Saving Kenna Read online

  “That has nothing to do with you, Kenna. Zolt Hamil is a fucking dick. He had no right to treat Irelyn that way,” I growled and gripped the steering wheel in attempt to dispel my anger.

  “You think you’re like him. You’re not, Sloan. You’ve never treated me that way, or blamed me for things that had nothing to do with me. You wouldn’t do that.”

  “Haven’t I? How many times have I walked out on you? Left you alone without saying goodbye? I am that man, Kenna. I’m the man that fucked you on top of my car, out in the open, because I couldn’t stand you’d been on a date with someone else. I’m also the man that can’t find a way to fit you in my life, but can’t seem to let you go, either. I can never be the man you deserve.”

  Not when you don’t even know my real name.

  “Sloan,” Kenna whispered, her fingers traced the edge of my jawline, making me go just a little more crazy with need for her. There was acceptance in the way she said my name and the way she touched me; the origins of which I didn’t understand.

  I was such an asshole! A man of half-truths and mixed messages. Even now with her in my reach, I wanted to push her away. The thought I might permanently succeed made things so much worse.

  “The biggest mistake you could make would be thinking I’m the man for you.” I grabbed her hand, removing it from my face.

  “You’re wrong.” Kenna shook her head, and her strawberry-blonde waves fell over her lovely face, tickling my hand.

  Fuck! Her touch did the most delicious things to me. She could get me hard with just a glance or the feel of her hair on my hand. Sometimes, I hated the power she had over me.

  “Kenna,” I said in a long drawn out exhale. “We come from two different worlds. Never the twain shall meet.”

  “What keeps us apart won’t always matter.” She straightened in her seat, and her gaze narrowed in my direction.

  “You don’t know the half of it, Kenna.”

  “Don’t I?”

  Her question shocked me, and once again, I was left wondering if Kenna knew more than she let on.

  She cupped my chin and turned her face to me. “Stay with me tonight. Please.”

  I shook my head. “Go inside, Kenna.”

  “Sloan,” she said pleadingly.

  “Just go.”

  Kenna growled out her frustration as she exited my car, slamming the door behind her.

  I watched her stalk to her door, where she stopped, and turned to look at me. I could see her disappointment, and like always, I hated I brought sadness to her lovely face. She had gone inside thinking she didn’t matter to me when the problem was she mattered too much.

  “Fuck it all to hell.” I yelled and hit my forehead on the steering wheel. I should start the car and drive away, but my body had other ideas.

  I was out of my car before I could stop myself, heading for the front door of the Campbell’s Tudor style home.

  The door opened without incident as Kenna had yet to set the alarm. But it didn’t matter. No alarm kept me from where I wanted to be.

  I climbed the stairs and moved in the direction of her bedroom, stopping at her door where I ran my hands over it before opening it.

  Kenna gasped when the door opened and held her blouse over her naked chest. When she saw it was me, a wicked smile curved her gorgeous ruby lips. She dropped the blouse, revealing her lacy, white panties and naked chest. Her perky tits and rosy nipples made my mouth water.

  My cock jumped at the sight. Kenna Campbell’s body was perfection meant for me.

  “I thought you were leaving.” The tip of her sweet tongue darted out and skimmed over her upper lip, leaving it shimmering and kiss ready.

  “I changed my mind,” I said, mirroring her actions with my own tongue.

  “Why?” She took a tentative step in my direction.

  “You know why,” I answered, taking my own step forward.

  “I need to hear you say it.” She took another step, bringing us arm lengths apart.

  “Because I can’t get you out of my mind.” I closed the gap between us and pulled her into my arms. “Because I think about the way it feels to be inside of you. When I close my eyes, I see the look on your face, and hear the sound of my name on your lips as you come. I’ll never get enough of that as long as I live.”

  She said nothing as she wrapped her arms around my neck and crushed her lips to mine. Our tongues met in a frenzied dance, and suddenly all the reasons I had for staying away from her fell away.

  I broke our kiss to strip off my clothes, needing desperately to feel her skin on mine.

