Table of Contents

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Filthy Commitments

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Filthy Commitments Epilogue

Dirty Little Virgin Preview

Sneak Peak of Masquerade (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance)

Opening Night (A Submissives’ Secrets Extra)

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I thought I was going to pick up a toy for my little’s girl’s birthday when we went to the toy store that day. I got that and a hell of a lot more.

Joy was the customer service rep my daughter invited to her little birthday lunch. They hit it off right away.

The fire inside me had been extinguished, or so I thought, it began to smolder for Joy that afternoon.

After only knowing the young beauty for less than an hour, I asked her to come live with us and be my daughter’s nanny. And to my surprise, she accepted.

Once I had her within my walls, I couldn’t think about anything other than getting my hands on her, using her body to quench the fire that had grown inside me. Taking her in every way imaginable and making her beg for more!

So, I went to her and made her an offer I hoped she couldn’t refuse…

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Filthy Commitments

A Submissives’ Secrets Novel

By Michelle Love

©Copyright 2017 by

Michelle Love- All rights

Reserved

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights are reserved.

Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

He needs a fake wife for two weddings, a week-long family vacation, and his high school reunion. A three-month, summer long contract with a sub who is willing to do anything for her Dom should do the trick…

22-year-old virgin, Asia Jones, should be graduating from Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey as a Statistical Analyst, but she’s failed a couple of classes, ending her scholarships, and making her go out of her comfort zone to get enough money to finish her last year of school.

Jett Simons, is the heir to the ‘Cinnamon Buns’ global sweet shop. He’s young, 26-years-old, and arrogant. He’s also a three-year member of ‘The Dungeon of Decorum’ and he’s looking to buy a woman at auction who looks like she needs a strong hand to mold her into the woman she could be. As an added bonus, the lucky chic gets to pretend she’s his wife for a few social functions he has throughout the summer.

Using the club’s website to browse for a suitable sub, Jett finds the profile of Asia. Not only is she gorgeous, but she’s a college student, meaning she must be smart, and the cherry on top is she still has her cherry. He’s found himself a good girl to take to occasions he has lined up. Pretty, smart, and virtuous means he’s got it made in the shade with this choice.

Or does it?

Jett’s main mistake is taking Asia on as his sub before he tells her about the fake marriage. She’s not accustomed to lying. When he shows her the list of rules he made out and she accepted, number seven is, she must do as he says at all times, that includes being whoever he asks her to be. A rule she didn’t look at close enough. She’s stuck, but she’s not happy about that part of the contract.

Their time as Dom and sub in his Portland mansion teaches her things about her body she finds amazing. Their time as husband and wife teach them both more about what it means to make marital sacrifices.

Will the fake marriage be a thing that brings them closer or will it break their bond at the end of summer and when their contract is up?

Part One

Jett

“I don’t need your help to find a wife, Mom!” I shouted loudly over the phone, as I got out of my comfortable leather executive style desk chair; walking with pounding feet toward the floor to ceiling windows. The sun is setting over the Pacific, creating waves of color flickering on the water. “I’m not even looking for one. I am only twenty-eight years old, for goodness sake.”

“By the time I was your age I was married, had you, and was developing the recipe for the cinnamon buns that got us all where we are today.” Her voice had taken on a nasally tone as she bitched at me. “Your father would like to retire someday. A thing he can’t do until you’re ready to take over as CEO. This is a family business, Jett. You’re our only heir. And you’ll need an heir of your own in the future. Don’t you let all your father and I’s hard work go to waste.”

And there was the guilt!

Always with the guilt. My mother was a master at wielding it like a double edged sword. She inherited it honestly, her mother used it like a weapon too.

“Mom, can you get down to why you called? It’s after five, everyone else has gone home for the day, and I’d like to get the hell out of here too.” I leaned my shoulder against the wall and sighed, wishing I could just hang up the damn phone. But it was my mother on the end, no one hangs up on their mother! Well, some do, but not me. I was raised better than that.

“Oh, yes dear. I completely forgot to get to that. First, how’s it going in L.A.? Is business good? I hope you have those numbers up. After going global last year, we must uphold those sale figures. We put you in charge of our largest distribution office for a reason, to get your executive feet wet after college, which you graduated from six years ago, by the way. I thought you’d be at the top by now, giving your old dad a much-needed break. That man peddled my baked goods all over the United States for three years before we made a name for ourselves.”

“Mom!” I narrowed my brow as she was making my head begin to ache. “I get it. And our sales are great. Now, can you please get to the point of why you called? Surely, it wasn’t just to lecture me on how hard you and Dad worked to make Sin-a-buns Sweetshop the successful business that it is.”

“Oh, yes! The vacation! The whole family, your grandparents from both sides, Uncle Pete and Aunt Sally, their twins, and everyone else will be at our summer place in the Hamptons during the second week of June. It’s like a reunion of sorts, only a really long one. And I’ve invited a few of the neighbors to stop by for our evening meals. Hopefully, you’ll like some of the eligible young women who’ll be coming over for the extravagant dinners, I’ve planned for each night that week. Maybe you’ll find one that suits you, marry her, and give me some grandchildren.”

“Kind of getting ahead of yourself, aren’t you, Mom?” I said with my not so subtle irritated tone.

“Not at all. You need to find a woman, Jett. I mean it. You know you’ll have to be married, and settled down before your father hands over the keys to the company, so to speak. Living like a rock star, the way you’ve been doing, won’t cut it.”

Clinching my fists in my pockets, I made my way back to my chair. I wasn’t happy about a family gathering that would last an entire week. Topping it off with my mother playing matchmaker and all the snooty rich bitches from the Hamptons was the icing on the cake that was making me sick to my stomach. “I hardly live like a rock star, Mom.” She was really starting to piss me off.

“What would you call it, Jett? You haven’t had a steady girl since high school. You broke little Sandy Smith’s heart when you dumped her and went away to college. I saw her mother last week when I went to see your grandmother in Jersey. She said Sandy and her husband Dave moved to the street we used to live on. Only three doors down from our old house where you two used to sit on the porch swing, holding hands. She was such a sweet girl, Jett. What happened?”

That sweet girl wasn’t what she seemed to be. Sandy Smith was the biggest manipulator I’d ever met. Not even eighteen yet and she wanted to get married. She wanted it so badly, she tried to get her ass pregnant to trap me. Lucky for me, I noticed the box of condoms had been messed with and found the pin holes she’d stabbed through the foil pouches. She was quite the bitch.

“We just weren’t as compatible as we seemed to be, Mom. Anyway, how’s Grandma doing?” I was trying desperately to change the subject to anything that wasn’t related to my personal life.

“She’s just fine. Her gout was flaring up, so I took her some homemade soup. The trip from Manhattan to Jersey was a bit rough for me, though.”

“And how’s that? Didn’t you let Stan drive? That is what he’s paid to do you, know.” I spun around in my chair, glancing at the now dark window and wishing I could get off the phone. “Mom, can I call you from my cell?”

“No, I hate those things. I like landlines, you know that, Jett. Anyway, Stan had a doctor’s appointment, and I took the car. It’s been so long since I’ve driven myself. I found it difficult to navigate my way back to where we lived for twenty years. I got melancholy about our simple life in Jersey. I mean, I love our Manhattan penthouse. I love the money that came from all of our hard work too. But it’s just such a difference and I only seem to notice it when I go back there.”

“Then don’t go.” I leaned back in the chair, sure that she was going to make me stay at the office all night just to talk to her.

“My parents live there, Jett. And your father’s too. I can’t just not go.”

“I don’t go there. Send the car to pick them up and bring them to you. There, I’ve fixed your problem. And, Mom, don’t go trying to drive yourself around. Let Stan do it. I bet Dad didn’t know you took off like that, did he?”

“Well, no. And he was upset with me when I got home, and when he saw me getting out of the car. He gave me hell when I told him how I had gotten lost twice.”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I felt my father’s pain. The woman was a genius in the kitchen. In other aspects, not so much. “I love you, Mom. That’s why I’ll say it one more time, let Stan drive you where you need to go. If he’s got an appointment, you can wait. Grandma’s gout won’t get any better or worse if she gets your soup a few hours later.”

“Maybe you’re right. Anyway, about finding you a wife, I talked to Gertrude the other day. We were talking about some of the things we could do during the family vacation. Well, she told me that Mrs. Finkerstein’s granddaughter will be staying the summer with her. Now, that family is like Hamptons royalty, as you well know. I think that girl might be perfect for you.”

And there we were, back to the matchmaking. “Mom, you don’t even know her. How could you possibly think she’d be perfect for me? I think you just want to get me in with some snooty family so you can claim to be part of it. Not cool, Mom.”

“What’s wrong with wanting to belong to a prestigious group? And what’s wrong with wanting to see my one and only child happily married? I’m going to push this, Jett. I am!”

I could see that she was. My wheels began to spin. How could I get her off my back?

Lie, of course!

“Mom, I’ve actually have been seeing someone.”

“No!”

“Yes. She’s taken me completely by surprise and, well, dare I say it? I’m head over heels in love, Mom!” The burden of the lie wasn’t as heavy as I thought it’d be.

“Jett, why didn’t you tell me this from the start? I wouldn’t have gone on so long about finding you a suitable wife. Now, tell me all about her. Is she pretty?”

“Gorgeous.”

“Is she nice?”

“The sweetest girl I’ve ever met.”

“What’s her name? Can you send me a picture of the two of you? When will we get to meet her? Will you be bringing her to our vacation?”

“I’m not saying another thing about her. You’ll just have to be surprised. Who knows, I may be bringing her to meet you as my wife.”

“Oh, Jett! I’m so happy!”

So, Mom was off my back, but now who was I going to get to play the part of my gorgeous, sweet wife?

Asia

The big fat F stared back at me as my eyes glossed over. That was the third test I’d failed in my Data Extraction class. One more failed test and I’d have to repeat the class. And that would cost me, dearly. I had another class that was giving me real problems, as well. I knew I’d fail that one too, if I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept of statistical models. I had no idea becoming a Statistical Analyst would be so damn hard!

High school had been a breeze for me. I sailed through it with nothing, but high A’s. I was awarded a full scholarship to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It wasn’t too far away from my home in Queens, New York, but far enough away I got to practice being an adult. There were stiff stipulations to the scholarship, though. Fail a class, and I would lose it. The whole damn thing. It paid for my classes, books, dorm room, and all my meals on campus. If I lost it, I’d lose everything. And I had one more year of school to get through. It would have all been for nothing if I failed any classes.

Since I had everything covered, I didn’t get a job, not even a part-time one. If I had only thought ahead of the “what if’s” maybe I could have picked up a job during the summer to build up some money to be able to take those classes over again. Of course, that’s not what I did and now I could be screwed. I had considered my parents, but they didn’t have much. Maybe they could pull it together to help me out. I’d come too far to just quit. I made a call to my mother to feel her out about some financial help. “Hi, Mom. How’s it going?”

She made a long, drawn out sigh that already told me things weren’t going well. “Your father was laid off yesterday. After fifteen years as a delivery driver, they up and cut him in the first round of layoffs. Can you believe that, Asia? Now, he and I will be limited to what I make as an administrative assistant at the law office.”

So, they’re out!

“That’s terrible news. How’s Dad taking it?” I wadded up the failed test and threw it in the wastebasket. Then I meandered my way back to my dorm to pout and later share with my roommate, Stacy.

“You know your dad, he’s taking it hard. He sees it as something personal, which I’ve told him it isn’t. He was one of their highest paid workers. Of course, the company has to get rid of the employees who they are paying the most. It’s just finances to them.” Mom said with sadness, frustration, and desperation in her voice.

“Poor Dad. And how are my sisters? I haven’t had time to call them with all the end of the semester testing.” It was hard to be both concerned for all of them and freaking out with my own situation. Of course, I couldn’t sound upset, mom would know and would have a fit.

“Spring is about to pop. She and Max are super excited that their first born is almost here. You’ll have to try to make it to see her after she has the baby, Asia. I know South Dakota is far from here, but she’s your sister and she’s worth it.”

“I’ll do my best.” I had no idea how I’d be able to get my ass to South Dakota with no money, but I wasn’t about to burden my mother with that.

“Rainbow and Stewart took their brood of three and moved to Alaska. How crazy is that?”

I huffed and rolled over. My sisters were living their dreams, as I was failing mine. “That’s pretty crazy. What made them want to leave Washington to go way up there?”

“Stewart got a job as a park ranger in some park in Alaska, so they up and moved. Bow says the kids are happy. She’s going to homeschool them, because they live in the middle of nowhere.”

“Damn, she’s brave.”

“I know! And how about you, my baby girl?”

I wasn’t about to tell her everything, no matter how bad I felt, I couldn’t do that to her. “Me? Oh, I’m fine. I’m getting a job this summer.”

“Oh, yeah, what kind?”

I drummed my fingers on the yellow pillow cover as I conjured up a job. “Um, it’s a job in retail. I mean, I don’t have it yet. I have classes to finish, but once I’m free, then I should get the job.”

“Only one more year of school. I bet you’re getting really excited about that now. Next year will be your last! I’m so happy for you!”

This would be my last year if I couldn’t come up with a way to make about ten thousand dollars. Again, Mom didn’t need to be bothered with that. “Yep. I am really excited, alright.”

“So, what are your plans, Asia? Where will you be once you’ve accomplished your goal of a Master’s degree?”

“I guess I’ll get a job in New York. That’s always been what I thought I’d do. I have to do a year of interning next year. Maybe the company that takes me on will keep me.”

I had no idea how I’d do a year of intern work; they paid next to nothing. I’d have to do that, take classes, and take on a part-time job somewhere in between it all.

How was I going to do it all?

It was hopeless. There was no way I was going to be able to accomplish all of that and stay sane in the process. And even if I could, I doubted there would be enough money to pay for classes, books, and the dorm room. I was fucked! It was then that I had to contemplate for the first time that I’d end up just like my parents. Uneducated and living by the skin of my teeth. A chill ran through my body.

I had to find a way to pay for school and fast. My parents were in their fifties. Dad had lost his job and chances were, at his age, he’d have a hell of a time finding another one. And if he did, it wouldn’t pay nearly as much as he was making at a job he’d had for years.

“New York is so expensive to live in, Asia. You should think about coming back to Queens. I’m sure you could commute. Maybe live here with your father and I for a while. You could help out with bills. I don’t think your father is going to get another job that pays as well as that one.”

And there it was. They needed me. Guilt piled up like a ton of bricks.

“Yeah, I could do that, Mom. You can count on me. I’ll figure it all out. I will. You and Dad took good care of us all, I can help you out when I get a good job after I graduate. You’ll have to hold out until then, but I’ll be there for you guys. I promise.”

The sigh of relief she made had my heart hurting. My parents were in dire straits. Any savings they had would run out, and they’d be left living on crumbs. I had to make it all work out. There were no other choices. I’d do whatever it takes.

“You have no idea how good that is to hear, Asia. I’d never ask this of you if I had any other choice. I’m going to tell my boss that I need a raise and we’ll get rid of any bills we can. I don’t want you to have to live with us forever. The house will be paid off in five years. If you can live with us and help us until that bill is gone, then we’ll be fine after that.”

Five years!

She’s a bit out of her mind even though I do love her. I couldn’t let her know how much that would affect me, “I can do that, Mom.” I’m stretching the truth, because I most certainly won’t last five years, but I will help when I can and stay as long as I can.

“You’re such a good girl, Asia. I know I’ve told you that a million times, but I have to say it again. You’re good as gold. Always such a good girl and my little helper. I don’t know what we’d do without you. Your sisters have their own lives and families; I could never ask them for anything. But you’re alone and will have a great paying job in just a bit over a year. We can make it until then. We have enough in savings to do that.”

“I’m glad I can help. So, let me get off here and check out the internet to start searching for a summer job.”

“Hold on. Why do you suddenly need a job? I mean, your scholarship pays for everything.”

She finally caught on that things weren’t exactly as I was letting on. “I might have to pay some, that’s all. Don’t worry.”

“Why would you have to pay some suddenly?” Shit, her voice was changing and that wasn’t a good sign.

I was searching for an answer when one came to me. “Extra classes that the scholarship won’t cover. I want to take a few to get ahead of the game.”

“Oh,” she sounded relieved, thank goodness. “For a moment there I thought you were having some problems of your own. You’d tell me if you were, right?”

With all that’s going on, why the hell would I do a thing like that?

“Sure, I would, Mom. I gotta go. Love you,” I said in the most convincing bullshit voice I could muster.

“Love you. Talk to you soon.”

Finally, the call ended and I buried my face in the pillow I had been laying on. I was up shits creek without a paddle, as my granddad used to say. With no clue of how I was going to make it all work, I did what any girl does. I started to cry.

Jett

Sipping a cold beer as I sat on the deck of my Malibu beach house, I got a message from a guy I went to high school with back in Maplewood, New Jersey. Hot on the heels of my mother’s news of a huge family vacation, came the news that our high school was having our ten-year reunion on July 25th, in the gym. Josh was one of my best buddies back in the old days. He was already married with two kids, and anytime I talked to him, his wife was shouting out female names. She wanted to pair me up with one of her single female friends so we could all pal around together. I, of course, wasn’t into it.

In college, I messed around with a few different women, not a ton, only a few. I wasn’t quite the playboy my family thought I was. When I turned twenty-five, a friend of mine took me to an exclusive club in Portland, Oregon. He told me I’d find women there that would be more my speed. Ron and I went out with a couple of women we met at a bar one night. He noticed the way I treated the one I was with. I had certain expectations that she couldn’t seem to comply with.

Yappy broads are a thing I couldn’t stand. I liked quiet women, who spoke only when they had something interesting to say. Small talk bored me. I liked intelligent women who didn’t mind letting me take charge. That’s a hard combination to find.

I didn’t consider myself bossy or controlling. I thought of myself as a self-assured man who knew what he wanted and how he liked things to be. Not that the world should revolve around me or anything like that. It’s just that I didn’t like to explain every little thing I did or wanted to a woman. And that’s why I’m always single. Not many women want that in a man. But at that club, many, many women wanted that.

The Dungeon of Decorum was a dream come true for me. I had taken on three different subs at different times. I also dabbled with quite a few of the women in the club, without making them mine. It was easy to let all of them go. Nothing was ever overly emotional, a thing I liked about the entire setup.

With my subs, there were contracts made where all my rules were laid out in detail for them. The women understood what I wanted and complied with everything. I wasn’t into any kinks at that time. Normal sex was all I wanted. Mostly, I wanted control. I wanted a woman who did as I told her to. She kept quiet, did anything I asked of her without so much as an eye roll and laid down for me when I wanted her to. Simple and easy.

After a while, I added in a few things. I found I liked to bind their hands behind their back or over their heads. I liked to cuff them to the bed. And on occasion, I liked to spank them with my hand or a paddle. Nothing overly painful. To me, I’d have to get too into their heads to know what they wanted or needed. I wasn’t a typical Dom. A lot of the men in the club cherished their roles as Dom.

Part of the pleasure they got out of it all was thinking about their sub and what they could do for her. I just wasn’t that into it. I wanted that lifestyle for me, not anyone else. Did that make me selfish? Hell, yes it did. I didn’t care, though. I wasn’t in it to making life-long friends. I had a lot of those already.

When Josh’s wife started naming off the women she knew that I could take to the reunion, I added to my lie. I told Josh I’d gotten married since we last talked. I’ll be taking her to the reunion, he could tell his wife to forget about setting me up anymore. Now I had two functions I needed a wife for during that summer. A few days later, I received an invitation in the mail from my college roommate. He was getting married on the third Saturday in June. I hated going to weddings alone. It was just too depressing and all the bridesmaids hitting on me.

I didn’t enjoy being hit on. I was the hunter, not the prey.

And as I sat on the deck, finishing off my beer, I got a text from my cousin back in New York. She was getting married at the end of August and wanted me to be there. Two weddings, a reunion, and a week-long vacation with my extended family and Hamptons’ royals. What was I to do?

Not one of the subs I’d ever had was the right kind of woman to play that part. They were all a bit on the nasty and sinister side. I needed a good girl. One you’d find next door. But she’d have to be easy for me to get along with for three months. We’d have to live together to make it look real. I’d have to buy rings. A house in New York would be a great prop too, I thought. I could pull that all together in a short time, that was the better question. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was how to get a good girl to become my fake wife sooner than later. I needed a miracle.

The doorbell rang, and I went traipsing through the house to answer it. My neighbor was standing there with a chocolate cake in her hand. “Hey there, handsome.” She was the last person I needed to deal with right now.

“Maggie. What’s with the cake?” I stepped back to let her in and went to the kitchen to grab another beer. Not brothering to get her one, because she most definitely wasn’t staying.

“I made it for you. Isn’t today your birthday, Jett?” That coy voice was enough to drive me completely out of my skin.

“Nope.” I opened the beer and took a long drink. Maggie always came up with some excuse to come over to my house. This one was probably the most clever of excuses.

She placed the cake on the dining room table and put her hand on her round hip as she threw her stringy black hair behind her shoulder. “Oh, my bad.” Her finger touched her lower lip as she made a vain attempt at looking sexy. “Well, you can have the cake, anyway. Got an extra beer in there, Jett?”

“Nope.” I tossed the bottle into the trash and went back out on the deck. “Thanks for the cake. You know your way out.”

She followed behind me, “I didn’t see any take-out boxes in your trash. Have you eaten dinner yet?” She seemed dense not taking notice of my very obvious lack of interest in talking to her.

“I have not. I may call in.” Pulling my shades off my head, putting them on and looking out at the ocean, instead of at her.

Maggie annoyed me. She always had. It was just that she was so damn obvious. She wanted me. And that, in itself, was a turn off.

I knew to what lengths women would go when they wanted me. I wasn’t about to get trapped by any of these manipulative bitches. That’s why I liked the whole system of the Dom/sub relationship. If I said to take birth control, they did. If I said don’t get your ass pregnant, they obeyed me. Maggie and other women like her couldn’t be trusted.

When Maggie walked up to lean on the railing of the deck, she leaned way over as if she was looking at how high up she was. She was showing me her ass. Her large ass that was shoved in really short shorts. Funny how it didn’t tempt me at all. Not one little bit.

“I could make dinner for you. I make a mean spaghetti.” She turned around slow and easy, flaunting her plump breasts. Again, it gave me no rise. She just wasn’t the package I wanted.

“If I told you that you were wasting your time on me, would that stop this torture?” I took another drink and looked past her, instead of at her.

“Torture? You think a woman offering you cake and dinner is torture?”

“You’re offering me more than that.” I pulled my shades down to look over them at her. “If I told you to go to my bedroom. Put on the blindfold that’s in the left-hand nightstand drawer. Get naked and on your knees and wait for me, what would your answer be?”

“Which door goes to your bedroom?” She smiled, sinisterly.

“And that is why I don’t want you. You’re too damn easy, Maggie.”

“I’m not into games.” She took a few steps, shaking her ass as she went.

“You are into games. I’m not. I’m into straightforward sex with no strings.”

“I can do that.” She blew a kiss at me.

I took another drink. She was already boring me. “You’re not the right one, Maggie. You don’t have what I need. I need a good girl.”

“I can be your good girl, Jett. Try me.”

I got up and took her by the hand, leading her through the house. She was already breathing heavy then I opened the front door. “Bye, Maggie.”

She stopped the heavy breathing with one loud huff. “Jett Simmons, you’re a fucking dick!”

“I know.” I closed the door in her face and locked it. Then went back out to my deck to think about what I could do about getting myself a fake wife.

Asia

“Miss Jones, it looks like I’ll be seeing you again next semester.” Professor Laughton placed the sheet of paper face down on my desk.

I didn’t even have to look at it. But bet I wouldn’t be taking his class again, he was an ass. I’d find another Data Extracting teacher for my next round no matter how difficult that was with the other hellish classes. That also signaled the end of my free ride to college. My scholarship had gone down the drain and I was left with no idea how to come up with enough money to make next year’s tuition.

With my head hung low as I made my way back to the dorms. At least, I knew I’d have a roof over my head and food to eat until school got out in a couple of weeks. Bummed didn’t even come close to what I was feeling.

As I was strolling on the campus lawn, I bumped someone’s shoulder, taking my attention from the green grass, which I was flattening with every step. “I’ve seen better faces on a potato.” It was a friend of mine, Joy. She was one of those beautiful rich girls who had no problems and she’d never understood mine. “So, what’s up with it?”

“Nothing.” I plodded along, trying to get to my room before I burst into tears.

She got in front of me, stopping me, and taking my chin in her hand. Her nails were perfectly manicured with a shiny pink polish on them. Her hair, perfectly quaffed. She was just too perfect. “Something’s wrong. Come on, tell me, Asia. No reason to keep it all bottled up.”

The tears were stinging my eyes. “I’m about to cry, Joy. Just let me go.”

Wrapping her arm around me, I noticed the delicate scent of her perfume. It smelled expensive. “You come with me. I’m not about to leave you to cry alone.” She whisked me away before I could protest.

The next thing I knew, we were sitting in her apartment. She was making margaritas and serving up some chips and salsa. I was soon drowning my sorrows as I ate the spicy food. But I still wasn’t feeling any better about things.

Taking a seat at the table across from me, Joy was ready to hear my pitiful story. “Spill it, Asia. All of it.”

The words spilled out of my mouth as tears spilled out of my eyes, “I can’t finish college! I failed a class, and my scholarship is going to get revoked! I have to make a shit-ton of money to pay for everything now, and I don’t know how I’m going to do it!” I bellowed and whined then laid my head on the table and gave up.

“Oh, that’s an easy fix. You can do what I did. I didn’t have any money for college, and I found a way to pay for that and then some.” Her words were crazy. She made no sense to me.

She didn’t have money for college?

The girl reeked of expensive things. She had all the latest brand named everything. A great car. A bad ass apartment. She had it all and was going to school.

“How?” That’s all I could say as I wiped my eyes and shook my head in disbelief.

Did she really have a great way to make all the money I needed?

“There’s this place in Oregon…”

I cut her off. “I can’t get there. I don’t have money to do that.” It was hopeless. I’d never get to finish school.

“Listen to me, Asia. I signed up for an auction. I put myself up to be a man’s submissive partner. The one I was in was for a two-month contract. The club pays for the plane ticket to get you there. They dress you in their clothes, and when a man purchases you, they take over everything else. They provide you with clothing, food, drink, shelter. You are theirs to take care of for whatever time the contract says.”

“That sounds a little bit too good to be true, Joy.” I just wasn’t believing her. It couldn’t be real.

“Well, there are things you must do, of course.”

I picked up a napkin and blew my nose. “Of course.” I knew there was a catch!

“You have to do whatever he wants. But you have control over it all.”

“That’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Do what he wants, yet I’m in control.” I wasn’t buying it.

“Yes, you see you fill out a list of things you will and won’t do. For instance, I won’t ever do knife or gun play.”

“Fuck! What kind of shit do these men want?” I was shocked.

“It’s BDSM, Asia. I know you’ve heard about it. Who hasn’t?” She took a little sip of the margarita and looked up as if I was a fool.

“BDSM? The hitting stuff? The tying up stuff? The men dominating women stuff?” I shook my head the whole time and wondered what kind of females sign themselves up for that.

A wry grin curled her lips. “Oh, you’d be shocked how great it all feels. You go to another place and time when you’re doing it. And this club makes sure the Doms are well-trained. There’s nothing to worry about. You learn so much about your mind and body, and you get paid to do it. It’s a win-win.”

“More like a lose-lose. You’re talking about selling your body, Joy.” I was feeling a bit sick to my stomach. My friend wasn’t who I thought she was at all!

“If it’s that, then why did I never feel that way. Hell, I felt like I was getting paid to feel pleasure beyond my wildest dreams. The things that were done to me, I’d have gladly paid someone to do. It was that good, Asia.”

Somehow I was becoming more intrigued than disgusted. “And how will I be in control?”

“A safe word and the fact that there will be no kind of play you don’t previously approve of. Talking about what you’ll do is almost as enticing as the doing it part.” She licked her lips and closed her eyes. “And you’ll have those memories forever! Sometimes, I can still hear my Dom telling me to sit still or he’ll spank my ass. Then I’d wiggle just to get him to do it. It make me wet and horny every single time.”

