Page 11 of Savage Promises (Quinlan Empire #2)

Shane

I woke up one morning, single. With a distant pining for a girl I could never have lingering on every breath. And that night I went to sleep engaged.

To her sister.

That was a week ago.

With Richard Donnelly belittling Lennox, she turned and practically ran out of the house. I tried to catch up to her, but Griffin held me back, telling me to let it go. Let Lennox go.

Again.

Only, I can’t. She’s going to be family. And I need her help. I’m my family’s fixer, but Lennox is the only person who can fix this problem. And I want her to. I need her.

So I’m here at her club to make an impossible request. Liam Riley, the bouncer, a guy I’ve known forever, lets me in, no questions asked.

The mixing scents of vanilla and amber greet me when I step inside Club Echelon. Music vibrates beneath my polished shoes as I stride toward the bar. Several high-top tables made of dark mahogany wood break up the bar area from the dance floor. Soft votives flicker from the center of every table.

The club is packed . But not in any way that alarms me. It’s Saturday night. A nightclub should be thrumming and humming. A soft chatter from the crowd floats like a fog. I feel it in my chest. But stepping foot in Lennox Donnelly’s club drowns me in a tension I can’t shake.

Before last week, I hadn’t seen Lennox in six years, but I’d kept track of her. More than I want to admit.

She pulled it off, got her dream. She wrestled her father’s sad old tavern from him. In one year, she turned it into a great hot spot. Club Echelon is most certainly her domain now.

I’d heard the rumors around Astoria. Lennox Donnelly grew up and is now a knockout beauty running this club with the same fire I remembered from her eighteenth birthday. The night I never should have kissed her. But it was also the night I wished I’d taken it further.

Liam Riley, who followed me inside, tells a barmaid to escort me to a VIP balcony. Connor had offered to come along, but I don’t need backup or a shield for this mission. I’m not here for trouble. Except, with Lennox, it always feels like trouble because my heart is involved.

I didn’t realize I’d put up a wall around the barely-beating dead weight in my chest because of her until we were in the same room. And now I might end up leaving here tonight more wounded than I’m prepared for.

Lennox is here somewhere. I feel her presence. I breathe in, searching for her perfume. The floral scent nearly collapsed my heart last week.

How can a woman affect me like this? She’s got power and that turns me the fuck on. Neve is a kid. A virgin with an enemy’s last name I’m being told to collar as mine.

Lennox is way more than that. Wouldn’t it be more impressive to parade around a lion on a leash than a tea-cup poodle?

I adjust my cuffs, scanning the entire club from high above the dance floor. Strobe lights paint flashes of violet blue and white across the polished mirror surface.

When I catch a whiff of her scent, it’s like euphoria.

Lennox, my feisty lioness, struts into the bar area below.

When I see her, my heart goes into a free fall.

She’s fucking stunning. Gone is the soft, lovesick girl who begged me to keep kissing her.

Replaced with a stunning woman who’s got a steely spine and the kind of backtalk that gets my dick hard .

I absorbed every facet of Lennox last week after exchanging only a few words with her. Now, I can’t stay away.

Confidence radiates from each deliberate step in those lethal black high heels she has strapped to her feet.

Her ample tits are poured into a purple satin blouse that hugs her full breasts.

A black pencil skirt frames her hips in a way that rouses my blood to an uncomfortable heat level.

Her deep chestnut hair, smooth and straight, with darker hues underneath is breathtakingly glossy.

She’s pinned her mane into a bun low at the base of her neck.

It’s sleek and professional, but a few loose strands frame her face, softening the edges and her shoulders.

The way her ass moves in that tight skirt has my mouth watering and my cock thickening.

Oh Christ.

But she’s engaged. To Rafael Marchant. The name burns in my throat. That’s who is fucking my Lennox .

She moves with the kind of grace women can’t fake, all while keeping an eagle’s eye on everything around her. The bartenders. The bouncers. The servers. And the customers.

She isn’t just commanding the space. She’s the pulse of it.

My eyes track her as she weaves between tables, stopping to check on customers with a radiant smile that knocks the breath from my lungs and leaves me wrecked. She has sucked in every man’s attention without even trying. I see hunger in their eyes.

A powerful man wants a powerful woman. But the wrong powerful man wants to conquer one. Put her on her knees and throat fuck her into submission. I’m whacked with a vision of Lennox naked, hands tied behind her back, taking a cock down her throat...

My cock ... Shit, I’m hard as steel .

I wipe those images away.

As if she feels my eyes bearing down on her, Lennox finally catches sight of me.

She freezes for half a heartbeat and meets my gaze.

The floor shifts beneath me. Lennox’s lips part slightly.

Then, with perfect control, she schools her expression.

Her face settles into cool neutrality as she climbs to the VIP level. Cold. Careful.

Just like me.

Her delicate hand brushes the steel banister with her fingers wrapped around it. Now I can’t unsee those hands around my length.

Standing in front of me, chin lifting, and arms crossed, she stares like she doesn’t think I’m real. “Shane?” Her voice is steady and smooth.

But I caught the slight tremor in her lower lip saying my name.

“Lennox,” I greet her back the same way.

“To what do I owe the honor?”

No small talk. Straight to the inquisition. “I’m here on business.”

One perfectly sculpted eyebrow lifts. “What business is that? You have my sister, now want my nightclub, too?”

