Bound Beneath His Pain: A Dirty Little Secrets Novel (23 page)

For Michelle, thanks for being my Liv!

A million thank-yous to Sue Grimshaw and Jessica Alvarez for all their unwavering support.

Big hugs go out to my readers for taking part in naming the businesses in the Dirty Little Secrets series. I cannot say enough thanks to Myra Espino for naming Phoenix, Susan Sargent for naming The Vault, and Susan Platt for naming Bijoux (which will be used in a future story). Ladies, your picks couldn’t have been more perfect!

As always, much love to the entire Loveswept team for all that you do.

Bound Beneath His Pain

Tied to His Betrayal
(coming soon)

Claimed

Bared

Desired

Freed

Tamed

Commanded

Mine

Witches Be Burned

PHOTO: PAIGE RICHARDSON

S
TACEY
K
ENNEDY
is the
USA Today
bestselling author of the Club Sin series. She writes deeply emotional romances about powerful men and the wild women who tame them. When she’s not plugging away at a new story, she’s either hiking, canoeing, relaxing around a campfire, or obsessing over
Suits, The Walking Dead,
and
Game of Thrones.
Stacey lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband (who puts any of the heroes in her books to shame), their two young children, and her other babies: a mini labradoodle named Jax and a chocolate labrador named Murphy.

staceykennedy.com

Facebook.com/authorstaceykennedy

@Stacey_Kennedy

Looking for the next romance that’ll give you the feels? Our fantastic selection of books will definitely satisfy.

You’ve never read bedtime stories like the sensual forbidden fairy tales in Sharon Lynn Fisher’s Loveswept debut,
Before She Wakes
. And speaking of debuts, don’t miss
New York Times
bestselling author Kelly Elliott’s
Searching for Harmony
—a gut-wrenching story of a love that transcends all odds. Vonnie Davis’s
Her Survivor
welcomes readers to Wounded Warrior Falls where beating the odds is what it’s all about, while
Bound Beneath His Pain
kicks off a deeply sensual new series from Club Sin author Stacey Kennedy
.

Diana Quincy continues her Rebellious Brides series with a tale of forbidden love between a socialite and a scholar in
A License to Wed
. Wedding bells are ringing—and tempers are flaring—as Marquita Valentine’s Take the Fall series continues in the sweet and sexy
Hard to Fall.
The Brothers of Mayhem MC ride again in Carla Swafford’s explosive novel,
Full Heat
. Ashley Suzanne follows up
Raven
with the next round in her scorching Fight or Flight series,
Cutter
. The third book in Beth Yarnall’s Recovered Innocence series,
Reclaim,
is brimming with angst and sensuality. And don’t miss the next book in Stacey Lynn’s deeply emotional Fireside series,
His to Protect
. Or the story of a war hero fighting to remember the love he left behind in Serena Bell’s emotionally charged
To Have and to Hold
.

Then Shawntelle Madison’s seductive
Surrender to You
follows two career-oriented friends with benefits. And finally we have a cold case that leads to blazing-hot temptation in Kathy Clark’s romantic suspense
Almost Forever
.

Until next time ~Happy Romance!

Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher

Available from Loveswept

I want a gun. A gun that will take a man down in the blink of an eye.

I’m considering where to get this gun as I’m staring at the only woman I’ve ever loved. At Taylor Erikson’s beaten face. She’s standing on the other side of my half-sister’s, Allie Parker’s, front door, and her light hazel eyes are locked on mine, collapsing the stability and strength of my world.

Minutes ago, I was enjoying Sunday night dinner with Allie and her boyfriend, Micah Holt. Now I can’t move. I’m not even sure I’m breathing. I don’t know how long Taylor and I have been in a staring contest that I won’t ever lose. All I know is every bruise and cut on her face, burning them into my memory so I can repeat these marks on whoever hurt her. “The man who did this to you,” I hiss through my teeth, seeing tears well in her eyes. “He’s dead.”

I hear the hitch of her breath before she expertly shuts down emotion, as she used to do when we were younger. But that’s not all I remember. I remember the way those pink pouty lips felt when I kissed her worries away. I remember how perfect and warm she felt wrapped in my arms, safe from a scary world. I remember how my fingers tangled perfectly in her long honey-colored, wavy locks, holding her tight against me.

I can’t forget anything. She haunts me. Every damn day.

“Oh, hush, Darius,” says Allie, breaking through the thick air, pulling Taylor inside her condo. “No one is going to kill anyone.” She shuts the door behind her with a loud bang. “God, Taylor, you’re shivering.”

That’s when some sort of sense smacks into me. Taylor is soaking wet from head to toe. One quick look over my shoulder at the 180-degree view of San Francisco’s midtown shows me that it’s pouring rain outside.

“I’m fine,” Taylor says, drawing my attention to her. “Or I will be once I get out of these clothes.”

“Need help?” Allie asks.

“No. Geesh. I’ll be back before you know it.” Taylor smiles.

Every set of eyes watch Taylor, with her bags in her hands, moving down the hallway, toward the bedroom. Silence surrounds us. Silence that is heavy and thick, saying so much without saying anything at all.

Allie’s blue eyes are wide when she looks between me and Micah, nervously twirling her long brown hair around her finger. I know she’s searching her mind for the same answers I want, like what happened to Taylor, but she seems stuck, unable to move past the worry for her best friend. I don’t have that problem.