I was back to being disgusted. “There’s something wrong with you, Joy.”

“If that’s true, then I’m cool with that. And I’m not the only one, either. There were hundreds of women at the club. Not all were in the auction. Some were there to be pleasured by the men without accepting any form of payment for it.”

“So why pay for a sub at an auction if they can have women who will do it for free?”

“Because some men want it to last longer than one session. Some want to take the girl with them. Some want to keep her for a while. Believe me, once you’ve been kept, you will know the true meaning of power. You’ll give yours and get theirs. It’s an exchange that will change you forever.”

Joy had never talked about any man in her life, it had me curious. “Did you fall in love with the man who bought you?”

“Love?” She shook her head. “No. Not love. I respected him immensely. I loved the way he made me feel. But I didn’t love him. To be honest, he kept his guard up, not ever completely letting me in. I was fine with that. And I was ready for it to end. The intensity can get overwhelming.”

“Would I have to be in an auction? Because I don’t want to be with a man I’ve never seen. I’d like to pick. Is that impossible?” I couldn’t believe what I was saying.

Was I going to do this?

“You can sign up as available for a contract. You’ll have to do a physical, which the club will pay for. Then you’ll pick out the kinds of play you will and won’t do. If you get an interested man, he’ll message you, I think. It’s different than the auctions. But you will have the choice of telling him yes or no.”

“So I could hold out for a man who I feel attracted to?”

“I think, you can.” She took out her phone and pulled up the site. “The Dungeon of Decorum is like something out of a fantasy book. It’s like a dream you never knew you wanted to have.”

My wheels were spinning. I could do it. I could be in some control. And I had a secret too. Something that might just get me more money than most. I was a virgin.

There was one more thing I had to know. “Joy, how much money were you paid for the two months?”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

“Fuck me!”

I was in!

Jett

The end of May was looming around the corner. My family’s vacation was getting close, and I had to come up with a bride, and fast! No one in my immediate circle would do. I had to venture out, and even then, I found no one that I thought I could get along with for three months.

Then it came to me that I could search The Dungeon of Decorum’s website for a prospect. I was short on time, I had nowhere else to look. With my fingers crossed, I pulled up the website and began to browse. Unfortunately, the women who were into the BDSM scene were mostly going for that classic bad girl look. I didn’t want a bad girl, I wanted a good one. Just as I was about to give up hope, I saw her. Asia Jones was her name, and she looked like an angel. And she had to be smart too. She was in college at Rutgers becoming a Statistical Analyst. A little boring, but she had to be damn smart to want to do that.

I ran my fingertips over her pink cheek on the computer screen. Her hair hung in a silky sheet of black that looked as it if went to her waist, it was so long. Her bangs were long, framing her beautiful face. Almond shaped eyes with doe-like brown irises looked peaceful as thick dark lashes surrounded them. Her skin was the color of coffee tainted by a bit of creamer. Her lips were pink and just the right amount of plump. Her high cheekbones created an exotic look. She was a real beauty. She was the one!

But there was her list to get through. She allowed spanking, different types of sensory deprivation were things she would do, and bondage would be okay with her, as well. Of course, those were all I really cared about anyway.

My cell rang, and I saw my mother was calling. “Hi, Mom.”

“Jett, I can’t wait to meet her. You two are still together, right?”

“We sure are. And boy are you going to be surprised.” I smiled at Asia’s picture. Mom would adore her.

“I want to know her name. I need to make place settings.” Her way of getting it out of me, but it wasn’t going to work.

“You can put Mrs. Jett Simmons on her name card. She’ll get a kick out of that, I bet.” Would Asia get a kick out of being called Mrs. Simmons? Would she like being called my wife?

“Oh, my! Are you really going to marry her before you get here, Jett?” Mom was on a level I’d never heard before. Excitement, mixed with high octane adrenaline filled her voice.

“I am, Mom. I’m going to do it.” If Asia would agree to be mine.

I would have to make sure the pot was sweet enough to get her to jump right in with both feet. I’d bought a house in a ritzy suburb outside of New York and I’d let her have it if she played nicely with me.

“I wish you’d get married here, son. Your father and I’d love to be with you on your special day. Please tell me you’ll think about it.” Her whimpering was tearing at my heartstrings.

But there would be no real wedding for her to attend. “Sorry, Mom. Asia wants it to be just the two of us. She’s shy. You understand, don’t you?”

“Shy?” She seemed confused. “Who’s so shy they don’t want a proper wedding?”

“Already finding fault with my beloved, Mother?” I used my stern tone with her. I didn’t want her to bother Asia with her silly notions of what was proper and what wasn’t.

I chuckled at how I was already thinking in terms of that woman on the computer screen being with me and playing the part of my wife. Even though she’d actually be my sub. I’d never made a woman be something she wasn’t before. It was new to me, and I was pretty sure it’d be new to Asia too. Would she mind it? Should I tell her about the fake marriage up front? I thought that might be better left until after the contract was signed. I could word it in such a way she’d have no choice. That’s what I’d do!

“Goodness, no. If she’s shy, that’s fine. I’ll give her time to get to know me. She and I will be best friends!”

My mother and sub, best friends!

I had to chuckle again. “I’m sure you will.”

“You sound so happy, Jett. She makes you happy, doesn’t she?”

“Yes, she does.” I ran my fingers over the screen again and wished it was her I was touching. “She’s lovely, Mother. The kind of girl you’ve always wanted for me. Smart, beautiful, and down to earth. I can’t wait for you guys to meet her.”

I knew I was asking for a miracle that Asia could be all things. But I wanted it all to be true. I wanted her to be the woman I thought would be perfect for me. It was the oddest thing when I looked at that picture. I could see her in a way I’d never seen anyone. It was if I had seen her before. Like maybe in my dreams. She seemed so familiar, so perfect.

“I’m so happy. I’ll let you go. I’ve got place cards to order with my daughter-in-law’s name on them. Love you.”

“Love you, Mom.”

I put my cell down and scrolled down to read more about the woman who was intriguing me. She was a little thing at 5 feet 3 inches. Her hometown was Queens. Her hobbies were hiking, which I liked too and row boating, which I had never done, but thought it sounded cool.

Looking at what she was wearing, I liked her style. A crisp white shirt with a lace collar that brought out her cuteness. She was demure, yet captivating. She’d make a great mom. I could see her putting kids on a bus or driving them to school, shouting I love you as they walked away from her. She’d smile and get back into the car, looking like a little doll who was all mine.

Then it hit me that I was thinking like a fool. I was pretending she could be what I really wanted. She’d be my sub. She’d do as I told her to, pretend to be my wife and anything else I needed. I didn’t know why I was being so ridiculous. It was as if her picture alone stirred something inside of me. But I knew she’d be like all the other subs I’d had. She was there to make money, I was sure of that. She wasn’t the type to be there, because she actually wanted to be there.

I’d had two subs who needed money and that’s why the came to the Dungeon. These women did it, because they wanted to have better to work with. They enjoyed it when I spoke sternly to them. Ruled them with an iron fist. Asia needed money, that I was certain of. But she’d look the part, and if she wanted my money, she’d act it too! I scrolled down further and the words that popped up made my cock thump.

My little Asia was a virgin!

Asia

The message light was blinking on my laptop as I opened it. The Dungeon of Decorum had an app I’d downloaded onto the desktop. I was sure it was a message from the woman named Isabel who I spoke with. She made the arrangements for my physical examination and sent me a message when the results were sent to her. I was sexually healthy, physically healthy, and the doc confirmed my birth control method of the pill and had given me a six month refill.

She told me, she’d send me a message as soon as my profile went up on the website. That’s what I thought I’d find when I opened the app. And there was one message from her and one from a man named Jett Simmons.

Did I have my first nibble?

I opened hers, and it was just as I expected, a welcome letter. Then I opened the one from the Dom who was interested in me. My heart was pounding just as hard as if I was about to meet him in person. The message was short and to the point.

I like the look of your profile. Let’s talk.

I typed back that I’d love to talk and I’d also love to see his profile since he’d seen mine. The reply was instantaneous. And I was looking at his handsome face as my jaw hung open. There may have been a tad bit of spittle hanging from my lower lip as I was salivating like a Saint Bernard over the man.

His hair was shoulder length, chocolate brown with golden tones and highlights that hung in luscious waves. His skin was tanned, and his features were chiseled. His description said he was 6’3” and he was built like a beast. The black suit he wore hugged his biceps, making them stand out. Sea green eyes surrounded by dark lashes looked daunting, commanding. He looked like a Dom. His kinks were bondage, minor impact play such as spanking and paddling, sensory deprivations such as blindfolds, complete darkness, music so loud you can’t hear yourself think, and fantasy play.

He didn’t sound bad at all. And I had to admit that I found him extremely attractive. I could be his sub. But for how long would he want me? And more importantly, what would he pay? Another message popped up. It was his phone number. I thought my heart pounded with just his message, but now it was almost exploding out of my chest. He wanted me to call him! My fingers were shaking as I called the number. “Asia” He stated, didn’t ask. “Jett?” Sounding a bit nervous.

“Hi. I’m glad you called. I’m not a message back and forth type of man,” his voice was deep, smooth, and it relaxed me right away.

“Me neither. I prefer to talk with someone, rather than write them.” I took a deep breath to further calm my nerves.

“Do you mind telling me what you need the money for, Asia?”

“College. I’ve never had trouble with any of my classes before. I was given a full scholarship to Rutgers. Unfortunately, a couple of classes have kicked my ass this year. I failed them, and it ended the free ride I was given. With one more year to go, I need money and fast or I’ll be forced to quit school.”

“That’s a reasonable reason to need money. Will you be available for the months of June, July, and August?”

“Yes, sir.” My stomach was churning as I thought we were getting close to making a commitment to one another.

“That’s excellent. Would you like to hear my offer, Asia?”

“Yes, sir.”

He cleared his throat. “My offer is 300,000 dollars, plus a brand-new Mercedes, the color of your choice. There will be some jewelry, which I’ll expect you to wear at all times. You’ll get to keep all of it at the end of the contract. You can sell or keep everything, whichever you prefer. If you’re very good, there will be a bonus; a house I’ve purchased in the Sterling Ridge area of Harrison, New York.”

I was on the edge of my seat with all that he offered. Who could offer me anymore than all of that? And he was handsome. Yes, he looked a bit demanding, but what should one expect out of a Dom? All of this really sounded too good to be true, I had to ask, “Is that a normal amount a man pays for a temporary sub?”

“It’s a bit on the high side. It’s the highest I’ve ever paid for a sub, but I think your special, mainly because of the virginity part. I need a nice young woman and your innocence pleases me immensely. You’re gorgeous in an earthy way and will do for what I need. As long as you realize I’m a strict Dom, then things should be fine between us. But I need an answer soon.”

I had to ask just one more thing, “Will you be gentle when you take my virginity?”

His reply was quick, “Of course.” It settled my nerves even more.

My profile had barely been published, and I’d already gotten an offer that was above and beyond anything I could’ve dreamt of. And the man was devastatingly handsome to boot!

“It seems you and I are both in a hurry. And I am impressed with your offer. I do believe I can be what you need, sir.”

The way his breath filled my ear through the phone, sent a shiver down my spine and heat through the rest of me. “My God, your voice does something to me, Asia. And your manners please me already.”

“I must admit the sound of your voice comforts me, as well. I was worried about doing this, but I feel you’ll do right by me.” Getting out of the chair at my small desk, I spun around as glee filled me.

“You can trust me, Asia. The main thing I want is your respect and your obedience. It’s not that hard to please me. Do as I say at all times, be at my beck and call, and above all, be who I want you to be.”

I could be the sugar plum fairy for this man for all he was going to give me. Mom and Dad would have nothing to worry about, I could take care of them and me too! Then it hit me. How would I explain my sudden wealth to them? The house and car would be hard to explain. The money could be hidden in my bank account. I shrugged it off. I’d deal with that when it came time to. They didn’t have to know the deal I was making to get us all out of our financial woes.

“May I ask you where we’ll be all summer, sir?”

“In the New York area at the home, I told you about. Is that a problem?”

“Not at all. It’s fantastic, actually. My parents will want to know where I am. Not that I’m a child and have to answer to them. But it’s a common courtesy to let them know where I am. You do understand, don’t you, sir?”

“I do. As long as you understand, you are mine for the duration of the contract. You can only go see them if I allow it.”

The thought was daunting. I put it off for the moment. I couldn’t go see my own parents if I wanted to. And for three whole months? “Would that be a thing you’d allow, sir?”

“Most likely.”

His answer was short and to the point. He was a man of few words, so it seemed. Not much on explaining himself about anything. But that wasn’t what Joy told me about her Dom. He hadn’t entirely let her in. Maybe that was one of the main traits of these men. Whatever it was, I didn’t love that aspect of him and I wouldn’t love it in anyone else either. But not everything he did would please me, I had to put up and shut it, it appeared. And not all I did would please him or would it? I would have to make sure I was perfect or I might not get the whole amount. And my lack of sexual knowledge might bore him.

“Mr. Simmons, are you sure my virginity isn’t a problem?”

“It’s a blessing, Asia. Now, come on. Do you accept my offer or not? I’m not a man who waits around.”

“I’ll do my best to please you, sir. I will accept your offer. Now, what happens?” I was on pins and needles. I was about to be bound to a stranger for the matter of three months. And even weirder than that, I was about to have more money than I’d ever had or thought possible!

“We’ll meet in Portland, Oregon at The Dungeon of Decorum to sign the contract. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can make the arrangements. We’ll be seeing each other very, very soon. Have a good evening, my little Asia.”

“You too, sir.” I put the phone down and fell on my bed. I was a sub! I had a Dom!

What the fuck had I done?

Jett

For the first time in a very long time, I felt on the edge of giddy. I had her, the one I wanted. Asia Jones would be my sub and fake wife for the next three months! I pulled the black boxes out of the drawer of my nightstand and looked over the wedding bands with a critical eye. The engagement ring was three karats and the wedding bands were platinum. I’m planning on giving Asia these rings that cost thousands of dollars to her very soon.

Just like any divorced woman, Asia would leave our contract with a huge home, a new car, jewelry that was worth tons of money, and a large chunk of cash to call her own. I really was changing the girl’s life for the better. And I’d teach her along the way about the finer things in life too. Along with that, she’d get the knowledge of how to be a good sub. If she ever did find herself in need of money, she’d have something to fall back on. Anytime I thought about Asia being some other man’s sub; I felt an intense pressure like someone squeezing my heart. It was an odd feeling and there it was again.

Was that jealousy?

I’d never experienced that before. It was hard to tell. And it was unnerving. Asia and I were complete strangers. I shouldn’t have any feelings for her at all. Except maybe gratitude. But even that wasn’t a thing I should feel toward her. I was paying her for her trouble. As if being with me would be any trouble at all. I wasn’t a monster. As a Dom, I was quite reasonable. And I wasn’t hard on the eyes. I knew my way around a woman’s body. I could bring pleasure to the little virgin that she’d never dreamt of. Asia would be lucky to have me. I hoped she’d think so too.

Not wasting a moment, I called Isabel to get her going on the contract. “Isabel, here. How may I help you this evening?”

“This is Jett Simmons, Isabel. I hope you’re doing well.”

“I am, Mr. Simmons. It’s very nice to hear from you. How can I help you?”

“Asia Jones and I have made an agreement, and I need you to draw up a contract for us. It will be for the months of June, July, and August.” I ran my hand through my hair, pushing it back, and looking out my bedroom window. The waves were small that evening barely reaching the coastline. I wondered if I’d bring Asia to my home in Malibu. Perhaps if she was along the lines of what I expected her to be, I would.

“Asia Jones? My, my. You scooped her up quickly. I just set her up in the system this afternoon.”

“You sound surprised by that. I felt I had to hurry to give her an offer she couldn’t refuse. I was certain other men would be throwing themselves at her.” I chuckled as I thought about all the men who’d look at her profile and attempt to contact her. But I’d taken her already. Well, as soon as the contract was signed, she’d be mine.

“I know I shouldn’t be surprised at all. Virgins never last long once we get them.” Her laughter was a shrill as it pierced the air. It was a bit on the witchy side and made a chill run through me.

It made me wonder how Asia really felt about giving her virginity to a man she didn’t love or even know for that matter. My heart felt heavy for her. She’d hung onto that longer than most, yet she was ready to sell it, so to speak, to a stranger. I’d do right by her. I promised myself I would. I’d try not to be as closed off as I usually was. I’d try to form at least a bit of a bond. So, the memory of her first time would still be special. I hoped so anyway.

“How soon can you have a contract ready, Isabel?”

“Two days. I have to write it up and get one of the founders to approve it. So, what are your rules, Mr. Simmons?”

“I want her to do as I say at all times and be who I want her to be.” I thought about how to word the rule so she’d have no choice, but to play the part of my wife.

“Well, let’s get the general rules out of the way first. Is she to kneel when you enter a room?”

“I don’t want that. I want to treat her differently than I treated the others. Not entirely like my sub. I want to give her more respect than that. Do you know what I mean?” I was having a hard time figuring out what exactly I wanted to do with Asia, “Can we have a broad set of general rules. She can’t go anywhere unless I approve. She can’t wear anything I haven’t given her.”

“Will there be any special diet rules or drinking rules?”

“No. I see no reason for that. I’ll be in control of that anyway. She’ll be with me at all times.”

“Will she sleep in her own bedroom?”

“No, we’ll share a bed.” Any normal married couple shared a bed, so would we.

“How about the forms of play you will be delving into, Mr. Simmons?”

“There will be bondage, sensory deprivation, and spanking with hands and paddles. Nothing more needs to be in the contract. This time around I need full cooperation more so than physical domination.”

“So, there will be more mental domination then?” Her question bothered me for some reason.

I didn’t want to think about mentally harming the young woman. But in the end, what would you call what I wanted to do? I wanted her to do as I said no matter what. I supposed it was mental domination. “Yes, it will be more mental than anything else.”

That didn’t sit well with me. In my opinion, the body was almost a separate entity from the mind. Things happen to our bodies all the time that scarred and marred what was once perfect flesh. The skin that’s broken is tougher when it heals, making it difficult to reinjure the area. And minds are like that too. Only when there’s a scar in it, it changes how a person acts and feels. I didn’t want to mentally damage Asia. But I did plan on making her do what I wanted. And that was the first time I realized that what I was doing would leave its mark on her. If not on her flesh, then on her mind. Her soul, itself.

Our marriage might be fake, but she’d remember me forever. Our time together would be a thing that would shape and mold the future Asia Jones. Suddenly, I felt a tremendous amount of responsibility, that weighed me down like nothing had before. It made me wonder if that’s what a real marriage felt like. Did one bear the burden of another through it all? Was that what held marriages together, the combination of responsibility to your partners physical and mental health and happiness?

Did I care about Asia happiness?

I had never cared if any of the others were happy or not. I only cared if they enjoyed the sex or the type of play we were doing. But did their happiness ever even occur to me? I couldn’t recall a time when it had. But there I was, thinking about the happiness of a girl I’d never met. All I knew about her was she was as pretty as a picture, and her voice was as sweet as honey. And she was going to me mine.

“It almost sounds as if you’re creating a marriage fantasy. Is that what this is about, Mr. Simmons?”

“Um. Well…” She saw right through it. Would Asia? And if she did, would she still sign the contract? “It’s a little like one. I tell you what, throw in kneeling when I enter the room, but only when we’re completely alone.” That made it sound more like a normal contract.

I didn’t want to risk Asia backing out on me at the last minute. Not only did I desperately need her, but I’d dug myself into a hole with my lies about being married, and I was stuck. I wanted Asia more than I’d ever wanted anyone. And that was a thing that was beginning to bother me. Was I going to let a woman and my need of her, control me?

Asia

From the moment, I stepped onto the plane, it felt as though everything was surreal, almost like a movie playing in slow motion. The people on the plane who chattered away. The stewardess who gave us all the speech about what to do if the plane crashed. The man who was sitting next to me who smelled like cabbage and sausages. Nothing seemed real.

Then I seemingly floated off the plane and made my way through the terminal until I found a man who had my name on a sign he was holding. I had one carry-on bag and my purse. I was told I didn’t need to bring anything more than my personal products, my birth control, and my identification. My Dom would provide everything else.

It was like a fairytale. One where I was the princess who was on her way to meet her prince. We’d marry and have a happily ever after life. Only that wasn’t the case at all. I was to be submissive to a man I didn’t know. I was to allow him to do things to my body I’d never let other men do. And all of this was, because I needed money.

The root of all evil, indeed!

As I rode in the back of the car that was taking me to The Dungeon of Decorum, I thought about the man I was going to meet. He and I didn’t talk much after our first phone call. It was Isabel who called me and told me about the plans. Jett had given me one call just before I got on the plane. He said he was excited to be meeting me and he hoped we’d get along well. I assured him we would. I wasn’t about to do a single thing to make our time together hard or screw myself in the end. I was there to please him and please him I would.

I’d studied up on sexual acts by reading Kamasutra. I even practiced oral sex on a cucumber. I was sure I would be able to please my Dom. He’d be getting a virgin, but one who’d prepared for him. I hoped he would like that. There were so many things I hoped for. I hoped he’d be nice. I hoped he let me in, even if it was just a little. I hoped he liked me. That was the biggest fear I had. That he wouldn’t like me.

The car pulled off the highway and went out to the very edge of town. We took a turn, and all I saw was a parking garage and a long driveway. As we made our way up it, I began to think things were moving too fast. In no time, I’d be seeing Jett, and things would begin to feel real. Maybe too real!

Panic began to flow through my body. The anxiety took over and I held my hand over my pounding heart as if that would steady it. My breathing became erratic and I broke into a sweat. The car came to a stop, and I tried, desperately to calm myself. There was a bottle of wine in a cooler, and I opened it and took a long drink. A thing that was so not like me. Just as I was placing it back in the cooler, the driver opened my door. “Miss Jones, we’ve arrived at our destination.”

“Yes, yes, of course, we have!” I shimmed across the long leather seat and grabbed my purse and bag then got out of the car.

There was no building. I half expected to see a castle. Instead, I saw what looked like a small shack with a red door on it. The walkway up to it was long. Each step I took made my heart beat slightly faster. This was it. I was really going through with it. I was handing my body over to a man for three months for money and other things. I stopped midstride as my mind spun out of control.

What was I doing? I couldn’t possibly do this!

I wasn’t this person. I was a strong, smart woman with goals and achievements. I wasn’t some empty-headed person who was out to make a quick buck. If I wasn’t that woman, then what the hell was I doing there? I didn’t belong here. I knew I didn’t. I wasn’t one of them. Suddenly, I felt like an imposter. I couldn’t please a man the way the rest of the subs could. I’d never live up to any of the other subs Jett Simmons had experienced.

He was a true Dom, in my opinion. Maybe not the kind who enjoyed giving a lot of pain, but he liked to rule. I could tell it by the tone of his voice and the look in his eye. Even if it was only a snapshot on a screen. It was there, buried deep in his sea green eyes. He was a ruler. A supreme master. And I’d be his little love slave. A thing I didn’t even know how to be.

My stomach roared as my guts twisted with even more anxiety than I’d ever experienced before. I felt like I might faint. I couldn’t take a proper breath and a black vail seemed to be blanket my eyes. I had to leave. I couldn’t go through with it. I just couldn’t!

Somewhere in the distance, the sound of a car filtered in. I was standing frozen, paralyzed by fear, when I heard a door open and a familiar voice seep through. “Asia, is that you?”

I turned so slowly. I thought it had to be a dream. I must’ve passed out and was lying on the cement sidewalk, dreaming about Jett Simmons. Or was it real? He was wearing an expensive black suit. His golden brown hair was bouncing around his broad shoulders as he made his way to me. Pulling his aviator-style shades away, his green eyes pierced me. A smile curved around his chiseled lips. “Asia, it is you.”

“Mr. Simmons?” I knew it was him, I just didn’t know what the hell else to say.

I was ready to leave. I was ready to throw in the towel. But as I looked intently into his gorgeous eyes, I found a sense of peace and safety. Everything would be okay, my nerves were settling, and I could do this.

“Call me Jett, please.” His strong and muscular arm came around my narrow shoulders, enclosing me in the safest embrace I’d ever felt.

My stomach stopped contorting and my mind stopped spinning. It was as if time stood still as we looked at one another face-to-face for the first time. He was magnificent. Everything about the man screamed power. I didn’t need a contract to do what he told me. The force he exuded was that compelling.

And what was so odd was that it turned me on in a way I didn’t know was possible. Every cell in my body seemed to fire electrical pulses that were overwhelming my senses. His hand ran down my arm then he grasped my hand and pulled it to his lips. They were the color of caramel nougat. They looked delicious, and I wondered how long he’d wait to kiss me. I hoped not to long. I wanted to taste the man so badly it was insane!

“Jett, yes sir, I’ll call you whatever you want.” He kissed the top of my hand, which made my knees weak.

“Good girl. I have to say your natural demeanor impresses me, greatly. Are you ready to go inside and sign the contract?” He nodded toward the red door. “It’s just in there downstairs. I’d rather not take you all the way into the club. What happens inside that red door is not for innocent eyes, I’m afraid.”

“I believe you. I was about to chicken out when you came up to me.”

“Then it’s a good thing I arrived when I did, isn’t it? Are you okay with it now? You don’t want to back out, do you?” He ran the tips of his fingers up my arm, over my shoulder, then up to my chin where he held it, gently. His eyes darted back and forth, searching mine. “Because now that I’ve seen you and touched you, Asia, the hunger I’ve had has turned ravenous. I’d mourn the loss of what could’ve been for the rest of my life if you changed your mind about me.”

“I want to be yours, Jett,” the words slipped off my tongue without any will of my own. I did want to be his. I wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything.

In a split second, everything had changed, and the smile he gave me made my heart sing. Taking my hand, he led me to the red door. When he took me inside, and I knew everything in my life would change.

Jett

When my eyes landed on Asia, the world and all its noise stopped. She was standing there as if she’d been waiting for me to arrive for awhile. She wore a cream-colored, sleeveless dress with two-inch black heels. Her hair moved like ribbons in the gentle breeze. Her natural beauty was enhanced with just enough makeup.

I had to pull my sunglasses away so I could take her in completely. Her lips were stained ruby red, her cheeks a pale pink. Her doe-like eyes took me in from head to toe, she looked immensely impressed by me, which brought about a slight grin. She was quiet as she waited, not shouting or throwing her hands up the way a lot of females did. Elegance and demure beauty, along with fantastic posture, gave her an air of aristocracy. Like a princess, she waited for her prince to join her. I was far from a prince, a thing she looked like she deserved. Would she like me? And why was I caring so damn much about that?

The moment my hand touched her, it felt as if thousands of needles were pricking my skin. I hoped I was playing it cool, not letting her know how much she was affecting me. Staying in control with her was hard. I wanted to pick her up, toss her over my shoulder and take her right back to the car and devour her. Her rosebud lips were quivering a bit, and I yearned to kiss her nerves away.

I wondered how long I could wait before I kissed her. How long would I wait before I took her body to heights she couldn’t possibly comprehend? A foot shorter than me, she fit neatly against my side when I hugged her. She admitted to me she’d had second thoughts. I was more than overjoyed that all that doubt seemed to vanish with my presence. She could be what I wanted. I could tell that already.

We made our way into the club where I took her right to Isabel’s office to get the contract signed. I couldn’t make her mine fast enough! As we walked down the dark stairwell and into the lite hallway, I saw one of the club’s founders coming out of Isabel’s office. “Is that you, Mr. S.?”

“It is.” I let go of Asia to shake Grant Jamison’s hand. “Asia, this is one of the founders of this prestigious club. You may call him, Mr. J.”

Grant took Asia’s hand and kissed the top of it. “Asia, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I heard you’ll be entering into a contract with this man.”

“Yes, sir.” Asia’s eyes darted to mine then back to his. “You’re a founder of The Dungeon of Decorum?”

“I am the primary founding father.” Grant glowed with pride as he pushed his hand through his salt and pepper hair.

