Tempting Zander Read online

  Zander could hear the aching disappointment in her voice and knew he should stop. He wasn’t sure if he had the necessary control to make this as good for her as he wanted it to be. It might be the only opportunity he had, and if it was, then he wanted her to at least remember him.

  Was he going to stop?

  No fucking way. “A herd of stampeding elephants couldn’t hold me back now,” he assured her self-derisively.

  “Oh good.” She smiled her relief.

  “But we do this my way.”

  Her smile became rueful. “Of course we do.”

  Zander frowned but didn’t rise to the challenge in her voice as he pried her fingers from about his wrist so he could remove his hand from her panties. He grasped both her hands in one of his before pinning them above her head. The position elevated and thrust her breasts forward and upward.

  He slowly sucked each of those nipples into his mouth in turn before raising his head to look at them, giving the one on the right another hard suck until it was stood up as hard and elongated as its twin.

  “Don’t move,” he instructed as he slid down the zip of her jeans and used both hands to pull them and her panties down as far as her ankles. “Bend your knees and part them.”

  “My ankles are—”

  “Trust me.”

  Kate was trembling with anticipation as she did as he asked, and instantly realized why he had effectively shackled her ankles together with her own clothing. She was fully exposed in this position but unable to move her ankles apart.

  “Wider,” he encouraged gruffly. “Good.” He nodded as she allowed her knees to fall as far apart as they would go. “Sit up against the pillows and watch.”

  She swallowed down the saliva flooding her mouth even as she shuffled up the bed to rest her head back against the pillows. From this angle, she could see everything. The flatness of her abdomen. The silky blonde curls covering her mound and slightly protruding clit. She could even see her swollen, glistening nether lips as Zander’s fingers parted and then began to stroke them.

  Which was when the torture really began.

  Zander’s eyes felt hot and heavy as he gazed down at Kate’s exposed pussy. He stroked his fingertips slowly over her clit, feeling it pulse in response, before moving those fingers lower to the parted, slick lips of her pussy. They were a deeper rose color than her nipples, and so wet his fingers slipped and slid in those juices as they circled ever closer to the welcoming opening of her pussy.

  He slid his longest finger inside, hearing the catch of Kate’s breath as he watched his finger penetrate to the first knuckle, then the second. The walls of her pussy contracted instinctively, drawing his finger all the way inside that constricting heat.

  “So fucking hot,” he murmured in satisfaction as he pulled his finger out all the way, covered in her juices, before slowly thrusting in again, watching as her pussy contracted and opened, begging for more.

  He gave it to her, using her juices to ease the way as he thrust in two fingers and then three, the soft pad of his thumb pressing and stroking her clit.

  And all the time, Kate watched him with half-closed eyes, silky hair spread out on the pillow behind her, breathing in short and shallow gasps, her nipples hard, begging peaks.

  Zander used his other hand to cup one of her breasts and roll and squeeze the nipple between his fingers and thumb, instantly feeling the contraction of her pussy about his fingers and knowing she was close, so very close. He curled his fingers forward inside her, seeking out the sensitive knot of nerves, stroking them at the same time as his mouth claimed and then bit down on her other nipple.

  Kate’s orgasm exploded violently inside and through her. Wave after wave of out of control ecstasy that caused her to clutch tightly to the sheets beneath her as her back bowed and her pussy clenched about those thrusting fingers, refusing to release him until she’d taken and been given every last bit of her pleasure.

  She finally lay back, replete. Satiated. Unable to move. Every muscle in her body feeling as if it had turned to mush.

  Zander sat up slowly before gently disengaging his hand and collapsing onto the bed beside her. “That was—” He didn’t finish his sentence but instead tensed as he pushed his hand into his trousers pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

  Kate stared at him incredulously. “You’re going to make a phone call now?”

  He sent her an irritated glance. “The vibration of my cell phone let me know someone is calling me.”

  “But you don’t have to answer it,” she accused.

