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He chuckled suddenly. “Every one of her children has scared the you-know-what out of her by nearly getting killed, but that never stopped her from loving us with everything she has.”
“I know about you and Liam—what happened with the others?”
“Keira stepped in front of a bullet meant for someone else to save him. Alec was nearly killed when two terrorists attempted to kidnap his date and him in a coffeehouse in the tiny Middle Eastern country where he was serving as the regional security officer at the embassy.”
Surprised, Carly paused in the midst of raising her coffee cup to her lips and named the country. “That was Alec? I read about it, but the State Department never released the name of the DSS agent involved.”
“Yeah, that was him.” The water was boiling, so he turned the fire down and added oatmeal, stirring occasionally. “And Niall...” He chuckled softly. “I can’t disclose any of the details,” he said with his back to her. “Suffice it to say that if you ever see him without his shirt, you’ll know just how close he came to dying.” He turned around and added drily, “Not that I want him to take his shirt off in front of you, you understand.”
She started to respond with a snappy comeback, until it sank in he was only half-kidding. She put her coffee cup down. “No matter how ripped Niall is—and by the looks of his home gym I’d be willing to bet women drool when he strips—” she told Shane as she crossed the room to him. She took the spoon from his hand and turned off the fire under the oatmeal, then placed her hands lightly against his chest. In all seriousness she said, “No matter what he looks like naked, he can’t possibly hold a candle to you.”
He breathed sharply, and she added with a note of incredulity in her voice, “I can’t believe you didn’t know that.”
“It’s irrational, I know,” he admitted in a low voice. “I love him—don’t ever think I don’t—but I’ve been in competition with him nearly my whole life. That’s good in some ways, but... And he delights in yanking my chain whenever he can. Last night...”
“Men are going to look at me, Shane. I can’t help that. And they’re going to like what they see,” she said bluntly, “unless I wear a burka. But I thought I made it perfectly clear last night where my interests lie.”
That forced the beginnings of a smile from him. “Yeah. You did.”
“So what is the problem?”
The faint smile was still on Shane’s face, but she sensed the effort he was making to keep it there. “Niall doesn’t have epilepsy.”
His answer was so unexpected she couldn’t think of what to say. Then she remembered the first day she’d met Shane, and her assessment of him as a wounded warrior trying to come to terms with the diagnosis that had to have devastated him. She’d thought he’d dealt with it. Put it behind him. She’d thought wrong.
“No, he doesn’t,” she said with deliberate emphasis. “He doesn’t have epilepsy.” Her right hand reached for his left one, and she raised it to her cheek. “But he’s not you, either.”
Her gaze held his, and in those dark brown depths she saw what she knew he didn’t want her to see...and her throat ached. “Take me to bed, Shane,” she whispered. “Let me prove it to you.”
Alpha male that he was, Shane tried to take control once they were in the bedroom, but Carly was having none of that. This was her seduction, and she was going to erase that sliver of insecurity from his eyes if it was the last thing she did.
“No,” she told him firmly, catching his hands in hers when he tried to undress her. “I want to do it.” And when he started taking his clothes off himself, she stopped him there, too, shaking her head. She let her eyes promise he wouldn’t be disappointed, then removed his shoulder holster and his clothes one deliberate piece at a time. Caressing. Stroking. Every move dictated by her heart.
When he was completely naked, she breathed deeply and let it out very, very slowly. “There’s no contest,” she told him, her voice soft, seductive. Gliding her hands over his pecs, his abs. And lower. “No one can compete.”