Asia wore a curious expression. “What made you want to create a business like this?”

Grant and I looked at her with surprise. I didn’t expect that out of her and apparently neither did he. But he answered her anyway, “I had a need that wasn’t being fulfilled. It’s not easy to find partners to do the things we do. One can’t simply head out to one of the local taverns and pick up a girl, take her home, and string her up then flog her until she’s going into another state of mind.”

“No, I suppose one can’t do that.” Asia nodded then looked at me. “You won’t string me up, will you?”

I grinned and moved my hand down to her round ass, leaving it there. “I’m not into that kind of play, it’s too time-consuming for my tastes. You’ll find out what I like, and I’ve read your list of acceptable kinks, you’ll be fine, I promise you that.” Her ass fit perfectly in my hand, just like everything else about her was working for me. I was growing impatient and wanted the paperwork out of the way. I wanted Asia alone with me to explore each other more deeply.

Hesitation filled her face, and Grant noticed it. “Miss Jones, this is a thing you want to do, isn’t it? I mean, the reason we have this club is to make sure all the members, male and female, are doing things they want to. Have you read up on BDSM at all?”

She shook her head. “No, sir. I thought it best to let my Dom teach me what he wanted me to know.”

Moving my hand off her ass to rest it on the small of her back, I whispered, “Great answer. And I’m glad you thought that way.”

Grant seemed a bit worried about her as he placed his hand on her shoulder. “We don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to. If you feel like you’ve jumped into something that you feel is over your head, please let your Dom know that. He’s not out to hurt you in any way.” He moved his eyes to mine. “She’s not a typical sub. You go easy on her.” Then he looked back at Asia. “If you’re absolutely positive this is what you want, Miss Jones.”

She looked at me then smiled. “It is. I feel safe with him, Mr. J. and Isabel told me I can make one phone call if I ever want out of the contract. I’m not worried at all. I ready to do this with him. Thank you for your concern, sir.”

Nothing she said could’ve pleased me more. “There you have it, Mr. J. she’s ready and willing. And I’ll treat her very well, you can rest assured of that.”

He clapped me on the back, sending us in to see Isabel to finally make things secure between us. Isabel stood up to greet us, shaking our hands and gesturing for us to take a seat in the two leather chairs that were in front of her Cherrywood desk. “You two look like you’re already getting along well.”

“I think we are.” I nudged Asia with my shoulder. “How about you?”

Her eyes were soft as she looked at me with only a hint of a smile. “I think we are too.”

“That’s very good to hear.” Isabel pushed the contract toward me first. “Please read this over, Mr. Simmons. I want to be sure I’ve put everything you wanted into it.”

I looked the one-page contract over and saw that it had all I wanted on it. Then I handed it to Asia. “Your turn to read our contract, Asia.”

She murmured, “Our contract.” I watched her as she read it and nodded. “Yes, this is what he and I have discussed. I agree to it all.” Isabel handed her a pen, and she signed it as I let out a breath that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding in. Then I signed it too, and we were a done deal.

For the next three months, anyway.

“The money will be held in our bank in an escrow account for you, Miss Jones. If either of you decides you want out of the contract, it will be up to the Dom to decide if you get any of the funds he set aside for you. Do you understand?” Isabel moved the financial page to Asia, and she signed it too. Isabel smiled at me. “You’ve been very generous, Mr. Simmons. I do hope you two find what you’re looking for.”

I didn’t have to hope. I knew I’d found the right woman to play my wife. And she already exhibited signs of being a perfect sub for me. I wasn’t sure how I got so lucky, but I felt like I’d won the lottery. Getting up to leave, I took Asia by the hand and went out to where the car was waiting to take us back to the airport. “Is all the flying bothering you?”

She shook her head. “Not so far. We only have a few hours back to New York, right?”

“I chartered a private jet. It’ll be a couple of hours, and in the meantime, we’ll enjoy dinner in the air. I’ve ordered lobster and steaks.” I opened the door for her and the evening sun was pleasantly warm on our faces.

“That’s thoughtful of you.”

The driver hurried to open the back door to let us in. She slid in and crossed her beautifully slender legs and I took the seat next to her. I gave her some room, although I wanted to be as close to her as I could get. I wasn’t sure when I was going to give her the news about the fake marriage and how I expected her to act about it. She seemed up for anything in a laid-back kind of way. Surely, she wouldn’t hate the idea.

Would she?

Asia

Although a sense of calm had washed over me, I began to mull over the things I’d read in the contract I had signed. There was a part about the fact no kidnapping charges could ever be filed on my Dom. I wondered why there had to be a thing like that. Had the man who’d just become my Dom kidnapped someone before?

And then there was the part about me not being able to wear anything other than what he gave me. I had to do as he said at all times too. While those things might seem easy enough to do for the amount of money he was giving me, I wondered if I could do that for three whole months. I wasn’t without a brain, I could make my own decisions, and I made good ones. So, why would I even need a man to make such small decisions for me? The answer was easy. I wouldn’t!

But this was a role I was playing is how I had to look at it. For three months, I’d be this man’s puppet. It was a notion I’d have to settle into. Jett poured a tall glass of Champagne and handed it to me then poured one for himself. Facing me, he gave me a smile. “This may seem silly, but it might not be after you hear what I have to say.”

I nodded and waited with curiosity. The man was a bit different than I’d imagined him to be. I was quickly finding out that I couldn’t count on him acting any certain way. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two small black boxes. He opened one and I saw a thick platinum wedding band in it. He pulled it out and put it on his finger. “You’re married?” I said horrified!

“No!” He chuckled. “The look on your face is priceless. No, I’m not married.”

He opened the next box, and there was a brilliant diamond engagement ring and a wedding band that matched his. I stared at the opulent rings. “What’s this about?”

“Hold out your left hand.” His eyes held mine as I did as he said.

He slipped the rings onto my finger, and I felt the weight of them as if it was an ominous sign. “Jett, I don’t understand.”

The pad of his thumb ran over my finger and the rings as he placed them on. “I need a fake wife for a few occasions this summer. That’s the main reason I purchased you.”

“To lie to people?” I was more than a bit shocked. The man who was sitting next to me should never have to purchase a woman. He was drop dead gorgeous, wealthy, and I thought he was charming to boot. Why would he need me to lie about such a thing as being his wife?

“Well, yes.” His hand traveled up my arm, leaving heat in its path. “Asia, I have my reasons, and frankly, I don’t like explaining myself to others. That’s why I decided a sub would be best for this task.”

I downed the drink and put the glass down. He followed my lead and drank his up too. “So, I can’t ask you any questions about anything?” I was beginning to get a little dumbfounded by him.

He put his empty glass down, next to mine. “No, you can’t. That was one of the rules. Don’t you recall that?”

“Not one that stated that exactly.” I tried to remember what all was on that paper. I didn’t think I’d seen anything that said I couldn’t ask him any questions. “But I can follow that rule. What I’m having trouble with is the lying. Who will I be lying to, exactly?”

“My family, friends, people I went to college and high school with. Basically, everyone I know and don’t know. You see, we’ll be maintaining to the outside world that you and I are husband and wife.” He smiled as if what he said had made perfect sense. Which it did not!

“Your family?” I was flabbergasted. “Your parents?”

He nodded. “Yes. And we’ll be stopping by their home on our way to what everyone will know as our new home. The one I’ll be leaving you at the end of the contract if you’re a good girl and do as I say, ‘at all times’.” He really emphasized that part.

His term, good girl, was not making me happy. I was beginning to feel like his puppy or something else not normal, at all. “Jett, I think this is a thing you should’ve told me about before I signed the contract.”

“It was in there. It said you had to do as I say ‘at all times’ and be who I tell you to be. So, I am telling you to be Mrs. Jett Simmons. There are worse things to lie about.”

“Your family will know me. Am I to tell this lie forever?” He’d hadn’t thought things through. “And I’m not a good liar. Words that aren’t true kind of gum up in my mouth and my eyes get really big. This will never work. You may as well head back to the club and end the contract now before I make a fool out of you.”

He put his arm around me, leaned in close, and planted his lips on mine. With no kind of warning, he just kissed me, and I melted into him as if we’d kissed many times before. Parting my lips, I invited him in. Our tongues gently caressed each other’s. He tasted better than I thought he would. A fire started burning inside of me from his incredible kiss. And I didn’t want to go back and end the contract any longer!

His strong hands moved over my shoulders, cradling my back and pulling me closer. My breasts flattened against his hard chest. I curled my hands around the collar of his suit jacket and hung on for dear life. Could I lie for him? Could I make words come out of my mouth in a flowing manner that wouldn’t give him away?

Our kiss grew and grew until we were pawing at one another with a need for more. He pulled back, both of us panting. “You sure you want to end this?”

All I could do was shake my head and wait for him to kiss me again. Which he did, thankfully. He pushed me back on the seat, his full weight falling against me. I ran my hands under his jacket to feel his muscular back and moaned with how good those tight muscles felt. He pushed my legs apart and laid on me, grinding his erection against me.

He had me then. I was hooked. I’d do my best to make people believe we were married. But I had a ton of questions that I couldn’t even ask him, per his rule. I could see things might get a bit on the frustrating side with him. But as he kissed me into submission, I didn’t seem to care about anything except how good he could make me feel. My body felt sensations it never felt before. Jett was making me high with every kiss. What would happen to me when he took me?

He eased the passionate kiss and looked at me as he brushed my hair back. “You’re exquisite, my little Asia. I knew I had to have you the moment I laid eyes on your picture. I was impressed by you. I want to warn you, though. I’m a strict man. I don’t like small talk or dilly dallying. I’m a straightforward man and I want you to be that way with me too. If you don’t like something I do to you, tell me. Honesty is always rule number one.”

“I understand.” I was getting lost in those eyes of his. I ran my hand over his smooth cheek. “May I say that I think you’re also exquisite?”

His lips curled to one side then he nuzzled my neck. “I’m glad you think so.”

I pushed my hands through his thick hair, releasing an earthy scent. I inhaled it and found myself feeling slightly lightheaded. I had no idea a complete stranger could arouse me in such a way. Maybe something was wrong with me. Maybe I’d held onto my virginity too long. It wasn’t normal what I was doing, falling for Jett, a man I didn’t know.

“Is this what normally happens when you get a new sub?”

His lips trailed down my neck as he moved his head up to look at me. “No.”

“Do you think something’s wrong with me that I’m so aroused by you?” I had to know and had no one else around to ask.

“No.”

“Okay…” I didn’t know what else to say. He obviously didn’t want to talk. He was frustratingly a man of few words.

“I’ve picked the right woman to play the part of my wife, that’s all it is. We have amazing natural chemistry. Our bodies have revealed that. It might take a while for our minds to catch up, but it’s there and it’s stronger than any I’ve had with anyone else. How about you?”

“Me? I’ve never had chemistry with anyone before. You’re the first.”

His lips touched mine briefly, but it still sent heat straight to my core. Then he looked into my eyes with a fierce gaze. “I will be your first, Asia, in many ways.”

I swallowed, involuntarily. “Yes, you will.”

Jett

I couldn’t keep my hands off her. She was like a drug an intoxicating addiction. One I couldn’t get enough of. We went from the car to the jet and we were heading to New York. The first stop was my parents’ Manhattan house. That’s where we’d be grilled about our relationship.

I toyed with Asia’s hand as we sat, side by side, in the beige leather seats. I found it was a perfect time to tell her about our whirlwind romance and marriage. “My mother’s name is Jenny and my father’s is Frank.”

“Okay.” She gave me a smile. “I can remember that.”

“You and I met at a nightclub in Los Angeles.”

“I was on vacation out there, wasn’t I?” She winked. “We may as well keep my part in your little fairy tale real. You know, the truth about where I come from and go to college. I’m sure to mess up if everything’s a lie.”

“You’re right. You get to stay you, entirely. I like your whole tale anyway. So, you were on vacation with your college roommate.” I paused to see if she’d fill in the blank.

“Stacy and I were at the club?”

I filled in that one. “Banshee. I saw you from across the crowded room and went straight to you, asking you to dance.”

“That’s when you found out I’m a lousy dancer.”

I frowned. I couldn’t see her as being a lousy dancer at all. “Which I quickly taught you, and you became fantastic in no time. After we had danced the night away, we ditched Stacy and went to eat at a nearby diner named Lola’s Eatery.”

“I ordered waffles.”

“I ate scrambled eggs and toast.”

She kissed my cheek. “I let you drive me to my hotel.”

“Motel 6.”

She nodded. “You walked me to the door and I let you kiss me on the cheek, nothing more than that. I’m a good girl.”

I found her utterly adorable and kissed the tip of her nose. “That you are. I got your number and called you on my way home. We talked until dawn.”

“Then you asked me out for dinner the next night and the night after that, and the next one, as well. We became inseparable while I was in L.A. then I had to go back to New Brunswick to school.”

“Ah, yes, back to school you went, and we missed each other so much we couldn’t stand it. That’s when we knew it was true love.” I kissed her sweet lips. “I asked you to marry me when I flew in to surprise you last week.”

Her cheeks flushed with the most beautiful reddish tone. “And I accepted while happily crying.”

Ending our little story, I said, “I scooped you up, took you to Vegas where we made it legal. I’d bought us a home in Harrison, New York before I even proposed, certain you’d say yes.”

“I think I can remember all of that.” She smirked. “I’ll let you do the talking, though. I don’t want to mess it up.”

“There’s one more thing we should practice.” I leaned in close and kissed the soft spot behind her right ear. “Saying, I love you.” Moving back, I looked at her. “And sounding like we mean it. You go first.”

She looked as if she was trying not to laugh. “Jett, I love you.” Her lips then squeezed into a flat line as she tried not to laugh.

“Asia, I love you.” I kissed her cheek. “Again.”

She ran her hand over my cheek then through my hair as she peered into my eyes. “I love you,” her words were soft, sweet, and sounded so real my heart skipped a beat.

“Do you really?” I didn’t even know I was going to ask that question.

She nodded then leaned in and kissed my lips. “I love you, Jett Simmons.”

Heat filled me in such a way it surprised me. My cock thumped as it began to swell. “I love you, Asia Simmons.” The words were rolling off my tongue with ease as my desire for her grew.

Running my hands up and down her arms, I was about to take her to the bedroom. But the steward came out with our lunch, spoiling that. “Lobster and steak. I’ll bring the white wine right out.” He placed the meals on the table.

Taking her by the hand, I helped her up, and we went to eat, instead of going to do what I most desired, making out in the privacy of the bedroom. “Come, wife, have some lunch with your husband.”

She giggled and I liked the way it sounded. Holding the chair out her for, she took the seat I’d offered, and I took the one across from her. “This looks delicious, Jett.”

“I’m glad you like it. So, tell me about your family. I should know a little about them.”

“My mother’s name is Patty and Dad’s is Bryan. I have two older sisters.”

I cut a piece of steak and found it was cooked exactly the way I liked it. Seemed it was my lucky day. “So, you’re the baby of the family then?”

“I am.” She took a bite of lobster after dipping it into butter and nodded as she chewed and swallowed. “This is great.”

“I agree. So, what are your sister’s names?” I dug into the lobster tasting and savoring a little at a time.

“Rainbow or Bow as we call her for short, is married to Stewart. He’s a forest ranger. They just took their three kids, Jana, Hailey, and Baxter, and moved to Alaska. Then there’s Spring and Max, they live in South Dakota, and they have a baby that’s due next month. It’s a surprise what they’re having.”

“Next month? Won’t you want to go see your new niece or nephew?” I paused as I ate to see if that was a thing she might want to do.

“I’d like to, but I’ve done this now. I’ll go after the summer is over.” She cut into her steak and looked it over.

“Is it done to your liking?”

She smiled. “I love it rare. It’s as if you already knew me when you ordered this meal, Jett.”

“To be honest, I ordered what I like, the same way I’ve done with all my subs. It’s just a coincidence you like your steak the same.” I smiled. It was nice that we were on the same wavelength.

“Lucky me.” She looked a bit disturbed by what I’d said. I didn’t like that look on her face.

“I’m sorry. I can be self-absorbed and crass. I’ll try to curtail that as much as I can. So, what other things do you like? That I know what to say when people ask.” I gave the steward a frown as he finally came back with the wine. He filled our glasses then left us without saying a word of apology. The guy was earning a spot on my shit-list.

“My favorite meal is boring, spaghetti.”

“What’s boring about that? I love it too. Especially when it’s served with…”

She laughed as she broke in to add, “Homemade meatballs!”

“And don’t forget the garlic bread.”

We laughed, and I thought things were going so well. Too well. It couldn’t be this way for long. Then it occurred to me that she might be acting.

“And for dessert?” she asked then put a bit of meat into her little mouth.

I went out on a limb and said something I didn’t like to see how she’d react. “Lemon pie.”

“No,” she said as she shook her head. “Apple pie.”

“Alamode?” I asked with surprise.

“Is there any other way?”

She’d hit on my favorite desert. We were well-matched. She wasn’t acting at all. And that scared me. Asia Jones was perfect for me. Not just as my sub or fake wife. As a real-life partner. And I wasn’t ready for that at all! As we finished lunch, I sat there, secretly hoping there was something about her I’d find unattractive or unlikeable. Something that would make it easier to let her go when the three months were up.

The steward came back to pick up our empty plates, and Asia looked at him, asking with a smile, “You don’t happen to have any coconut rum and sprite back there, do you? I’m not a huge fan of wine.”

He looked down his nose at her, instantly pissing me off. “We only have the finest wines on board. Nothing of poor taste is served on this plane.”

And that was it. I got up, towering over the little son of a bitch. “A simple, no ma’am would’ve sufficed, you little screw off…”

Asia’s hand on my arm stopped me. “It’s okay, Jett.”

I turned to look at her. “You won’t be disrespected in front of me, Asia.” I looked back at the man who was foolish enough to talk that way to the woman I was with. “Apologize now.”

His face went pale, and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his scrawny throat. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“It’s okay.” Asia went back to take a seat by the window. Her face had fallen a bit. And that made me want to ring the little shit of a man’s throat.

“I’m going to report you, you know.” I turned and went to sit down next to her as the man took our things and scurried away. I took Asia’s hand and kissed it. “I’m sorry about that.”

She cut her eyes at me. “Really, you don’t have to be. I was stupid for asking for something so low class in the first place.”

“What’s low class about some sprite and rum? They serve that at all the expensive beach resorts. That guy’s just an ass. Our home will be filled with anything and everything you want, Asia. And I’ll let you go see your sister’s baby when the time comes too.”

“You will?” She looked surprised. “You mean it?”

I nodded. “It’s a special time in your life. Of course, I mean it.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me.” She closed her eyes and laid her head down on my shoulder. “You’re very nice, Jett. That meal made me sleepy.”

“Perhaps a nap in the bedroom is in order.” I got up and took her hand, leading her to the bedroom, aware her eyes were as big as saucers.

Was she afraid to be alone in a bedroom with me?

Asia

I followed behind Jett as he led me to the bedroom. It wasn’t my life-long dream to lose my virginity in the bedroom of a private jet. Although that might sound cool to others, I wanted a traditional memory.

The bed was covered with a deep blue silky bedspread. Plump pillows were at the head of it; they looked inviting. Jett sat me on the side of the bed and pulled one foot up, taking off my shoe. Then he did the same to the other. “There, that’ll make you more comfortable.” He stepped out of his shoes and took off his jacket, hanging it in the closet. “Lie back, relax.” His voice was calm and gentle.

I did as he said, wondering if he was going to undress me. He unbuttoned the white shirt he wore underneath the jacket and took it off too. I closed my eyes. His body was too perfect; it was making my mouth water. He was scrupled like one of the great mythological gods.

His body touched mine as he laid down beside me. I was tense as hell, as I waited for his next move. He inched his hand to take mine. “Have a nice nap, Mrs. Simmons.”

It seemed that’s all we were going to do. Nap.

I was surprised and kind of disappointed too. When I heard, his breathing get even and deep, I knew he was out. I opened my eyes and turned over, resting my palm on his chiseled abs. I’d never felt anything like that before. I’ve only seen bodies like his in the movies. Imagine, The Rock, in your bed. That’s what I was looking at. I moved my hand up to run my fingertips over his mountainous pecks.

His chest was smooth and tan. I didn’t know if he waxed or if he was naturally sleek. All I knew was I found it very appealing. My eyes moved down his body until I found the bulge in his pants. With a feather light touch, I moved my hand down and rested it on the bulge, trying to figure out just how big it was. It was longer than my hand, and that was in a non-erect condition. My Lord, how long would it be when he was aroused?

Easing my hand over it, I found it thick. My inner thighs pulsed as I became wet. I thought about how nice that would feel inside of me sometime in the near future. My body reacted with excitement. My eyes were growing heavy and I was drifting to sleep. I woke to something throbbing against my palm. I’d fallen asleep with my hand on Jett’s dick!

And he was moving around, turning toward me, throwing his arm over me then moving closer. He pressed his growing cock against me and moaned. Yet he was still asleep. I was worried he’d make a move on me and I’d made one on him!

I tried to move back, but he threw his leg over me, stopping me in my tracks. I was stuck, and then his hands began to run all over me. Up and down my arm then around to my back and he pulled me closer to him. “Asia,” he moaned.

“Jett, are you awake?” I tapped his shoulder.

“Um, hm…” He inched forward and kissed me.

It wasn’t right what his kisses did to me. They went straight to my head and rendered me incapable of thinking clearly. My hands moved on their own running over his naked back. His skin felt warm and inviting as I caressed it. Our mouths fused into one as our bodies moved closer. I was completely lost in him. Every move he made, every touch, was felt passionately. His hand ran up my leg, pushing my dress up resting on my hip, holding me as he pressed his big thick cock against my pulsing panty covered pussy.

Rolling over me, he pinned me to the bed then his mouth left mine as he trailed kisses down my neck and over my dress covered breasts. He made his way all the way down until his hot mouth was on my panties. The look he gave me when he looked up at me made my heart beat at light speed. He took the top of my panties with his teeth and moved them down only enough to expose part of me.

He kissed my pearl, and I moaned with desire. He smiled then kissed it again and again until my body thrusted upward with pleasure. Moving his hands to cup my ass, he lifted me off the bed and licked me over and over. His dark waves were brushing against my stomach; he had my dress pushed all the way up. I ran my hands through them as I watched him kissing me in a place I’d never been kissed before.

It was far better than what I thought it would feel like. I was completely wet, and the moaning I was making just couldn’t be stopped. Just when I thought I was about to explode, he kissed my inner thigh. I was panting like a dog, then mewling like a cat. What he was doing to me wasn’t humanly possible, I thought. If that was what sex felt like, how did people ever stop doing it? It was fantastic!

He bit the inside of my leg, and an insanely amount of adrenaline shot through me. Jett got up, looking down at me with lust-filled eyes. “I’m about to ruin you for other men, Asia.” He ripped my panties off with one hard yank. I whimpered with a small amount of fear and the greatest desire of need.

Jett took me by the waist and lifted me all the way up, putting my legs over his broad shoulders. My pussy was in his face as he picked me up and down, running his tongue through every part of me. Then it was inside me, and I grabbed handfuls of his hair as it felt amazing. He moved me up and down as his tongue slid in and out of me.

I had no idea how he was lifting me so much. It was as if I didn’t weigh a thing. I was close to climaxing and my body was shivering. He moved his tongue out of me and sucked on my clit. It sent me over the edge and I shrieked with a hard orgasm. Then he was back inside, licking up all I had released. I was shaking with how intense it all was. He was right, he had ruined me for other men. Who else could handle me the way he had? Who else could make me feel the way he did?

No one could. I knew that even then. I was his. I belonged to Jett Simmons. But only for a few months and I knew I’d want to belong to him a hell of a lot longer than that. How did I get so caught up in him so damn quickly? He laid me back on the bed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he breathed raggedly and looked at me like a lion looks at a gazelle. “You taste better than anything I’ve ever had in my mouth, Asia.”

Heat filled my cheeks. “Thank you.” I had no idea what one should say to a remark like that.

He pulled a piece of luggage out of the closet and put it on the bed, opened it and took out a pair of lacy white panties. He eased them up my legs, covering me back up. I wanted to ask why we weren’t going to do more, pop that pesky cherry of mine, but just before my mouth opened, the pilot told us to take our seats, we were about to land in New York.

I sighed, heavily and saw a smile curve his lips. “Disappointed?”

With a nod, I rolled out of bed. “I guess I should check my hair and makeup before we depart.” What I saw when I looked in the little bathroom mirror shocked me. My hair was a mess! My makeup was gone!

I closed the door and went to the bathroom, finding that it stung when I peed. “Ow!”

I could hear his deep chuckle. “Sorry about that. It’s a nasty side-effect.”

My cheeks heated as I realized he’d heard me. After finishing, I got up, washed my hands and used some more water to style my hair back into place. I splashed my face and tried to look a little refreshed, instead of freshly tongued fucked. I supposed he had another time in mind to take my virginity. But he could toy with me like that for as long he wanted to.

I didn’t mind one bit!

Jett

With my hand on her knee, Asia and I sat on my parents’ leather sofa as they stared at us. “So, you really did it?” my father asked.

I held up Asia’s left hand, showing off the rings. “We did. Last night. In Vegas.”

The lies were kind of choking. It wasn’t as easy to lie right to their faces. It was much easier to do it over the phone.

“And you’re from L.A.?” Mom asked Asia.

“No, ma’am, I was raised in Queens. I go to college at Rutgers in Jersey. I was on vacation when I met Jett.”

I was glad she remembered our little story because I was the one who was finding myself stumbling over the lies. “At a night club,” I managed to add.

“The Banshee,” Asia said as she patted my hand that was resting on her knee. “He taught me how to dance. Prior to him, I thought I had two left feet. He was a fantastic teacher.”

“You made it easy.” I kissed her cheek. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mother smile. “Then we went to eat after ditching her friend, Stacy.”

“Lola’s Eatery, Jett had scrambled eggs and toast.”

“Asia had waffles.” I was enamored with her. “And then I took her to the Motel 6 where she and Stacy were staying. I left her on the doorstep with one kiss on her perfectly pink cheek.”

Asia gazed into my eyes, and I felt as if the lies weren’t lies at all. I could see it all in my head as if it had been real. Her rosebud lips parted. “I knew I loved him even then.”

“You did?” I found myself asking.

She nodded. “From that little kiss and that wonderful night, I knew you were the one.”

“I had a strong idea you were the one for me too.” I looked at my parents who had their mouths hanging open as they looked at me with disbelieving expressions. “Anyway, we went out every night she was in town, and when she went back to school; the miles between us really helped us both realized how much we needed each other. We’d found love. So, I went to surprise her the day before yesterday.”

“He came to my dorm room. He got down on one knee and asked me to make him the happiest man in the world. I cried as I quickly accepted his proposal.” Asia ran the back of her hand over my cheek. “I’m so happy you asked.”

“I’m so happy you accepted.”

“So you went to Vegas and got married,” Mom said, taking our attention. “And now what will you do?”

“I bought us a house in the Sterling Ridge area of Harrison, New York. I thought it’d be a perfect place to live and raise a family.” I ran my hand over Asia’s cheek. “We can’t wait to get started.”

My father cleared his throat. “What about your job in L.A.?”

How could I have forgotten about that piece of the puzzle?

Panic had to have shown on my face as Asia’s eyes went wide and then she smiled. “Oh, he can still take care of things in L.A. he has a wonderful assistant he’s been training to take over for him when he’s here. Isn’t that right, honey?”

“Yeah, Seth Rogers is the man who’s watching over things while I take the next three months off. I’ll go to Los Angeles Monday through Thursday and spend the other three nights at home with Asia. I’ve figured it all out.”

“Okay, sounds like you’ve thought things through then.” Dad looked relieved. “One day I’ll want you back here anyway. You’ll take over the CEO position, and you’ll have to be here. Maybe this Rogers guy will be suitable to take over your place in L.A. altogether.”

“I can groom him for it.”

Mom got up and gestured for us to follow her. “Dinner is being served in the formal dining room. Hilda should have the appetizer on the table already. Come on.”

