Free Sweet Seduction Sabotage by Nicola Claire Page B

see Drew. His grey eyes met mine, a question there I hadn't expected to see. He raised his eyebrows, moved in his seat as though to stand, reinforcing his offer of help. Do you need me? He wasn't judging this monumental fuck-up that is my life, he was asking if he could step into it, further than he already was.
    I gave a soft shake of my head and watched as he sat back into his seat, Dominic offering him a frown from the side.
    "Kane," I began, only to be interrupted.
    "Was that dude in uniform one of the others?" he demanded.
    I sucked in a breath and said, "No. Not any more."
    "What do you mean by not any more?"
    "Exactly that. I just broke it off with him." I thought this would be a good way to start, giving Kane enough information to put two and two together and realise he was about to be cut loose too. But Kane doesn't think like that.
    "That's good, babe," he said all smiles and jaunty attitude again. His whole body relaxing, his hand snaking out to clasp me behind the neck.
    When Drew does that I become instantly turned on, alive, ready, eager. When Kane does it, I tolerate it, accept it and work myself out of that hold as soon as I can. Now, I just jerked away.
    The fists came back, the scowl returned.
    "What the fuck?" he demanded, taking a menacing step towards me.
    Sometimes, I like it rough. Sometimes, I want to feel the pain. Kane was for those times. Back seats and hoods of cars, in his garage covered in grease. I'm not sure why I wanted to slum it, for want of a better word. Why I wanted a rough diamond who, more often, took rather than asked. I'm the one who chooses when and where and how, but sometimes I chose Kane. Why?
    Getting rid of my stable of guys was meant to make things clearer, not confuse the fuck out of me. Not make me wonder what the hell had I been thinking? I hadn't expected this. I'd thought by cutting myself off from the addictive hits these men gave me, I'd finally see the real me. But what if the real me is still fucked up? What if after I clean up my lifestyle, I'm still fucked up?
    What then?
    "Kelly, let's go get in my car and take a ride. I think you need a little Kane type lovin'."
    Did I hate myself so much, that I'd let a man like this in my bed, between my thighs? Was I so ashamed that I felt like I needed this kind of treatment? A punishment of sorts. Why?
    I knew why, and it just made me fume to be reminded. I'd buried all that shit a long time ago, why the fuck was it coming unhinged now?
    "Kane, it's been fun, but we gotta go our separate ways." Strength can be found at the most unexpected of times. I was facing a major life crisis, looking into the angry eyes of a soon-to-be ex-lover, who solved his problems with his fists.
    Kane had never hurt me, no more than I had asked him to, but looking at him now I wasn't so sure of my safety. Standing in my workplace, surrounded by the public, friends, colleagues, a group of lawyers and video cameras linked to the top security firm in Auckland, I felt unsafe.
    I took a step backwards and heard a series of chairs scrape as men stood up around the room.
    Some of them were customers, just wrong place wrong time situation, but still they stood when a woman was threatened before them. All three ADK lawyers were on their feet, Drew at the front of the pack about to charge. Lucas had even rounded the coffee machine, apron still on, but the heavy portafilter in his hand.
    Time stood still, I flicked my glance over my would-be protectors, and then looked into Kane's hard eyes. He hadn't even registered the hostility on the air, hadn't even bothered to acknowledge that there were other men in the store who could do him harm.
    He simply reached froward and wrapped his meaty hand around my shirt collar and hauled me against his chest.
    Pandemonium erupted. Voices rang out demanding he release me, Gen screamed, as did some of the other women in the shop. I could hear Dominic and Drew yelling, getting closer, but Kane, the stupid, crazy, lunatic of a