  Zander looked at the caller ID. “Yes, I do.” He rose from the bed to cross the room and stand in front of the window as he took the call.

  Giving Kate a clear view of his back and arms. Black tribal tattoos covered the tops of both arms and the width of his shoulders. As for his back… On his back was the most beautiful black-and-white tattoo of an eagle in flight. The work was so intricate, it almost looked real.

  Zander turned to stare at her while still talking quietly on the phone, as if he’d sensed her gaze on him.

  Which was when Kate took a good look at herself.

  Her T-shirt was pushed up above her breasts, and her panties and jeans were down about her ankles, and in between was…

  She looked wanton, debauched. Her breasts were full and the nipples red and swollen, the curls covering her mound damp with her own juices, her ankles still hobbled by her jeans, and her knees splayed wide apart. Giving Zander a clear view of all that he had stroked and caressed, thrust into with his fingers, just minutes ago.

  Kate avoided meeting Zander’s gaze as she snapped her knees together and quickly pulled the T-shirt down over her sensitive nipples. She had to sit up on the bed to drag her panties and jeans back up her legs, and then lay down again to wriggle them up over her hips and refasten them.

  Color bloomed in her cheeks as she realized Zander was still watching her every move between narrowed lids.

  What the hell had she been thinking?

  She hadn’t been thinking; she had been feeling. And her body, every part of her, had wanted Zander. She still wanted him. As she could see he still wanted her by that telling bulge at the front of his trousers.

  Seeing that physical evidence of Zander’s arousal eased her embarrassment a little. She hadn’t even gotten to touch him yet. To take his lengthy cock in her hand or her mouth, and give him the same pleasure he had given her—

  “I have to go out.” Zander pushed his cell phone back into the pocket of his trousers.

  Kate couldn’t believe she’d heard him correctly, but as she watched him pick up the ripped remnants of his shirt, along with his tie and jacket, she knew she had. “Where are you going?” she demanded, her voice laced with indignation even as she instinctively grasped a pillow and held it protectively to her chest. Joey had been a selfish, egotistical bastard, but even he had never run out on her immediately after intimacy.

  “Out,” Zander stated again flatly. “I’ll make sure to tell Ian to stand guard outside your bedroom while I’m gone.”

  She moved up onto her knees on the bed, still clutching the pillow. “How can you just leave after… Like this?”

  His brows rose. “What are you complaining about? You got yours, which is what you wanted. I’m the one left with a hard-on that won’t go down for hours,” he derided.

  Kate felt as if Zander had slapped her in the face. As if the past half hour had meant nothing to him. As if she meant nothing to him. At all.

  Maybe she didn’t.

  She had thrown herself at him, given Zander little choice. Any red-blooded man would have taken her up on her oh-so-blatant offer. And those pleasurable minutes in his arms had shown her Zander was a very red-blooded man.

  It was the hardest thing Zander had ever done, to watch all the different emotions flitting across Kate’s face. The incredulity as he took out his cell phone. Disbelief as he took the call. Admiration as she stared at the eagle tattoo covering his back. Dismay
when she glanced down at herself and realized how vulnerable she looked lying sprawled out half-naked on the bed. Embarrassment as she quickly covered herself. Indignation at his announcement he was going out. Self-recrimination at his cruel reminder she had started this.

  His deliberate reminder.

  Zander wanted nothing more than to crawl back on that bed, take the pillow out of her tightly gripping hands, and invite Kate to do whatever she wanted with and to him. He physically ached with the need to do that.

  Except he couldn’t. The phone call had reminded him of exactly what his reason was for being here, and it certainly wasn’t to make love to the woman he was protecting. He had to stop this now, before it went any further than it already had. Had to be cruel to be kind. To both of them.

  Zander averted his gaze as he saw Kate’s eyes were now brimming with unshed tears of humiliation. Tears she would no doubt shed once he left the bedroom.