Taking Asia’s hand, I helped her up, and we followed a bit behind my parents. “You’re better at lying than you said you were.” I whispered in her ear.

“It’s important for me to help you, Jett. I guess I see it as my job.”

The idea that she was looking at this as a job didn’t sit right with me. I wanted her to like it. “Are you having a nice time?”

She nodded. “I am.”

“I can’t wait to see the house with you. I bought it without ever going to see it. I’ve only seen pictures online. It’s completely furnished, and I had a stylist fill the closet and dresser with clothes and shoes for you.”

Asia lit up like a Christmas tree. “Oh my God! Really!”

My parents stopped and turned to look at us. Mom’s left brow was cocked. “What’s so exciting?”

“I just gave Asia another surprise. She hasn’t seen the house yet. I told her I had a stylist fill the closet for her.” I wrapped my arm around Asia. “She’s got a whole new wardrobe.”

“That’s sweet of you, Jett.” Mom turned around and kept walking. “You’re just so different.”

Asia leaned into me and put her hand on my chest. “That’s nice to hear. I like that.”

“What, that I’m different?”

“Yes. It means I bring something out in you no one has ever seen.”

And she was right about that. Asia did bring things out of me no one ever had before. Though, I was on a high from it, I knew there’d come a time when I’d hate it. I’d want to be the old me. The hard as nails man who no one could hurt. I hadn’t avoided love, but I certainly hadn’t sought it out. I purchased subs to fill the void I’d feel at times. Other than that, I didn’t like to date anyone for very long. Asia would be the one woman I’d spend more time with than I had with anyone else. She and I were getting along better than I’d anticipated. But it would have to come to an end, like all things.

We sat at the table, Asia beside me. I held her hand on top of the table and saw my mother looking at our hands. “You said something about getting started on a family soon. I hope you two think long and hard about that. You’ve rushed into this marriage. There’s no reason to rush into having kids. They really change your life. Why not take a year to get to know one another before you start trying to add kids in the mix?”

“Maybe Mom’s right, Asia.” I said, quite happy mom said this.

“Anything you want, I want, Jett. You know that. I love you.” The words came out of her mouth so naturally, it was like she really meant them.

“I love you too. We’ll talk about it more later.” I turned my attention to Mom. “Thanks for the advice. We’re just so in love; we might not be thinking straight right now.”

“I can see that,” Mom said as she looked from me to Asia. “You both are glowing.” Were we? I had no idea. Was I actually falling in love? I couldn’t let that happen. I wasn’t out to hurt Asia. I also wasn’t out to fall in love with her, either.

I crossed my fingers that something would appear soon that I couldn’t stand about her. It happened all the time with other women. One snored, one had ugly feet, one had an annoying laugh. I’m sure something Asia did would bother me, eventually. Love wasn’t in the cards for me. I didn’t want it. Love made you weak. It made you vulnerable. I wanted no part of it.

“The family vacation is in a couple of weeks. Did you tell Asia about it, Jett?” Mom asked as Daisy brought in a tray of smoked meats and cheeses along with a bottle of red wine.

“I did, Mom. Hello, Daisy, is there any coconut rum and a lemon lime cola in the house?” I asked her as I remembered that Asia wasn’t fond of wine.

“Yes, sir. Should I mix you up a drink?”

“Mix one for my wife, Asia.”

Daisy’s hand went to her heart as she gasped. “Your wife, sir?”

“Asia, this is Daisy, the kitchen maid. Daisy, this is my wife.”

Daisy came and shook Asia’s hand. “Oh my goodness, you’re so lovely. How lucky for Mr. Jett to find a woman like you.”

“Thank you.” A blush covered Asia’s cheeks. “I think I’m the lucky one.”

“I’ll get you that drink, ma’am. It’s nice to meet you.” Daisy ran off to make the drink, leaving Asia looking at me with a curious expression.

“She seemed quite surprised. You’re only twenty-eight, not quite a spinster.” Asia laughed.

“See, Mom. I’m not so old.”

“His lifestyle is what had everyone worried about him never marrying.” Mom picked up some meat and cheese. “He’s never even had a steady girlfriend. That’s why you’ll see a lot of the family be in shock by this marriage. No one saw it coming. Not with how Jett is.”

“Was,” I corrected her. “I was that way. Asia changed that.”

“Let’s hope so.” Mom took a drink.

Dad shook his head. “Let’s not jinx them, darling. People can change.”

I was beginning to wonder if he was right. Could I change? Could I become a man who only wanted one woman and wanted her around almost all the time? I didn’t think I could be that man. Yet, I had tied myself down to one woman for a matter of three months, just to avoid being setup by my friends and family. Why would I do such a thing?

It was out of character for me. I was that guy who’d tell everyone to fuck off and leave me the hell alone. Instead of doing that, I intentionally set myself up with a woman I’d have to be with for the longest time I’d been with anyone. Had I subconsciously created a situation, I intentionally avoided at all costs, to prove something to myself? Was Asia in the right place at the right time? Or was it bigger than that? Things were falling into place a little too well. Was serendipity stepping in to take over my life?

Part Two

Asia

The day had been long, I rested my head-on Jett’s shoulder as his parents’ driver took us to Harrison, to our new house. We passed one mansion after the next until we turned into the gated entrance. “This is it, Asia. This will be all yours after this is over.” He kissed the side of my head, sweetly.

I should’ve been over the moon. Instead, I felt a sharp pain in my gut when he said, when this is over. I didn’t want to think in those terms. I genuinely liked the man. Thinking about when it all would end wasn’t a thing I wanted to think about.

The gates opened after the driver put in the code given to him by Jett and in we went, winding down the long drive. “The lot is 3 acres; the house is just over twelve-thousand square feet. There’s a pool in the back and a six-car garage. I know that’s pretty small as far as garages go.”

“Small?” I was in awe as we pulled up to the front of the house. House? No, it was much more than a mere house. It was a palace!

Stone statues of robust women, reminding me of the old Roman statues, were pillars adjacent to the wide staircase that led up to the green front door. There was a fountain in the middle of the driveway allowing for cars to drive around it. A bevy of mermaid statues swam up the middle and looked as if they were playfully splashing one another.

The white bricks that served as siding were so pristine the place seemed to illuminate. It had two stories and a balcony came off one of the rooms upstairs, which made for a nice shaded area over the front entrance. Gray, green English ivy covered the exterior, making it look like it had been there forever. “Jett, this is beyond anything I could have ever imagined.”

“Does that mean you like it?” He chuckled as he got out of the car and took my hand to help me out.

The evening breeze was cool and gentle. The smells were wonderful, earthy tones, mixed with sweet flowers, and somewhere in that rich neighborhood, someone was grilling. “Jett, I have no idea how I’ll ever explain this place to my family.”

“I’ll help you come up with something. Hell, you can tell them the same thing we’re telling everyone else.” He led me up the stairs and tapped in a code on the door. “565679, is the code to all the doors and the gate. There’s a security system that automatically locks the doors and gate once they close. You’ll be safe at all times.”

The foyer was large, and the ceiling was high, the tones from outside carried through into the inside. No furniture was in the room, but there were more Romanesque statues and gorgeously green, potted plants. “It’s just so, so…” I didn’t have words to describe it.

“So far, everything is pleasing you then?” Jett gave me a million-dollar smile, and I couldn’t hold back any longer.

I threw my arms around him and kissed his cheek. “Everything is more than pleasing. You’re the kindest, most generous man in the entire world!”

His strong arms held me as his warm breath stirred the hair by my ear. “You’re the sweetest woman I’ve ever met, Asia. I mean that.”

We toured the house, finding one living area after another before we came to an enormous kitchen. “OMG! Jett, this is remarkable.” Shiny stainless steel covered the stove that seemed a mile long. “Where’s the fridge?”

Jett smiled as he pulled open what I thought were walls, but were actually three refrigerators. “And across the room over there are the freezers.” He pointed to a glass door that was underneath a long island bar. “That’s a wine cooler. Since, you don’t care for wine, you can fill it with any other beverage of your choice.”

“Jett, this is all too much. I can’t take this. I can’t!” Tears welled up in my eyes as I was overcome with emotion.

He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly. “You can take this. I want you to have it all, Asia. It’s a big deal what you’re doing for me.”

I shook my head as I continued to cry. “It’s not that big of a deal. I don’t deserve all of this.”

“You do. You’re giving up a huge part of yourself to me. I’m not taking that lightly.”

“If you’re talking about my virginity, it’s not worth all that you’re paying me.” I sniffled, and he moved back with me until he could reach a napkin.

Handing it to me, he said, “Blow your nose. Dry those pretty eyes and stop thinking about the money and these other things. I have it to give to you, let me do that for all you’re doing for me.”

Nodding, I didn’t want to make him upset with me. I decided I’d deal with my emotions on my own. It wasn’t for him to deal with anyway. “I’m sorry, Jett.”

“Don’t be. I should’ve known you’d be overwhelmed. You’ll get used to it all in no time. There are a few things you should know. A maid comes in three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She was the previous owner’s maid and had worked here for years. I kept her on. There’s a gardener who comes once a week. A maintenance man also comes once a week; he takes care of the pool and anything that needs fixing. I’ll be purchasing a town car and hiring a driver for it, as well.”

I tried to suck in the emotions that were coming up inside of me. “Okay. I’ll pay their wages once I get the money from the escrow.”

“No, I’ve taken care of all that. Their salaries are already setup to be automatically deducted from one of my bank accounts. I’ll pay them for you.”

“You’ll pay the people who’ll take care of what will be my house, forever?” I shook my head. “One day you’ll get married and your wife won’t like that.”

“I’m in charge of my money and what I pay. No woman’s going to tell me a thing about that.” He walked around to get a couple of bottles of water out of the fridge closest to him. “Now let’s go see the rest of the house. There are ten bedrooms, all have ensuites with private lavatories and walk in closets.”

His arrogant attitude about women was an eye-opener and the first time I’d seen that side of him. I couldn’t say I liked it. But he wasn’t my man to correct. I was his woman, not the other way around. There was one bedroom downstairs that we found. I thought it was the master, but he informed me it was only a guest bedroom. The rest of them were up a grand staircase made from Mahogany. The railing and steps shined like something out of a museum. It wasn’t melding into my brain that this place would be mine. It was just too good to be true!

“This will be our room.” He opened the first door on the left, and I went blank.

A bed, larger than any one I’d ever seen, sat in the middle of the enormous room. Dark wood, ornate carvings, and a beige veil that hung across the top of the canopy took my breath away. An emerald jacquard comforter was spread out over it. It was the most opulent piece of bedroom furniture I’d ever seen. An entire dark brown leather living room set was in one corner, and there was a giant television hanging on the wall in that area.

“Jett, this is stunning!”

He took my hand, leading me to a door on the right. When he opened it, a light came on, and I found we were standing inside a closet with only women’s clothing in it. “Your things are in here.”

“God! Oh, dear God!” I had to put my hand over my mouth to cover how I was gaping. I turned and hugged him. “Jett, you’re too much!”

“The door next to this one is full of my things. I’ll have them moved when this is over.”

There it was again, that sharp pain in my gut whenever he talked about it being over. I looked at him as I shook my head. “You’ll always have a home here, Jett. Always.”

Now it was his turn to get glassy-eyed. “You mean that?”

With a nod, I took his hand and held it against my heart. “I want you to always think of this place as your home too.” I meant it. I could never see myself being there with any other man.

He chuckled as he took me across the room. “Let me show you the bathroom. And don’t go handing out invitations just yet, Asia. One day you will marry, and your husband may not want your old Dom hanging around.”

The thought sent a shiver down my spine. And as he opened the door to what looked like a spa, I gasped. “Jett!”

A shower with more jets than I knew what to do with was in one corner. A giant Jacuzzi tub filled the opposite corner. “I can see some fun times in here. Can you?” Jett gave me a squeeze and picked me up, taking me back to the bedroom. “And now to try out this bed. What do you say, are you ready to get your mind blown some more? I’ve got all night to make you mine.”

Was I ready for what he was about to do?

Jett

Pushing open the French doors that led to the balcony, I let in a cool breeze as night took over. The day had been long; the night would feel even longer.

I was about to take Asia!

I’d dreamt of being intimate with her since the day I saw her pretty face on my computer screen. The time had come, and I was allowing her some time to bathe and get herself ready for me. The entire house had been stocked, the bathrooms had scented soaps and expensive hair care products. I wanted Asia to see how the other half, a half she was now a part of, lived.

Standing on the balcony, I looked around, seeing only tall trees that shielded the home away from prying eyes. Asia would be safe in a place like this. I’d ensured her safety and wealth for what she was doing for me and giving me. Crickets chirped and the other insects joined in for a nightly chorus. I left the balcony to go across the hall and take a quick shower to make myself presentable.

Hot water washed over my body that was tense with anticipation. I’d never had a virgin before. I’d never been a gentle lover. Admittedly, I was a selfish lover. But I didn’t want to be that way with Asia. The young woman deserved more. I had thought of her often since that first day. There had never been a woman who I’d thought about as much as I did her. And I made tons of mental plans for her, as well. The house, everything in it, her clothes and what she’d look best in were all on my mind. But mostly I thought about how I’d make her first time special and memorable.

It was almost like a script that ran through my head of what we’d do. I wanted to touch every inch of her as she lay on the bed, quivering with desire. I wanted to slowly bring her to a state of arousal then keep her there for hours on end. We could sleep the day away tomorrow. Tonight, was for making memories that would last her a lifetime. I thought those memories might be pretty special to me too.

With nothing more than a towel wrapped around my waist, I traipsed back across the hallway to our bedroom. And that’s where I found my little Asia, waiting in bed for me. The blanket pulled up to her chin as she peeked at me. “I’m ready, sir.”

Shaking my head, I made my way to her. “No, don’t call me that. This is about you, Asia. It’s all about you. I don’t want you to think I paid for this and you have to give me what I want.”

Her brow furrowed. “So, you don’t want me?”

“I do want you.” I took a seat next to her and pulled the blanket down to expose her breasts. They were delectable. It was hard to pull my eyes away from them as my mouth began to water with anticipation to taste them. “Do you want me?”

She breathed deeply. “More than I knew I would.” She took my hand and placed it on her breast. “Yours is the first hand to touch this.”

I felt her heart beating fast beneath my fingertips. “Asia, you have no idea how much I hunger for you.”

“I have a bit of an idea, because I have that hunger, as well. Jett, you will be gentle, won’t you?” Her eyes held in a little fear and it tugged at my heart.

“I will be very gentle with you, my little Asia.” I leaned in to kiss her sweet lips and found them quivering.

I wanted to calm her, ease those fears that later would seem irrational. I was only going to bring her pleasure, there was nothing to fear. As a virgin, she didn’t know that. Assuming she knew there’d be a little pain when I first entered her, I didn’t know if I should bring that up or not. I decided not to talk about anything. Instead, I unwrapped the towel that was covering me and took her hand, placing it on my not yet fully erect cock.

Our eyes were glued to each other, then she broke our stare and looked at the thing that would soon end her innocence. She ran her hand up and down it. “It’s soft. Like silk that’s covering a hard cylinder. I’ve never felt anything like it.” Her eyes went to mine. “May I put my mouth on it?”

I sighed and wanted nothing more than to feel her soft lips moving up and down my girth. But the night wasn’t about me, she could explore me another night. The night was all about her. I shook my head. “You lay back and let me show you what the big deal is with sex.”

She snuggled into the pillow. “Take me, Jett. I am yours.”

“And for tonight, I am yours too, Asia. Tonight, we make love. For the first time in your life and mine.”

Lines formed between her brows as confusion filled her beautiful face. “For the first time for you? I don’t understand.”

“I’ve had sex. I have had a lot of sex, but I’ve never made love to a woman. Tonight, will be a first for both of us.”

The smile that curled her rosebud lips made me smile too. “I’m glad to be your first experience then. Shall we dance, my love?”

Like a moth to a flame, I went to her, knowing I was flying too close to the fire. I might get burned if I wasn’t careful. I had to be careful!

Our lips met, igniting the fire that would burn throughout the night. Our hands moved over the other’s body in slow waves. Then I ended the kiss and pulled away from her. “I want to kiss every inch of you.”

She nodded and smiled. “Please proceed.”

Pulling the blanket all the way off her, I stood and looked at her perfect little body. Creamy thighs bulged in luscious curves. I ran one fingertip down her leg as I walked to the end of the bed and climbed on.

Her toenails were painted pink, and I kissed each one of the cute little things. The tops of her feet were soft against my lips. Her legs, though short, seemed long as I kissed up one then down the other. I rolled her over and placed my lips on her round and taut ass. She shivered as I did and moaned. I couldn’t help, but slip a finger into her to check her level of desire, finding her nice and wet.

She’d become a whole lot wetter before I would claim her!

I kissed her back, shoulders, and neck as I straddled her body, letting my cock graze over her warm flesh. I pressed it against her ass, humping her a bit, but not penetrating. I could feel her body growing hotter. And mine wasn’t far behind. My entire body was tingling in a way I’d never experienced. I was letting it all go. My mind was as into it as much as my body, for once.

Kissing my way down her back, I focused on her ass, kissing it and flicking my tongue around her rectum. As I eased it in, she moaned, “God that feels good, Jett.”

Kissing her while stroking her asshole with my tongue, I began to take her to the point of orgasm. Asia would be sore from head to toe by morning. That was okay, we had a magnificent Jacuzzi tub to massage her aching body, and she’d soon be ready to go some more. I’d make her crave my touch before I was through. The way I was craving her.

Finally, I’d satisfy my craving!

Asia

Getting my ass kissed was pretty damn great. Who knew?

Jett’s fingers gripped the front of my hips, lifting me so he could push his tongue deeper into a place I didn’t know I’d like such a thing. He moved one hand around me until he found my clit and pushed on it as if it was an on-off button. Over and over he did that as his tongue moved in and out of my ass.

A wave washed over me as I began to climax. I moaned and purred as it moved all the way through me, from the top of my head, clean to the bottom my toes. “Jett, oh, Jett, yes…” I trailed off as he stopped what he was doing to turn me over and push his tongue inside me.

He made a deep, guttural groan as he tongue fucked me. His thick, wavy hair was damp against my skin. I couldn’t help, but tangle my hands in it. I hoped he’d never cut that gorgeous head of hair. When he’d had his fill of me, he moved up my body, leaving hot kisses over my stomach then taking one of my breasts in his mouth as he looked at me. I watched him run his tongue around the tip of my nipple and then bit down slightly. It hurt a bit, but sent a strange sensation deep into the pit of my stomach.

I had the feeling if he sucked or bit hard it’d send me into an orgasm. Jett certainly knew his way around a woman’s body, I had to give him that! While he tantalized one tit, he massaged the other then moved his mouth up to nip and suck my neck, a place just behind my ear that made me go wild for him. With an insane amount of desire, I arched my body upward, silently begging him to enter me. I wanted him so bad it made my body ache. As if he understood that, he ground his hard cock against me as he bit me mercilessly then stabbed the steely beast into me with one hard push.

The groan I made was from some place deep inside. It burned, but in a way, I hadn’t imagined. A pleasurable burn? Who’d heard of such a thing?

“Oh, Jett! Oh, yeah!”

His expression was one of concern as he raised his head to look at me. “You like it, baby? You doing okay?”

Grasping his gorgeous face between my palms, I smiled as I moved my body up, making his cock go deeper into me. “Oh, yes… I love it. It feels incredible!”

His expression of relief took over and he kissed me again. His tongue was a musky mix of my juices, and I kissed him, hungrily as he made long slow strokes that blew my mind. Our bodies ebbed and flowed in a way that was mesmerizing to me. I was no longer innocent; I was a woman in every way. I was Jett’s woman!

That precious memory would hold a spot in my head, making me his forever. There’d never be another who I’d share that moment with. The moment I was taken by a man. A powerful, handsome man. It felt no less special to me than if I’d waited to do that with a man I truly loved. At least, I felt that way at the time. Jett was gentle with me, just as he’d promised he’d be. His touch was light, stirring my skin in ways that sent me further into arousal. His tongue fought mine for control, and I gave it to him, willingly.

He moved his hard cock in a rhythm that rocked me like a boat on a calm sea. I ran my hands over his hard muscular back, relishing how they rippled with his movements. I glided my foot up the back of his leg and noticed how much deeper he went into me. Easing both legs up, I bent my knees and pulled them up as high as I could. Jett moved one of his arms around one leg and moved it back even further, making his cock thrust deeper into me.

I could barely breathe as my body began to crest. “Jett!”

“Oh, baby, please give it to me. I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything. Give me what I need, baby. Give it all to me!” He slammed into me at a furious pace until I was screaming his name over and over as my body climaxed, convulsing tightly around his plunging cock. He made a harsh sound as he jerked inside of me, sending wet heat into me and making my orgasm more intense. “Baby, God!”

“Jett,” I moaned as I ran my hands through his hair and he buried his face in my neck.

That was it, the deed had been done. And I felt incredible. I worried I might be upset when it finally happened. I thought I might mourn the loss of something I’d held onto so tightly. But in the end, I was elated and had felt things I didn’t know were possible.

“Thank you, Jett. That was a memory I’ll treasure forever. And you made me feel spectacular.” I pulled his face out of the crook of my neck and kissed him.

He groaned as he kissed me back. Then leaned back and looked at me as he ran his hand over my cheek. “My God, you’re one beautiful woman, Asia. I’m not sure I’ll ever get enough of you.”

I smiled. “Good. Nothing would suit me more than you never ending this.” Immediately I knew I’d said the wrong thing by the frown that made creases between his dark brows.

“As good as this is, it won’t last forever.” He rolled off me and walked to the bathroom as I laid there, perfectly still and wishing I hadn’t said what I had.

I didn’t mean to ruin the moment for him, and I definitely had. When he came back, I felt the need to apologize, “Jett, I’m sorry.” I leaned up on my elbows to look at him so he could see the seriousness in my eyes. “I know this is temporary. It’s just that I loved that so much and I don’t think anyone else will ever rock my world the way you just did.”

He had a damp washcloth in hand and sat on the side of the bed. “Lay back, let me clean you up.” I did as he said and looked at the ceiling, not particularly loving what he was doing. “I’m sorry I went cold on you, Asia. It’s just that I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Though he said that, I felt he meant something else entirely. I believed he meant it was him getting hurt that was buried deep in the recesses of his mind. “I understand. That’s very gallant of you, Jett.” I sat up as he was finished with the uncomfortable cleaning. I wanted to tell him I was more than capable of doing that, but the soft look on his face stopped me.

Slowly and softly, he ran his fingertips lightly up the inside of my leg. “Asia, I want you to know that you’re already fast becoming precious to me. I may do things that make you feel like this will go on forever. I don’t want you to take it to heart. I’m not that guy.”

Stroking his cheek, I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. “We can take it one day at a time, Jett. No pressure. This is a contract that will be up at the end of August, and we can have fun in the meantime. Like a vacation. I loved it when my family went on a vacation to Miami for a whole week one summer. We all loved it there and wished it would last forever. But when the week ended, we had to go back home to our normal lives. It was bittersweet, but we did it and were left with great memories.”

“Thank you.” He nuzzled my neck. “I’m glad you understand. I love that about you. You’re so understanding.”

“I love that you’re so sweet and generous.”

His lips pressed against my neck. “I love how you opened up to me.”

My body was beginning to heat up again as I ran my hands through his hair. “I love how you took me to a place I’d never been.”

He hovered over me looking deep into my eyes. “And I’m about to take you there again, baby. I wanna make you walk funny for a week.”

I laughed as he pushed me back on the bed and climbed over me. I could see our first week together was going to be very enlightening!

Jett

Taking a taxi to the Mercedes dealership, I was ready to set us up with cars. One for me, one for her, and one for us both. I had an order in with a chauffeur company, and a car and driver would be showing up for us when we needed it. But I didn’t want to arrive everywhere in that style. So, a pair of matching Mercedes was what I was shopping for.

Asia was hesitant as we entered the dealership and a salesman came right to us. “Hello, and what is this happy couple looking for today?”

“Asia, what’s catching your eye?”

She smiled and looked at the salesman. “What’s your cheapest car?”

I chuckled. “No, that’s not how we shop for things, baby.” I looked at our salesman. “We’re Mr. and Mrs. Simmons. And you are?”

He extended his hand to me. “Brett. Nice to meet you both. So, money is no object today?”

“Money’s always an object. I just don’t want my wife influenced by the amount of the car she wants. So, leave out the pricing and just give us the details on the cars she likes.” I ran my arm around Asia and lead her around the cars on the showroom floor. “And we’ll be taking the cars we purchase today off the showroom floor. We don’t have time to wait for ordered ones to come in.”

“Okay, well as you can see we have plenty available for you to choose from. And did you say cars, plural, more than one?” Brett was seeing commission dollar signs and chomping at the bit to make the sales.

“We’re going to get two cars today. Whatever she picks, I’ll have the same. But we’ll want different colors.” I ushered Asia to the car nearest to us.

It was a deep gray color and she ran her fingers over the smooth surface. “I think this one is pretty.”

Brett was quick to point out everything about it, “This is C class, C 300 Cabriolet in Selenite gray. With a 4-cylinder engine, that’s plenty of power for such a smooth driving car.” He opened the door. “Slip inside, Mrs. Simmons.”

Asia got in behind the wheel. “Oh, this is nice.” She looked up at me. “This leather is so soft and pretty.”

“Do you like music, Mrs. Simmons?”

“I do like my jams, Brett.” She smiled at him and I felt a hint of pride at how great she was looking behind the wheel of a nice car and how she was easily interacting with our salesman.

“This little beauty has a Burmester Surround Sound System, and when you add in the fact it comes with satellite radio, well, you have a nightclub on wheels.” He laughed and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Asia eyed me. “Jett, what do you think?”

“I think I have never bought a 4-cylinder anything.” I looked around and to see what else they had.

Quick to spot the increase in price that I wanted, Brett pointed out the S class cars. “Over there we have our 8-cylinder cars.”

I helped Asia out of the car and took her to the area where cars that were more my speed were located. I watched her eyes land on a shiny deep blue one. “Oh, Jett, I can see you in that car. Do you like that color?”

“Blue is my favorite color.” I pointed at a teal colored one. “I could definitely see you in that. Do you like it?”

“I do. It’s so… different. I don’t think I’ve seen that exact color on the road before. These seem a bit unique and I like the idea of being in something no else is driving.” She walked up to the one I pointed out, and Brett opened the door for her. “Oh, wow. How did you make it even more luxurious?”

“Magic,” Brett said with a chuckle. “This one has all the bells and whistles Mercedes Benz offers. Lane departure means you’ll never run into someone in another lane. Electronic stability means you won’t go skidding out of control. There’s even a blind spot sensor to watch over you.”

“Now this is what I’m talking about. A safe car to put my precious cargo in.” I walked around the car and looked it over. “We’ll test drive this one, and if we like it, we’ll take both the blue one and this one. I expect they have the same features.”

“They do, identical except for the colors.” Brett was smiling like a madman. I knew we’d chosen the most expensive cars on the lot. With two commissions, he’d be living high on the hog for a while. And he’d most likely get some kind of bonus from his employer for pulling off such a sale.

The test ride was fun for me. I let Asia drive and she was so nervous it was cute. “Oh, God, Jett! I’m freaking out here!”

“Baby, we haven’t even left the parking lot yet.”

She nodded and gulped, making me laugh. “It’s just a car. Now ease on out there, there’s very little traffic right now.”

Pulling out so slowly a turtle could’ve beaten her, she eased on the gas, and we took off with a smooth start. “Oh, this rides like a dream, Jett.” She gave me a sideways glance. “But I know this car must cost a small fortune. We don’t have to get two of them. I’ll get the 4-cylinder and you get this one.”

“Not a chance in hell, Asia. You get what I do. And this car is safer. I want you to be safe. I want to leave you in a safe home with a safe car.” My stomach knotted as I talked about leaving her.

I didn’t want to even think about it!

“I know you do, but I’m sure that other car has all same safety features. We’ll ask Brett when we get back. I’m sure they drive similarly too.”

“You’re going to get this one, Asia. End of discussion.”

