Page 24 of Unmasking You (Hidden Hearts #1)

Chapter 23

Jamie

I open my eyes to a body that’s achy but satisfied and a big body pressed so tight against me I can’t move. Not that I want to. I want to spend hours, days, years with Shane pressed against me.

We spent the weekend together, and he’s been a revelation. What I’d seen up until recently was nothing like the real Shane, the one I met these last few days. His passion for motorbikes is the most surprising thing, and I can’t wait to do it all over again, maybe next weekend.

We really shed our masks and let our true selves roam free.

My alarm goes off, and I groan, unhappy that life is calling me back to reality. A reality where I can’t spend all my time with Shane.

“Morning, sunshine,” Shane whispers against my skin, awakening all my cells and all my wants.

“Morning,” I say while turning around to face him. When my alarm goes off again, I groan and Shane grins.

I lean in to give him a peck on the lips, but it’s not enough to satisfy either of us. So Shane pulls up on his elbow and leans in, taking my mouth in a deep and very welcome kiss. I open, and caress his lower lip with the tip of my tongue. Shane groans and takes ownership by invading my mouth with his.

When he pulls back, we’re both very ready to continue, but my alarm once again breaks the moment.

“Reality check.”

“Yeah, I wish I could stay here.”

“I wish you could stay here too, but we both need to work.” It’s not a good idea to piss Shane’s father off more than he already is.

“Mmmh, I have better ideas for how to spend our days.”

“I have one that we can do now.” His wicked smile makes my cock take notice.

I lean in and whisper against his lips, “I’m all ears.” And I take a nip because I can’t resist, and because I can. He’s all mine.

Shane jumps out of bed and jogs around to my side, removes the covers, and takes my hand to help me out of bed. Then he walks to the bathroom, and only when he turns on the water in the shower do I understand his intentions, and I’m more than happy to see his idea through.

We remove our boxers, and then jump in. I moan under the first blast of hot water, just to shiver when Shane pushes me against the cold tiles.

“Cleaning up before going out is a good idea,” he says, taking my lips in a kiss and forcing my mouth open with his tongue.

I give as good as I take, and use my hands to caress his nape, his shoulders, and trace every muscle I find in my quest to his arse. The more I play with his body the closer Shane presses me against him. By the time I reach his cheeks, not even water can pass in between our bodies.

My head is spinning, and I’m nearly out of breath when he pulls away. I hear the sound of a cap being opened, and I watch Shane drop some shower gel into his hands.

“Let me clean you.” His eyes roaming my body as if I’m a precious thing make my heart skip, and my body reacts.

“Please…”

I shiver when his hands land on my shoulders and then slide until they’re at the sides of my neck, and then back to my shoulder. Then they move down to my chest making my nipples hard without even touching them. When he does, my knees buckle. I never knew my nipples were that sensitive.

Shane’s fingers play with them, pinching and scraping until my cock is jutting out, as if trying to reach Shane or inviting him to take it in his hand. I moan when he pinches me harder than before, and precum forms at my tip.

I glance at his face and his satisfied expression makes me rebel. So I do the same. I pick up the shower gel bottle and place some of the gel in my hand, and I mimic what Shane is doing to me.

Damn. I never knew how hot it would be to make him crazy for me.

I play with his nipples, and I love how his breath speeds up and a warm puff of his breath washes over my face. I groan when he does the same to me, and then we’re kissing as if we haven’t done so for years, taking everything each other has to offer.

I trail down, stopping to wash and play with the muscles of his abdomen, until his breath catches and he brushes his now standing-up-proud cock against my arm.

Shane does the same with me and then drops his fingers down to play with the fine hair on my groin, and overwhelmed with desire I push against him, to rub my erection on him. I move two or three times while he teases me, until I remember I need and want to do the same to him.

It doesn’t take long for the both of us to press close, and to circle both of our cocks with our hands.

“Oh, fuck. You feel so good,” Shane says just before stealing a kiss.