  He couldn’t allow himself to be affected by those tears. He had a job to do. And that job was to protect Kate. From himself, if necessary. “Get some sleep,” he advised harshly. “You have another long day ahead of you tomorrow.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “Kate—”

  “Just go, Zander!” Her eyes glittered with fury as she glared at him.

  He sighed heavily. “I did warn you this would end badly.”

  It was the end, Kate recognized sadly. Before it had even really begun. The things Zander was saying to her, the way he was leaving her, meant that this, whatever this had been, could never happen again.

  Pride dictated she eye him mockingly. “Has no one ever told you how much they hate a know-it-all?”

  “You, just now,” he drawled.

  Kate dropped the pillow and got up off the bed, determined to salvage at least some of her pride before Zander left. “Well, don’t let me keep you,” she added with taunting dismissal when he made no move to leave. “As you said, I got mine.”

  “You really are a bitch, aren’t you,” he said with admiration.

  She shrugged. “And you really are a bastard. Pity, we should have been perfect for each other,” she taunted.

  Zander snorted. “That was never going to happen.”

  No, it wasn’t, Kate accepted heavily, not sure if there was a man out there for her to share happily ever after with. The success and demands of her career and the raunchiness of her performance during her concerts dictated she wasn’t the type of woman men wanted to “take home to meet the family” either.

  Zander doesn’t have a family.

  Semantics, she instantly mocked herself. They were too different. The main difference being that everything about Zander, from his job to a reluctance to talk about himself, said he chose to live his life in the shadows rather than the spotlight, like she did.

  She arched mocking brows. “Are you still here?”

  Zander bit back his angry retort, knowing it wouldn’t help either of them to get into a slanging match when he was still head of her security detail. He could ask Gabriel to remove him, of course, for personal reasons. But he wasn’t going to. And not only because Gabriel would then want to know what those personal reasons were.

  Zander hadn’t looked at it this way before, had considered his desire for Kate to be a distraction he didn’t need, but after tonight, he believed that personal interest he had in Kate could give him an edge on anyone else chosen to protect her. No one was going to get to her while he was around.

  Talking of which…

  “Do not leave the suite after I’ve gone,” he instructed briskly. “Do not go out on the balcony or open any of the windows. Do not unlock or answer the door to anyone unless you’re absolutely sure it’s me or one of my men—”

  “Do not pass go or collect two hundred pounds,” she concluded dryly.

  His eyes narrowed to steely slits. “I don’t consider the subject of your safety to be in the least amusing.”

  Her smile was derisive. “That’s because you aren’t me.”

  Zander crossed the room in two long strides, dropping his clothes onto the bed before tightly gripping the tops of her arms. A mistake on his part, he realized, as he instantly wanted to kiss her into submission. To him. To his lovemaking.

  He released her as abruptly as he had at the venue earlier, and this time, she didn’t stumble but stood her ground, her chin tilted, expression defiant.

  Zander continued to frown at her for several seconds before grabbing his clothes and turning to walk toward the door.

  “I knew you would have tattoos.”

  Zander’s shoulders tensed at those softly spoken words, but he made no reply as he wrenched open the bedroom door and kept on walking.

  Away from Kate.

  From the temptation of her.

  Chapter 4

  “So would one of you care to explain how Taylor managed to leave his apartment building this evening without either of you seeing him?” Zander frowned at the two men responsible for watching Taylor’s apartment.

  It was after three o’clock in the morning, and the three of them were standing near the bar in a New York nightclub, having just confirmed the photograph posted on social media showing Taylor out on the town having a good time, to be completely accurate. Taylor was here, all right, accompanied by several bodyguards, and surrounded by at least half a dozen beautiful women obviously eager to share his bed for the night.

  Liam shrugged. “My guess is he deliberately made sure we didn’t see him leave.”

  That was Zander’s take on it too. Which meant Taylor knew he was being watched. Not that they had attempted to hide their presence, but it was somewhat galling to know Taylor had to have deliberately set out to circumvent them. And succeeded.

