The Winner Takes It All (A Something New Novel) (35 page)

She sat on the chair he’d indicated, crossing her hands neatly in her lap. “Because of Maddie?”

“She’s a big part of it, yes. I offered to go back for her, and I would have. But ironically, I would have missed this place. Revival is home now. My life in Chicago is the past.”

Her throat tightened and she huffed out a breath. Now that her emotions had broken free she couldn’t get them back under control. They’d taken on a life of their own. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m happy for you. You did it. You have a real life and I admire what you’ve done.”

“Thank you,” he said, sounding surprised.

She should move on but couldn’t, not before she gave him the apology he deserved. “I’m sorry, for all the things that went down. I wish I’d done things differently.”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. It all turned out for the best. And it wasn’t your fault, it was mine.”

She blew out a breath. “I didn’t know about the deal between our father and Thomas until after the fact. But if we’d been close enough for you to tell me what was going on, I could have stopped you from destroying that evidence. Maybe together we could have figured out another way.” She wanted to believe back then she would have done the right thing and helped her brother.

“It wouldn’t have made any difference.”

“I guess we’ll never know now.” That was the thing about the past; it couldn’t be changed.

He twirled the pen in his fingers. “I appreciate the sentiment. But, for the record, I don’t blame you.”

She bit her lip, words she’d never told him welling in her throat. She had to pretend with Shane, but in this, with her brother, she could be real. “I used to be so jealous of you. Did you know that?”

He blinked before slowly shaking his head. “No, I didn’t. Although I can’t see why.”

The corners of her mouth lifted. “Simple. You were everything I wanted to be, and you didn’t even have to try.”

He sat back in his chair and laced his fingers over his stomach. “That’s funny, I always thought you were the perfect one.”

“I only pretended to be. It’s always been work.” She took a deep breath and continued, “Our father says I have the brains but lack the passion and killer instinct you have.”

“Shit, Cecilia, I’m sorry.” His jaw firmed into a hard line. “It’s not true, you know.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks, but she didn’t try to hide them. Not anymore. “For life in politics, yes, it is. I’m learning to accept it. I know he never told you, but he used to sing your praises to me all the time. Always comparing, and no matter how much I worked, how hard I tried, I always came up short.”

He reached into a drawer and pulled out a tissue, getting up and walking around the desk to hand it to her. “He’s an asshole, Ce-ce.”

“I know.”

Unnamed emotions tightened his mouth before he held out his hand. “Come here, you look like you could use a hug.”

She stared at his outstretched palm for several seconds before taking it and allowing him to pull her into a big, brotherly bear hug. She began to cry in earnest and he rubbed a large circle over her back. “You’ve really got it bad for Shane, don’t you?”

She nodded against his chest.

“So what’s the problem?”

She took a deep breath and stepped away. “That’s why I’m here.”

His gaze narrowed.

She clutched the damp tissue in her fist. “I need your help. I can’t trust all my normal contacts. They’re all too close and I can’t risk him finding out. I know I don’t deserve it, but you have to help me figure out a way to blackmail our father.”

Surprise flashed over his expression, then his jaw hardened. “All right, what the fuck has he done now?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Shane walked into the kitchen to find Mitch, Maddie, and Cecilia huddled together at the table.

The conversation cut off abruptly and Maddie’s gaze slid guiltily away.

All his instincts went on high alert.

“What’s going on?” he barked.

He couldn’t even look at Cecilia. Every time he did, desire for her knotted in his gut like a fist squeezed too tight. He was permanently pissed off that no matter how much he tried to talk himself out of it, he still wanted her.

Mitch shook his head. “Nothing.”

His sister chewed on her bottom lip and Cecilia frowned at her before saying, “We were going over wedding plans.”

Unable to avoid looking directly at her, he drank her in. She looked terrible. Back to tired, hollow eyes. In a white blouse and severe knee-length skirt, summer Cecilia was gone. He scowled. “You look like shit.”

She cringed and Maddie yelled, “Shane! What the hell?”

“Well, she does.” He refused to say he was sorry.

Cecilia’s face twisted before smoothing over, and she touched Maddie’s arm. “It’s okay.”

