Kane (Alexander Shifter Brothers Book 1) Read online

  “Kane, stop!” She’d followed him to the stairs but stopped as he walked up. “What does that mean?”

  He stopped at the top and waited for her with a grim look on his face as she started to follow him. Damesha paused at the third to last step and looked up at him uncertainly.

  “What does that mean exactly?” Damesha looked down as Annie ran past them, determined to get in her own bed if the humans were going to bed now.

  “There’s nothing holding you here? That’s what you said right?” He stalked down a step, his gaze stern and unreadable.

  “Well, yes, but I meant there’s no work here for me to do now. I have all of the pictures I need. The files have all been copied and compiled. I can’t find anything more about her in the county’s files. My work here, at least, is done.” She bit her lip, needing to say more but afraid of swaying him in a direction he really didn’t want to go in. This had to be his choice, his choice made freely and without her influence. That was the only way to ensure he wouldn’t change his mind later and leave her. If he wanted her enough to ask her to come back then he meant it.

  “Oh, so it wasn’t just a ‘thank you for the sex, I’m out now’ kind of speech you were giving me?” He pulled her up the final step, stepping back until they bumped into the wall.

  “Not at all, Mr. Alexander, not at all.” Damesha threaded her long slim arms around his neck and held her face up to his. “It was a question.”

  “Ah, a question. It didn’t sound like one.” He pulled his head back to give her that slow sexy grin of his as he waited for a reply.

  Damesha felt her knees wobble, something that happened often around Kane but had never happened before in her life. She threaded her fingers through his hair and gazed at his lips. Moving in close, almost touching him, she began to speak. Her lips brushed his as she said the words but she didn’t press into him further.

  “Where is this going, Kane? Do I go home and try to forget you or do I stay and we make a go of this?” Her left eyebrow crooked, her eyes meeting his.

  Kane shuddered in her arms, his breath a hungry whisper across her lips. His tongue flicked out, moistening his dry lips, brushing hers as it did so. Neither moved, neither spoke.

  Kane breathed deep, his chest pushing against hers before he crushed her to him, his hand going to her head to press her lips into his. Their kiss was desperate, hungry, but also joyful as they both gave their answer in the form of a kiss. Kane’s tongue sought out her lips, asking for entry. Damesha opened, allowing him in as her own tongue tangled with his. Each stroke sent shivers down her spine, but he broke away. Damesha wanted to protest but Kane cut her off by picking her up and carrying her to the bedroom.

  “I suggest you go back to New York then. You’ll need to pack your things before you come back here.” His words came out as a growl against her stomach as he pressed her down to the bed, lifting the hem of her dress.

  “I’m not coming all the way out here to Kansas without some kind of promise, Kane. I don’t need marriage but I need to know we’re going to do our best to make this work,” she responded, legs spreading reactively to allow him to nestle between them.

  “Oh, you go get your stuff, baby. I’m about to make you a promise for life.” Kane thrust his hips into her, the hard edge of his cock pressing into her through the thin cotton of his lounge pants.

  “That’s all I needed to know.” Damesha pulled his face down to hers, gasping as he slid into her, his clothes somehow gone but she didn’t care how. She was lost in the sensation of Kane inside of her, stroking every inch of her depths. Yes, this is exactly where she wanted to be.

  Chapter 7

  Damesha sat in her empty apartment and thought about the memories she’d made there. This had been her first real apartment. The first place she’d ever rented on her own, the first place she’d finally felt like an adult, and now she was leaving it. A pang of nostalgia filled her eyes with tears but she smiled and brushed them away. She was heading out for a life she could have never imagined, a life in the last place she’d ever thought of settling. With Kane, even if his family didn’t like it.

  “Damesha, can I have these yoga pants?” Erika wandered out of Damesha’s bedroom with a pair of gray pants. “I might be able to get into them.”