“You too.” My words end on a whine as I come all over us.

“I love your ideas.”

“I love my ideas when you are involved.”

My alarm goes off in the other room. We make quick work of washing up this time, and are soon out of the shower.

We kiss for a long moment as if we are going to be separated for months.

“Love you,” Shane says while pulling me against him again before I open the door.

“Love you too.” I say, before stealing another kiss.

Leaving is a hard moment, but knowing I’ll be with him soon is a sweet one.

When I arrive at the office later than usual, because I had to stop home to get changed, Alexi is already there.

“Hey man.” A smile as big as eternity is plastered on my face.

“Hey,” he says, glancing up at me. “Someone’s happy.”

“I am. Totally in love with him.”

Something passes over Alexi’s face, and before I can ask he continues. “We have to talk, and you’re not going to like it.”

Not what I want to hear after spending some happy time with Shane.

“I’m ready.” But I’m not sure I am.

“You know how diligent I am in my work. Before deciding, I have to ponder all the variables.”

“Yes,” I say and nod, because he is that anal. But I’m grateful for it, because Alexi has saved our asses more than once.

“I had a chat with one of my contacts, and apparently Proud to Be is up for grabs.”

“What?” Why did Shane not say anything? Does he know?

“Yes. It is not advertised, though. I don’t think they want people to know.”

Or just one person.

“Can I buy it?”

“I knew you’d say something like that, so I’ve already put a feeler out.”

I walk to him and plant a kiss on his forehead. “That’s why I love you, you wonderful man.”

“I love you too, you pain in my arse.”

“It has to be mine. I don’t want anyone knowing I’m buying, and I don’t want to fight to have it.”

“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

I chuckle at the Godfather reference. “Thank you, man.”

I don’t want that bastard to win. I’m tired of him owning Shane because of the things he loves.

This time I’m going to set him free.

Three weeks. It took us three weeks to settle everything down.

Twenty-one bloody days spent away from Shane. I only had time to text when I was in between meetings, and I couldn’t spend the night because Alexi and I were planning the next move to win.

Turns out that buying another company is a bloody long process, and finding the money to buy it’s even more complicated. I couldn’t have done it without Alexi, Ruby, and Liam. They all chipped in, with Alexi being the face of the operation and the mind behind it, and with Liam’s help and talent in knowing when to make a move, we were able to beat the competition.

There’s only one more thing I need to do, so everything is how it should be.

“Jamie Wilson,” I say when I approach the reception.

“Good morning, sir. Eleventh floor,” she says after checking the screen.

I press the button after entering the lift, and then nervously tap my fingers on my thigh until the door opens and I put my mask on.

No weaknesses today.

I walk out of the lift, and I’m welcomed by another desk, but there’s no person to welcome me. I stand there, unsure of what to do, when voices coming from the door behind the desk get my attention.

I recognise one of the voices, so I walk towards the door.

“Sir? Sir, please. You can’t go in. I have to let Mr Campbell know you have arrived.”

I glance at the person, noticing how far they are from me, and then ignore their request to stop, open the door, walk in, and close it behind my back.

The first thing I notice is Shane. He’s wild, something I’ve never seen before. He’s usually so controlled and calm, but now it seems as if he can’t contain the rage he has inside.

“How could you?” he shouts.

I hate when his father looks at him as if he’s a fly bothering him.

“It’s my company, and I can do what I want with it.”

“You promised. I did everything you asked of me.”

“I told you to stop wasting time with it.”

Shane goes to talk, but his father raises a hand, shutting him down.

“You always do what you want and then cry when things don’t go your way.”

“In my life I’ve only asked you for one thing, and that was to keep the foundation.”

“I did, while it was useful for me. Now it’s not.”

“You did it to punish me, didn’t you? Because I didn’t come back when you asked me to. I was injured, and you never even asked me how I was. What the fuck am I to you?”

“I do not tolerate this language. If you have to resort to this, leave my office.”

