Chapter 11

 

It was like something out of a fucking nightmare.

Shane finally got Holly to talk to him, but only because she was in crisis…and what a goddamned crisis.

Maddy was missing.

The police and Kelly arrived not long after he himself, and by that time, he had helped Holly to double and triple check the house, confirming her worse fears: the little girl was gone. Though Shane tried several times to get Holly to talk to him – to say where she thought Maddy might have gone or why – she staved off each and every question she asked, shying away from him.

He’d been too fucking bold...Admitting he liked her…wrong place, wrong time.

But there was nothing Shane could do about it now.

No less than four policemen were granted entry into the house, and while one questioned Holly, the others went about a redundant search. Kelly, for her part, stayed by her friend’s side while Shane stood off in a corner, forcing himself back from stark lust to concern.

His niece was gone. He had to be a monster, he admonished himself, to be staring at Holly as the police questioned her, trying not to pitch a tent in his already tight jeans. As worried as he was about Maddy, he couldn’t be in the same room as her mother without his body betraying him.

Especially now that he’d already had her once.

As she spoke to the officers, Shane didn’t hear the last time she saw Maddy, the description she gave of her daughter, or the way the cops nodded at her sympathetically. His gaze, instead, locked on the rhythmic movement of her mouth, her full, lush lips and the way her hair cascaded around her face. The cotton nightgowns she wore was nothing fancy, but the fabric itself was almost sheer – enough for him to guess that she wore nothing underneath.

He remembered the soft roundness of her breasts in his hands, the sweet smell of her skin and the way her thighs encircled his head as he tasted her almost desperately. Fuck…he would never forget that taste. Not for as long as he lived. He’d give anything to have her legs wrapped around his neck for an eon, until she was exhausted and he was satisfied…

“Sir?” He jerked back to the present to see a cop before her and Shane immediately stiffened. He couldn’t help it. The reaction was an innate one, embedded in him from years of waiting for wardens to punish him for something he may or may not have done. If the officer noticed, he said nothing, merely staring up at Shane and attempting to look official.

It was hard when Shane had about four inches on the man. “Yeah?” He answered gruffly, telling himself to relax.

“What relation are you to Madison Wilder?”

“Her uncle.” He replied curtly. “Why?”

Quite a while ago, Shane had learned that it took very little to put cops on the defensive. Most of them were power-tripping, egotistical morons – though he had hoped that today he wouldn’t run into any of those. Not when he was trying to find his niece.

This cop seemed bound to disappoint him.

The smaller man immediately widened his stance, his gaze narrowing slightly in suspicion. “No reason to be defensive, sir. We’re questioning anyone close to Madison.”

Shane arched a brow. “I’m not being defensive. I’m answering your question. I’m her uncle. Anything else you’d like to know?”

His mouth had always, always gotten him into trouble. It was one of Tommy’s most flagrant complaints – one of many insults his twin brother had thrown at him on the day of their huge falling out. That, coupled with an officer already on edge, well…

“Yes, actually.” The office pulled a pad out of his back pocket, making a show of clicking his pen open before he resumed glaring at Shane. “Where were you between the hours of three and eight am this morning?”

For a long, protracted moment, Shane just stared at him

Was he implying what he thought he was?

“You think I took her?”

At that particular moment, it didn’t matter that he’d been lying awake in the bed in his loft around three in the morning, wondering how the hell he was going to get Holly to talk to him. It didn’t matter that the cops were only doing their jobs, albeit badly, and that they were attempting to help. All that mattered was that particular officer implying that Shane had kidnapped his own niece.

“I’m not accusing, Mr. Wilder. I’m merely asking a question.” The bastard couldn’t have looked smugger if he tried. Shane drew himself to his full height to glare down at the man in uniform, fairly bristling.

“And I’m telling you, I didn’t kidnap my own goddamned niece.”

