want more. Everyone else had always treated me with kid gloves. Afraid I would shatter if they touched me. But he wasn’t doing that, no. He was giving me exactly what I wanted, exactly how I wanted it. “I want you now.”

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to me as he grabbed my hips and lined himself up. Fuck. I felt him as he entered me inch by inch, softly, slowly, testing before continuing. It hurt, but just for a moment as I adjusted, and all the pleasure that followed it was worth it. My moan was entirely unintelligible as he thrust into me. Janson was so big and strong inside of me, pressing against the walls of my pussy as he filled me.

That was when all signs of gentleness ended, though. His nails dug into me and he thrust himself into me over and over again, his cock quick to plunge into my depths. It was totally overwhelming; every sense I had was completely focused on him. Oh, the way he made me feel. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t do anything but feel. All there was in this world was him and me. Nothing else was there. Nothing else mattered.

And it lit something inside of me that I didn’t know existed.

I moaned and pulled him into me, digging my nails into his back. As he arched his back, he buried himself further into me, making me moan in return. Janson bent down and kissed my neck, giving me a sharp bite at just the right time, the kind that made me scream in pleasure and pain.

He was so damn good at this.

“More, Janson. More,” I moaned, begging for him to push harder. Faster. And he did. He didn’t hold back, not even a little bit, as he shifted our positions, so that my legs were propped up over his shoulders and he was drilling into me. Fuck. I could see the look in his eyes. It was like he was possessed by someone else. Something else.

But he didn’t stop and he didn’t let up until I was cumming and screaming his name, pressing myself into the bed, bunching them up and grabbing his sheets and twisting them up.

I screamed out again, bucking into him as he came along with me. Our pleasure shared, he sunk into the bed and pulled me into his arms. They were so strong as he held me there against him.

I let myself be wrapped up in him.

“This has to stay between us, Janson. It has to be a secret,” I said, my words calculated. “I don’t know what they would do if they found out.”

“I think we can handle it,” he said as he kissed my neck. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”