My Property: A Steele Fairy Tale Read online

  My Property

  A Steele Fairy Tale

  C.M. Steele

  Copyrighted © 2017

  C.M. Steele

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written expressed permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is purely coincidental.

  Cover design: C.M. Steele

  Cover Image: Deposit Photos

  The use of actors, artists, movies, TV shows, and song titles/lyrics throughout this book are done so for storytelling purposes and should in no way be seen as advertisement. Trademark names are used in an editorial fashion with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or if it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and please purchase your own copy.

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior express, written consent of the author.

  This book is intended for mature adults only. Contains sexual content and language that may offend some. Suggested reading audience is 18 years or older. I consider this book as Adult Erotic Romance.

  Copyrighted © 2017

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Hector and Lara Meet

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Epilogue

  Alejandro and Tara

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Diana

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Bacon, but there’s nothing we can do,” the officer said to me. I wanted to jump over the counter and choke the man, but it wasn’t who I am. I smoothed my pencil skirt in an attempt to calm myself down. I’d gone to our local police station because my sisters have disappeared into thin air. I wasn’t the kind of person who panicked. I was logical, calm, and focused. They knew that and yet, it was clear to me this was more than just them skipping away for the weekend.

  “What!” I screeched. Getting ahold of my temper, I continued, “What do you mean there’s nothing you can do?” I questioned. “They have been missing for two days and I can’t find them.”

  “They are both adults. It’s not a crime for them to go missing.” That was true. They were old enough to make their own decisions, however, it wasn’t like them to avoid my calls. The last time I spoke to them they were at the new properties we had been gifted in a will. They had gone to add their touches. The next day, nothing.

  There were three homes on the land that was owned by the Lopez Properties. How they came to us made no sense to me. However, the documentation said it was ours. The first was made of wood, the second brick. and the last of stone and steel. My sisters took the smaller two which were closer to each other than the third. I hadn’t been there yet, but I saw pictures and it was stunningly beautiful. It looked like a mini-castle in the middle of the woods and the library was to die for. If I had time off I would have gone, but I had to do two onsite meetings that had me out of town. It was rare, but everything managed to keep me away from my dream home. I guessed it was for the best because I probably would never want to leave.

  “Very well. I’ll find them myself.” I whipped around to exit the station when I collided with a large wall of a man. I could feel an unnatural heat radiating off his skin. I slowly took in his body, moving up to his eyes. They were a honey color, sharp and piercing. His jaw was taut and covered in brown hair. It wasn’t perfectly trimmed and I found that surprising because his suit had been expertly tailored. I couldn’t take my eyes off his mouth that leisurely began to turn up into a smile of sorts. One that said he caught my interest. His nostrils flared for a split second and I could have sworn he could smell the heat between my thighs.

  “Um, excuse me,” I stammered. My body was shaking with a need I could not explain. I attempted to step away from him, but his arm reached out and he clasped his strong hand around my bicep. It wasn’t painful or even rough, but I was surprised.

  “No.” I tilted my head, staring at him knowing damn well I must have misheard him. There was no way he said no to me. I didn’t know him from Adam, so who was he to tell me what to do.

  “Did you just say no?” I asked indignantly, pulling my arm from his hold. Instantly, I missed the connection, but I already pulled away. There was no backtracking.

  “That I did, mi amor.” His voice was deep, accent-laced, and sent a shiver of desire down through my body. I couldn’t make out where it was from. It was Latin, but I couldn’t say he was Mexican, maybe Spanish or even Argentinian. I could be wrong, but he only said a handful of words to me. Why did I even care about him at all? I’d never let a man talk to me like that or even touch me without my permission and here I was hoping to hear that accented voice to surround me again.

  “Sir,” the police officer interrupted with a stern voice. I smirked to myself.

  The man who held some power over me turned his attention to the officer and it was my moment to escape. I was out the door of the station and walking to my car. It was a chilly August day in Colorado Springs. The fall air felt like it was approaching fast, but even as a crisp cool breeze hit my face, I was burning up inside from just that minor encounter. He was on my mind as I pulled out of the lot. I actually had to turn my AC on because my body was heated so much that I had beads of sweat around my hairline. Unless I was working out, I didn’t sweat. This man could be nothing but trouble.

  As I drove, my thoughts returned to my missing sisters. Where could they be? I dread thinking that something happened to them. They were all I had left. Our parents died when we were little girls. A bank robbery gone wrong. It was hard for us, but we moved in with our grandparents. Once I was out of high school, I attended the University of Colorado and graduated with a degree in Architecture four years later. The twins were six years younger than me and had turned eighteen two months ago. Since then they have been roaming wild.