  “Sure, whatever you want. I don’t think I’ll be going to any yoga classes way out there anyway.” Damesha looked at her friend with sadness, knowing she wouldn’t see much of her now. “When are you coming out?”

  “As soon as I can afford to. I still can’t believe all of this. It’s a good thing your lease was up for renewal anyway.” Erika turned to the window, looking out at the view of other high-rise buildings.

  “It’s one of the reasons it was easy to decide to go out there. That and Kane. I can’t wait for you to meet him, Erika. He’s so wonderful.” Damesha couldn’t believe she was gushing, actually gushing, about a man. “I know that’s what all women say but you’ll see when you meet him. He’s just incredible.”

  “Oh, we all say that, yes, but what makes him so special for you, Damesha? Why is this man so great he’s taking my best friend away?” Erika turned back to her friend with tears in her eyes. “I want to beg you to stay but I know it’s pointless. I’ve never seen you smile like that.”

  “Come here, honey. Sit with me. I don’t know why I’m so tired today.” Damesha put her arm around her friend and they cuddled together on the couch, snuggled against each other as only friends can do. “I’ll be back to see you. I have to bring this country boy to the city sometime. And you’ll be visiting.”

  “I know, but what is it, Damesha? Why is he so special?” Erika sniffled from under Damesha’s arm, wiping at her nose with a tissue she found in her pocket.

  “He’s handsome but it’s not that. I think there’s too much to list really. If I had to narrow it down to one thing? He’s a stand-up kind of guy.”

  “Stand-up? What, he’s a comedian?” Erika looked at Damesha with confusion.

  “No, he’s the kind that stands up for you. If someone’s acting like a jerk, he takes care of it. A protector. Is that better? He’s always making sure I’m alright, he keeps an eye out for me and protects me. I’ve never had anyone do that before.” Damesha lost herself in memories of Kane once more and realized she missed him terribly.

  “You really love him, don’t you?” Erika broke into Damesha’s thoughts.

  “I think I do. This whole thing is different. It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced before. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?” Damesha looked to Erika for an answer.

  “I suppose it does. I know I’ve never seen you like this. From the pictures you’ve sent me I can see that you and Annie are both happy. I can’t believe he installed a doggy door just for Annie!” Erika had to grin at the thought. “She isn’t even his.”

  “Oh, don’t tell her that! She’s claimed Kane just as much as she has me. She adores him! They’re always playing with each other, walking outside, it’s beautiful really.”

  She missed Annie too, her constant companion. It just wasn’t the same without Annie at her feet when she went to sleep and woke up. Or between her and Kane. They’d made it a joke between them, her and Kane, that Annie was their birth control dog, enforcing the no-puppy making zone as frequently as she could. Poor Kane had even been on the receiving end of some very reproachful looks from Annie after she was kicked out of bed. The first time they’d seen Annie give him those looks had been hilarious and she’d spent the entire day giving him the evil eye when he’d go near Damesha. They’d wondered if Annie thought Kane had hurt Damesha she’d seemed so upset with him.

  Damesha’s heart melted as she thought about Annie back home with Kane. She was probably wondering where Damesha was. This was the longest she had been away from Annie since she’d adopted the dog. She knew she missed Annie dearly and she’d only been gone a few days. She missed Kane too but for different reasons.

  “Oh, there’s that look again.” Erika
stood up, picking up a box and her handbag. “Let’s get this down to the shipping truck and get you out of here. Then you can get back to the guy that puts that look on your face. You have a flight to catch don’t you?”

  “I have one more stop to make then I’m going to the airport. Thank you for helping me, Erika, and not giving me a fit.” She hugged her friend before picking up the final box in the room. “It means a lot to me that you’ve been here for me.”

  “Always, my friend. And if this doesn’t work out you know you can have my couch any day of the week.” Erika smiled as they walked to the lift.