I want you...

An angry grimace builds on my mouth, but I bury it. I’m not mad at her . “I need the wedding plans to move forward. Neve isn’t responding to my calls.”

Her jaw ticks and I hate how it tightens my chest. How me saying her sister’s name affects her. But she recovers quickly. I expect Lennox is a pro at handling men. She has to be, running a nightclub.

Gaze narrowing, she blurts, “So?”

“The engagement needs to be public.” To twist the knife of her father’s surrender and I won’t be made a fool.

“She’s seventeen and you’re marrying her for all the wrong reasons.” Lennox’s throat works as she swallows. “ She doesn’t belong in this world.”

“It wasn’t my decision,” I say, my voice low but firm. “Your father and Griffin made the deal. I’m here to ensure it doesn’t unravel.”

Lennox laughs bitterly, and it cuts deeper than it should. “Oh, I see. You’re just being the dutiful Quinlan.”

“We both know why this is happening, Lennox. I’m not the one who set the terms.” I take a step closer, lowering my voice. “You think I want to parade around a bride that young like some conquest? I don’t.”

Her eyes search mine, and for a moment, I think she might say something raw to throw me off. But she just shakes her head, her composure locking back up like a steel vault.

“If you want things to move forward, and you need access to Neve, talk to my father. I want no part of this.” She turns to walk away.

Something inside me snaps. I grab her arm, pulling her against me. Her soft curves press against my pecs and her little moan when we explosively collide unravels me .

“What do you want from me, Lennox?” I say darkly. “To break my word? To let your father and brother walk all over my family? Do you think I’d ever let that happen?”

“You’re fixing the problem by forcing my baby sister to marry you! You barely know her.” Her voice cracks.

Men look our way, fingers twitching like they’re waiting to rescue her, thinking she’s in the arms of a madman. She is .

Lennox lowers her voice. “You don’t even want this, Shane. I see it all over your face.”

Of course, she sees it. And she’s right. She may not have known much at eighteen, but this Lennox is smart and savvy and knows how to read a man.

“And that night we almost—” she starts. Her cheeks flush and she doesn’t finish.

I exhale slowly, working to steady myself. “It doesn’t matter what I want. I’m not here to rehash the terms of the deal. And I’m not here to dig up our past, Lennox.” I match her low, breathy tone. “I’m here because Neve’s silence is getting on my last nerve.”

Lennox’s eyes flash with fear. “Do not hurt her.”

“I don’t hurt women,” I rasp. “But we have Garrett in a safehouse. He’s the one we will hurt.

Don’t make me hurt him . Help me. Convince Neve to cooperate.

The longer she resists and acts like a child , I’ll treat her like one.

” When Lennox’s back goes rigid, I soften my tone.

“Please. I’m asking for your help. Neve needs guidance with this.

My mother will be involved in the wedding planning.

Either you help or Neve will have to fend for herself dealing with my mother. ”

Lennox’s eyes widen. “You’re asking me to help plan my little sister’s wedding? To you ?”

I meet her gaze head-on. “That’s exactly what I’m asking, Lennox.”

The music grows distant, the crowd blurring into background noise. For a moment, I’m back in my Mustang, kissing her. And she’s kissing me. Giving me everything she has. Lighting a match to my heart with a flame that never died out.

When Lennox nods in agreement, I want to throw up. I wanted more of a fight. I wanted to see fire in her golden eyes, and long fingernails coming for me.

“Fine.” The tremor in her lower lip will have to do. “I’ll help. But not for you. For her.”

I smile and brush her arm with my hand. “That’s all I’m asking.”

Lennox’s breathing hitches. Her eyes give away how much she hates this. Hates me, probably. And fuck, that kills me .

“But don’t think for one second this means I approve,” she sneaks in the last word.

I bark a laugh, tension coiling tighter inside me. “I never said you had to approve.”

She turns to leave, but I can’t let her go. Not like this.

“Lennox,” I bark.

She pauses, her back still to me. “What, Shane?”

“I never wanted this either.” I draw a shaky breath. “Neve isn’t who I want.”

Her shoulders stiffen at my confession, but she doesn’t turn around. Her voice comes out hollow and raw. “Yet, you agreed to marry my sister. You’ll hear from her in twenty-four hours.”

Lennox walks off like I fucking mean nothing to her. Every step echoes on the polished mirrored floor, the clicking a series of airstrikes above the music. All I’ll remember from this conversation is how fiery hot her eyes burned looking at me.

And that I hated how much she still mattered to me.

“One more favor, Lennox,” I call out because I get the last word.

She turns to face me this time. “Yes, Shane?”

I stare at her mouth, loving my name on those fuckable lips. She’s getting to me as much as I’m using her for my own damn selfish fantastical needs. Before I lose my nerve, I tell her the second task I’d thought up earlier.

“I’d like you to help me pick out Neve’s engagement and wedding rings.”

Lennox’s chest heaves as she rests a fidgety hand on her stomach. Fuck, I didn’t want that reaction. When I’d come up with the idea, I figured it was a way to spend time with her. To get to know her again. Even if it will blow up in my face, getting close to a woman I can’t have.

“Sure,” she says, snapping out of the horror that had taken hold of her .

With no more to say, she walks away, leaving me standing here in the pulse of the music, feeling more lost and hungrier for a woman than I have in years.

Six, to be exact.