  The world was their oyster they said. My grandparents had indulged in their boisterous and flashy behavior. I had been the straight-laced girl that turned into an adult without my character changing. My humor was almost null and void. I don’t know why. My grandparents told me it was because my parents died and I took on the role of the girls’ protector, and as such, in my mind, it was my job to find them alive and well. Then choke them for giving me a damn heart attack.

  I went to work
at the design studio as one of the ten architects. Nobody special in the ranks and I was miserable. My designs were great, grand, but most of the time were brushed to the side for the contemporary models I made. My visions were based on the gothic Victorian designs. It had been something that intrigued me since I was a child watching classic movies that took place in dark mansions and castles. By the end of the day, my three average designs were added to a new subdivision project that allowed buyers to select the one of their choice and the house would be built as such.

  When I got back into my car, I thought about a trip to the homes in the woods. That’s the last place I knew they were going. I packed a bag and decided to make the drive in the morning. With a three-hour drive, it would be dark by the time I got there, and that wasn’t beneficial for searching the woods.

  The next morning, I sat straight up in bed. There was a message from my sister on my voicemail.

  “Diana, it’s me,” Lara shouted on the phone. I could hear voices in the background and it made me angry. They must be out traveling again. I really needed to stop worrying about them. It wasn’t their fault I was a boring and overly protective sister.

  “It’s me, too,” Tara added. They were giggling. I rolled my eyes because they were beyond silly for no reason.

  “We’re fine, so stop tripping. We’re not missing and we love you!” They cheered with laughter. “Be safe and lighten up a bit! Life’s too short to be so uptight!” I was uptight, but I didn’t know how to have fun. It was insane that I found reading all alone to be more fun than socializing, but somehow, I didn’t care.

  “Yes, find yourself a man. A big strong one…” Tara said. I could see her arching her brow and nodding her head suggestively like she always did when she told me that.

  “Not that again,” I muttered to myself.

  “Make sure you come out to your house on the twelfth. It’s important. Bye, see you in a couple weeks,” Lara said.

  Fury and annoyance coursed through me while I stood in my shower thinking about the voicemail. How could they be such bitches? They gave no fucks about my worries. Fine, I needed to stop giving a shit what they did. Who was I kidding? I would always be worried about people and more than likely the reason why I didn’t let anyone else in. My life was full of stress and I didn’t have room for more heartache and fear. I hopped out, then dressed in sweats and sat on my couch with my hair in a messy bun. Since I didn’t need to look for them, I planned to enjoy a day of doing nothing. I could let loose. Assholes.

  Diego

  I saw her. I touched her. I spoke to her. The expressions in her lovely chocolate eyes with green sunbursts around the pupils made my body burn and my heart drum up to a running pace. Diana Bacon had to be the most perfect creature in all existence. Her hair was so long that I ached to brush my fingers through it. The way her brow arched at me with deadly promise made me laugh.

  My veins were burning with the mating lust that had just begun. My family and I were a pack of wolf shifters. We lived amongst the rest of society, but we didn’t mingle with them for anything other than business and searching for our mates. To outsiders, it would seem that we were solitary beings, but when you had a secret to keep, confiding in or letting anyone too close could be dangerous. Our lives were full of family work and the occasional trip to the woods. The only thing missing in my life had just been filled and very soon I’d have everything I could ever want.

  I followed her from a distance, then stayed outside her apartment until the lights went off. “Sleep tight, mi vida,” I whispered before driving off into the night.

  Chapter One

  Diego

  I followed her everywhere she went since that day at the station. Many would call it stalking, wrong, or totally obsessive, but they’d be mistaken. She was mine. Diana belonged to me before she even knew it and before I did. I wasn’t some crazy guy hunting a woman that had turned me down. She wouldn’t do that. Something about watching her, knowing if we’d both gone to that party, we’d have been together already, made it fair. I wanted to walk up to her and kiss her until she couldn’t think straight, but then neither would I and despite the lustful thoughts I’ve had of her, I couldn’t act. Fucking shifter problem that kept me from slaking my lust in any woman.

  My body was built for just one: my mate. It shook me to know that my brothers had found their mates while I was away on a business trip. Of course, I didn’t blame them, but I blamed myself. They had gone to the cabins in the woods to get their things and they heard a party going on in Hector’s home. Somehow, the Bacon sisters had received it and our other two homes in my grandparents’ will. It didn’t make sense that our grandparents would gift our own homes to strangers, but once my brothers arrived, it all puzzled itself out.