  Her sexy green gaze watched my every move, and I heard her gasp as my pants came off, revealing my hard cock to her.

  I cried out when her soft hand fisted my length and began moving up and down.

  “Fuck,” I rasped out, enjoying Kenna’s ministrations a little too much. With a gentle hand, I stopped her movements. I needed to take control of this before I acted like a teenage boy and blew my load all over her hand. “Lay on the bed, Kenna.”

  She did as I bade without hesitating, laying back on the bed.

  I took the moment to calm my ass down and enjoy the sight before me.

  Kenna Campbell was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She’d never understand the daily struggle I went through to stay away from her.

  Biting her lip, she squirmed under my lascivious stare. I knew she was anxious for me to join her, but I wanted to take my time. Our last time together had been raw and carnal. This time would be different because God only knew when we’d be like this again.

  “Sloan,” Kenna moaned; her sexy, sultry voice breaking me from my reverent stare. She glided her hands down her body, teasing her nipples into firm points.

  Fuck, if that wasn’t the hottest thing I’d ever seen.

  I walked to the bed and grabbed her ankles, pulling her to the edge of the bed. She let out a surprised gasp as I pulled off her panties.

  “Already so wet for me, love,” I said, throwing the damp scrap of fabric to the floor. I dropped to my knees and bent her legs, spreading her wide for me so I could feast on her until she screamed my name.

  I ran my finger between her, brushing over her clit.

  “Ah!” she cried at the brief contact.

  Sliding my hands under her luscious ass, I settled myself between her legs to taste that tempting pussy of hers. My tongue dipped inside of her before working its way to her clit, and I couldn’t help but hum my approval at her sweet taste. With the tip of my tongue, I teased and sucked her clit, pushing her closer to the edge.

  I lifted my gaze to watch her face as her orgasm bloomed insider her. What I saw nearly undid me. With her lips slightly parted, and her heavy-lidded eyes returning my gaze, I fell deeper and harder in love with her.

  Mine. Only mine!

  Removing my hand from underneath her, I slid two fingers inside as I continued to suck her closer to a blissful release.

  “Sloan. God. Sloan,” she called as her back arched off the bed, and her hands fisted in my hair as she came apart.

  “Fuck Kenna. Do you know how hot you are when you come?”

  I didn’t give her a chance to answer, nor did I wait for her body to recover. I climbed on the bed and took her mouth with mine, pushing my tongue inside so she could taste herself on my lips.

  Our kiss grew more demanding as I entered her.

  I broke our kiss and rested on my forearms on either side of her face. “Open your eyes, Kenna. Say you are mine. Only mine. Say it!”

  “Yours. Please. Sloan,” she begged, thrusting her hips upward.

  That movement was enough to break my restraint, and we began to move together in perfect time. I let myself go, getting lost in our connection, recognizing the amazing closeness we shared.

  For the briefest of moments, while I was buried deep inside her, I let myself believe we could have a future together.

  “Sloan,” she moaned and kissed me hard. In her kiss, I felt all the same sentim
ents returned to me.

  “Kenna.” I whispered her name as a prayer or benediction. My lips and fingers skimmed the soft skin of her body as I moved faster. I was done for when she cried out my name. I would do anything, give anything, to keep Kenna in my life.

  “Come with me, M’fhíorghrá.”

  She lifted her knees and placed her hands on my ass, pushing me deeper inside; her muscles clenching at me as we both came, our names renting the air.

  I collapsed on her as we caught our breath. Her incredibly soft fingers grazed over my back, caressing my skin, and I lifted my head to stare into her eyes.

  “I love you, Sloan.”

  “I know.” I rolled off her and put my arm over my eyes. This had been a mistake—a cruel, unfair, and selfish act I kept repeating. When it came down to it, I wasn’t in a position to do the necessary things to keep her in my life.

  “Don’t Sloan,” Kenna said, her voice quavering. “Don’t you dare withdraw from me or tell me this was a mistake. We both know it’s not. I know you care about me, even if you can’t say it. I feel it in the way you look at me, and in the way you make love to me, and in the way you fucked me on the hood of your car because you can’t stand that another man touched me.”