He could feel the potent mixture of defensiveness and fury welling in his chest as he fought to retain his calm. Shane knew that this wasn’t the time or place for him to lose his temper – knew that it could only make him look bad in Holly’s eyes, but somehow, his instincts defied his rational mind.

There was a flash of blonde at his side and instantly, Kelly was there, her frown deep. “Shane, what’s going on here?”

Why did she have to look at him like that? It had been no different when they were in high school. Whenever anyone got in trouble, everyone looked at him first. He was ever the trouble maker – causing problems more than fixing them.

But that wasn’t the case now.

Kelly was gazing up at him with her blue eyes almost as accusatory as the cop’s, and Shane felt something unidentifiable twist inside him. He knew he’d made mistakes in his life, but what had happened that everyone always thought he was the criminal? It seemed that was a revelation that came to light no matter what he did to combat it.

Shane opened his mouth, ready to defend himself by any means necessary –

“Excuse me, what’s the issue here?” Before he could say a single word, Holly interjected. The officer she’d been sitting with had finished questioning her, and so she crossed the room to peer at the remaining policeman, her gaze skeptical. “Can I help with something?”

“Of course, ma’am.” Holly had no idea what effect she had on men – that much was obvious. That thin nightgown, those features and all that goddamn hair…The way the cop was looking at her was more than enough to make Shane want to bury him, and she was completely oblivious. “I’m just questioning everyone present. We need all the information we can gather to find your daughter.”

“I understand completely,” Holly replied, her eyes oddly bright, “I just want to ask why you’re questioning my brother-in-law. Obviously there are other people you could be getting to – neighbors, passersby…I didn’t think it was the department of justice’s duty to accuse those closest to the party that disappeared of kidnapping first.” The bite in her voice was enough to make everyone present wince, and the mouthy cop’s face reddened slightly. Any perusal he might have been making of Holly was cut short with astounding speed.

“I’ll be moving on then, ma’am.” With those words, he swept from the living room to join his fellow policeman, leaving Kelly staring at Holly as if seeing her for the very first time.

“What was that about, Hol?”

Shane, on the other hand, was staring at her for entirely different reasons. Despite the fact that she was under a shit ton of stress, her daughter was missing and she was obviously distraught…Holly had just stood up for him. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had ever said anything in his favor…it had to have been before he’d been jailed.

Holly blew out a breath, shaking her head in response to Kelly’s inquiry. “I just…I don’t have time for this bullshit, Kelly. I need to find Maddy. Right now.” Kelly’s mouth fell open as she watched her friend stalk away, headed upstairs. By the time Holly disappeared, Kelly turned back to Shane, her expression amused.

“I think you’ve rubbed off on her…and I don’t mean just physically.”

Shane grimaced, waving her away. “Wrong time, wrong place, Hol. Now, go talk to the cops…since you’re the eager one.” That said, he followed in Holly’s wake towards the staircase, hesitating only a moment before he took the stairs up two at a time.

Even if Kelly’s comment was in bad taste, she was right. Holly wasn’t one to mouth off at cops –and despite all the stress she was under, Shane doubted she wanted to be arrested.

She needed to talk to him. If the cops weren’t reassuring her at all, and she couldn’t talk to Holly, then she needed to vent to someone. If her pent up frustration was being let out in cops, she was going to get herself into trouble.

And he was already worried enough about her.

After their secondary search of the house, he knew well enough which room was her bedroom and he stopped before the closed door, taking a deep breath before he knocked.

“Who is it?” Holly’s voice came immediately, muffled and suspicious.

“Shane.”

There was a slight pause before she answered. “Go away.”

God, she was stubborn as fuck. More like the Holly he remembered than the Holly he imagined she would be as Tommy’s wife – dutiful, quiet and supportive.

It was obscene that the defiance in her had him stiff in his jeans inside two seconds. “Holly, talk to me.”

“….Go away, Shane.” Her voice was firmer the second time, and in response, the dark-haired man merely stiffened his spine before opening the door. He was surprised to find that the doorknob twisted easily in his grip and he all but stumbled into the room.