  “I’ll remember that.” Damesha chuckled, dreading the moment the elevator stopped at the bottom. That was the point she’d part ways with Erika for a while. It had already been four months since she’d seen her friend. They’d spent the last three days together packing up her apartment but that wasn’t long enough. “You sure you won’t just follow me out?”

  “I can’t right now, honey. I have a protest to organize this week, and then get it off the ground. But soon, I swear.” Erika hugged her friend before the doors opened, but then let her go. “Besides, you’re going to need some alone time with that hotness in Kansas, aren’t you?”

  “I guess so. But I don’t want to leave you!” The women handed the boxes to the man in charge of the shipment truck and then embraced.

  “It won’t be for long, I promise. I’ll be out before you know it. Now go. I don’t want to cry in the street. We’re New Yorkers, aren’t we? We’re supposed to be rude, not sappy.” Erika pushed her away with a watery grin. “Go on. There’s your taxi. Get going, girl!”

  Damesha ran over to the taxi but stopped before she got in. Waving at her best friend, she remembered over a decade of memories in a second. With one final kiss blown from her palm, she stepped into the car. She hoped Kane appreciated what she was giving up for him because it was an entire life she’d just walked away from for him.

  With tear-filled eyes she watched Erika until the car moved too far away and turned a corner, hoping her appointment at the doctor went quickly. She’d made the appointment before she left Kansas. A fatigue was plaguing her and she had no idea why. Damesha was worried she’d picked something up in that reservoir, a brain-eating ameba or something. It didn’t matter how much she slept, she was always tired lately.

  Or maybe something was missing from her diet now. Iron or something vital like that, maybe she needed supplements. She’d find out soon enough. Within a half hour, she was sitting in the doctor’s office, the cab agreeing to come back when she finished. She followed a nurse into the exam room, giving the woman the information asked for.

  “Date of your last period?” the woman said absently as she typed Damesha’s previous answers into a small laptop.

  “Just a few weeks ago, I think. Um, let me check.” Damesha’s head started to swim as she realized she couldn’t remember having a period the month before. She pulled out her smartphone, checking the app she’d installed to keep track of the dates. She could never remember exact dates so she’d started keeping a record of it a few years ago.

  The nurse waited patiently as Damesha started her phone, opening the app up to see a screen with a warning in large letters.

  “119 Days Late!”

  Damesha’s fingers went numb as the phone dropped from her fingers to the floor.

  “Ah, I think we have an answer perhaps?” The nurse picked up the phone and turned to Damesha with a sympathetic look on her face. “Are you alright?”

  “I...uh. Whoa. I think I need a pregnancy test.” Damesha felt like an utter idiot for not realizing.

  “How late are you?” the nurse asked, going back to the computer with calm and efficiency.

  “Apparently 119 days. How could I not have realized?” Damesha went back over the last few months in her mind. She and Kane had grown closer as she spent her days writing and the nights making love. He'd come and drag her out of the office they’d set up when he thought her day had been too long, even when she protested about being in the “flow”.

  They’d take Annie out for long walks, spent free time swimming, kissing. Then she’d go back to writing and the world would disappear as she lost herself in the world she was creating in her book. Time had slipped away and one month had turned into another. She’d woken up one morning and realized her lease was almost up on her apartment.

  It had been time to go back to New York but she hadn’t wanted to leave Kane. She’d started to worry about her exhaustion but put it off to long nights and longer days of writing. Change of environment and diet could be causing it, she’d told herself. Anything but the one thing that had been so obvious.

  How was she going to tell Kane? Damesha went through the motions for the rest of the hour she spent at the doctor’s office, giving the samples requested without complaint. When the doctor came in to confirm her pregnancy, handing over papers she’d need to take to a doctor in Kansas, her mind finally woke up.

  “I’m pregnant?” she asked the doctor standing in front of her.

  “Yes, Damesha, you are. Congratulations.” The man smiled down at her, obviously used to stunned young women sitting in her position. “It’ll take a while to sink in, but you’ll be fine. Just make sure you get some prenatal care in Kansas.”

