His eyes narrowed. “Ronnie Lee…”
“Brendon Shaw…”
He faked right and she darted left; he had her in his arms before she even got around the couch.
“Put me down!”
“Say it.”
“No.”
He flipped her over and held her by her feet. “Say it, Ronnie Lee.”
Laughing, she squealed and slapped at his legs. “No! I won’t say it. Now put me down.”
“Fine. Don’t say it.” He took hold of her ankle in one hand and slapped her ass with his free hand.
“You bastard!”
“Stop whining. You know you love it.” He slapped her again. Again she squealed.
“Stop!”
“Say it, Ronnie Lee. Say the words.”
“Pull me up first.”
“No. Say it.”
“Fine, you bastard. I love you. Happy now?”
Ronnie squealed again as Shaw flipped her back over. But before she could tell him what an asshole he was, he kissed her with so much passion, so much love, she felt her insides melt. He shoved her into one of the club chairs, yanked off her shorts, and buried his face between her spread thighs.
She cried out from the pleasure of it. Not only the pleasure he gave, but from the joy her words brought him. She didn’t realize how much it would mean to him. Or how much it would mean to her to make him so happy.
Digging her fingers into his hair, she whispered, “I love you, Shaw. I love you.”
Big gold eyes stared up at her from her lap. “Say it again,” he demanded. “Say it again.”
Typical lion…just a glutton.
“I love you.”
Suddenly his arms were around her and his mouth crushed hers. She let his passion flow from him right into her. Let him show her how much this all meant any way he wanted to.
“I love you,” he panted against her lips. “I love you, Ronnie.” He pulled her off the chair and spread her out on the floor. “I’ll always love you.”
She knew that. And for once the thought didn’t scare her at all.
Chapter Seventeen
Ronnie never knew a cat’s obsessive cleanliness could turn into such a pleasure.
Arms tight around his shoulders, legs tight around his waist, Ronnie let Shaw hammer into her. Again and again. She lost count of how many times she’d come just during this morning session, but she had a feeling this would be a regular thing. Not that she minded. A girl had to stay clean, didn’t she?
Fangs gripped the skin on her throat and another orgasm started to flash through her. “I can’t,” she begged over the running shower. “Not again.”
“You can. You will. Christ, Ronnie, you feel so good.” She exploded at his words, at the sound of desperation in his voice. And this time she made sure to clench her pussy so hard, she dragged his cat ass right along with her.
He roared against her throat and the pair of them slid to the shower floor, water pouring down on them.
Ronnie finally opened her eyes and smiled at Shaw. He had that look again. The one that used to freak her out. The one where he stared at her with such love she didn’t know quite what to do.
“I love you,” he said again. He said it a lot. She didn’t mind.
She leaned forward and kissed him. “I love you, too.”
“Can you walk?”
She chuckled. “With a little help, sure.”
“I have a surprise for you.”
“What surprise?”
With great effort, Shaw stood and lifted her with him. He held onto her as he shut off the shower and stepped out into his way-too-big bathroom.
“Tell me.”
“Sure you don’t want to wait?”
“I’m sure. Tell me.”
“No.” He placed her on the bathroom counter and kissed her nose. “But I’ll tell you some of it.”
“Okay.”
She watched him walk away to grab a towel, and she started wiggling, running out of patience. “Tell me,” she whined.
“Okay. Okay.” He began drying her off with the towel. “Tonight we do the New Year’s Eve party thing. I have to go, being the host and all.”
“Yeah. Yeah.” No biggie. She already had a dress for it. She had shoes too, but Shaw made it clear he wanted her in her boots. He really loved those boots.
“Then tomorrow, on New Year’s Day—”
“Hey, bruh.”
Gritting his teeth and shielding Ronnie’s body with his own, Shaw glared at his baby brother over his shoulder. “What?”
“I need to borrow a tux if I’m going tonight.”
“Can’t you buy one?”
“Do I look made of money to you? Hello? Cop’s salary.”
“Hello? Heir to a fortune. Go downstairs and tell Timothy to hook you up. And stop just walking into our apartment.”
“Why? It’s not like Ronnie has anything I haven’t seen before.” Mitch wiggled his eyebrows at her, making her giggle.
“It’s like you want me to kill you,” Brendon seethed. She almost hated herself for enjoying his jealousy.
Mitch leaned over a bit to see her better. “Hey, sweetie, where’s my jacket?”
“Sissy Mae has it.”
Mitch frowned. “Why?”
“Because she said, ‘Ooh. Nice jacket. I’m taking it.’”
Now he looked pissed. “And you just gave it to her?”
“Alpha Female, remember? Besides, she’d snarled and snapped at me earlier. I wasn’t about to go through that again. You want your jacket back, you’re on your own, O King of the Jungle.”
“Fine. Whatever.” Mitch disappeared from the doorway and Ronnie started to tell Shaw to finish about the surprise when Mitch came charging back—all three Reed brothers on his ass.
“Come back here, you twenty-hour-sleeping bastard!”
Brendon shook his head. “I need to change that lock.”
“Won’t matter. Every wolf knows how to pick a lock, hoss.”
“Great.”
“Don’t give me that look. You wanted me. You got me. That includes my Pack. Now tell me about my surprise.” She wiggled again, and Shaw laughed.
“I can almost see your tail wagging.”
“Ha ha.”
“Okay. You and I are going on a trip tomorrow afternoon. Taking Dad’s private jet, too.”
“Cool. Wait.” She frowned. “Did you check it against the list?”
Shaw sighed. “Don’t worry. You can legally go where I’m taking you.”
“Don’t get that tone. I gave you that list so you wouldn’t get disappointed when you try to go to Singapore or Madrid or—”
“Yes. I appreciate the helpful and long spreadsheet with all the many places you can’t go.”
“Well that statement was riff with sarcasm.” She wiggled again. “Tell me where we’re going!”
“Nope. It’s a surprise. But you’re totally going to thank me when we get there.”
“You lying, conniving son of a bitch! Let me go, Brendon Shaw!” Ronnie tried to dodge past him again and he grabbed her around the waist, forcing her up the porch steps while he continued to argue with his sister long distance.
“Look, Rissa, I’ll be home in about a week,” he barked into the phone. “You should be able to manage the hotel until I get back. This isn’t brain surgery.”
“I know that but it’s been a while, Bren. And all I’m saying is a little warning before you went traipsing off with your Huckleberry Hound would have helped considerably.”
“Get over it. I’ve gotta go.” He disconnected and took firm hold of Ronnie so he could haul her over to the door.
He’d hoped she’d be too tired to put up much of a fight. The hotel party lasted until five in the morning. A great night of drinking, food, and Ronnie. He couldn’t think of a better way to bring in the New Year. After the party, Brendon took her back to their apartment and fucked her senseless for several hours, gave her only three hours to sleep, then carted her off to the airport. He got her on the plane and wouldn’t let her get any sleep by bringing up her college plans, which she still hadn’t made up her mind about, but the discussion caused a nice bit of panic that kept her wide awake.