The sight before him made him stop cold.

Holly was curled up in the big bed – the one she had shared with Tommy – the sheets pulled up to her chin as she gazed at him in shock.

If Shane had been hard before, the vision that was Holly in a bed had his cock pressing almost painfully against his fly. Her dark eyes were red from crying, her face tear-streaked, and she still had enough cojones to glare at him the moment he entered the room. “Get out!” Her voice rose to a pitch he was sure the officers downstairs could hear and Shane quickly moved into the room, closing the door behind him.

“Holly.” He moved towards the bed, only to watch her scramble back up towards the headboard.

“I don’t want to talk,” She replied, her tone almost hysterical. “To you or anyone else. I just want my daughter back.” Her voice broke on the last two words and she took a shuddering breath, staring up at him.

Shane’s heart broke for her. If he was sure of nothing else it was that Holly was scared shitless about Maddy. He sat down on the edge of the bed, trying to force the brain between his legs to simmer down so he could think with the one between his ears.

“Holly, it’s going to be alright.” He knew he was shit at comforting people. He’d never been good at it- even when Tommy wanted his support, Shane hadn’t been able to bring himself to lie to his brother. But that had been a completely different time. Maddy had only been missing for a few hours, and as the cops had mentioned, most missing children were recovered in the first twenty four hours. “They’ll find Maddy. She can’t have gone far.”

Holly merely shook her head slowly, staring up at him incredulously. “Shane, how long have you been out of jail? What do you know about Maddy? What do you know about me for that matter? You can’t just swoop in here and make everything better. You don’t get to do that.” Her tirade fell short when her voice started to tremble and her gaze dropped to the coverlet.

Shane was too absorbed in the slump of her shoulders and the dejection in her eyes to take much offense at what she said. Instead of leaving – giving her the easy way out – he leaned across the bed to take her shoulder in a firm, but gently grip, drawing her gaze to his once more.

“Hey.” When he spoke, his tone was soft and reassuring. “She’s not just your daughter. She’s my niece too. If you want me to be perfectly fucking frank, Holly: You and Maddy are all I’ve got. Dad’s bitter old bastard routine isn’t getting any better and my mother wouldn’t speak to me if I were the last guy on earth. You want to take that away from me, that’s your choice – but do it after we find her, ok?”

The profession was enough to make his heart hammer against his ribs. The last thing he wanted was utter and complete rejection from a woman he viewed as not only the star of every sensual fantasy he'd ever had, but a part of his redemption. There had been period during his incarceration where Holly was all he could think about her. Alex was right – giving her up now would do nothing for him.

But giving her the choice was the better thing to do.

If Holly didn’t want him, he’d have to get over it. Somehow.

Holly stared at him wordlessly for a long moment and Shane met her gaze unflinchingly. He had nothing to hide. Nothing he couldn’t protect her from.

Finally, she sighed, all the bluster fading from her as she reached out to cup his jaw in a surprisingly tender gesture. “Everything is falling apart, Shane...What am I supposed to do?”

His hand immediately covered hers, his brow knitting together in confusion. “Everything’s not falling apart, Holly. They’re going to find Maddy.”

“It’s not just Maddy…” Her whispered words carried enough foreboding that the minute hairs on the back of his neck prickled and the muscles of his shoulders tightened.

“What do you mean?” He was careful to keep his demand gentle. The last time he’d demanded something of her, she ended up resenting him – even if it was for her own good. If it was for Holly’s sake, Shane could learn to coax.

For a moment – a brief moment – it was almost if as if she planned to divulge to him. Her gaze cleared, she straightened her spine and her lips parted to speak –

And just as quickly as she had opened up, Holly shut down again. She pressed her lips together, her eyes shutting tightly so that, for a moment, she looked almost in pain.

And then she launched herself at him.

Shane was caught completely unaware. It was all he could do to catch her in his arms and keep the both of them from tumbling off the side of the bed. Within an instant, Holly’s mouth was on his, and he groaned as heat shot immediately –viciously – to the core of him.