  He patted her hand as Damesha walked out with an expression the doctor also knew well. A secretive smile women had when they knew they were pregnant but nobody else knew. A look of wonder and awe that made people turn around because it was such an intriguing look.

  Damesha had arranged for her flight in the evening because she hadn’t known how long she’d be at the doctor’s that day. She had hours to kill and decided that maybe now, when it was too late, to finally do some research on Kane. She knew he had money, that his family had money, but surely just a ranch wasn’t enough to make that much money for four grown men? The money part wasn’t a problem, Damesha had her own after all, but not like Kane. The problem was she barely knew anything about him.

  He’d always sidestepped her questions and after a while, she stopped asking. The family had stopped creeping past his house, and she’d not overheard any more conversations about her. His past stopped becoming important. But now she was going to have a baby and she needed to know about the man that was going to be her child’s father.

  Sitting in the airport, Damesha wondered if she’d let love blind her. She was going to have a child and she barely knew anything about the baby’s father. She didn’t even know Kane’s birthday for crying out loud. She started searching for him on social network sites but found nothing. She’d just found a site that offered police reports and old addresses that looked like it might be useful when an older woman sat down beside her. The woman made no bones about staring at Damesha’s screen.

  “Going off to meet your internet boyfriend, are you? I tell you in my day we didn’t do such nonsense. And if you’re only just researching him now, well, you’ve put it off too long.” The older woman, about eighty dressed in a yellow track suit with a headband in a matching yellow looked like she was about to go jogging not go on a flight.

  Damesha looked at the woman with annoyance. “Excuse me?”

  “You young folk nowadays. You run off all over the globe looking for love but you never think about the long run. What’s the person bringing into your life? What do they have to offer? Are they worth your time? Will they be there for the hard times? Young people now, you let your hearts rule too much. Sometimes you got to think with your noggin.” The older woman pointed at her head and winked at Damesha.

  Damesha knew the woman was trying to be helpful and let her annoyance wash away. “Oh, I’ve actually spent the last four months with this man. But as you said, I was thinking with my heart, not my head.”

  “I see. Well, at least he’s real for you. Some people wander off and find out the person never existed after spending a fortune on a trip they couldn’t afford to begin with.” The woman made a sound with her tongue in he
r teeth while shaking her head. “That’s never a good idea.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing like that. I’m just going back home.” Damesha didn’t feel bad about the slight fib; after all, Kansas was home now. “I don’t know a lot about him though; he keeps his cards close to his chest.”

  “Some men are like that, I’ve learned over the years. That’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes the quiet ones are the thinkers, the problem solvers. He might just be a keeper, you know.” The other woman’s eyes, old and rheumy, still sparkled and Damesha felt a reassurance she hadn’t felt since her grandmother passed.

  “You think so? Just a minute ago it sounded like you were trying to convince me not to go.” Damesha wondered what had changed the woman’s mind.

  “Never mind me, I’m an old woman. It’s been my experience, though, that the quiet ones are usually the best ones. He’ll talk, when he’s ready.” The woman got up and looked around absently. “I think I’m at the wrong gate. Have a good trip, dear, and give it a chance. You might have found the one.”

  Damesha looked down at her laptop for a moment, hiding her tears, and when she looked up to tell the woman goodbye, she couldn’t spot her. She turned in her chair, looking all around the terminal but the woman in the bright yellow costume wasn’t to be found. Shrugging it away, Damesha went back to the laptop. Shutting the web pages down, she decided the woman was right. Kane would tell her in his own time.

  She knew enough about him to know he was a good man. He took care of her as no other person except her grandmother had ever done. He gave her his undivided attention far more than she did for him, and he supported her in whatever she chose to do. Then there was the peace she felt when she was with him. It had disappeared the second she walked away from Kane. It had been painful, letting all those sensations inundate her after so long of keeping them at bay. But what if he didn’t want the baby?