She frowned, which I thought wasn’t even close to the expression she’d should’ve been wearing. “I don’t want you to spend a boatload of money on a car for me.” She said with a bit of hesitation I couldn’t possibly understand.

“And I don’t care what you want. I’m buying you this one. We shouldn’t be arguing about this. This is a fun time, Asia. Damn!”

She huffed and took a right turn. “I’ll be quiet. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful, because I’m super grateful. I just worry about you spending too much money is all.”

“I have it to spend. Don’t worry about my money. Let me do that. If I tell you to get something, I want you to get the things that are worth what you pay for them. Not some piece of crap that’s cheap.”

“I wouldn’t call that first car a piece of crap, Jett.” She made the block and we were back at the dealership.

“It wasn’t as good as this one is. So, you just keep those pretty little lips of yours shut so I can make a good deal on the two cars. I’m happy with my purchases. I want you to be happy too.”

She parked and looked over the interior once more. “It is the most beautiful car I’ve ever seen.” Our eyes caught. “Thank you. I’ll love it forever. I’ll take excellent care of it too.”

“I’m sure you will. Now let’s get inside and do the paperwork. You did bring your ID, right?”

“It’s in my purse, like always.” Brett opened her door, letting her out as I got out of the passenger side.

“And how do we feel about this car, Mrs. Simmons?”

“We feel pretty awesome about it, Brett. I’ll leave you to wheel and deal with the hubby about it, though.”

I walked up behind her and wrapped my arm around her waist as we headed inside to make the deal. While I wasn’t exactly happy with how she argued with me, I had to admit that I respected her for doing it. She was no money grubber, that was for sure. And she did have a good head on her shoulders. How was a girl from her poor upbringing supposed to know about things that cost more money than other things of the same nature?

I could teach her about things like that. Asia could learn so much from me. Even though our time would be relatively short, I planned on taking her to another level in life. One she’s probably never even dreamt of. The vacation with my family was looming. She’d be hobnobbing with Hamptons’ royals. Rubbing elbows with elite New Yorkers. She was about to enter a world she’d become a permanent part of.

It was then that I realized Asia and I would run into one another for the rest of our lives. I was bringing her into my world. A place, even after a fake divorce, she’d be a permanent fixture in. I hadn’t thought that it all the way through. Could I see Asia later in life, perhaps with another man? Could I handle that? I wasn’t sure I could, but I’d already started the train that was bound to derail my entire life.

Might as well enjoy the ride!

Asia

All the way to Jett’s parent’s vacation home, my stomach was in knots. This was going to be where I’d meet his entire family and their family friends. He had coached me on what he expected out of me. Good manners, which I had already, stay quiet unless asked a direct question, and use the words, I love you, often.

I’d spent two weeks with the man, and those words wouldn’t be hard to say at all. I was falling. I mean, it was a head over heels kind of love, and I knew I’d end up crying like a baby when it was all over. But I was trying not to focus on that. I wanted to enjoy each day as it came and, most of the time, leave the ending out of my head. We’d left early that morning; he drove us in his new car. Mine stayed behind in the garage at home. A home that was going to be mine, all alone in the matter of a few months. I had no idea how I’d feel about being alone in that house or in our bedroom.

With the sunroof down, we drove in the cool morning air, enjoying the bright sunlight and the fresh smells. “It’s beautiful up here.” I looked all around at the green foliage and pointed to a handful of deer who were having their breakfast in a field not far from the road. “Deer!”

“Yes, you’ll see plenty of them up here. They come right into the yard. My mother used to take tons of pictures of them when they first bought the place. Now, we’re pretty used to them.” He took a turn, and we headed into an upscale neighborhood, full of mansions.

My nerves were starting to get the best of me when as I realized we would be there soon. “Is it silly of me to think some of these people will look down their noses at me?”

“If they do, I’ll straighten them out. It doesn’t matter where you came from, it matters that you’re my wife. You’ll be treated with respect or the person or persons who fail to do so will feel my wrath.” He took my hand and kissed it. “I don’t want you to worry about a thing.”

I nodded, but knew he wouldn’t always be right by my side to protect me from people I knew who could be hateful. Jett had told me about his mother wanting to set him up with rich single women who lived in the area. That’s when he first came up with the wife lie so he wouldn’t have to go through the torture of being setup anymore.

My woman’s intuition told me not to expect a warm welcome. His parents might be nice, they were when I met them that first day, but it was doubtful that anyone else would be. The gate was open when we approached it. There was a long and winding driveway that led up to the three-story, light blue, art deco style mansion. Each section of the home was like a city block, and giant windows lined almost all sides, overlooking the rolling hills that made up the estate.

Shrubs were manicured into the shapes of deer, squirrels, and swans. It was neat, extravagant, and looked like something out of a magazine. “Wow, Jett. That’s all I can say. This is where we’ll be spending the week?”

“This is it, my parents summer home.” He pulled around to the back where there was an enormous garage. “As you can see, it’s setup for multiple guests. There are no less than fifteen bedrooms, all with private baths. Five living areas, three dining areas, a gym, and an indoor, outdoor pool, as well as a game room, of course.”

“Of course,” I had to laugh. “One can’t have a proper vacation house without that,” I used a snooty New York accent that made him laugh.

“Careful now, you’ll meet quite a few people here with that accent.”

A man came out at the end of the garage. He waved us in, and we parked next to a Rolls Royce. “Your parents?”

“My grandparents. Dad bought grandfather that car last year. Neither set of my grandparents allow being lavished upon very often, but they all did take cars, and they do take the week-long vacation once a year here and another one in Wyoming in the spring. That vacation isn’t as socially intense as this one.”

I thought about Wyoming in the spring and it kind of hurt that we wouldn’t get to be a part of that. We’d be over by then.

“So the summer is spent here and the rest of the year this place is closed up or what?” The man who’d opened the garage door for us was suddenly at my door, opening it for me.

“Mrs. Simmons, how nice to make your acquaintance. I am Rock, the keeper of the cars.” He held out his hand, and I gave it a shake.

“Nice to meet you, Rock, keeper of the cars. And it looks like you have some very nice ones to keep, don’t you?”

He nodded and smiled. “That I do. All summer long, I get to clean, gas up, and take for routine maintenance some very nice vehicles.”

Jett’s hand took mine as he looked at Rock over his shoulder. “Be gentle with her, she’s brand new. No maintenance needed this week. But she could use some gas.” We walked away at a quick pace.

“You should’ve started that with a hello to the elderly man, Jett,” I scolded him.

That stopped him in his tracks as he looked at me with wide eyes. “What did you say to me?”

For a moment, I felt like I’d done something wrong. Then I jutted out my jaw. “I said, you should’ve said hello first. That was rude of you not to do that.”

He eyed me for a long moment then looked past me at Rock. “How’s the wife, Rock?”

“She’s doing fine, Mr. Simmons.”

“Glad to hear it. And you? How’ve you been?”

“Fine, just fine, sir. Thanks for asking.”

“You have a good day, Rock. It’s always a pleasure to see you.” Jett looked back at me and whispered. “Did that satisfy you, my dear?”

With a nod, I began to walk again. “It did, actually.”

He laughed and smacked my ass. “You have moxie, my little Asia. I have to give you that.”

We went into the house through a side door that looked like it might be a mudroom. Raincoats hung on hooks, galoshes of different colors and sizes were in a row on a shelf, and there were umbrellas in a stand. We walked through that room and into a state of the art kitchen where three women in white uniforms were busily preparing lunch.

Jett was breezy with them, “Hi all, how’s it going this fine day?”

“Fine, Mr. Simmons,” one of them said as she gave him a nod. “And this must be the wife we’ve been hearing your parents talk about.” The woman, who looked like she was in charge of the others, wiped her hands on a white towel that hung off her white apron. She came to me, and we shook hands. “I’m Cora, the Simmons’ chef.” She pointed to a short dark haired woman. “That’s Tanya, and the other one is Mary. If you have any dietary concerns or allergies, you let me know.”

“None that I know of.” I shook my head. “Nice to meet you all.” I found her nice and helpful too. So far, so good. But then again, I’d only met the staff. They were expected to be cordial with me. The guests most likely wouldn’t be.

“The family is in the solarium, soaking up the morning sun,” she informed us before she got back to work.

We left the kitchen, walked through a dining area with a bright white long table and chairs set. “This is one of the informal dining areas,” Jett said as we walked through it. The next room was a bar. “You can see what this room is.”

“Yes, it’s fairly obvious. The large, ornately carved wooden bar tells it all.”

He let go of my hand and went behind it. “Might as well mix up a couple of drinks while we’re here. It’ll help take the edge off what’s about to happen. We’ll be faced with tons of questions when we get in there.”

I took a seat on one of the bar stools. Although it was way too early for me, I didn’t say a word. If Jett wanted a drink this early, it meant we were in for it, and I wasn’t about to argue with him about it.

Filling two tall glasses with ice, he poured bourbon in his, filling it hallway. He was looking to calm some nerves alright! He finished it off with some soda. Then he reached for some rum, though is wasn’t coconut and wiggled the bottle at me. “Rum and lemon lime soda or something else?”

“Can I have what you’re having, but only about half as much liquor?”

With a nod, he fixed it up and then we each took our drinks. It wasn’t magic, and it didn’t soothe my nerves, but I knew in time it would help. He extended his arm. “You ready?”

“No.” I gave him a smile. “But I’ll pretend to be.”

“That’s all I can ask.”

Into the solarium, we went, where things were about to get real!

Jett

The time was at hand to lie again. My fake marriage had been going great, but could we pull it off with my whole family in the front row seats? The whiskey hadn’t had time to take affect and do its job, but I had hopes it’d kick in soon. I had Asia by the hand as we strode into the large, glass enclosed room.

Lounging around the area that was filled with chaise lounges were both sets of grandparents, my parents, and some woman I’d never met. A tall woman with long legs that extended out from under a pair of white shorts. High heeled, strappy sandals ended those long legs, and when I got up to her face, I found her smiling at me. She got up and came right to us. “You must be the happy new couple.”

I shook her hand as she gazed at me. “We are. Mr. and Mrs. Simmons. I’m Jett, she’s Asia. And you are?”

“I’m Janice Duncan. Your mother hired me to plan your coming out as a married couple party.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Janice.” Asia shook her hand. “But we don’t need a party.”

“Nonsense,” my mother said as she got up to come to us. “And I have another surprise for you two. We’ll make that announcement at your party, though. You’ll just have to wait for that one.” Mom took Asia by the hand. “Come with us, my dear. Jett isn’t into party planning. You, Janice and I will do it all.”

As I watched Asia get taken away, I felt panicky for a moment. “Wait!” They all three stopped and turned to look at me. “I want to introduce her to my grandparents, Mom.”

“Oh.” Mom looked a bit ashamed. “Allow me to do that.” She whisked Asia off to meet my mother’s parents then she hurriedly made an introduction to my father’s parents before she, my fake wife, and the party planner were gone.

I was alone. Well, not entirely. That would’ve been so much better.

“Come, boy,” my father’s father called out as my dad and grandparents moved to form a circle at, which I was in the center. “Now tell us how you went about marrying a girl you barely know.”

“And we want to meet her family, Jett.” Grandmother Shapiro, my mother’s mother, said.

“Oh, I doubt they could make it. They have work. Her mother works at a law firm. Her father… well, I’m sure he’s busy too.” Her father was out of work, is what she’d told me. I didn’t know if Asia wanted everyone to know that or not.

“They could come for the weekend, at the very least.” Dad was pretty intent on getting them to come. “I can send a car for them. We really should meet them. They’re your family too now. That makes them ours, as well.”

The sentiment was sweet, but the lie of a marriage made it a stupid thing to do. Her parent’s involvement wasn’t part of the plan. I couldn’t ask her to go to those lengths for me.

Grandmother Simmons patted the empty space next to her. “Come, Jett. Sit down and tell us all about your whirlwind romance that left you hitched.”

It was funny, without Asia at my side, I kind of forgot our little story. I took a seat. “We like to tell our story together. I’ll wait for her.”

“Nonsense.” Grandmother Simmons wasn’t taking no for an answer. “How’d you know she was the one, Jett. After all this time, How did you know?”

“First of all, I am not some old man. I’m twenty-eight. Why does everyone in this family act like that’s too old to be single?”

“It’s your lifestyle, son. I’ve told you.” Dad shook his head as if that answer alone justified how they thought.

“Is it some kind of lust-filled attraction, Jett?” Grandfather Shapiro asked me. “Because those kinds of relationships never last.”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that. We have a lot of things in common. We like the same things, think along the same lines, mostly. I never feel alone. Even when we’re not right next to each other, I feel like I’m a part of her. It’s odd, but in a great way.” The funny thing about me saying that, is that it was completely true. I just hadn’t thought about it before.

Both my grandmothers’ white heads bobbed as they agreed with me. Then Grandfather Simmons abruptly asked, “And is the sex hot? I mean it needs to be hot in the beginning. Every couple needs a thread of passion that connects them to each other, you know.”

I felt heat flush my face. “Yes, sir. We have hot sex.” And just as I said that my mother and fake wife were back in the room and both had gaping mouths.

Asia went scarlet. “Jett!”

I hopped up and hurried to her. “Baby, you have no idea the questions they’ve been asking. I didn’t mean to say that. I swear it!”

The set of rogues who had me saying such a thing got a nice long glare from my mother. “Okay, you nosey lot. Let’s leave these two alone for a bit. I think we’re overwhelming them.” Mom kissed my cheek. “I’ve had Rock take your things to the Monte Carlo Suite. Show Asia your bedroom and then you two can come back down whenever you’re ready to.”

Draping my arm around Asia’s shoulders, I took my fake wife and headed out of the sunny room full of my closest relatives. If they were that tough, what would the rest of them be like?

Heading to the back staircase, I led Asia up two flights of stairs to the third floor where the Monte Carlo Suite was located. “Mom’s named all the rooms. I suppose she gave us this one, because we said we got married in Vegas. It’s got a gambling theme to it.”

When I opened the door, and we went inside, I guess Asia felt like it was finally safe to talk. “Oh, God, Jett. They want my parents to come!”

“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’ll make something up.” I went over to the bar that was in the room and looked for something to make another drink. Mine had been lost in the solarium and Asia’s was gone too.

“Your mother wants my parent’s phone number. She wants to call and invite them herself. She asked if we’d gone to introduce you to them and I didn’t know what the hell to say, Jett. It was like I had a mouthful of gum. I mumbled, yes. I’m an idiot! How are we going to fix that lie? This is too much!”

“Calm down!” I wasn’t finding what I wanted in the bar. There was wine and spritzer, water, soda, but no Goddamn whiskey of any kind in that damn bar. “What kind of fucking bar is this?” I shouted out of frustration.

“And what’s up with the drinking, Jett? You don’t drink like this. Are you planning on staying lit up this entire week?” She shook her head and fell back on the bed.

“I wasn’t planning on it, but now that I’ve seen what it’s going to be like, I might just stay drunk. Want to join me?”

She laughed. A crazy, maniacal sound that had me joining in. “This is crazy, Jett!”

“I know!”

I fell onto the bed beside her then rolled over and pulled her to face me. “Thank you for being here. I know I paid you to, but thank you for trying so hard to make this work for me. Perhaps we could hire some people to play the role of your parents.”

She laughed and smiled. “How I wish we could, Jett. I’ve really fucked it all up. Your mother made me show her pictures of my family. She was certain I had some on my cell, and I didn’t know what else to do. She’s seen their faces. I told you I’m a terrible liar.”

I blinked as I stared into her eyes. “You know what I think will make us both chill the fuck out?”

“Morphine?”

I ran my hand up her silky thigh until I came to the edge of her khaki shorts. “No, a little love making should clear our heads and help us think.”

“I agree.” She ran her hand over my cheek. “And I’d like to try out my skills on you to help you relax.”

“Your skills?”

She nodded. “I practiced fellatio on a cucumber before I met you. Wanna let me give it a shot on you?”

Well, who the hell says no to that?

Asia

The crystal chandelier made Jett’s eyes sparkle as they caught all the tiny refractions of light. He’d made sure to please me every time we’d been intimate. I had no one to compare Jett to, but I thought he was a selfless lover. He always thought about me and how I was feeling, what made me feel good, what made me happy.

It was time I got to do something for him. As far as being a Dom went, I didn’t think he was much of one. I did ask what he did with his other subs. He told me, he mostly wanted them to be quiet, do as he said, he hadn’t talked to them much. He admitted to treating me nothing like he had treated any of the others. When I asked him why he thought that might be, he said it was probably, because he had another agenda with me, the fake marriage thing. Jett had a definite idea of what kind of relationship he thought marriage was.

Respect was mutual. All things were shared. And you knew, no matter what that you could depend on each other through thick and thin. He explained how hard it was to take women seriously when you have a lot of money. Many only want your money. It can and had made Jett a man who trusted no one. Except me. He was beginning to trust me. Without even trying, I’d managed to earn some of his trust. I wasn’t sure how I’d even accomplished that. But I was glad I had.

Jett was exceptional. I didn’t know the man he said he was, I only knew who he was with me. That man was kind, considerate, and loving. That man was the kind of man a woman could truly fall in love with. Trust with her life. And I was doing all of that. He piled the pillows behind his head as I eased up from the end of the bed. Unbuckling his belt, I went for the button, next unzipped the zipper of his khaki shorts that cutely matched mine, and gently took out his half-engorged cock.

One kiss to the top had him gathering my hair in his hands to pull it out of the way. “I wanna watch.”

I smiled then ran my hands up and down his long length and placed my lips at the top. Opening my mouth, I used my lips to sheath my teeth and moved down his silky dick. The deep moan he made had me feeling like he was happy with my technique, a thing I was a little worried about. When I’d searched the internet for how to give a great blowjob, I found many that said the same things. As long as you don’t bite or scratch with your teeth, there really was no way to give a bad one!

As I went up and down, he grew and grew, going deeper down my throat. “Oh, baby… you’re taking me like a pro. Damn, are you even real?”

I was very real and I had high hopes he’d come to see what we had wasn’t made up. It may have started that way, but we were building something that was very real. If only he’d see that and stop pretending we were married, we might be able to grow as a couple, instead of the fake marriage scam he had going on.

He moved my head faster. “Oh, baby, I’m almost there. Wanna try to swallow?” I hummed a yes and he understood. “Oh, God! Hum some more. Shit! You’re incredible, baby!”

Only a few more strokes then I moved one hand to fondle his balls and he was shooting cum down my throat. It went so quickly; it went down smoothly. I was pleased with myself and licked him clean as he groaned.

“So, that was alright then?” He answered with a nod as his eyes were closed and he was deeply relaxed.

I got up and went to the bathroom, finding my toiletry bag that had already been put on the long vanity with double sinks. Finding my toothbrush, I set about cleaning my mouth up, because let’s face it, what guy wants to taste their own cum?

I’d just rinsed my mouth when Jett threw open the door, butt naked, and began to undress me at a frantic speed. Then he turned me around and made me face the mirror. He pushed the top half of me down on the vanity and thrust into my ass. I moaned and gasped at the same time, “Yes!”

Jett had messed with my ass a lot, but hadn’t gotten his cock all the way into it. It burned nearly the same way as when he first put his cock into my vagina, oh how I liked this too. I watched in the mirror as he fucked me. And he watched himself too. His eyes were glued to our bodies, mine were glued to him. His muscles and how they rippled, made me hot. Sweat was making his skin shiny and his long hair clung to his face.

At that moment, I felt like he was in Dom mode. Taking what he wanted and not wanting to talk about it. There was a fire in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Somewhere inside of me, I was telling myself I should be afraid. The Jett I knew might be retreating and the Dom he really was, was coming forth.

Could I handle the next few months with a real Dom?

Perhaps the blowjob had been a mistake. Perhaps I’d been just like all the rest of the subs he’d had and it tarnished me in his eyes somehow. Whatever had happened, it didn’t matter. Because I loved this version of Jett too! He was all man. And as brutal as he seemed, I was taking it. Enjoying it as much as he was. Jett could treat me any way he wanted. As long he was with me, that’s all that mattered.

Suddenly, he pulled out of me and lifted me up, turned me around and put me up against the wall. I wrapped my legs around him as he forced his cock into me. His mouth crashed onto mine, forcing his tongue further into mine than he ever had. Everything he was doing was intended to be forceful and invasive, I could tell that, instinctively.

Was the honeymoon over? Did I care if it was?

Making love was great, and I thought we’d do that more, but this fucking stuff was hotter than hell! His mouth left mine and went to my neck. He tortured it with bites then pulled on it as he sucked it. I ran my hands over the bulging muscles on his back, as I tried not to scream with desire. If we’d been in our home, I’d have raised the roof with animal-like howls. He was turning me into a wild woman. And I was loving every moment of my transformation.

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me away from the wall and carrying me to the shower. “Turn it on,” he growled at me. I reached around him and grabbed the knob, turning it to warm. The water fell on us like a warm summer rain as he pushed my back up against the cool tiled wall and savagely pummeled me once more.

Our breaths echoed in the shower, making me even more aroused by the sounds of us together in that state of erotica. My body couldn’t take anymore, I couldn’t hold back, even though I really wanted it to last longer. I cried out as I came. He made only a few more hard thrusts before he lost his load too. The sound he made was like a werewolf who’d been shot by a silver bullet, it was beastly. I was shaking. Tears ran down my cheeks. Not from fear or that I was hurting. I had no clue why it was happening.

He let me go and pulled back, finding me in that odd state. “I’m okay Jett. I am.”

His lips curled into a sinister grin. “I know you are. The tears are from the intensity. Fucking is intense. Making love is a softer version that doesn’t usually evoke such emotions. You did well. Better than expected, since I came at you without giving you any idea about what I was going to do.”

“Thank you for being who you really are with me, Jett.” I ran my hands through his hair. “Can I wash your hair for you?”

He nodded as he gazed at me. “I don’t deserve you, Asia. You’re perfect. How the hell did you turn out so damn perfect?”

“I’m far from perfect.” I filled my hand with a spicy smelling shampoo then massaged it into his thick dark hair.

He put his finger to my lips. “I am the Dom; I tell you what you are and what you aren’t. You are my perfect little Asia, and you always will be.”

A shudder ran through me. Did he mean the end of the contract wouldn’t end us? Should I dare to ask?

Things were going so well, I decided not to say anything more, “I am yours. For as long as you want me.”

His lips grazed mine. “Good girl.”

My heart pounded with desire once more. Would we ever get out of that bedroom and down to deal with the people he brought me to lie to?

Jett

Feeling fresh, Asia and I headed down to face the family. We had the story on her family straight. They were headed to see her sister, because the baby was about due. We’d have them all over for dinner once they got back, which would be in a few weeks. A thing that would never transpire.

With our story set, we found everyone heading into one of the dining rooms where lunch was being served. I ran my arm around Asia and pulled her tightly to my side, then kissed the side of her head. “Good, I’m starving.”

“Me too.” She put her hand on my chest and looked up at me. “Tarzan.”

I made a little growl and felt like the master of my domain where she was concerned. I’d given into my wild side. I couldn’t hold back any longer. Asia had gotten two weeks with the softer side of me that no one else ever had before. It was time she got to know the beast that resided within; how pleasantly surprised I was that she was completely into it all. She thrived as I took her the way I’d dreamt of doing.

My little Asia was more than I ever expected. And we had just begun to test our limits. What would the future hold for us? Would two and a half months more be enough for me? And if it wasn’t, would Asia really want to continue without a contract? Or would she only stay with me if we had another contract and I paid her more for doing it?

I’d always had the idea that women wanted me for my money. If she only wanted to continue things with me with another contract and more money then I knew she wasn’t any different than the others, which would confirm she’d just been acting the entire time. That would hurt, a thing I didn’t allow to happen to me. At least, I’d know I was duped by the lovely little creature. I could move on from her then. But I hoped like hell that wasn’t the case. As we entered the dining room, I saw a few more people had arrived. Uncle Pete was sitting at the end of the long table, Aunt Sally sat at his right, and their twins, Bo and Joe were seated across from them.

Mom stood up, waving everyone into the room. “The place cards have everyone’s names on them. Please, take your seats. Chef Cora has made us a wonderful meal of ceviche as our first course, Grilled salmon for the main, served on a bed of asparagus and wild rice.” She looked directly at Asia as we filed in. “Doesn’t that sound delicious, Asia?”

“Yes, ma’am, it does. Is there a dessert too?”

“Oh, my, yes. Of course, there’s always dessert. Tell me, have you ever had key lime pie before?” Mom licked her pink stained lips.

Asia shook her head. “No, I’ve never had it. It sounds yummy, though.”

Mom clapped her thin hands as she smiled, “It is yummy, dear, something we can give to your future kids.”

Kids, oh no, this sent a jolt of pure, unadulterated guilt right to my heart. I was bringing in a woman my mother would get close to, under false pretenses. The lie went to new levels of heaviness as it weighed not so much on my shoulders as inside my heart. Asia gripped my hand as we went to where my mother had pointed and looked at me with a smile. But I saw the guilt behind her eyes too. It was wrong what I was doing. We both felt it.

But what could I do about it now?

I wasn’t about to break down and admit things on the first day of the vacation. That would mean pure hell for me. No, we would stick with the lie, no matter how much guilt piled up on both of us. I was paying Asia extremely well to maintain what I needed from her. She’d take the guilt right along with me. It was her job to do that. It just kinda sucked big time that doing that to Asia also added to my guilt, doubling my load. Dad was sitting at the head of the table, Mom to his right and Asia, then me to his left. It was the first time I’d ever had a woman with me at any family gathering. It felt nice.

Aunt Sally waved at us from the other end of the long table. “Hi there. After lunch, I’m dying to get to know you, Asia.”

“Asia, meet my Aunt Sally, my mother’s sister.” I gave my aunt a nod. “The man at the other end of the table is her husband, Pete, and the two little redheads that are sitting across from her are their ten-year-old twins, Bo and Joe.”

Asia gave a wave back. “I’ll be sure to find you after lunch, Aunt Sally.”

And there it was again, the guilt shot, going right in my gut. Asia had called her Aunt. It was a lot to take. Then Mom took her seat across from us and extended her hand across the table to Asia. The two clasped hands. “Dear, it would be the greatest honor to me, and Jett’s father if you’d call us, Mom and Dad.”

Oh, that was it!

I couldn’t take it anymore! “Mom, she has a Mom and Dad. I think her parents might just hate if she did that. Don’t ask her to do that. She can call you two by your first names.”

Mom’s eyes slanted as she looked sad. “Oh, Jett, I don’t mean to step on her parents’ toes. It’s just that I’ve always wanted a daughter, you know that. If I could hear her sweet voice, calling me, Mom and your father, Dad, then it would make my life, son. You have no idea. Please, don’t take that away from me.”

For the love of Pete!

I looked at Asia. “Is that something you’d be comfortable with, baby?”

She searched my eyes for what I wanted her to say. But then I guess she read me wrong. She turned her eyes to my mother. “I’d love to call you two Mom and Dad. Thank you for that honor, Mom.”

And there it was, my fake wife was now calling my parents endearing terms and I was getting in even deeper. The walls of our cave of lies were starting to get thicker and seemed to be depriving me of oxygen. How long would there be enough air to breathe?

The first course was brought out, along with white wine and water. I leaned over to whisper, “You don’t have to drink the wine, baby. I know you don’t like it.”

“I’ll drink it, Jett. I don’t want to be rude. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just not my favorite drink is all.”

“I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do. Don’t drink it.”

She looked at me with an odd expression. “Are you telling me not to drink it when I told you I don’t mind and find it to be rude if I don’t?”

I nodded. “Do as I say, Asia.”

She jutted out her jaw, defiantly and picked up her wine glass, taking a sip. “Yum.” She looked at my mother. “This is delicious, great choice, Mom” She licked her ruby red lips. “You should taste it, honey. It’s great.”

And there it was. The first time she went against a direct order. Asia would soon find out what it meant to be a sub. I had no choice but to teach her a lesson about defying me!

Asia

Everyone in Jett’s family was nice as they could be to me. I thought it was all going great, except for how Jett was acting. He was growing sullen and became quiet. It was as if he didn’t want us all to get along. Perhaps he thought there’d be more strife between us for some reason. Whatever it was, it was beginning to annoy me.