  It also meant the other man could have been responsible for breaking into the Cooks’ hotel suite earlier tonight. If that had really happened, which Zander still wasn’t totally convinced about.

  It was a call from Liam alerting Zander to the media post that had saved him from making an even bigger mistake where Kate was concerned. What had already happened between the two of them was disturbing enough.

  “So Liam and I will hang around here until Taylor leaves and then follow him home?” Mac, the second of Zander’s men, prompted.

  “I’m afraid so.” It was exactly the sort of loud techno club Zander hated. “At least the scenery is good,” he added dryly as a group of women slowly eyed the three men from head to toe as they walked by.

  “Yeah.” Liam grinned.

  “I— Did that bastard just raise his champagne glass to me in a toast?” Zander rasped.

  “He raised it to all of us,” Mac confirmed grimly.

  Zander’s fists clenched at his sides, his gaze locking with Joey Taylor’s mocking one as he stood across the other side of the dance floor. “The bastard is laughing at us.”

  “Nothing we can do in the middle of a nightclub.” Liam attempted to calm the situation down. “Don’t worry, Zander. He made a fool of us once. It won’t happen again.”

  Zander had to fight back his instinct to cross the dance floor and wipe that taunting smile off the other man’s face. But as Liam so rightly said, making a scene in the middle of this fashionable nightclub was only going to give the bastard more of the attention he loved.

  “See that it doesn’t.” That settled, Zander turned on his heel and left the club before his instincts got the better of him.

  Time to go back to the hotel. And in the morning, he would have to face Kate again. A meeting, after their intimacy tonight, he really wasn’t looking forward to.

  Which was just as well, because it went as badly as he expected it might.

  “You look like hell” was Kate’s opening comment when she emerged from her bedroom the next morning and poured herself a glass of orange juice from the trolley of breakfast food that had been delivered to the suite a short time ago.

  Zander knew exactly how he looked, having spent ten minutes staring into a mirror earlier as h
e shaved. His eyes were bloodshot, the bags under them had bags, his face was pale, and he’d nicked his chin twice while shaving. He did, indeed, look like hell.

  In stark contrast, Kate looked as if she had recently visited a health spa. Her eyes were a clear bright gray, cheeks glowing, and she moved with a vitality that only made Zander feel even more exhausted. She looked beautiful in a bright red T-shirt and low-rider black jeans.

  Despite being tired, Zander had hardly slept at all during the few hours that remained of the night by the time he returned to the hotel. He couldn’t seem to turn his brain off, to stop the disquiet he’d felt when Taylor raised his champagne glass at him. Which inevitably led to thoughts of Kate. Of making love to her. With her. Of touching her. Intimately.

  Thoughts guaranteed to prevent Zander sleeping, as well as ensuring his erection stayed hard and painful.

  In the end, he had given up trying to sleep and gone to the hotel gym for an early morning workout instead. Kate’s comment proved it hadn’t helped with his appearance, and it had added to his exhaustion. Liam and Mac had checked in with him first thing this morning. Taylor had taken two of the women back to his apartment with him at four o’clock this morning, and no one had left the building by the time Jacob and Neil took over from them at seven.

  Zander wasn’t looking forward to bursting Kate’s energetic bubble. “Taylor was out clubbing last night.”

  Kate froze in the middle of drinking her orange juice, before making a concerted effort to relax again. “So?” she dismissed, helping herself to a slice of crispy bacon. “Joey likes clubbing. It’s one of the things we disagreed on.” One of many.

  Joey was all about making an appearance and being noticed. When Kate wasn’t on stage performing, she preferred to stay in and enjoy a quiet dinner, maybe watch a movie or read a book. None of those things were exciting enough for Joey. He wanted to be constantly on the move, to see and be seen—

  “My God…” Kate sat down abruptly in an armchair. “Does that mean he could have broken into Maggie’s bedroom last night after all?”