Fury roiled inside him. “Don’t fucking apologize for me, Cecilia.”

Her storm-blue eyes snapped. “I wasn’t. I was merely telling Maddie not to defend me.”

The sane, rational part of his brain took a backseat as the anger he’d been carefully containing came to a scalding boil. “I’ll say whatever I damn well please.”

“Nobody’s stopping you,” she said, her tone ice-cold.

God he was sick of it. Sick of her sleeping at Gracie’s. Sick of her slinking away whenever they were in the same room. Sick of that vacant expression she tried to pass off as calm.

Mitch stood, holding out his hands as though in surrender. “Let’s all calm down.”

“Why don’t you fuck off?” Shane shot back before shifting his gaze to Cecilia. “I’m not going to apologize. You look like hell. If you’re so goddamn happy, why do you look like that?”

Cecilia’s expression flashed and she crossed her arms.

Satisfaction pinged through him. Yes, now he was getting somewhere. He jutted out his chin, fully aware he sounded like an arrogant ass but unable to stop himself.

He needed a reaction. Needed to prove the woman he loved was still there, fighting to break free.

“Stop it,” Cecilia hissed. “You don’t look so hot yourself.”

Maddie stepped between them. “Hey, come on, please. We only have a couple days before the wedding. Can’t we just keep it together until then?”

He looked at Mitch and Maddie and said in a deadly voice, “Leave.”

Maddie shook her head, casting a worried gaze at Cecilia. “That’s not a good idea.”

Cecilia gave him a look that would have shriveled his balls if he didn’t know her so well. “It’s fine, Maddie. I can handle him.”

Maddie opened her mouth but Mitch took her arm. “Come on, princess.”

“But—”

Mitch ushered her out of the room before she could continue, leaving Shane alone with Cecilia for the first time in three days.

All logic, all rational behavior fled with the closing of the swinging kitchen door. He had only one thought.

One driving need.

He stalked over, grabbed her by the arms, pushed her against the refrigerator and slammed his mouth over hers.

It was like all hell breaking loose.

He hadn’t touched her in days and he devoured her. Feasted on her like a glutton. So desperate for the taste of her, he kissed her hard enough to bruise.

And she was just as hungry.

A low, mewling sound left her throat, and she plastered herself against him.

Their mouths melded together. Full of tongue and teeth, and gnawing lust.

He gripped the sides of her blouse, ripped it apart, sending the buttons flying.

On a moan, she rose onto tiptoes. Her hands curled around his neck to bring him closer.

He palmed her breasts, flicking open the front clasp of her bra and peeling away the cups to free her. He stroked her nipples with his thumbs and she purred deep in the back of her throat.

He couldn’t stop kissing her. It was like a maddening itch he couldn’t scratch and his mouth became more demanding.

More arrogant.

Rougher.

Faster.

Harder.

Deeper.

He pushed her skirt up her thighs and she hooked her leg on his hip.

His cock ached and he rocked against her. She cried out, the sound vibrating against his mouth as she met his strokes. He was so damn hard. So damn crazy. He gripped her hips and ground his erection between her legs.

And then they were moving together, fully clothed, dry fucking like a couple of desperate teenagers. His fingers clasped her thigh. The muscles moved and flexed under her smooth skin as she rocked her hips.

He growled low in his throat.

He fumbled between their bodies, unzipping his jeans and fisting his cock, which throbbed in his hand. He pulled the fabric of her panties aside and slammed inside her wet, waiting pussy.

God yes.

He tore his mouth away and thrust deep.

“Shane, please, yes.” Her words half wail, half moan.

It was like coming home.

He gripped her thigh and thrust again.

And again.

Faster and harder.

He set a dirty, angry rhythm.

She worked her hands under his shirt, her nails digging into his lower back.

He fisted her hair, jerked her head. “Look at me.”

Her lashes fluttered and lifted, her storm-blue eyes glassy with lust.

He twisted her hair around his palm. “Mine.”

She came, her orgasm rippling down his shaft, tearing his own climax from him.

The roar welled in his throat and he kissed her, swallowing her cries, and his, as they shook and came together in a mad, frantic rush of heat and lust and sheer fucking madness.