“Holly…fuck…”

Her sweet tongue darted out to cleave between his lips, seeking entry – and how the hell was he supposed to deny that? When she tugged his lower lip between her teeth to suck hungrily, her slender arms slipping around his neck, Shane crushed her against him, returning the favor in kind. She was so soft…so fucking warm…

And she was completely naked.

When the hell had she taken off her clothes?

“Holly…stop…” He managed, even as she climbed into his lap, her lithe fingers reaching for the hem of his t-shirt. She was trying to distract him – to make him forget that she’d been about to divulge to him and –

When her heated, perfect mouth pressed to his abdomen, close to the line of his hipbone, he hissed as sensation lanced through him.

Fuck. Fuck.

He wasn’t strong enough for this.

Shane watched, transfixed, as Holly worked at the fastenings of his jeans until she had undone them. She reached inside, and her hand immediately closed over his throbbing cock. Though there was the barrier of his cotton boxer briefs between them, Shane might have been wearing nothing at all. How many times in the past week had he stroked his own erection, wishing it were Holly’s small hand instead?

He had grossly underestimated how good it would feel.

Holly continued to undo him, her enticing mouth moving over his lower abdomen in slow, agonizing sweeps. When her tongue darted out now and again to toy with the skin between her teeth, he cursed lowly, his fingers tangling in her hair.

Damn her.

Shane groped for the headboard with his free hand as Holly’s fingers stroked his cock in smooth, rhythmic motions through the fabric. Her ministrations combined with the roughness of the cloth served to heighten his senses, until he was growling, low in his throat, his dick throbbing. He’d never needed anyone as badly as he needed this woman.

She was going to drive him out of his mind.

When she finally pulled the band of his underwear away from his washboard stomach, his cock leapt up against his stomach, angry, red and aching. Without warning, Holly took hold of his shoulders to jerk him sideways onto to the bed so he landed among the coverlet and pillows.

Looking up at her, Shane was sure he could have died perfectly happily at that moment – round, tanned breasts peaked with stiff, dark nipples, her flat stomach flaring into the mouthwatering curves of her hips and thighs with the minute thatch of curls in between. While he was still taking in the beautiful sight, she lowered her decadent body to slide against his and Shane groaned, his hands immediately sliding down to curl tightly into the pert globes of her ass.

This time, when she kissed him, he pressed his cock up and against the smooth expanse of her belly, his mouth devouring hers. Holly’s answering moan of desire went straight to his libido, and he fought the urge to rip away the layer of coverlet that separated them and plunge into her. He was willing to bet she’d be hot, slick and ready for him – and he’d barely touched her.

Gone were any and all thoughts of stopping her – As of that moment, Shane was more intent on making her his. He was thwarted, however, when Holly tore her mouth from his to bite and suck at his neck. Shane’s head fell back as a low moan ripped from him and he bucked his hips up against her in a silent plea. When she was under him, all he wanted to do was feel her, taste every inch of her, drive her fucking insane…

But when she was on top, he wanted to fuck her – hard, deep and fast.

Holly was having none of that. Her hands roamed heatedly over his body, exploring every inch of his chest and abdomen as she peppered his neck and shoulders with kisses. Shane, in return, kissed every free expanse of skin he could reach – her arms, her chin, the decadent juts of her plump, hardened nipples…

He was just about to take one into his mouth hen Holly bucked her hips against his, drawing his attention to the slickness of her against him.

“Goddamn it, Holly.” It took him roughly two milliseconds to get her beneath him, squirming as he pinned her to the mattress. “You fucking tease…”

Holly only responded by arching against him, those perfect, tight nipples grazing his chest through the shirt he still wore. “Fuck me, Shane. God, I need it…”

She was so brazen it took his breath away, each and every word making his cock drip in anticipation.

But she wanted what he’d given her in the office. A quick, flagrant encounter that neither of them would have to take responsibility for. Something to take the pain away for a brief moment. Staring down at the vision in the sheets beneath him, Shane wanted with every fiber of his being to pound into her. To give her what she wanted and then some.