Sitting by the pool, his twin cousins jumped in right by us, splashing us and giving us a good dousing. Jett stood up. “Damn it, you two!” He took my hand, and off we went, back into the house.

I followed along without saying a word. He was overreacting to something so benign. When we got into the house, I found him taking me up a back set of stairs and then into our bedroom.

When he turned around to face me, closing the door behind us, I saw something in his eyes I hadn’t before. Anger. “Asia, would you like to explain to me why you think it’s okay for you to defy me?”

“What are you talking about?” I was at a loss as to what the hell he was talking about.

“The wine, Asia. I told you not to drink it, and you did anyway.” He walked away from me and went to sit on the bed. “I won’t have you disregarding me. Come here, it’s time for your first punishment.”

Standing still, I put my hands on my hips. “Do you think for one damn minute that I’m going to come to you, bend over your lap so you can spank me, over that?”

He nodded. “You’re my sub, Asia. I told you not to do anything you didn’t want to do.”

“I wanted to drink the fucking wine, jackass!” I stomped my foot.

His face went red. “Do not cuss at me or call me names, sub.” He stood up and pointed to the floor. “On your knees, now!”

Looking at him, I could see he was beyond angry. But it wasn’t because I drank the wine. And I wasn’t about to fall on my knees. “Jett, tell me what the real problem is. This isn’t about the wine. You can talk to me.” I took a step forward and eased up to him as he shook with anger. “Sweetie, you can tell me anything.”

He was gritting his teeth and shaking his head. “Why are you not doing as I told you to, sub?”

“Because you are not punishing me for drinking the wine. Something else is bothering you, and I want to help you deal with that. Is it about me calling your parents Mom and Dad?”

He spun around and huffed then sat on the bed and put his face in his hands. “Fuck! Asia, God damn it! Are you insane? Do you know what any other Dom would be doing to you right now for how contrary you’re being?”

I eased up to him and ran my hand over his head, gently soothing him. “I do. But you’re not an ordinary Dom. And I didn’t do anything wrong. You told me not to do anything I didn’t want to. I wanted to drink the wine. I didn’t disobey you, and now I know what really set you off. You don’t like how well your family and I are getting along.”

He looked up at me, and I could see it all in his sea green eyes. Guilt!

“Asia, I didn’t expect all of this. I didn’t know they’d all love you. How did you do that so quickly?” He shook his head and looked distraught. “How will I ever get them to understand things when we end this?”

And there it was. He was planning on letting me go once the contract was up. He was worried about how his family would react to the phony divorce.

“My poor Jett. You didn’t think this thing all the way through, I thought as much.” I cupped his face in my hands. “Don’t worry so much about what will happen in the future. Your family will be a bit upset by it, but you can blame me for the divorce. You can say you caught me with an old boyfriend, messing around on you. They’ll hate me and be there to comfort you.”

He ran his hands up the backs of my legs, sending chills through me. “Asia, what did I ever do to deserve you?”

“You paid a shit-ton of money, is what you did.” I smiled at him. “Can we go back down and act like a happy couple now. I hate fighting with you.”

“Wanna know something?” He grinned at me as I nodded. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever actually argued with. I’ve never cared enough about anyone to actually hear them out. What’ve you done to me, Asia Jones?”

I ran my arms around his neck and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “I’ve put a spell on you, Jett Simmons.”

He picked me up and sat me on his lap as he ran his hand through my hair. “That, you have, my little Asia.” He pulled me back, and our lips met.

I’d never made up after a fight before, his kiss was apologetic. Soft, caressing, and it told me he was sorry. More so than his words did. His hands grazed my shoulders and back as the kiss grew, gaining intensity.

He eased back, lying on the bed. I moved my body to straddle his. Maybe another round of wild sex would settle his guilt. I was up for anything!

I moved my body over his and felt his cock rising under his bathing suit. I had on a bikini with a thin lace cover up over it. His hand moved between us, pushing the top of his bathing suit down then easing my bikini bottoms to the side. He picked me up and slid me down onto his erection.

“Baby, you fucking feel so good,” he moaned as he released my lips.

We looked into each other’s eyes as he lifted me up and down at a slow speed. “When you’re inside of me, I feel apart of you, Jett. Is that normal?”

“I don’t think any of this is normal, Asia. Not one bit of it.”

I kissed him again, letting that sink in. What we had wasn’t normal. I’d never had anything, so I had to go on what he said. But then again, Jett had never had anything more than sex with women, either. The word, love, kept going through my head. I was pretty sure we’d found it. But I had no idea what he’d do with the love we shared. I could see it more clearly now. Jett was fighting himself about how he felt about me. There was something in the back of his mind that had him either on the fence about me or on the fence about love, in general.

Jett’s hands moved off my waist, and he pushed me up. I rode him and ran my hands over his bare chest as he ran his hands up to push my top up to fondle my breasts. “Asia, is this real? Can I trust you?”

“You can trust me. I’m not faking anything. Is that a concern you have about me? I’m not a trained sub. I don’t know how to act as if I care for anyone. I’m not a liar, although I’m becoming better at since we came here.”

His face fell, he looked sad. “I’m sorry about all that. I am. I think one of the reasons I got so mad was because I’m mad at myself for doing this to you and my family. And I have no idea how the hell I’m going to make things right for any of you.”

I took a deep breath to try to find an answer to his dilemma. I couldn’t find one. “Jett, just let things play out. You’ll know what the right thing is to do when the time is right. You’ll see.”

He caressed my cheek then rolled over with me, making gentle strokes as he looked down at me. “As a sub, you suck, Asia. As a wife, you rock my world.”

I wasn’t sure how to take that. I’d signed up to be his sub, not his wife. Neither was a role I’d ever played or even thought much about playing. Jett came into my life and turned it upside down. In both good and bad ways.

All I knew for sure was that this man would leave his mark on me. He’d forever have a place in my heart and head no man would ever be able to erase.

Jett

With Asia at my side, I began to feel better about things. The guilt was still there, but it was a weight I was getting used to. And when the neighbors came for a little dinner party on the fourth night there, I remembered exactly why I had a fake wife in the first place.

My mother, the matchmaker!

Five, very eligible rich bitches had come with their old-money families to Mom’s soiree. Three of them were tall, elegant, and snooty, two were short, chunky, and insecure. All three were green with envy about Asia. None of them were nice to her. A thing that was pissing me off to no end.

Madison of the Greenberg family was the biggest bitch of all. She was among the tallest women who kind of overshadowed them all. With her hands on her skinny hips, she looked Asia up and down as I came outside, finding the five had surrounded my little fake wife. “And where is it you come from? And how did you manage to get one of the most eligible bachelors into your claws, you little thing?”

Asia looked up at the giraffe of a woman. “Um, uh, he and I met in Los Angeles while I was on vacation there. It was love at first sight.”

There were many people at the party. I was having difficulty getting to the group as I had to zigzag through the crowd, and many stopped me, asking me how married life was. My answers were short and to the point, “Great, gotta get to my wife now.”

The gaggle of women all laughed as if what Asia had said could never be true. One of the short women said, “I don’t see how that happened. You’re nowhere near the league of woman, Jett Simmons needs in his life. How are you supposed to help him in polite society?”

I stepped up, reaching through one short and one tall woman. Grabbing Asia by the arm, I pulled her out of the mean circle. “Baby, there you are.”

Asia looked a little wide-eyed. “I’m right here, honey.”

The five women looked me over as I ran my arm, protectively around Asia’s waist and kissed her cheek. The tallest and meanest of them all, Madison, sneered directly at Asia before she smiled at me. “Jett, my father’s having a charity ball in the fall. I know you’re married now, but do you suppose you could accompany me to it? You wouldn’t mind, would you, Asia? It is for charity. The wealthy patrons will expect me to have a man of their stature as my date. I’ve planned on asking Jett for months now, waiting for this chance to ask him. Surely, you have enough security in your marriage to let your husband take me to such a function, Asia.”

Not waiting for Asia to answer that, I said, “I’m sorry about that, Madison. I’m not about to go out with another woman. My wife can’t answer that for me.”

“But I need you, Jett.” Madison made a sultry frown. “Can’t you help me out?”

“What’s the problem, Madison?” Asia asked. “Can’t you find a single man to ask to the ball? Or have you gone through all the eligible men around here?”

The women gave Asia shitty looks. My poor Asia was out of her league with these bitches. They’d been bred to be this way!

“Come, Asia, we have other guests to greet.” I turned her around, feeling the cold stares of the women as we walked away. I kissed the side of her head. “Baby, you gave it your best shot, but those women would’ve eaten you alive. Best to stay right next to me for the remainder of the night.”

“Oh, they weren’t so bad. I was handling them.” She laughed and placed her hand on my chest, then gave my lips a quick peck. “But thank you for getting me out of the ring of fire. I was wondering if I’d have to drop and crawl out of them.”

Janice Duncan, the party planner, popped out of the crowd in front of us. “Hello, you two! Are you getting excited for your party this weekend?”

I was anything but excited. “Oh, I’d forgotten about that whole thing.”

Asia gave me a scowl. “He’s kidding, Janice. Of course, we’re excited. Neither of us can wait to see what you’ve come up with.”

Janice smiled and shook her head. “Jett, you rascal. On Friday the clothes you two are to wear will be brought over. Your mother gave me the sizes. It’s going to be extravagant. You’ll see that when the things arrive. We want to give your marriage a great start. And East Coast royalty will be there to bring you into their fold. I know you’ll love it.” She looked over her shoulder as some man said something about his daughter turning sixteen next month. “I’ll see you guys later.” Off she went to cash in on another party and I took my fake wife to the dance floor.

“It looks like you’re going to the dance floor, Jett. I actually can’t dance. I’ve never danced at all.” Asia looked worried as she watched the other couples dancing around the floor my mother had brought in for her party. A small, three piece band played on a temporary stage at one end of it.

“We’ll be expected to dance at our party. May as well learn now.” I found a dark corner and held her tightly. “Feel my feet right next to yours?” I placed one leg between hers and made sure our feet were touching.

“I do.” She looked nervous, and it made me chuckle.

“It’s just dancing, baby. Nothing to fear.” I moved one foot. “Let your feet follow mine. I won’t make any fancy movements. I’ll keep it very simple.”

“I’ll try not to step on your toes.” She moved her foot alongside mine.

“That’s right, keep your feet on the floor, don’t lift them, slide them. It’s easy, see?” I slid mine and hers slid alongside. Before she knew it, we were dancing across the floor. “You’re a fast learner, Asia.”

She smiled then rested her head on my shoulder. “My body seems to follow yours in every way, Jett.”

It did too. We were so compatible it wasn’t funny. Where I ended, she began. We moved all over that dance floor. I got swanky with my footwork, and she effortlessly followed along. When the song ended, we found people had stopped dancing to watch us, and everyone clapped.

“Oh, goodness!” Asia blushed, furiously and buried her head in my chest. “Everyone was watching us, Jett!”

“And you did a fantastic job, baby. Now let’s take a bow.” I moved her out beside me, and she followed along, bowing to our supportive audience. “Thank you, thank you.”

I led Asia off the wooden floor and found one man, in particular looking my fake wife up and down. Asia was wearing a thin, silk, dark blue dress, and black flats. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek updo. She looked radiant and the blush on her cheeks only served to make her even more beautiful. The young man’s hand came out and he had Asia’s in his before I knew what had happened. “Excuse me, I’m Sebastien Greenberg. I wanted to introduce myself, Asia. It seems Jett here has found himself a little slice of Heaven. Are there more at home like you?”

Asia smiled at him. “Nice to meet you and no, my sisters are married, Sebastien.”

I didn’t recall knowing the man. “Sebastien? Oh, wait, didn’t you just graduate from high school?”

His dark eyes lingered on Asia. “College, Jett. I just graduated from Harvard Law School.” He looked at me. “Mind if I take your wife for a little spin on the dance floor? I promise I’ll bring her right back to you.”

Asia looked up at me with worried eyes. I knew she didn’t want to tell the man that was the first time she’d danced. And I also didn’t want to see another man holding her. “Sorry, she and I were about to get a drink. Maybe another time, Sebastien.” I ran my hand off Asia’s waist, and took her hand, then walked away from the man who was looking at my woman much too hard.

“Thank you, Jett,” Asia whispered. “I was afraid etiquette would force you to allow him a dance with me.”

“Normally, it would. But this is an abnormal situation we’re in.” We stopped at the first bar. “Two screwdrivers, please.” I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “Everything about you and I is abnormal. I can’t think of seeing you in any other man’s arms. You evoke jealousy in me. Now, why do you suppose that is?”

“I don’t know, Jett.” She grinned, crookedly. “Perhaps you’re falling in love with me.”

All I could do was stare into her doe-like eyes. “You think so, huh? And how about you? Are you falling in love with me, my little Asia?”

The bartender placed our drinks on the bar, and I took one, handing it to her then picked up mine and tapped our glasses together. Asia took a sip as I did then her eyes twinkled. “Maybe I am, Jett Simmons. What do you think about that?” I thought that was the most frightening thing I’d ever heard! Love, with a sub?

What had I gotten myself into?

Asia

The night of our party was at hand. Janice had me in a flowing white dress that went to the floor. High heels were hidden beneath the layers of gossamer. Jett was clad in a tuxedo, making him look like the groom he was pretending to be. Everyone stood and cheered as they clapped when we made our grand entrance into the ballroom at an impressive hotel nearby. It was all a bit on the uppity side for me. I couldn’t say I wasn’t impressed though, because I was. But it wasn’t me. I didn’t feel like me at all. I felt like another person. A person who was vain and mostly empty inside.

But I went through the motions for Jett’s mother. The woman was dead set on being a part of the wealthy society, she’d only gained a place once they made their little bakery into a billion-dollar business. Jett bowed, and I did what he did, then the band started playing, and he and I danced as they all watched. I had to close my eyes and lay my head on his shoulder. This wasn’t who I was.

Somehow, in the hurried pace of things, I’d lost the Asia I’d been. I was wearing expensive clothes. Riding in luxurious cars, the likes I’d never known before, and eating foods I didn’t know existed. The only thing that was true about me was how I felt with Jett. I felt at home with him always. That’s what kept me going. He needed me to portray a particular type of woman and I did that for him.

After the dance, his mother and father took the stage. Jett and I stood on the dance floor and looked up at them as his father took the mic. “Jett and Asia, how good it is to see you both so happy. As you know, your mother and I told you that we had a surprise for you. And the time has come to give it to you.”

His mother took the mic. “Asia, you’re the most remarkable woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. With your influence, our son has blossomed into the man we always knew he could be, with the right woman at his side. We adore you.” Applause rang out as my cheeks heated with embarrassment.

When I looked at Jett, I found his cheeks were red too. He leaned in to whisper, “God, I’m sorry about this, Asia.”

I nodded in understanding. Things had gotten way out of hand.

If only Jett had thought things through, all this hoopla wouldn’t be happening. But it was and things just kept going on and on.

His father took over. “It’s no secret that I’ve wanted to retire for quite some time. And now that Jett is ready and settled, the time has come for him to take over my job as CEO of Sin-a-buns Sweetshop.”

Jett’s jaw hung open as applause thundered through the large ballroom. I turned to hug Jett, knowing he never expected this. This would radically change everything. His life in Los Angeles would be over. “Oh, God, Jett. I’m so sorry,” I whispered in his ear. “We’ll figure this out.”

“Fuck, Asia. How’d things…oh fuck!?” He held me tightly.

“I’m not sure. For now, act happy.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” We let each other go, and he waved at his parents. “I’ll do my best. Thank you.”

His mom and dad came off the stage and right to us, hugging us both. His mother pulled me in front of her and looked at me with tears in her green eyes. “We didn’t want miles to come between you two every week. Now, you’ll see your husband every night, the way a marriage should be. Los Angeles is a thing of the past for Jett. His future is here on the East Coast with you and one day, your children.”

I smiled even though inside I was crying for Jett. He had no idea our fake marriage would cost him so much. His carefree days away from it all in Los Angeles seemed to be behind him. Now he had the responsibility of making sure the whole company ran smoothly. He and I had never talked about his job. I had no idea if he wanted that kind of responsibility yet or not. But I was pretty sure, he didn’t. Not at that moment, only in time. The band started playing, and Jett took me in his arms. It was then that I felt him shaking. I felt so badly for him. He never knew this would be thrust upon him. I knew it then, he was in over his head.

“I think you’ll make a great CEO, Jett.”

He looked at me with a frown on his handsome face. “Do you think that was a thing I wanted? Because it’s not. I never meant for this thing to change my entire life, Asia. I’ve made a mistake.”

My heart ached for him, but also for me. He looked like a tiger who’d just been caged, and he would do anything to get out of that cage and get back to the freedom of the wild.

I didn’t know what to say to the man. Lies are the root of all evil, right there next to money. If we could’ve gone back in time, I’d have cautioned him about what might happen. I had no idea his parents would give him the CEO job just because he said he was married, and I knew Jett didn’t think that, either.

After the song was over, Jett took me by the hand and led me away to a remote corner of the large room. He and I took seats and were quickly served Champagne. He gulped his tall glass down, then I handed him mine. “Here, you need this more than I do.”

“Thank you.” He took it from me and gulped it down too. “What’s happened, Asia? How did things get so completely out of my control?”

“I’m not sure. I think you should talk to your parents tomorrow and explain that you’re not ready for this.”

Sebastien Greenberg and his older sister, Madison approached us. Sebastien held out his hand to me. “A dance with the bride, please.”

I looked at Jett who nodded. “It’s tradition for the bride and groom to dance with whoever asks them.”

I pretended civility. “Of course, Sebastien.” I didn’t want to dance with him. I didn’t want to leave Jett’s side, but I had to. Fucking social etiquette dictated that!

And as soon as I was led away by her brother, Madison swooped in on Jett like a hawk on prey. He got up and took her long, bony-ass hand and followed us out onto the dance floor.

I couldn’t take my eyes off them. I was a jealous mess. Jett’s hand rested on the small of her back, their other hands clasped. He did leave space between them, but as the song went on, the bitch managed to move in a bit at a time until their bodies were flush against each other’s

Sebastien pulled me close. “You’re a great dancer, Asia.”

“Jett taught me. That’s why I’m any good at all.”

“Oh, I bet you were always good. I doubt he’d take all the credit for you.” He spun me around, and we ended up next to Jett and Madison who were talking in whispers to one another.

It was like torture, watching them!

“I bet he’d take all the credit. He’s taught me everything.”

Turning me the other direction, Sebastien took me away from them just as the song ended. “How about another dance, Asia?”

Jett looked around the room then his eyes landed on me. He smiled and let Madison’s hand go as he came toward me. “No thank you, Sebastien.”

I met Jett in the middle of the room. “I hated that.” He pulled me into his arms. “I don’t give a flying fuck about tradition. I’m changing that shit with us. My wife dances only with me.”

A deep sigh came out of me. “And my husband only dances with me.”

We danced the rest of the night away, just like the story we made up about the first night we met. Things were moving along, maybe not how we expected them to, but like all things, what we had was moving forward.

Maybe the pace was too fast, but it seemed we were helpless to slow it down.

Jett

It was our last night at my parent’s vacation home. The party was over, and so was the first reason for having a fake wife. Things had happened that shouldn’t have. I was given the role of CEO. That meant I had to stay in New York. My beach house in Malibu would become only a vacation home. My life, as I had known it, was over. Along the way, I’d fallen in love with my sub. A thing that was stupid on my part.

Asia was young, beautiful, and had a bright future ahead of her. And she was as naïve as they came. The next morning, we were saying our goodbyes and heading back to Harrison. There were three more functions I needed her for, then we’d see what would happen between us. My mother had tears in her eyes when we drove away. She made us promise to call her as soon as Asia’s parents could make it to a dinner party. She was dying to meet them.

I was dying to end the lies with them. But I didn’t know how. I had until the end of August to continue my vacation. On September 1st, I was supposed to report to our headquarters in New York City to begin the transfer of power over the company from my father to son. Was I ready for that? No, fucking way!

But I had yet to figure out exactly how to get out of it. About the only thing I’d come up with was if Asia and I broke up. Then I could say I was too shattered to deal with that responsibility. If I stayed with Asia, it meant I’d have to take over for Dad. Was I ready for any of that? I didn’t think so.

“Would you put the top down, Jett?” Asia ran her fingertips over my cheek. “Fresh air would be nice.”

Pulling to the side of the road, I dropped the top then started going again. “My mother told me she’s changed her mind about us waiting to have kids. She thinks we have something real and extraordinary. She’d like to see grandchildren by Christmas next year.”

Asia laughed and threw her hands into the air, letting the wind rush past them. “Oh, the craziness of life, Jett!” She turned her pretty face and leaned her head on the headrest. “We could just actually go to Vegas, get married for real, and do just that, Jett.”

Glancing at her, I thought she had to be joking. But her expression was serious. “Asia, marriage is a serious thing to me.”

She sighed and turned her head to look up at the afternoon sky. “I know. I was just saying, it could be done. Then we’d never have to tell your family how we lied to them. They’re very nice people, Jett. They treated me like family. It was so, so… wonderful.” She looked away from me.

I ran my hand over her shoulder. “People shouldn’t actually get married just to cover up their lies.”

“You’re right.” She looked at me again. “Can I be honest?”

“Yes.” I put both hands on the wheel as I tried to brace myself for her honesty. I wasn’t sure what she was about to say but knew I was probably going to have an issue with it.

“I never expected to like them. I thought they’d be typical rich snooty people. But they weren’t. They were down to earth, and I really grew to care about them all. Even the pesky twins, Jett. If this ends, what we have, it’ll leave a hole the size of the Grand Canyon in my heart and soul.”

And there it was! I would hurt her immensely if I ended things.

“Wow, no pressure there, Asia,” my tone was sharp. I hadn’t meant it to be. But there it was, sharp and bitter.

She looked away without saying another word. As a matter of fact, she didn’t say a thing for the rest of the ride home. Silence is golden some say. That period of silence was anything but golden, it was more black and dark, ominous and deep as an abyss. When we parked in the garage at home, Asia got out of the car. She walked inside as I sat in the car and gripped the steering wheel as I tried not to scream.

I felt like I was on a see-saw. Up one minute, down the next. I loved Asia, I knew I did. But was my love for her going to last? And if it did, would it be enough to stop me from going back to being the selfish man I’d always been? I wasn’t sure. And I never knew if I’d become sure. The lie of a marriage was turning on me, like a pet dragon that began to yearn for its freedom. It was breathing its fire in me, trying its best to make me let it out.

We had a wedding to go to in one week. Greg Blankenship, my college roommate, a man my exact age, was about to make Sandra Goldenbloom his lawfully wedded wife. In front of their family and friends, they were going to make it real. And I was going to take my fake wife to see them step into a real marriage. It all seemed very pathetic then.

Getting out of the car, I went inside. Straight to the kitchen, getting myself a beer then going to sit in the den to drink alone. One beer turned into ten as I sat there, staring out the window at the beautifully manicured lawn. When the sun set, the lights came on, filling the dark corners so intruders wouldn’t feel safe in our yard. I hadn’t bothered to turn the lights on in the room. Darkness seemed more fitting for how I was feeling.

In a chair that faced a window, I sat perfectly still. Soft hands ran around from behind me, a light breath warmed my ear. “You should come to bed.”

Running my hand up her arm, I mumbled, “You don’t hate me?”

“I could never hate you. Come to bed. Tomorrow will be another day. Things always have a way of looking brighter in the sunlight.” She slipped around the side of the chair and gently sat on my lap.

Her dark hair was hanging in damp strands. I ran my hand through them. “Asia, I’m not who I seem to be. I’m a very selfish man. I’d make a shitty real husband. Can you understand that? You deserve a great husband. I can’t be that for you.”

“Jett, you and I have a contract. I’m to be whatever you want me to be until August 31st. If you want a sub, I will be that. If you want a fake wife, I will be that. I will be whatever you want me to be. Leave the real things out of it for now.”

My throat was growing tight; tears were filling my eyes as I looked at the most beautiful and understanding woman in the entire world. “I love you, Asia.”

Her smile tugged at my heart. “And I love you, Jett. Now come to bed and let’s get some sleep. We’ve had a long, hard week. We need to rest up for the coming weekend, and all that it will entail. Let’s spend this week, chilling by the pool, maybe taking in a movie, and doing some normal things. What do you say to that?”

“I say, that sounds great, baby. Especially the part where you told me that you love me. You mean that, right?”

She nodded, got off my lap, and took me by the hand. “I love you, Jett Simmons. No matter what the future holds for us, for now just know that I love you, for real.”

She led me up the stairs all the way to our bedroom. A room I found I missed when she took me through the door. It smelled like she and I mixed all together. It smelled like home.

Could I really make a home with her? Would she want to put up with me and my ways forever?

Doubt overwhelmed me and I questioned whether truly she’d want to stick with me and all my menacing personality traits. I sat on the edge of the bed, at her prompting and she undressed me, then helped me get underneath the covers. She pulled her robe off, and laid next to me, naked in our bed.

Asia pulled my arm out, and laid her head on my shoulder then pulled my arm to wrap around her. It was the way we’d slept together since the very first night. “I never want us to go to bed angry, okay?”

“Okay, baby.” I turned my head, and she kissed me, sweetly. “Goodnight, my love.”

“Goodnight, Jett. I love you. Now, have some sweet dreams.”

With a sigh, I closed my eyes and let myself fall away from it all and sank into a deep sleep.

Asia

It was the night before his friends wedding. Jett and I had gotten along great the whole week. We did normal things as we hung out together; life was easy. That night, when we went to bed, things got odd.

“We have to be ready to go by noon. The driver will be here, and he’ll take us to New York. This time around, I want you to be quiet as a church mouse. I don’t want anyone getting too close to you. I don’t want Greg and Sandra to think we’ll be going and doing a bunch of things together as married couples. Got it?” He pulled off his shorts and climbed into bed.

“Okay, get to know no one. I understand, completely. We don’t wanna have a rerun of what happened with your family, Jett. I promise.” I pulled off my clothes and climbed into bed too.

We usually made love before we went to sleep, but Jett turned over and turned out his lamp. I was lying on my back, staring at the ceiling. Why the sudden onset of worry? Why was he shutting me out? Jett was a complex man. His parents didn’t seem to notice it, but I did. He was immature in a lot of ways. I guess not ever being serious with a woman had him bouncing back and forth along the relationship spectrum.

One day, he’d be all about us. The next, it was how he was going to do this, and he was going to do that. I’d never had a relationship to compare it to, but I knew he was yo-yoing about making things real with me. Even though I made sure not to say a word about wanting anything past August 31st. That night I slept terribly, and the next morning Jett rushed me, making me anxious and nervous. He was so cold toward me. The entire ride there, he was on his cell. Doing what, I didn’t know. All I knew was he was preoccupying himself. Trying to avoid me in every possible way.

Then we arrived at the chapel. There was a man in a blue suit who met us at the door. “Jett Simmons, you old dog.” He grabbed Jett’s hand and shook it. “Long time, no see.”

“Jason, this is my wife, Asia.” Jett looked at me as I shook his old friend’s hand. “We hung out together in college.” He turned his attention back to Jason. “How’s Greg? A mess I bet.”

“Nah, he’s cool.” Jason smiled at me. “Sandra’s a great girl, he knows that and has been ready to change her last name for a while now. She made him wait a whole year. Not like what I hear about you two.” He gently punched Jett in the arm. “You two met and married in no time, is the word on the street. You’ll have to give me the rundown at the reception.”

“How’d you hear about us?” Jett asked as he looked curiously at his friend.

“The Greenberg’s are here. Sebastien and Madison. Madison was Sandra’s college roommate, and she’s her maid of honor.” Jason winked at me. “Sebastien told me you were gorgeous. How right he was. But we all knew Jett wouldn’t settle for just any old girl.”

Jett gave me a sideways glance. “Sebastien said that, did he. Seems you made quite an impression on the kid, baby. We should go find a place to sit. See you, Jason.”

Jett moved his arm down my back and took my hand. “Was I quiet enough or too quiet?”