Leaving Allie and Micah behind, I storm off to the bedroom in search of answers, and knock on the door, intent to get them.

“Come in,” Taylor calls from behind the door.

I enter the bedroom, finding Taylor sitting on Allie’s bed, now out of her wet clothes and wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a light blue T-shirt. Her hair is pulled up in a ponytail, but her skin is still ashen. “Taylor…”

“I don’t want to hear it, Darius,” she states, pulling a pair of socks out of her bag. “No lectures. All right?”

I fold my arms, leaning against the doorframe. “Who says I want to lecture you?”

She finishes putting on her sock, then smiles. “Because I know you.”

That smile is a sucker punch to my throat. Many of my best memories have that smile in them. “If you know me so well, then why have I come in here?”

She doesn’t hesitate. “You want to know who did this to me and why it happened.” She puts on her other sock before continuing. “The answer is, an angry ex-boyfriend and drinking…lots and lots of drinking.” After zipping up her bag, and rising from the bed, she turns to face me. “And now you’re going to tell me that you want to hire security to watch over me, because you’re concerned for my safety.”

I don’t hesitate either. “You’re right, I do.”

Her pretty eyes soften as she moves toward me. “I don’t want a babysitter, so that’s not a conversation we’re going to have.” Her fruity scent spirals in the air around me when she closes in. “But because I know you won’t let this go. His name is Shawn Mason. And no, Darius, you’re not going to go and kick the shit out of him.”

I’m hearing what she’s saying, and even I recognize she thinks she doesn’t need me, but it’s been five years since I’ve had her this close. I can barely contain myself, fighting against the yearnings to protect what once was mine. “You forgot to mention the final reason I came in here.”

Her light brown eyebrows raise over her ocean blue eyes. “Oh, yeah, and what’s that?”

I open my arms to her. “Come here.” She might act like she doesn’t need me. But I know she does.

A second of hesitation drags out between us before she’s stepping into my arms, melting into me like she used to. My cock hardens to steel, being close to the only woman who’s spoken to my heart, and I angle my hips out, not allowing her to feel my greedy dick.

Many moments go by, and only when she leans away do I dare release her. The tension in my chest fades a little at her more honest smile now. “Thanks,” she says, softly. “I needed that.”

She goes to walk by me, but I reach out, gently grabbing her wrist. Her head swings around to mine, and for a second I fear touching her was a mistake, until I see the way her eyes dilate and her breath hitches. “Don’t run from me just yet,” I murmur.

“Who says I’m running,” she whispers, holding my stare.

This woman owns me in a way no one ever has. One look, one statement, I’m putty in her hands. “You’re running from something.” I slide my finger above her bruise and beneath her eye, seeing pain in its depths. Pain that I’m sure she’s trying very hard to hide. But she can hide nothing from me. “Don’t be too strong, too brave, or too proud. I’m here, if you need me.”

“Yes, I know that you are, but I don’t need you to be my hero.” She steps back, putting space between us. “This is my problem, not yours. Please let me deal with it.”

I clench my jaw, fighting off what I want to do, and that’s keep her in my arms. “Just tell me that you’re okay and safe. Give me that at least.”

“I’m okay and safe.”

Before I can call her on her lie, she’s exiting the bedroom. I shut my eyes, inhaling and exhaling, pulling in the emotion tightening my throat. It feels like no time has passed at all since I last held her. I still love her. I never won’t love her. But Taylor wanted a life that I couldn’t give her. She wanted the fairy tale, and unless the hero likes the darker delights of sex, power, and money, then I’m not the right type of knight in shining armor.

Hearing the conversation begin in the living room, I follow her, finding Taylor staring at the tabloid article on the coffee table. “What’s this?” She picks up the ripped-out piece of paper, reading the ink written on the shiny white page.

Can Micah Holt be forgiven for the ultimate betrayal?

Or will Allie Parker come between two billionaires?

Knowing Taylor’s changing the subject to keep the focus off her, I take a seat next to her on the couch and tell her, “This is our current problem.”

Taylor looks at Allie, who’s sitting across from us in the oversized chair, then at Micah, who’s resting next to my half-sister, on the armrest, finally turning to face me again. “Sorry, I’m confused. What exactly am I looking at here?”

“For the second time in a month…” Micah thrusts a hand through his jet-black hair; his dark brows pinched over his bluish-gray eyes. “You’re looking at the tabloids actually getting something right.”

“Wait. What?” Taylor narrows her eyes on me. “You were mad about them dating?”

The side of Micah’s mouth arches, as that’s not exactly how it played out. Micah proved himself worthy of my sister. That’s the only reason he’s still alive, so
mad
might be putting it lightly.

I shrug my answer, understanding Taylor’s surprise, considering Allie had no qualms about my dating
her
best friend. But I’m not Allie, or nearly as rational. Besides, Allie had been under my protection, given that I was tasked to raise her after her mother died in a plane crash when Allie was fifteen years old.

Taylor shakes her head at me in clear disappointment, then focuses back on the page in her hands. “Even if you were mad at first, why is that so bad? I mean, there could be worse things written about you in the tabloids.”

“While that’s very true,” I respond, not too happily, “few people knew that at first I wasn’t thrilled over the idea of Micah and Allison dating. So the fact that the tabloid knows something so personal is worrisome.”

Taylor pauses, beginning to frown. “Which I guess can only mean…”

“There’s a traitor among us.”