  I removed my arm from over my eyes and rolled on my side to look at her. She was right on all accounts.

  “Is breá liom tú,” I said “I love you” in Gaelic, hoping she wouldn’t understand me. But when her eyes lit up, I feared my ploy had backfired.

  I pulled Kenna on top of me and kissed her like it would be the last kiss we’d ever share. Then, I made slow, sweet love to her. When we finished, she fell asleep in my arms.

  And in the dark of night, I laid there holding the woman I loved, praying to God things would and could be different. Maybe one day, they would be and I could really claim Kenna Campbell for mine. I just hoped when that day came, I wasn’t too late.

  But today wasn’t that day, so I kissed the lover’s knotwork bracelet on her wrist, and then extricated myself from her. Before I left, I pulled out my phone. This time, I took the picture, debating whether or not to send it to her. Like the idiot I was, I kept the picture all to myself.

  Later, I’d look back on that picture and wish to hell I had stayed.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sloan

  Present Day

  I STOOD TO the side of Paddy’s ranch house waiting for shit to go down. The sound of my blood rushing in my ears eclipsed all else.

  Any minute now, Marcus would arrive with Kenna; this would come to an end one way or another.

  I rubbed my hands on my jeans to rid myself of my sweating palms. For the billionth time, I checked my gun’s holster, then my throwing dagger. I searched for a calm deep inside that I just couldn’t grasp. Too much rode on this going smoothly. Though we thought we had Marcus over a barrel, I didn’t necessarily believe that. Men like him planned for every contingency, and they didn’t walk away without one last attempt at proving their superiority.

  Closing my eyes, I said a silent prayer for success, and cursed myself for leaving the Emerald at home, because right now, I needed the reassurance the stone gave me.

  The sound of a car coming up the drive made me draw in a deep breath. This was it. I didn’t care what needed to happen, didn’t care what I had to do, I wasn’t leaving without Kenna.

  I peered around the corner in time to see a black Mercedes drive up the tree-lined drive and stop. I shifted nervously from foot to foot as I waited for Marcus to get out.

  He exited the vehicle with an expression of utter hatred on his face. His beady, gray eyes were narrowed, and his brows were drawn together.

  Marcus looked like hell. Every time I’d seen him prior, he looked the epitome of the tight-ass business man. Today, he wore a wrinkled shirt and jeans, and he had dark circles under his eyes. This was a man who had lost control of a life he always commanded.

  Marcus glanced in Zolt and T-bone’s direction and growled as he walked around to the passenger side to open the door to the backseat. With a jerk, he extricated Kenna from the car.

  She stumbled forward and almost lost her footing, but I was there, catching her before she fell, surprising the hell out of Marcus.

  He stepped back and glared at me, but I didn’t give a fuck. I swept Kenna into my arms and held her tight while she whimpered

  “I’ve got you, Kenna,” I said calmly, reassuringly.

  I studied her face and her body, searching for injuries. Other than her black eye, she seemed fine, but I knew that was far from the truth.

  Kenna still wore the same outfit I had stripped her out of the last time we made love. That alone told me all I needed to know about how she had been treated.

  I held her close, squeezing her to me as tears streamed down Kenna’s face. When she winced and her face contorted with pain, I knew she had injuries I couldn’t readily see.

  Seething anger roared in me as I cradled her to me. I wanted to end Marcus here and now. But more than I wanted to hurt him, I wanted to hold Kenna and keep her safe.

  In the background, I heard Irelyn suck in a breath and move toward us, but Zolt stopped her with a protective arm.

  I blinked away the tears welling in my own eyes. This wasn’t over yet, and until we were back at my loft, safe and sound, I needed to stay on high alert.

  “Del, come to me.” Marcus held out his hand in Delaney’s direction. The apprehension on her face made me worried things weren’t going to go as planned.