“You did fine. Funny that neither of them mentioned they were attending a wedding, isn’t it?” We walked into the church, and Jett looked around the already crowded church. Also, looking around was Sebastien. He waved at us and pointed to the empty space next to him. “Well, would you look at that. Seems your boyfriend saved you a seat. How sweet of him.”

“You sound jealous, Jett.” I followed behind him as he looked as if he was heading right to the man who was provoking said jealousy.

Jett stopped two rows behind Sebastien who was all smiles as he looked at me. He tugged me along behind him past a group of older women, and we sat at the far end of the row. Sebastien turned around with a frown on his face. “Little shit,” Jett growled. “No dancing at the reception unless it’s with me.”

“Ten-four.” I looked down and smoothed out my pink dress. Jett wore a black suit and looked extraordinarily hot. I wrapped my arm around his. “I love weddings.”

“Humph!” That was all I got out of him.

Music began, and three little girls came down the aisle, tossing daisies along the way. “Aren’t they precious?”

Jett didn’t make a sound in response. He wasn’t even looking, I found out when I turned to see what he was doing. Jett was looking at the windows. They were stained glass and gorgeous, but I didn’t think they were so spectacular that he’d look at them, instead of at what was going on.

His body was tense, and he’d become very uncomfortable. I reached out and took his hand and found it clammy. Leaning in, I whispered, “Are you feeling well?”

He turned to look at me with a grim face then whispered back, “I’m kind of sick to my stomach. I’ve never felt more pathetic in my entire life, thanks to this sham of a marriage.”

There was nothing I could say to him that would make him feel better at that moment. The only words running through my head were, ‘maybe you should’ve thought things through before you went to so far as to purchase a sub to make her your fake wife.’ But that would’ve only made him feel worse.

The music changed, and I focused on the wedding, instead of the brooding man who sat next to me. The bridesmaids and groomsmen filed down the aisle. The pretty girls wore yellow chiffon, and the men all wore black tuxedos. Madison came down the aisle last and alone. She was dressed in a different dress. Hers was off-white and much nicer than the rest of the girls.

Her eyes roamed, and she gave a nod our way, though her eyes looked past me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jett had turned his attention back to the wedding, and he gave Madison a nod back. I bit my lower lip and tried to keep my mouth shut. I don’t know exactly what it was about the two of them that made me see red. But I hated how she was clearly after Jett. Even though she thought he was a married man.

The woman was a homewrecker, waiting to happen. Maybe a nice dose of laxative in her drink at the reception would be in order for the tramp. I made a mental note to ask our driver to stop off at a drug store. I’d say I needed some aspirin for a headache and get that instead. At the very least, it’d keep the bitch out of my hair for the night. The music changed once more, the bridal march came on, and we all stood for the entrance of the bride. Covered in white with a veil that hid her face, Sandra, a woman I’d never met, walked slowly down the aisle.

Strong hands ran around my waist as Jett pulled me back against his chest. His lips touched my ear. “You deserve something like this, baby.”

I ran my hand up to caress his cheek and sighed. There he was, back to the romantic man he was most of the time with me. His lips pressed against the top of my head, sending sparks all through me.

When she made it to her groom, we all sat back down. Jett took my hand and held it tightly. We watched the couple take their vows then Jett looked at me as the couple kissed. I smiled then mouthed, ‘I love you.’

He leaned in and gave me a kiss. “I love you, too.” Maybe the night at the reception wouldn’t be as bad as I thought it was going to be with him in a foul mood. Maybe the wedding was putting good ideas into Jett’s head.

With the bride and groom running down the aisle, we all stood up and clapped. Jett held me tight and kissed the side of my neck. “I want you, Asia. In the car.”

Turning my head, I wasn’t sure what he meant. I didn’t say a word, though. My body heated as I thought about he and I in the back of the limo, getting a bit beastly. We moved with the crowd out of the church. The newly wedded couple had already gotten into a car and were heading to the hotel where the reception would soon be held. Jett and I headed to the limo as the driver waited at the back door. I got in, followed by Jett. He pushed the button that raised the dark privacy window that separated us from the driver. I shivered with desire.

The seat was long and ran along the back of the limo. The floor was open. “On your knees,” he ordered me before we’d even begun to take off.

With delight, I did as he’d said, getting on my knees as he pushed my dress up and slid my panties down. I was already wet for him with the idea. The windows were darkly tinted and I knew no one could see in, but I could see people as they walked around the car. My heart was pounding as he moved in behind me, thrusting his hard cock into me. He grunted with each hard thrust. I balled my fists up and moved back to meet each thrust. It felt dirty and I loved it!

My attention was taken as Madison and Sebastien came right toward the car. I held my breath as I watched them approach it. “Jett, are they coming with us? Or what?”

He looked up to find Madison reaching for the door handle, and quickly locked the doors. “What the fuck is she thinking?”

She knocked on the window. “Jett, are you in there?”

“What the hell does she want?” I asked as anger filled me.

“Fuck if I know. Shit!” He pulled out of me as I scrambled to pull my panties up. Huffing and puffing, I sat on the seat and made sure my dress was smoothed out.

Jett rolled the window down only a bit. “Can I help you, Madison?”

“Sebastien and I need a ride. Seems we missed ours. Do you mind, terribly if we go to the reception with you two?”

He cut his eyes at me, and I saw raw anger in them. Then he unlocked the door and took my hand, pulling me to the seat across from the one we were seated on.

They got in, both smiling away. “Thanks, man.” Sebastien nodded at Jett then looked at me. “Well, don’t you look as pretty as a picture. Save a dance for me, Asia.”

My stomach knotted as Jett squeezed my hand. “Oh, she will. Madison, you save one for me too.”

“For sure!” She nearly bounced off the fucking seat with joy.

I reached behind me to knock on the window, and our driver put it down. “Yes?”

“Can we make a quick stop at a drug store on the way, please. I have an awful headache, and need to run in to buy something to get rid of it?”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Simmons.” He rolled the window back up, and I smiled like nothing was bothering me at all.

There was something bothering me. But soon she’d be stuck in the bathroom. Her big-ass dress, making things even harder for her.

Poor Madison Greenberg was about to find out what happens when you keep stepping on my toes!

Part Three

Jett

The reception wasn’t the place I wanted to be. Something about that wedding was working on me like a burr under a saddle. Guilt, remorse, anger, and even a tad bit of self-loathing was inside of me, creating a shit-storm.

Asia looked like a doll in a dark blue dress and matching heels. The neckline was scooped on the knee length dress that was reminiscent of the style women wore in the fifties. She wore a strand of pearls that hung around her beautiful neck, almost like a choker. Her dark, silky hair was curled loosely. Everyone noticed her, even though she was going for a demure look. That woman had no idea of how beautiful she truly was. The beauty went all the way through her. She wore a sweet smile as she went to get us some of the wedding cake that was cut after the meal of roasted chicken.

I watched Asia as she went behind the elaborate wedding cake to pick up pieces that had already been sliced. She emerged from the other side with three plates. Cocking my head to one side, I wondered why she had three pieces of cake. Then I watched her make her way to the table where the newly married couple and their wedding party were seated. Amazingly enough, she went to Madison and gave her one of the pieces. The two exchanged smiles and I could see Madison was thanking her. Then Asia came to me. We’d been seated at a table with six people I didn’t know.

That’s one of the reasons I hated to go alone to weddings. Whoever was in charge of the seating arrangements always seemed to love to make people who didn’t know one another sit together. It was a vain attempt at widening one’s circle of friends, I supposed. Whatever the reason, I hated it. I hated making small talk and when you’re sitting with a bunch of strangers it’s impossible to do anything else. Asia took her seat next to me and stabbed my piece of cake with the little plastic fork it was served with. She held the bite to my lips and I took it as I looked at her. Then I took her fork and did the same to her. Seemed we were going to feed each other.

“Pretty good.” She picked up the fresh glass of Champagne that had been served to us all after she left the table to go after the cake.

“I noticed you took a piece to Madison.” I gave her another bite. “Are you thinking of trying to become her friend or something?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” She fed me another piece of the dry chocolate cake. That was another thing about weddings that I hated. The cake’s always dry.

Did they make the things a month in advance or what?

“No more for me, thanks.” I pushed my plate away and picked up my glass.

Asia grinned and leaned in to whisper, “It’s pretty terrible.”

“Dry as the Sahara.”

She pushed her plate away too and smiled at me. “The band will start playing soon. They’re getting on stage now. You really don’t expect me to dance with Sebastien and you with Madison, do you?”

“I was feeling touchy in the car. I don’t know what made me say that. I’m feeling touchy now too. I’m not sure why that is, but that’s how I’m feeling.” I leaned back in my chair and draped my arm around the back of hers.

She leaned back and looked at me. “Would you like to leave? Our room is just upstairs.”

We’d gotten a room in the hotel to stay in for the night, instead of going back home. And I did want to leave, but I knew that would be rude. “We have to stay, Asia.”

She nodded and looked around the large room that was decorated in golden hues. “Everything is so pretty. I wonder how long it took to plan this whole thing out.”

“A year,” came a woman’s reply.

Asia looked at the woman who was seated at our table. “Goodness, that’s a long time.”

The older woman with blue tint to her black hair nodded. “It is. But that’s about the timeframe most weddings take to plan. Did you two not have a traditional wedding?”

“We got married in Vegas.” Asia put her hand on my leg as she told the lie. “We just couldn’t wait. Isn’t that right, honey?”

“Yeah.” I wasn’t in a chatty mood.

The fact was, the lie was beginning to get stuck in my craw, whatever a craw is. It felt like it might be somewhere between my heart and my soul. Asia seemed to be just fine with it, though. She kept on chatting away with the woman she didn’t know and shouldn’t have been wasting her time on, “We met in a nightclub in Los Angeles.”

“You did?” The woman rested her chin on her entwined fingers. “I met my husband on a cruise to Alaska. He and I met at one of the buffets and ended up sitting together. We just kept meeting up the whole week and then started dating once the cruise was over. I lived in the Midwest and he lived on the east coast. It was a long dating period. Two whole years. Then I moved to be with him and he asked me to marry him after we’d lived together for a year. It took a year to plan our wedding. It was so beautiful. Do you ever regret the fact you missed out on that?”

Asia shook her head. “Not one bit.” She patted my leg. “I love how fast everything happened for us. It was like it was meant to be and there was no stopping the train that was our love as it sped down the tracks.” I rolled my eyes as someone on stage began to talk. It silenced the chatting that was annoying me. The lie felt like it was getting bigger, growing into a beast that would eventually kill us both.

The first song was played and the bride and groom danced as we all watched. Then the next song came on and others joined them on the dance floor. My eyes caught Sebastien as he walked up behind Asia. “May I have this dance?”

Asia looked at me for the answer. For reasons, I can’t explain, it pissed me off. Why didn’t she just tell him no, on her own? Why was she looking at me as if asking if she could dance with the little shit? And why did I growl, “Go dance with the man, Asia.”

Her brow furrowed. “Are you sure?”

Sebastien ran his hand over her shoulder, down her arm and took her hand in his. The hand that had my rings on it. The hand that belonged to me. “He’ll be fine. Madison is on her way to take him to dance, as well.”

I looked up to find Madison walking toward me and then looked at Asia. “Yeah, just go, Asia.” My jaw was clenched. My body tense. Asia could make up her own mind about things. Yet, she was acting as if she needed me to tell her not to dance with the little prick. And as hard as I was looking at her to get her to understand that, she wasn’t getting it.

She got up and went with him and I was left, sitting alone. Madison came up to me with a smile curving her thin red lips. “Fancy a twirl on the dance floor, Jett?”

I got up, grabbed her by the hand and headed towards everyone else. Moving in right behind Asia and Sebastien, I overheard him as he leaned in close and whispered, “My God, you look gorgeous tonight.”

“Thank you,” came Asia’s reply.

“I’m going to be a bother to your husband tonight. Stealing you away is all I can think about.” His words hit me like a brick.

I don’t recall how it all happened. Pure anger sped through me, took me over and all I knew was that I was looking at Sebastien Greenberg as he was laid out. His eyes were closed and a red bump on his chin was getting redder by the second.

“Jett!” Madison shouted then doubled over and held her stomach. “What the…?” She turned and ran off and I saw Asia grinning like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland as she watched her run.

I reached over Sebastien’s fallen body, took Asia by the hand and left the room. “Should I even ask for an explanation, Jett?”

“No.” Without saying a word, I took her up to our hotel room, closed the door and leaned back on it. My head was spinning. I wasn’t sure about anything. I’d never been so rash. I’d never done anything like that.

What was happening to me?

Asia

Jett was over the top. I was sure he’d overheard what Sebastien had said to me about stealing me away. But punching the guy out was uncalled for. As much as I didn’t agree with his actions, I had to admit, I was impressed. And I’d done something just as bad myself. The cake I took to Madison had a nice size bite of what seemed to be a chunk of chocolate, but was really a chunk of fast-acting laxative. And it seemed to hit her at just about the same time, Jett hit her brother.

In our hotel room, I stood and watched Jett as he leaned against the door and looked at the floor. “This isn’t working for me, Asia.”

Everything in me stopped; my heart, my lungs, my life. I didn’t know what to say. I found myself staggering back until my legs hit the bed, then I sat on it and tried hard not to pass out. It was over. He didn’t want me anymore.

All I could do was shake my head and try not to cry. I had no idea what I’d done wrong. I didn’t know what I could do to make things right. “I’ll leave.”

“What?” He came to me and got on his knees in front of me, taking my hands. “Why?”

My eyes were clouding with tears. “Because of what you said. This isn’t working for you.” A sob came out of me, and I sucked it back in as best I could.

I was his sub. I wasn’t supposed to make him feel guilty for anything he did. He didn’t want me, that was his right.

“I didn’t mean that. I meant the lie.” He took my chin in his hand and rubbed the pad of his thumb across my lips. “You deserve a real love. You deserve so much more than I’m giving you. Making you lie about a marriage feels wrong to me now.”

I didn’t understand at all. “Why would you be okay with lying to your family? But lying to a bunch of strangers bothers you?”

“I can’t explain it. The wedding just brought things to my mind. Things like you deserving to have a real wedding. You deserving to have a truthful relationship. I took that all away from you, Asia.”

“Look, things aren’t that bad, Jett. I signed the contract. I knew what I was doing. And I feel lucky that you got me. I could be strung up in some dungeon right now, being whipped into submission. Instead, I’m in a lavish hotel with a man who cares a hell of a lot about me. Things could be worse.”

He looked at me with storm clouds in his sea green eyes. “Asia, you’re too good to be true. I don’t know how you do it. You can take my foul mood and turn it all around. Maybe it’s hearing you lie that upsets me so much. I don’t like that it’s me who made you do that. I don’t like that it’s me who’s making you into a liar.”

“Do you feel like I’m a liar, Jett?” The thought irritated me.

He nodded. “You’re all into the act of being my wife. It’s as if you’re actually believing the shit that’s coming out of your mouth. The whole front story. The way you touch me. It all seems so true when you tell it or touch me. You’re a little too good at it. Like it was in you the whole time.” He moved his hand off my face and got up, turning his back to me. “Have I turned you into a liar?”

I didn’t know what the hell to say to that. He paid me to be his fake wife and make people believe his whole story. And I was doing as he wanted me to. “It was you who didn’t think things through, Jett. Don’t blame me for going along with you and saying things you told me to say.”

He spun around with a glare. “Asia, the number one thing I told you was to be quiet. Don’t say anything unless I ask you to. And there you went on a trip down a false memory lane with a fucking stranger. That woman didn’t need to know a thing about us. She’s nobody to me.”

“Okay, I admit, I forgot about being quiet. Fuck, Jett!”

Getting up, I kicked off my shoes and went to the mini fridge to see what kind of alcohol was in it. My brain was pulsing with aggravation. If Jett told me to go left, I went left. If he told me to jump, I jumped. But now the problem was not that I was doing as he’d told me to, but that I was doing it for too damn long.

I was sick of it.

“And why in the hell did you look at me for an answer when that dumb-fuck asked you to dance? Are you without a will of your own, Asia?” His hand was on my shoulder, spinning me back around just as I’d reached the fridge.

“You had me confused, Jett. That’s why I looked at you for the answer. You told him in the car that he could dance with me. You told me later not to dance with him. And when he asked me, I thought you’d be the one to tell him no. I didn’t know what to do then you told me to go dance with him and I did.”

“And he told you he wanted to steal you away from me. And you did nothing.” His glare penetrated me, it was so intense.

“You hit him before I could say a word.”

“What would you have said to him?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I didn’t exactly have a chance to think about it. You’d spun him around so quickly, it nearly made me fall. I was concentrating on staying on my feet. And then you punched him, and I was shocked. I don’t know what I would’ve said. But I probably would’ve told him that was inappropriate and probably walked off the dance floor.”

“I’ve never been that mad.” He turned away from me. “Frankly, I don’t like it.”

Turning back to the fridge, I found small bottles of all kinds of things and pulled out a bottle of vodka. I needed something that would take the edge off and quick.

The man was making me nuts.

“Sorry for making you give a shit about me, Jett.”

“Jealousy isn’t comfortable, Asia. And what are you doing?” He held out his hand, wanting me to surrender the tiny bottle I was chugging it too. “Are my actions not only turning you into a liar but an alcoholic too? I’m very bad for you.”

Maybe he was right. Maybe he was bad for me. Sure, my life with him was full of lavish things, and the lifestyle itself was grandiose. But he was right. I was falling into lying quite easily. And turning to alcohol to still my nerves had never been a thing I’d done before knowing him. Maybe it was all too good to be true. Maybe we were both trying too damn hard to make a relationship when neither of us was looking for one.

The lie of a marriage seemed to be too much pressure to put on two people who hadn’t even had normal relationships in the past. “We should stop this, Jett. We should go to a normal Dom/sub relationship. Only do the pretend marriage when we have to. We’re living as if we’re married. Sharing the same bed, doing things as a couple, instead of what we really are to one another. You are my owner. For the matter of one more month, anyway. This is just too much pressure on us both.”

I handed him the half empty bottle. He put it down and took me in his strong arms, rocking me back and forth then kissed the top of my head. “I’m more than just your owner, baby. You know that. And I think the fake marriage is undo stress. You have no idea how guilty I feel about it now. But I don’t want a normal Dom/sub relationship with you. You’re my girlfriend. Not my wife, not my submissive partner. You’re my very first real girlfriend. And I’m your first boyfriend. The lie is robbing us of what would be a normal thing. And it’s all my fault. I wanted to take what I perceived as the easy way out of situations that I felt would be uncomfortable. For the matter of bypassing that feeling, I made an innocent girl lie and miss out on having a nice, normal relationship. For that I am sorry. But I’m not sorry that I found you and made you mine. I’ll never be sorry about that.”

What he said made sense to me. We’d passed up normal right from the start though. How does one go back to a place they’ve never been before?

Jett

I didn’t know how I was going to change things, but I was slowly growing more determined to make some drastic changes. Swaying with Asia in my arms, my heart grew soft, and I wanted to show her she meant more to me than anyone ever had.

Turning her around, I unhooked the necklace then unzipped her dress. “How about we get into bed?”

It wasn’t but five in the evening, but I was tired. Tired in so many ways. Who knew that making up a false marriage could be so damn exhausting?

As I pushed the dress down, exposing her creamy shoulder, I ran my lips over it. “I love you, Asia.” My heart was swelling with that love. I hated the intense reactions I had over her, but I fucking loved that woman. I’d kill for her, or at least wound a man, it seemed. Caring for someone that way, was new to me. And not comfortable in the least.

Her hands caught up in my hair as she whispered, “I love you, Jett.” She moved her hands under my jacket, taking it off me. It fell to the floor, joining her dress. Moving my hands over her shoulders to her back, her skin felt like silk. Her body felt good in my arms. I lifted her up and took her to the bed, laying her on it and looking at her. I didn’t deserve her, but I wasn’t going to let her go.

Trailing one finger down her stomach, I slid my fingers into the top of her blue satin panties and pulled them off her. Her bra was all that was left, and I took it away too. Her body was naked and gorgeous. My cock was rising in need to feel her. I finished undressing myself then laid on my side next to her, leaning up on my hand and stroking her stomach.

The wedding ring on my finger glistened, and I thought about what I should do about the thing. I took it off then took the rings off her finger too. We’d be what we really were. Not the fake married couple I felt like was ruining what we really had found.

The smile she gave me told me she got what I was doing. She ran her hands up and down my chest. “Hi, I’m Asia and single.”

“Hi, I’m Jett, and looking.”

“Are you?” She ran her hands up, taking my face between them. “What is it you’re looking for?”

“A woman with a gorgeous body, stunning face, beautiful heart, and it wouldn’t hurt if she were a real tiger in bed. Do you happen to know anyone like that?”

Her cheeks went pink as she batted at my chest. “You sweet talker.”

“I only speak the truth, my little Asia.” I leaned over, taking her plump, rosebud lips with mine, leaving them with a nibble then looking down at her once more.

I really could look at her forever, it seemed. Her eyes were closed, then she opened them. “You know, now that I think about it, I’m looking too. You don’t happen to know where I could find a strong, handsome, sweet, caring, virile man who knows his way around a woman’s body, do you?”

“I might.” I caressed her breast as I gazed into her brown eyes. “If I find one, what should I tell him you want from him?”

“You can tell him that I’m looking for a man I can have fun with, talk to like we’re old friends, do silly things with, and find a love to end all loves.” She put her hand over mine and pulled it down to her sweet spot. “And learn new and exciting ways to please each other.”

“Oh, baby. I know a guy who’d be so right for you. Now, he’s a bit on the brooding selfish side, I hope you can take him with all his flaws and faults. He can be foolish, stubborn, pig-headed…”

She stopped me with a kiss as she pulled her head up off the pillow, “And wonderful too. Mostly, he’s wonderful.”

“You think?” I grinned at her as I moved my hand in a way that would please her. Her clit pulsed under my fingertip.

She nodded. “I do.”

Asia was something else. A woman who could take my heart and run away with it. And I was beginning to let her do just that. Giving into her was easy. The hard part was learning where to draw the lines we both needed. As I kissed her, I moved my body over hers and pressed my cock into her warm recesses. She pulled her legs up, bending her knees. Her hands roamed over my back as we both moaned. There was nowhere better to be than inside of her.

My lips left hers to nuzzle her neck and kiss the soft place behind her ear. Our bodies moved in slow waves, taking us out of our heads to a place we were fast becoming familiar with. A place only she and I could go. Heat radiated off her and I as we began to move faster, the urgency to get to the release was taking us over. The beast inside me grew. The soft kissing wasn’t enough anymore. I bit her between the shoulder and neck as I took her hands and held them down over her head.

She moaned and arched as I pulled back to watch her give me what I wanted. “I want you to give it to me, Asia. Give it all to me.”

Her body was quivering as she looked at me. “Together, Jett. Let’s do this together. I’ll hold back until you’re ready.”

And I knew then exactly what she meant. She’d hold back until I was emotionally ready to be more than what we were. She’d wait, patiently for me to grow the way I needed to. How long would that take, I didn’t know, but I had the sense that she’d wait forever or as long as it took me to become the man she deserved. Thrusting into her soft body, I was acutely aware of how fragile she was and how powerful I was. I had the power to break her, but she had the same power I did.

She could so easily break me. It would be so easy, it scared me.

But as I looked into her eyes. Eyes that held strength I’m sure she had no idea she possessed. I saw the love she had for me. She wouldn’t break me. If she did, she’d hurt herself too. I was safe with her. There was no need for fear. With her, I’d always be safe. And she’d be safe with me. I was about to make sure of that.

My inner demons that focused too much on doubt grew silent as I plunged into her, taking her strength and giving her mine. We needed each other’s strength. I wasn’t her master or her owner. We were equals, with different attributes. Just like a great business, two minds were better than one. There I was, thrusting away, trying my hardest to get to where she was. I wanted to be there with her. I wanted that peace of mind. That serenity of soul, she’d gotten before me.

And just as that thought went through my mind, something inside of her gripped my cock and took me over the edge. She came too, and we both made loud war cries as our bodies converged into something that almost seemed unreal. I fell on top of her, barely able to breathe. We both shook as the orgasms quaked within us. I could feel hers, and she could feel mine. I’d never shared sex so deeply before. Not ever.

It felt as if our souls connected even more strongly than ever before. The fakeness that had brought us together was gone. She wasn’t a woman I had a contract with. She wasn’t my sub or fake wife. But she was mine and I was hers. In that moment, at that time, we were just us. A couple of people who were finding out that we were most likely meant for each other. I found a new part of me and I thought she might’ve found something new, as well.

Once I’d caught my breath, I pulled my head up, my hair damp as it clung to my face. “Hi, I’m Jett Simmons. It’s nice to make your acquaintance.”

“Hi there, Jett Simmons. I’m Asia Jones. I think we should date. What do you think?”

“I think that’s a great idea. I’d love nothing more than to call you my girlfriend.”

“K.” She laughed, lightly. “Boyfriend.”

Kissing her again, our deal was sealed. We were normal. A nice normal couple. Not a couple of liars. Not a couple of people in an odd contract. Just a couple. A nice normal couple.

Asia

We spooned as we slept the rest of the evening, all the way through until the next morning. When I opened my eyes, I saw the three rings that were on the nightstand next to me. The weight of the heaviness of those rings were now off. And I very much liked it. Part of me wondered if that was wrong of me. I loved Jett after all. Wearing his ring, even if it was under false pretenses, should feel great, right?

But the way it felt with them off was obvious. It couldn’t be ignored. The feeling was better. I felt light, airy, and normal. Jett’s arm was flung over me, and so was one leg. It was the usual way I’d woken up since the first night we were together. Nothing was different, yet it all seemed different.

His body jerked then he rolled over and stretched as he yawned loudly. “Damn, we slept all night long.”

“We must’ve been very tired.” I turned over so I could see him.

“I think you’re right.” He looked softly at me and kissed the tip of my nose. “Hey, girlfriend.”

“Hey, boyfriend.” I laughed and threw my arm over him then kissed his cheek.

“Aren’t we just too cute!” he said then rolled over and got out of bed. “Let’s get showered, dressed then I’m calling the car to come take us home. I don’t want to see anyone who’ll fuck up our day.”

“I’m with you. You shower then I will.”

He stopped walking and turned to look at me. “Why?”

“Well, I don’t think newly dating couples shower together.” I winked at him.

“Get your ass up and come get in the shower with me. We’re not going back to step one. We’re just not acting married.”

I laughed as I got up and followed him to the bathroom. It had been almost two months that we’d been acting married. We had no bathroom rules, we did as married people did. We put privacy away and had immersed ourselves in that lifestyle. It had been hard for me in the beginning, but I started liking it. Being with Jett was easy. We brushed our teeth in the double sinks, took turns peeing, then got into the shower. It was a normal sized shower, not like the one in our house. As I thought about that, it made a bit of the weight I’d been carrying show itself. He and I did share a home.

We were closer to being married than not. Even if it had all begun with a lie. His hands ran through my hair as he shampooed it while I ran my soapy hands all over his upper body. We’d really gotten into a routine. I washed his back, he washed mine. We didn’t even have to talk; we just did like we always had.

“How did this happen, Jett?” I asked as if he could read my mind.

But somehow he had. “I’m not sure. The faking turned real at some point that neither of us seemed to have noticed.”

I began to wash his hair as he put conditioner in his palm then smoothed it through my hair. “We’re just not normal.” That was all I could think.

He nodded, but didn’t say a thing. I thought about what had led up to it all. The time flew through my mind. The timid moments in the beginning that rapidly changed into what was our new normal. Would we ever really get to be something we never got a chance to be? Some people say you have to crawl before you walk, walk before you run, and run before you fly. We’d skipped all the steps. What happens to people who go right to the end?

What would happen to us?

Would be burn out like a flame that burned too bright? I’d heard of that happening. One could see how a passion like we had could possibly fizzle out. And then you had the fact that only two months into a relationship we were acting like an old married couple. Did I want things to be that way? And if I didn’t, was there a way to change anything? I didn’t know. All I did know was I loved Jett. And he loved me.