That’s enough for me. I won’t allow anyone to treat Shane this way. This fucktard doesn’t deserve him.

I clear my throat, and two surprised faces turn towards me.

I love how Shane’s features go from angry and upset to sparkling with the love he has for me.

“Jamie? What are you doing here?”

“Shane,” I say to him, my voice going all soft and soaked with longing. I’ve missed him so damn much.

“Who are you?” His father has the same voice I remember from the past, but right now it’s missing its usual charisma. He’s aged, and not in a gracious way. Now more than ever, the dark heart he has shows on his ugly face, transforming the once likable man into a mean one.

At the same time Shane asks, “What are you doing here?”

I reply to the old man. “Jamie Wilson. Your appointment.”

“Hi Shane.” I smile at him, trying to convey that everything’s fine, that he no longer has to worry about his father.

“Hi,” he says with confusion showing in his tone and on his face. “What—“ Shane never gets to finish because his dad jumps in.

“Do you know him?” he asks Shane, and then he turns towards me and with manners as fake as a one-pound bill says, “I’m sorry about my secretary. She should have waited to let you in until I was done with this meeting with my employee.”

“You mean Shane, your son, right?” I can’t stand this man and I’ve been here less than a minute.

“Who are you, again?” I love how suspicious he’s become, only because I mentioned Shane and son in the same sentence.

“Someone who can buy your company and everything inside it.”

“My company is not for sale.”

“Only because Shane doesn’t want it.” I wink at Shane and then return my attention to his father. I love to see the anger in his eyes.

“Then why are you here?” he bites back, but I had worse bullies than him growing up.

“I’m here to thank you.”

“What? Why?” he asks, surprised.

“For Shane and for the foundation.”

“That’s my foundation, and I won’t allow a charity case like you to use it to your advantage,” Mr Campbell says, and I hate that he doesn’t acknowledge Shane even now.

I smirk. “It’s not your foundation anymore. It’s Shane’s. If he wants it.” I turn to look at my lover for a second, and smile at him, then turn back to his father. I love to see his face is going white, as if he’s seen a ghost.

“Shane can’t run your foundation, he works for me.”

“I’m not. I’m resigning now.” He looks at me and I nod, hoping he understands how proud of him I am right now.

I love to see Shane’s face illuminated by a smile, a proud one, because for the first time he’s facing his fears and coming to terms with his regrets.

“If you do this, you’ll no longer be part of the family.”

A snake is always a snake, and that’s what Shane’s father is. That’s a low blow, so I move closer to Shane in my need to protect him from this monster. Instead he stands proud and fearless, and so fucking hot I want to whisk him away so we can do wicked things together.

“I never was part of the family. You made it clear over and over again, every single time I didn’t rise to match your expectations. You know what? I’m tired of not being enough or not being what you want. I am me, and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved.” Shane’s gaze lands on me and I don’t like the shame showing on his face. So I walk closer to him and stand at his side, telling him without words that I’m proud of him too.

I’m not denying the bad things that happened between us, but I can’t blame him for doing everything he could to be part of a family he loved and should have loved him.

We will have to work through our past, but I’m sure that with the love we share we’ll make it.

“I’ll strip you of your name.”

“I never wanted it.” He trembles while he says that, so I take his hand in mine, not worrying about what this despicable man will think. I’m past worrying about what others think, and I have enough money to crush him and his company.

“Leave,” Mr Campbell says, his eyes sending daggers my way, and I’ll never be so proud of being hated by someone.

“I’ll take good care of him,” I say to him before closing the door behind me. I look at Shane, and the trembling smile on his lips has me wanting to hug him, not caring about the people surrounding us, but I don’t want our love to be displayed in front of everyone. It’s still so fresh and new that I want to hide it from everyone’s eyes, just in case they ruin it like they did ten years ago.

I jump out of my skin when Shane takes my hand in his, and with his head raised high walks away from his old company, from his family, from his past, and into the future.

A future I swear to make amazing for the both of us.