  The plan, as I understood it, was before Marcus could leave with Delaney, T-bone would intercept and take her back from Marcus. His new reality would be revealed to him and this would all be over.

  Thanks to Chris’ list of all the sex club’s members he had left for his sister, we had the ammunition to take Marcus down. The power he’d wielded over the members by keeping their identities secret ended today. Though many wanted his blood, they settled for booting Marcus out of Arizona and stripping him of his fortune. Many of them were captains of industry, political officials, and heads of organized crime families, and I truly believed Marcus would be found dead within a few days.

  “Are you okay, Del?” Marcus ran his hands over Delaney.

  “Fine,” Delaney said, her voice void of emotion.

  In my own arms, Kenna still whimpered, and I clutched her tighter to me.

  Marcus leaned in and whispered something in Delaney’s ear, and her entire body stiffened as she shook her head.

  I glanced at Zolt and T-bone in time to see them exchange a wary look. Even though things had gone off without a hitch so far, I started to feel like the other shoe had yet to drop.

  “In the car, Del,” Marcus demanded, his face hardened, and his lips thinned into a straight line.

  “Marcus, don’t. Please. Let this be over,” Delaney pleaded.

  “In. The. Car. Now!”

  “Please, Marcus.”

  “You don’t get it, Del. They took you from me. They need to understand, once and for all, I’m in control. No one fucks with what belongs to me.”

  That sentiment I understood.

  “No, Marcus, I don’t belong to you, not anymore. It’s over. They outplayed you this time. There’s nothing left. But I’m here, and I will give myself to you again freely, but only if you leave with me now. Do the right thing for a change. If you love me, do the right thing.” Delaney’s voice broke as her tears came.

  Fuck! This was not what we had planned. Delaney wasn’t supposed to offer herself to him, and her words sent cold dread crawling up my spine.

  I should just leave with Kenna, I thought, searching Zolt’s eyes for a sign of what would happen next. But Zolt and T-bone looked worried too. His eyes darted to Kenna and me before a look of dawning came over his face.

  “It’s Kenna, Sloan! There’s something on Kenna!” Zolt yelled.

  Instantly, I put Kenna down and began searching every inch for whatever trap Marcus had hidden.

  A cacophony of
sounds rent the air; a weird mixture of Irelyn screaming for me to leave Kenna alone and Marcus’ demented laughter.

  I ignored it all while I desperately examined Kenna. I tried to ask her for help, but she had checked out—her beautiful green eyes were empty and nearly lifeless.

  Seeing her this way scared the shit out of me, but I stayed on task and stripped her naked, looking for Marcus’ evil device.

  While we were all focused on Kenna, a turn of events none of us could have imagined happened. I heard a loud grunt followed by a hard thud to the ground.

  Marcus lay on the ground with a dagger protruding from his chest. Delaney followed him down, cradling his head in her lap. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she caressed his face. We all gasped, stunned by what had just happened.

  Delaney had taken matters into her own hands and done the one thing we all wanted to.

  “Del?” Marcus choked out, staring dumbfounded at the dagger in his chest.

  “Why, Del? Why?” Marcus asked as blood saturated his button-down shirt and the ground below him turned a muddy red.

  “You left me no choice. This is not the person you were meant to be. Not the boy who did anything to protect me; the boy I loved. Somehow, you lost him and let this monster—one worse than your father—take over. I couldn’t let you keep hurting people, Marcus. I couldn’t.”

  “But I love you. Only you. Everything I did was for you.” Marcus’ voice was harsh but loud enough to hear the hurt and betrayal in it.

  “I never wanted you to love me like this. All I ever wanted was you. But you changed, and you hurt too many people. I’m sorry, Marcus. So sorry. Please forgive me.”

  Marcus raised a hand to touch her face, but he coughed, stopping his hand from reaching its intended destination. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and with one last gurgling breath, life exited Marcus Xavier’s body.

  “Take her shoes off.” Somehow Delaney found her voice through her tears. She looked up from the dead man in her arms. “He said Kenna will kill them all. Explosives, maybe; I don’t know.”