But he couldn’t let himself do it.

Not knowing that when they were finished, nothing would have changed.

Reaching down, Shane ran a hand through her hair, and the way Holly’s hungry expression softened went straight through him, making his heart ache for something more than a quick, dirty encounter.

He wanted her. All of her.

“Holly, I-”

All at once, the door burst open.

“Holly!” Kelly’s enthusiastic tone rang through the room. “Holly, they found her! They found Ma-”

Shane felt every inch of himself flaming red as the blonde caught sight of the two of them in bed and her eyes widened. In very typical Kelly fashion, however, she only missed about one and a half beats. “They found Maddy. Come quick!” With that, she turned on her heel, shutting the door behind her as she made her exit.

Luckily enough, there wasn’t time for either of them to be embarrassed. In a trice, Holly was pushing against his chest firmly so she could get out beneath him, and then she was throwing on her nightgown once more – this time with an accompanying set of leggings. Redoing his jeans, Shane was hot on her heels, resisting the urge to stick his head under the cold spray of the shower momentarily.

Holly thundered down the stairs at light speed, where she was told by an officer that a squad car circling the neighborhood had picked up her daughter wandering around about a mile away. The car was on its way back to the house as they spoke. At the cop’s profession, Holly actually swayed on the spot, relief evident on her face. She turned back to Shane to catch his eye only briefly before the squad car pulled up in the driveway and she bolted out the door.

Shane, however, held back. While Kelly and Holly went running for the driveway, he stood just inside the doorway to the house to give them their moment.

And to cool his head.

When the officer driving the car let Maddy out of the back, Holly immediately swept her into her arms, holding her close.

“Oh, Thank God. Thank God. Are you Ok, baby? Did anyone hurt you?”

Strangely, though the little girl accepted her mother’s affection, she remained silent, unwilling to meet her eyes.

The officer soon filled the silence. “She said she left on her own, Mrs Wilder. That she was going to find her Daddy and she got lost.”

Holly’s eyes widened as she looked from the raven-haired policeman to her daughter and back again. A myriad of emotions played over her face, and Shane watched her expression go from helpless to relieved to angry and then back again within the space of thirty seconds. Before she could speak a word, Kelly came to her rescue.

Kneeling before the child, Kelly stroked a few strands of dark hair back from her brow, her expression gentle. “Is that true, Maddy?”

Madison looked up to answer Kelly – and her gaze slid right past her.

To Shane himself.

Immediately, she shoved out of Holly’s arms to streak towards him, her eyes filled with tears. “Daddy!” Madison didn’t watch where she was going, paid no heed to her mother’s haunted expression. Instead, she launched herself at him, and Shane caught her, lifting her into his arms until she was at face level. Even though she squirmed wildly, trying to get her arms around him, Shane held her away from him, his expression stern.

“Madison.” The little girl was wailing pitifully, and her cries almost broke his heart, but Shane knew he had to nip this in the bud right now – for her, Holly and everyone involved. If Maddy was ever going to move on, she needed to realize the truth. “Madison, shush. Look at me.”

It took a full minute for the minute figure in his arms to quiet down enough to respond to his request. By the time she did, however, Shane was ready. “Madison…I’m not your dad. I know I look a lot like him, but I’m not. I know you want me to be, but I’m not. I want to play with you, to help your mom at the restaurant and to make sure that you get happy again, but I’m not going to do that if you keep calling me your Daddy. Do you understand that?”

She was eight. Shane knew that trying to get her to accept Tommy’s death when she fought so hard against it was a stretch, but if he could simply get her to give up the title, that would be the first step.

Though Madison’s eyes were still filled with tears, she managed to ask him a single question.

“Then…what do I call you?”

With a sigh, Shane gave in, bringing her into his chest where she curled up contentedly, still sniffling.

“Shane. I’m your Uncle Shane.”