  They were our mates. She hadn’t been at Hector’s home that day, but I would have driven to her home and claimed her before the sun rose if my ass had been in there. Diana wasn’t the partying type and the sisters didn’t invite her. I was a little pissed that they did that, but I was informed that she would have tried to end the party. It was like having a parent coming home when you were having a party because they were gone. After learning everything I had about her, I was certain she would have sent everyone on their way. It didn’t matter after all because my brothers did it for her. I wished I saw it. It would have been hilarious.

  I still didn’t meet my brothers’ mates because I wanted my Diana first. My body throbbed when I saw her leave for work every morning and each night when she returned home. Every time I looked at her, I witnessed the epitome of perfection. Her hair, makeup, and clothes all looked like she belonged on the cover of some magazine. It was like she was Photoshopped in real life. I wanted to touch every part of her, claim her as mine and slip inside her pussy. The waiting drove me mad, but tomorrow night no more waiting.

  Her phone rung at the same time as mine. A week after seeing her, I snuck into her office while she was in a meeting and duplicated her phone. Every call and text went straight to my dummy phone. I never listened in on her work stuff, but I looked for guys and well when her sisters called. Her sisters were on time just like they were told to be. I listened to the call like the sneaky fucker I’d become. And those girls deserved a freaking Oscar for their fake performance. I wanted to hug them.

  “Di, you need to come to your cabin tomorrow. It’s going to be the twelfth. The landowner of the place said if you don’t occupy it by then that it reverts back to the family.”

  “Really? Shit, I forgot about it. We just got a large contract for Lopez Properties since the end of last month and I’ve been working on it like crazy to meet the deadline,” she informed them. She was working hard on my project I hired her company to do. What she didn’t know was that I wanted her to do it. I made that clear with her boss and that I didn’t want her to know I had requested her for it. I did it because she was my mate, but when I saw that she was amazing at her job I was glad that I trusted her with my latest venture.

  She continued to talk while unlocking the door and going inside her one-bedroom apartment in the middle of an affluent Colorado Springs neighborhood. She was as routine as they come. It would scare me if I hadn’t been on top of it. One night she was approached by two creepy bastards. She was shaken, but she’d used her skills in kickboxing and her strong will to fend for herself. I looked on ready to step in, regardless if it forced my hand. Diana was mine, but my woman proved that she wasn’t just brilliant and beautiful, she was a bad ass.

  They ended up disappearing into the night never to be seen again because they had dared to try to take what was mine, and not willingly.

  As soon as she’d been secure in her home, I paid those animals a visit and my girl would never have to worry about them again. I didn’t say I was a good guy, though I was for her. Everything from now on would revolve around her. Work was only done during times when she was at her own job. My heart was hers and I wanted to touch her again, feel her energy radiating through her like that one bri
ef moment.

  “Okay, I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon. Tonight I’m going out with some of my coworkers and drinking away the time.”

  “What! You’re going to drink? What happened? Please tell me you didn’t get fired. You’re an amazing architect with skills those bastards wish they had.” Diana’s sisters were teen brats but they loved and respected their sister.

  “Calm down, Tara. It’s not about work. I’m just tired of being a frigid bitch. For once I met a guy who made things happen that I couldn’t explain and I haven’t seen him since.” A fury rode over my soul. She was infatuated with another. One who would die at my hand for certain. A pure, honest jealousy raged through me. She didn’t have to be with me if she didn’t feel it, too. I knew she felt something that day, but her heart was hers to do whatever she pleased until we mated.

  “What? Who is he?”

  “I don’t know. I only saw him once. It’s silly and whimsical of me, but when he looked down into my eyes with his honey-colored gaze, I couldn’t breathe or think. It’s not like me.”

  “No, it’s not,” Lara said nervously.

  “Where did you see him?” Tara asked equally as nervous as Lara had been. I listened in to see if I could figure out who he was and where I could find him.

  “When I was looking for you two fools. I went to the police station and ran right into him. I was dwarfed by his size.” A laugh of happiness came over me. She was talking about me. I sent a text to my brother to tell the girls that she was referring to me. A message came back within seconds with just an eggplant, a hambone, and a splash of water. I wondered what that meant, but I let it go. I must have passed the age mark for the emojis thing.

  “So where you going?” They grilled her simultaneously. Good girls.

  “It’s near the military base. They want to meet some lonely soldiers out for a good time.” I growled against the phone, grateful it was muted.

  “And you?” They weren’t going to stop until they had the facts. I listened as a vein in my head pounded.