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The papers shook in his hands. He dragged a deep breath through his nose and placed the papers on the table. He thumbed through, and the name flew out. How had he missed it? He’d read the damn contract at least seven times, and still he’d refused to see the obvious.
“Shane?”
“Goddamn Kain.”
Confusion darkened the espresso brown of her eyes. “Who’s Kain?”
“My fucking best friend.”
“What does your best friend have to do with this?”
He fisted his hands. “Evidently…everything.”
Shane paced the length of the boardroom. He couldn’t believe Kain would do this to him. First his father left him completely out of the loop about just how bad things had gotten, and now his best friend since eleventh grade betrayed him as well?
“Shane, you’re going to have to dumb it down for me. I don’t know who your best friend is.”
He whirled on her. Anger threw spots in front of his eyes. Days of no sleep and living on coffee churned in his gut. And now her. Another secret. Just how many people in his life were going to lie to him? She was so goddamned innocent in all this. He stalked to her, pushing her back with every step he took. “I’ve known him since I was sixteen. We played ball together, for fuck’s sake. And his family’s the owner of the largest construction company in Hawaii.”
Kendall put her hands up to fend him off, but he kept advancing. “What does that have to do with buying Justice Construction?”
“Everything,” he snarled. He knew Kain could be ruthless about getting a toehold in California, but this? Rage rode him hard, and instead of panic, her chin lifted in defiance.
“From your reaction I’m going to say you’re super pissed off.”
“Not one thing has made sense to me today.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth as she reached behind her for the bookcase that lined the wall. Her attention darted back up to his eyes. Her chest heaved, and her nipples tightened under her blouse.
The slap of her apple scent threw him off. He grasped her upper arms. The silk of her blouse crumpled under his hands; her skin was warm and disturbingly fragile. He had no business touching her, but her huge doe eyes pulled at him.
“Shane?”
He hauled her up onto her toes and slanted his lips across hers. Taking, not asking. She sucked in a breath, her jaw slackened in shock. And bastard that he was, he took advantage. He wanted to feel something beyond the chaos. Even the slap of her hand again if that was what he got.
He swiped his tongue into the warmth of her mouth and slid along hers. She sagged against him. He transferred his grip onto her hips. Instead of pushing him away, she wound her arms around him. The fierce scrape of her nails through the short hairs along his nape snapped whatever leash he had left.
She held on, crushing her chest into his. He backed up, lifting her into his arms. Blind with the anger that transferred into lust, he acted on instinct. From the moment she’d walked up to the house, he’d wanted to know just how she tasted. The bitter edge of coffee and the sweet tang of the melon she’d eaten drew him in, and he wanted more. He sucked her tongue into his mouth and was rewarded with a moan of surprise.
She opened wider, and they fought for a deeper taste. The scrape of her teeth along his lower lip ended in a nip that left his lip and his cock throbbing.
He hoisted her onto the table and jerked her skirt up. She lifted her legs around his hips and pulled at his shirt. “This is just sex.”
He nodded. He could live with that. He wanted to lose himself in the uncomplicated mechanics of pleasure. Even if it was just ten minutes, he wanted to empty out his brain and feel something else.
She slid her hand under his shirt, loosening the buttons from the bottom up. Her angel-soft hair fell forward. The strands were at least a yard in length and teased around his wrists at her hips. He wrapped a hank of it around his hand and pulled her neck back. He sucked on the fragile skin at her collar and up to her jaw. Her nails bit into his belly, and he bunched his muscles under her attack.
Fuck.
Little Kendall had some claws. She finally got his shirt open and wiggled out from under his mouth. She fisted her hands into his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. He still held her hair in his hands. The surprisingly heavy strands tangled around his fingers, ensnaring him all the more. Open-mouthed kisses turned into nips at his chest. He tightened his hold on her hair, unprepared for her aggressive nature.
His dick went from half-hard to a steel tent under his dress pants.
She tugged forward until she could taste him again. She flicked the pads of her thumbs over his nipples, and he hissed. “Christ.”
She looked up at him as her tongue swirled around the tight disk. “You’re not the only one who could work out some anger.” She nosed over to the center of his chest and gently ticked her fingernail along the beads of his mother’s rosary. It was as much a part of him as his skin. She traced the center medal and moved on to his other pec. He hissed when she nipped again.
“Leaving marks?”