He pressed his forehead against hers, panting for breath. Shaken, emotion flooded through him, making his chest ache and his skin grow tight.

“Shane.” His name a drawn-out, whispery plea, she tangled her fingers in his hair.

He jerked back. A strange rush of panic he hadn’t felt since his father died made his heart beat too fast. He stepped away, shoving his cock back in his pants.

She looked completely undone. Her white blouse gaping open, her full breasts a rapid rise and fall, her skin flushed pink, mouth swollen.

He’d done that to her. Any man looking at her would know what she’d been doing. That she’d been thoroughly taken.

But no matter how hard he took her, no matter how frantically he tried to claim her, he couldn’t.

She stayed stubbornly right outside his grasp.

“Shane,” she said again, stepping toward him.

He stiffened, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

She blinked, her eyes going bright, turning an electric blue. “I . . .” She trailed off, looking as lost as he felt.

“I won’t touch you again.”

Cecilia felt sick. Since this afternoon, when they’d been so reckless, a bad feeling had settled into the pit of her stomach. Maddie wasn’t making it any easier as they stood in the empty kitchen where Shane had made such ruthless love to her.

Everyone was outside. Maddie had lit the yard with twinkle lights, which glittered like fairies, transforming the backyard into a wonderland. But instead of enjoying it, she fretted over Cecilia.

Cecilia hugged herself. “I’m fine. Trust me, go out and enjoy yourself. You’re getting married. Please, focus on that.”

Maddie twisted her engagement ring, her grandmother’s ring, on her finger. “I will, it’s just I don’t feel right keeping this from Shane.”

When Mitch and Cecilia had concocted their plan, he had one condition. It wasn’t even a condition, more a requirement. He absolutely refused to keep what they were doing from Maddie.

Cecilia had protested, but on this he wouldn’t relent.

And since he held the contacts and information she needed, she’d had no choice but to agree.

The Donovans were a loyal bunch, and that made Maddie a wild card.

Cecilia pressed a finger to her temple. “We talked about this. I cannot tell him. If he finds out, you know what he’ll do.”

“But he’s so unhappy,” Maddie said, glancing out the window.

Frustrated, Cecilia gritted her teeth. “Please, give me time. I can do this. I know I can. There’s something there. And Mitch’s friend will find it.”

“Actually, Logan is Shane’s friend. He’s the one that helped break your father’s blackmail scandal.”

The knot of tension curled into a tight ball. “Great. How do we know he won’t tell him?”

Maddie waved a hand. “Mitch took care of it. Logan’s a professional. He wouldn’t break under torture.”

It didn’t ease Cecilia’s mind. There were too many balls in the air, and she had no control over the situation.

Penelope walked in, closing the back door quietly behind her. She looked back and forth between Cecilia and Maddie, her blue eyes sharp behind her glasses. “All right, what’s going on?”

Maddie shook her head. “Nothing. Everything’s great.”

Penelope’s lips thinned into a firm line. “Don’t give me that, I’ve known you since kindergarten. Something is wrong.”

Cecilia’s phone beeped. She pulled it out of her pocket as Maddie and Penelope argued about something that happened on the playground when they were in third grade, which lost Cecilia completely.

It was a text from Logan. Still nothing on Fletcher, but we’re good on Jackson.

She took a deep breath. At least they were getting somewhere. She typed out, Thanks, keep me posted.

Finally, something was going her way. It wasn’t Miles, but right now she’d take anything, and the city planner would have to do. For now.

She tucked her cell back into her pocket.

“You’re not doing anything rash, are you?” Penelope asked, crossing her arms.

“No!” Maddie said.

Before they could go any further, Cecilia stepped in. She knew the mayor personally but didn’t have any contact with the planning office, and she didn’t want to raise suspicions. The last thing she needed was the mayor calling her father to figure out the political reason for her visit. That left the woman in front of her. “Penelope? Since you’re Maddie’s best friend, can I ask you a favor? A favor I’d need you to keep from Shane.”

Penelope’s back stiffened and one perfectly arched brow rose.

Maddie pressed her hands together as if in prayer. “Please, Pen, I’m evoking the girlfriend code.”