After our shower, we dried off and went to get dressed. I pulled a sundress out of the closet as Jett pulled shorts and a t-shirt out of the top drawer. We dressed without saying a word. It was pretty obvious that both of us were thinking about what we could possibly do to fix things. Not that anything felt that wrong, but we both knew things needed to slow way the fuck down.

Just as I finished getting dressed my cell rang. I picked it up off the dresser and saw my sister’s name on the screen. “It’s Spring.” I swiped my finger to answer her call.

Before I could even say hello, she was gushing, “He’s here, Asia. We have a boy!”

I gasped and sat on the chair closest to me. “A boy! How exciting!”

“We named him Ray. I know that sounds like a lame name, but there was a single ray of sunshine streaming through the window at the hospital when he came out, and the doctor picked him up. The light hit the baby and it looked like he was a tiny glowing angel. So, his name popped out of my mouth, Ray. My little ray of sunshine.”

“How sweet,” I cooed. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

“He can’t wait to meet you, Auntie Asia. When can you come? We get out of the hospital later today. So, anytime is cool with us.”

I looked at Jett who was trying to look as if he was busy, instead of trying to hear what we were talking about. “I’ll check my schedule. It’s kind of hectic right now.”

Jett looked up at me and shook his head as he frowned and whispered, “You tell her you can go as soon as tomorrow. I’ll get you there.”

“I hope you can make some time for us, Asia,” my sister snapped.

I’d hurt her feelings, although unintentional. “Oh, Spring. I’m kidding. I’ll leave tomorrow.”

Jett shook his head. “You’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Oh, I meant to say, I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“How are you getting here so quickly?” Spring asked.

“How am I getting there so quickly?” I asked Jett.

“I’ll charter you a private jet.” He blew me a kiss.

I thought about leaving him all alone and decided to throw it out there. “Um, Spring, I’m dating someone. Would it be okay if I asked him to join me when I come see you guys?”

“You’re dating someone? Is it serious? Is he cute? Did you, do it? You know, sex? Has my baby sister finally popped that cherry of hers?”

“God! Spring, really! So, is it okay or what?”

“You better ask him to come too. I have to meet the man who made my little sister a woman.”

“For the love of Pete! I’ll ask him and I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. How about I bring you dinner. Ribs are still your fav, right?”

“Oh, yes! And potato salad and pinto beans. That would be awesome. Call me when you leave. I love you and so does little Ray. Bye.”

Putting down the phone, I eyed Jett who’d overheard it all. “So, will you come with me?”

He placed his hands on my shoulders as he looked into my eyes. “Asia, do you really want me to come with you? Meet your family? That’s a big step you know.”

“Uh, are you being serious right now? I mean, I went to your family’s vacation. That was a much bigger step.” I shook my head as I couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“But that was all fake. This is real. Are you sure you want to make it that real? All I’ve offered you so far is a bunch of phony crap. What you’re offering me is as real as it gets.”

The smile that lifted my lips felt natural as did my decision. “I want you with me. I like real.”

“Oh God, Are we really doing this?”

“If you’re game, so am I.”

He kissed me with those soft lips that spun my world on its axis. “As your boyfriend, I’d be proud to go with you.”

So, it was set. I was taking Jett to meet my family. I knew they’d all be there, eager to meet the newest addition to the growing brood. And when Spring let them know about my new boyfriend, they’d all be excited to meet him. I wondered if Jett was ready for my family this time.

Ready or not, he’d signed up for it, and it was all about to come his way.

Jett

I had put the wedding rings in the safe at the house before we left the next day to go to South Dakota to see Asia’s family. Without them on, as if with magic, things felt different. The lie took a backseat. So far back, I forgot about it all. Asia and I were feeling more free without that burden. And we were heading to a place where things would be honest.

Well, not entirely honest. They couldn’t know I’d bought her and that she was in a Dom/sub contract. And they knew Asia hadn’t gone to Los Angeles on vacation. So, we were prepared to tell a version of the truth. We met online. A dating site. Then I flew her to Portland where we met up and then flew back to spend the summer at a home I’d purchased not long after she and I started talking.

We’d play the rest of it by ear. But for now, we were living together as boyfriend and girlfriend, exclusive and slowly advancing toward the future. A future we had no preconceived notions about.

I felt pretty good about it. There were some lies, but mostly truths. I suppose we could’ve told them the entire truth, but Asia said they’d never understand. And she wasn’t going to let them know she’d lost her scholarship either.

It became evident that some truths would go untold, but that’s life.

Asia held my hand tightly as the plane landed. “Jett, this is so exciting. I’ve never taken anyone to meet the family. I’m excited and kind of scared too. “

“I am too. I’ve never been brought to meet the family. This is new for me as well.”

Once we got off the jet, I rented a car then we headed to her sister’s home, and that’s when the nerves kicked in. We were on the doorstep of a modest home in a suburban neighborhood in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There was one car, an older model sedan, parked in the drive that was cracked with age.

Asia knocked on the door as I wondered how hard things were for them, financially. The home and car showed me they weren’t living on high wages. It stoked that fire that had all but went out in me. The one that told me women only wanted me for my money.

Would Asia ask me to help her sister, brother-in-law, and new nephew out with some money? And if she did, would it change how I felt about her?

The sound of the door opening took me out of my thoughts. A tall man with a big build answered the door. “Asia, my goodness girl!” He pushed the squeaking screen door open and backed up so we could come inside. “And this is your man, huh?” he extended his hand to me. “I’m Max Johnson, welcome to my humble home.”

“I’m Jett Simmons. Thank you for allowing me to come to your humble home.” I liked the man’s handshake. It was firm, short, and friendly.

“Send them back here, baby,” came the yell of a woman.

Max hitched a thumb over his left shoulder. “And that’s the queen of this castle. Coming, Spring. You guys follow me. The baby’s asleep, but he doesn’t mind being held while he sleeps.”

“Asia tells me this is your first child. How’s it going?” I asked as we went through a small dark hallway. There were only three doors coming off it. The house was tiny.

“I have to admit that it hasn’t hit me yet. I guess he’s too quiet. It doesn’t seem real. I’m a dad. At thirty years old, I’m finally a dad.” He shook his head and smiled. “Spring and I have been together for five years. This was a long time coming. We just couldn’t get the money going right for us. We wanted to wait until we were making good money. We hit some rough times. I worked as a coach at the high school, and she worked at a store as a clerk. This was a busy town when we moved here three years ago. Then it suddenly stopped being so busy, and our jobs vanished. She couldn’t find anything, and all I could find was a janitorial job at the jailhouse. But the baby thing wasn’t going to wait. The stork came in unannounced.”

Another tragic tale of misfortune. I’d heard tons of them. But this man had no idea if I had money or not. Asia hadn’t said a word about it. It hit me that people often spoke of their money troubles. It wasn’t always directly aimed at getting me to give them anything.

We walked into a small bedroom where her sister, who looked a lot like her, was sitting up, holding a tiny bundle of white. “Hi, guys.” Her doe-like eyes, similar to Asia’s only Asia’s were more beautiful to me, went to me. “And you’re Asia’s, man. I’m Spring. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Jett Simmons.” I gave her a nod. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Asia was quick to take the baby out of her sister’s arms as she delivered a kiss to her cheek. “Oh, give him to me.” She stepped back next to me. “Oh, my goodness. He’s so cute.”

Looking down at the baby had my heart speeding up for reasons I couldn’t comprehend. Seeing Asia, holding that baby, made her glow in my eyes. “He’s a remarkable little guy.”

Asia looked at me. “Here, you hold him.”

“Me?” I shook my head. “Oh-“

She was quick to get that baby in my arms. Expertly, she maneuvered my arms until I was holding him. “He’s so light, isn’t he?” Asia asked me.

“He is light. Almost as if I’m not holding anything at all.” The baby snuggled against my chest, and the aroma that drifted up to me was like pure Heaven. Baby powder mixed with his brand new smell. “Hi, Ray. It’s wonderful to meet you.”

“Mom and Dad are on their way up. They’ll be here in the morning. You two can have the guest bedroom until they get here, then you can take the sofas in the living room.” Spring smoothed out the blanket and straightened her nightgown.

Asia’s expression was one of reluctance. “Well, we’re not staying here, Spring. We’ve already gotten a room.”

“Oh.” Spring looked at me. “I didn’t realize that. I mean, that’s cool. Usually, my little sister has no money. I’m used to letting her stay with me.”

“It’s very nice of you to offer. I could get your parents a room there too if you’d like.” I nudged Asia. “Mind taking him, baby?”

She took him out of my arms and smiled as she did. “Mom and Dad won’t stay anywhere but here, Jett. They’re weird about things like that.” She cooed at the baby and rubbed noses with him. “He’s just so little and precious. I haven’t even left yet, and I already miss him.”

“You can come as often as you like, Asia,” I told her, earning curious expressions from her sister and brother-in-law. “I can make sure she has the means to come see you all. That’s what I mean.”

“How nice of you,” Max said. “Asia, can you take the baby into the living room while I help your sister get into the shower?”

“Sure thing.” Asia walked out the door, and I followed her. “Oh, and the food will be delivered in about thirty minutes. I called it in just before we got here.”

“Who did you get to deliver?” Spring asked.

“Don’t worry about that. Just take a shower, and when you get all done, dinner should be ready to eat.” Asia gave her a smile then I closed the door behind us to give them some privacy.

The hotel we checked into had an excellent concierge, even though it wasn’t a thing I considered to be a real hotel. The Marriott was one of the most country bumpkin looking hotels I’d ever stayed in. The restaurant was four and a half stars, not bad for South Dakota. They were nice enough, when given a hefty tip, to have the meal of ribs and all the trimmings delivered to us.

Asia sat on the sofa, and I sat next to her. We both looked at the baby, and she sighed. “I love babies. I was there when Bow had her first and third babies. The second was born in the middle of a stormy night. I didn’t make it for that one.”

“No wonder you look at home with that little guy in your arms. You’re an old pro at this aunt stuff.” I kissed her cheek. “That looks good on you, by the way.”

She blushed, and it sent shots of pure love through me. Asia and that baby were doing something to me. Making me think thoughts I wasn’t trying to have. Thoughts about making babies were making me hot.

We’d do dinner with her family then I was going to get my little Asia to the hotel where we could practice making babies all night long.

What the hell had gotten into me? Since when did the idea of babies make me horny?

The shit having Asia in my life had changed was unending. What was next, getting turned on by watching her iron clothes?

Asia

Jett was crazy by the time we got into our hotel room. He kissed me over and over again as we went up the flight of stairs to our room. Once we were inside, he was ripping my clothes off.

I had no idea what had gotten into him. But I had to admit, I liked it.

“Baby, oh baby, you taste so good. I’m going to eat you up.” He chewed on my neck, making my insides melt.

“Jett, what in the world has you so hot?”

He pushed me down on the bed and undressed. He’d already rid me of all my clothing. “You have me hot, baby. I want you. I want you all night long.”

His expression was odd. Lusty with a side of love. It was different. I thought maybe the way we’d left the lies behind us had something to do with it. That was until he climbed on top of me and took my hands in his, moving them until they were pinned next to my head. “Jett, why are you just looking at me?”

His eyes roamed all over my face. “You have great bone structure.” He moved his hands down to my hips. “You have great round hips too.”

“Thank you?” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.

“You’re sweet, loving, caring, and fucking adorable when holding a baby in your arms.”

Oh shit!

“Jett, what the…” His mouth crashed down on mine as he kissed me like I was his oxygen tank.

He wouldn’t let up. He kept kissing me until we both were out of breath. Then he eyed me. “I want to fuck you so hard, and so long you walk wrong for a week.”

My head was swimming from the kiss. “K.”

“I want you to come so many times, it defies imagination.”

“Oh, God!”

“Yeah, baby. Oh, God.” He kissed me again and picked me up as he did. He moved around until he was sitting up and then he sat me down on his erection, facing him.

Lifting me up and down, he made my body stroke him. The kiss had to end as I was moving too much. My tits were bouncing everywhere, and he buried his face in them, kissing, sucking, biting. Generally, he was stimulating everything he could, and I was screaming with the pleasure it was giving me.

“I’m about to cum,” I told him as the urge hit me.

He flipped me onto my back and thrust back into me. “Do it. I’m coming with you.”

Jett’s tongue ran up my neck, and he nibbled it as he made forceful thrusts. In no time I was arching up as the wave took me over and he came with me. His groan was deep as he jerked inside me.

He laid still on top of me for a long time. Then he began to move again, his cock going hard inside me. “Oh, you really did mean it when you said you were going to make me walk wrong for a week. I thought that was just some foreplay talk.”

“Um hmm.” He kept going until he was fully erect again then he flipped me over and took me from behind. He pushed my head and shoulders to the bed then held onto my hips as he went at it.

I was moaning with the arousal. Groaning with the pleasure. Then I was screaming with another orgasm, and he was coming right along for the ride. Filling me once again with his hot juices. He stayed still again as I panted.

After about five minutes, he pulled out and got off the bed. I fell to it in an exhausted state. “Want some water, Asia?”

“Huh?” My eyes had closed, and I struggled to turn over. “Yeah, I’m thirsty.” I managed to sit up, and he came to give me a bottle of water then sat on the bed next to me.

“When would you like to have a baby?”

I nearly choked on the drink. He took it out of my hand as he waited for me to stop coughing, waiting patiently for my answer. “I have no idea, Jett. I’ve never thought about that.”

“Me neither. Not until while ago.” He ran his hand over my stomach. “You’d looking so fucking good with my baby in that belly.”

“Jett, we just started dating.”

He shook his head. “Don’t act like we aren’t years ahead of that game, Asia. We have a home together. I take care of you. We could have it all, you and me.”

“We can. And one day, maybe we will. But not so soon.”

He took a chug of the water, finishing it off then went to throw the empty bottle away. “You told Mom that we might start having kids soon.”

“Yeah, when we were lying about being married, Jett.”

He tossed the bottle in the trash then headed back to me. “I know.” He laid down next to me and sighed. “I thought I knew how to slow down with you. I guess I don’t.”

“Learn.” I closed my eyes and tried not to think the man was crazy, but it was hard.

“You know, I know this guy from the club, and he paid a sub to have his baby. They didn’t know each other at all. They had a baby, and only a few months after he was born they got married. They’re like happy as shit now.”

“Great,” I mumbled as sleep was taking me over. “I’m happy for them. Night, Jett. No baby-talk right not. Love you.”

The things billionaires would pay for was staggering. The list just kept growing. Men who’d pay a complete stranger to have their baby? What else would they pay for?

Jett’s lips touched my cheek. “Okay, I get it. I do. You need it all. You need a real commitment from me first.”

I rolled over to face him and managed to open my eyes. “I don’t want a commitment just so you can have a baby. When and if we get to that stage, I want you to ask me to marry you because you can’t stand to live without me.”

“I see.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Well, I’m probably that way now.”

“Probably. See, you don’t know yet, and I don’t either. Time, Jett. We need some time.”

He turned over and closed his eyes. “Fucking time! The root of all evil. Good night. I’ll leave you alone about it.”

I knew I was right about not having a baby. I knew what I was saying was sane, rational, even very smart. But seeing Jett disappointed was hard to take.

There he was, supposed to be relaxed and falling asleep. Instead, his body was rigid, his arms crossed over his chest, his lips forming a hard line. He was anything but relaxed.

Lying next to him, I could feel the tension radiating off him. I hated it.

Easing up to him, I pulled one of his arms around me and laid my head on his broad chest. “I love you.”

“I love you.” He took in a breath, sniffing my hair. “Get some sleep. We have a long ass day tomorrow it seems. I get to meet the parents. That should be weird.”

“Yes, it should. Night.”

He was quiet for a minute. But his body wasn’t relaxed. I wasn’t sure why that was until he whispered, “If you’re still awake just nod if you’ll think about talking about having a baby in the not too distant future.”

What was I supposed to do?

I could act as if I was asleep. He wasn’t sure if I was or not. I could nod, but would that be fair to myself?

My plans didn’t include babies. Not in the near future, anyway. I knew I wanted kids someday. Not that day, or even year. I had another year of school to get through. And now I had to incorporate Jett into that too. Adding a pregnancy and then a baby to that workload would be stupid and really hard.

But I nodded. I nodded because making Jett happy was what I had done since the get-go. I was his purchase, that was what I was supposed to do. Just because we said some words that were supposed to make that fact go away, it hadn’t been erased from my brain.

Do as Jett wants, keep him happy. That’s your job.

But that wasn’t supposed to really be my job any longer. We were dating. A couple, not a Dom and his sub. Yet, there it was, me nodding to make him happy.

And when he sighed and held me tighter, it made me feel great. I’d made him happy.

Good girl.

But I didn’t feel like it was mentally healthy for me to strive to be a good girl. Not if it meant putting my dreams and aspirations to the side to make him or anyone else happy.

I had to do what was right for me. And that was to get through with school and get going on my career before I committed to anything else. A marriage or a baby.

Jett Simmons had some hard facts that would come his way soon. My agenda was important. I had things to do. He was a summer project, meant to fix my financial situation.

It was bad enough I’d fallen in love with the man I was never supposed to. But I wasn’t throwing my life away by handing myself over to the man.

Here you go, Jett. Here’s my body. Do with it as you want. Put a ring on it. Put a baby in it. Anything you want.

He nuzzled me and whispered, “I wish there was a way to show you how much I love you. I wish there was a way for me to fast-forward time to the place that would be perfect for all I want with you. But there’s not. So, all I can do is tell you the words and hope you believe them. We’ve both told lies, but never to each other. I’m never going to let you go. Not unless you make me.”

I tried not to let that sink into my head and affect me. I failed and kissed his chest. “I’ll never make you let me go, Jett. I love you. And I know time is a hard thing to take. Especially when you’ve lived like you’re married. But I don’t want to go out in a blaze of glory. We burn too hot. I don’t want to burn too fast as well.”

He kissed the top of my head. “I know. You’re right. I’m spoiled rotten.”

Maybe he was spoiled. Maybe he was just too used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it. Money could do that to a person.

“Don’t talk like that about yourself. You’re not spoiled.”

“I am, Asia. And I’m bratty, obsessive, compulsive, controlling.”

I hated when he did that. He was so hard on himself. “Sweet, caring, handsome, fun, wonderful, generous.”

“I’m not so generous. Where you’re concerned, I am. I’ve never been that way with anyone else. With you, I’m a better man. I don’t know how you found that guy inside of me. I never knew he was in there. I’ve been self-absorbed, self-serving, and just plain selfish. And I’m sorry for trying to force things to move faster. I’ll try harder not to do that. That’s the selfish man inside of me doing that.”

Looking up at him, I found myself sad. “I don’t care what you say, I know you’re a good man. We’re supposed to be going to sleep you know. This isn’t the time for reflection.”

“Yes, Mom.” He kissed me sweetly on my lips. “I’ll go to sleep now. And even though I know I shouldn’t say this, I will anyway. You’re going to make a great mom. Whenever you decide the time is right for that.”

With a little smile, I laid my head back on his chest. At first, I felt great. I thought we’d made some good strides. Then I felt kind of shitty. Kind of selfish.

I wasn’t thinking like a couple. I was thinking like a single person, the way I always had. His wants, needs, opinions mattered just as much as mine did.

Being a couple was hard to learn how to do. I thought I’d talk to my sisters about it. They’d been married for years. Surely, they’d have some great insight on the subject.

But I couldn’t tell them Jett wanted us to have a baby. Not so soon. They’d freak the fuck out.

I was caught in a rough spot. I needed people to talk to but couldn’t reveal what Jett and I had really done. The things that made us so close so damn fast.

I’d been dead tired and about to fall asleep. Now I was wide awake and thinking I had no one to talk to about any of this.

How’d I gotten myself into a situation that would be so hard to fucking explain without getting some horrible looks and harsh words? And if I said a thing to my family I could add in mandatory therapy.

I’d really screwed myself!

Jett

The drive to Spring and Max’s house was hard for me the next day. Asia’s parents had arrived, I was about to meet them. The thought of looking her father and mother in the eye, knowing I’d bought their daughter, was eating away at me.

“Okay, so we met online, a dating site.” I hit the button to roll the window down. “I need some fresh air.”

“Why are you acting so nervous, Jett?” Asia tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked at me like I was crazy. “It’s just my parents. They’re nice people.”

“Oh, I’m sure they are. And I’m not nice people. I’m a man who purchased their daughter from a fucking BDSM club.” I wiped sweat off my brow.

“They will never know all that. Stop worrying.” She reached into her purse and pulled out some tissues then wiped my forehead. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

Glancing sideways at her, I felt a knot forming in my stomach. “The guilt is getting to me. I can’t seem to stop it.”

I didn’t want to go to that house. I wanted to keep on driving until we got back home. Home, the place where Asia and I could be all alone and not face anyone we didn’t want to. A place we could hide away from it all. A place I felt safe with her.

Why did we meet on circumstances that no one could ever know about? Why did I go looking for a fake wife? Why did I take on a sub? Why was I so damn evil?

“Jett, don’t let guilt get to you. You’ve been so nice. You’re like the least dominating Dom I’ve ever heard of.”

“That’s actually very hurtful to hear. I was a good Dom. I was stern, strict as hell, and I never got emotionally involved with any of my subs or the women at the club I had sessions with.”

“I guess you’ve moved past all that. I suppose you no longer need that since you’ve found love.” She looked out the window and noticed the fact that I was driving right past her sister’s house. “Jett, stop! That’s it right there.”

I put my foot on the brake, slowing to a stop. “Oh.” Backing up, I parked next to the curb, hesitating before getting out of the car. My hands gripped the steering wheel.

Asia reached over, laying her hand on top of mine. “It’s going to be okay, Jett. I promise you, it will.”

The sound of her voice was convincing. The touch of her hand soothed me. The guilt retreated a bit. “I can do this, right? I can look your parents in the eyes. I haven’t ever hurt you. I’ve never made you feel controlled or dominated. I’ve been good to you.”

She nodded. “Yes, you have been very good to me. You can face them. You’ve never hurt me, Jett. You’ve only done nice things for me.”

Guilt bubbled. “I made you lie.”

“I don’t think that’s so bad. You had your reasons for it. And they don’t have to know about all that mess. Here, with my family, you and I are the real versions of ourselves. You can feel free and easy with them. No pretending. Come on. It’ll be fine.”

Nodding, I had to agree with her. We were mostly on the up and up. “Thanks. You’re helpful, baby. Come on then, let’s go inside.”

Once we stepped out of the car, the front door was flung open, and her mother rushed out to greet us. “There’s my baby girl!”

Asia was caught up in her mother’s arms as I waited for their hug to end. Then I was caught up in her mother’s arms. “Hello,” I said as surprise took me over.

“Hello, indeed!” Her mother let me go and held me at arm’s length to look me over. “My goodness, Asia, you caught yourself a winner!”

Asia laughed and stole me away from her mother. “Yes, I have. How’s our new baby doing today, Mom?”

“Great. He’s sleeping.” Her mother followed us inside and closed the door behind us.

A large man with tree trunk arms sat on the sofa. He started to get up, but I quickly stopped him. “Hello, you must be Mr. Jones. I’m Jett Simmons, sir. It’s an honor to meet you and your lovely wife.” I shook his hand and tried not to give off a nervous vibe.

“Jett, nice to meet you.” He nodded at his daughter. “Asia, you look well.”

She smiled and hugged her father. “Daddy, you do too.”

“Asia, can you come here?” her sister called out from her bedroom.

“Coming.” She kissed my cheek and hurried away, leaving me all alone with her parents. People who were looking me all over.

“You must work out,” her mother said.

I took a seat on the chair in the corner. “I do. Every single morning.”

“Did someone teach you how to do that?” her father asked.

“I have a trainer I work with back in Los Angeles. I follow his program.” I crossed my legs and put my hands on my knee, not sure what to talk about.

“Max was a coach,” her mother said then looked at the hallway.

“Yes, he mentioned that yesterday.” I also looked toward the hall, hoping anyone would come out of it and end the awkward conversation I was barely having.

Her father moved around a bit, trying to get comfortable on the old sofa. “I wonder if he could be a trainer.”

“I don’t see why not. If he knows his way around the human body and all of its muscles, he’s a great candidate for the job.” I thought I heard the bedroom door open and keened my head, praying someone was joining us.

Her mother whispered, “You should tell Max about that, Jett. He needs some guidance in the job department. I bet he’d listen to you.”

“Sure, I’ll say something about that.”

Then the door did open, and Asia came out, carrying the baby and making my heart do flips. “He’s awake, Jett. You’ll get to see his eyes.” She came right to me, and I stood up to look at the cute baby.

“Hi there, Ray. It’s nice to see you again.” I ran my finger over his tiny chin as he looked at me with almond shaped, doe-like eyes. “He’s got the Jones’ eyes, I see.”

“He sure does,” her mother agreed.

“He’s a handsome kid,” her father added.

I caught Asia’s eyes as she looked up from her nephew. “He’s the first. All of Bow’s kids look like their father.”

Nuzzling her, I whispered, “I wonder who our kids will look like.”

A blush covered her cheeks, making my heart pound.

Take it slow, Jett!

Asia

“We can go pick up things to bar-b-que, Max. Do you think you could start a fire in the pit in the backyard?” I asked my brother-in-law. Dinner time was approaching, and there was a houseful of people to feed.

“I can do that. Let me grab you guys some cash to buy the food.”

Before he could take two steps, Jett stopped him. “I got it, man. It’s not a problem. How about some brews to go along with that?”

“That’s nice of you. I’d love to toss back a few with you. Hurry back, and I’ll teach you how to make a mean chicken leg.” Max gave Jett a high-five, and it made me smile.

Jett was getting along well with my family. And when he mentioned something about becoming a personal trainer to Max, I was kind of surprised at how excited Max got about the idea.

When we got to the grocery store, Jett pushed the basket while I grabbed things off the shelf. “I like being all domestic with you, Asia. In fact, I like everything we do together. And I like your family too.”

“They sure do like you too, Jett.” I wasn’t lying. My parents thought he was great. So did my sister and Max. Even the baby felt comfortable in his capable arms.

He moved up beside me, bumping my shoulder with his. “It feels natural. Don’t you think?”

I smiled at him and ran my hand over his cheek. “I do.”

“I do.” He looked at me with soft eyes. “I could say that over and over to you, my little Asia.”

I knew what he was getting at. Marriage. A real one.

But I wasn’t going to get into that today. I wanted to have a great time with my family. The next day we’d be heading back home to get ready for his high school reunion that would be in Jersey.

Back to one night of lying. I wasn’t looking forward to it. Then there’d be a wedding that we’d have to lie at too.

In the back of my mind swirled the fact that if we stayed together, we’d have to eventually come out with the truth. But I didn’t want to talk about it yet. I wanted things to settle for us first.

Things were so damn complicated. Maybe too complicated to all work out without things getting very messy. I wasn’t sure how we’d pull things off or how people would perceive us if the truth came out.

I thought maybe a fake divorce followed by us getting back together might work for his family. But we’d always have problems with getting our families together. A thing both sets of parents were keen on.

That was the first thing my mother said to me was that she wanted to meet his parents. And his parents were set on meeting mine. I didn’t know how we were going to handle all that.

Things would have to get messy or worse.

As much as I wanted things to work out, I knew there was a huge chance they wouldn’t. It certainly would be easier to walk away after the last function and call it quits. The lie was too big to overcome.

My heart, the naïve thing it was, told me anything could be overcome. The truth will set you free.

That may be so, but that freedom would come at a great cost. No one would look at Jett or me the same way again.

As we stood in the checkout line, Jett ran his arms around me, kissing the side of my head. “I think I might like to do something nice for your sister and her little family, Asia. Do you think giving them a house would be too much?”

I choked on the laugh the came out of me. “Jett, that’s too much!”

He nodded. “Yeah, I was afraid you’d say that. But I feel like I could do something to help them get out of the hole they’re in. I’m not the kind of person that generally thinks about things like that.”

“My family doesn’t need you to come in and start throwing money around.” I was incensed. “Being poor isn’t as bad as it seems to be.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” He let me go and started to unload the basket onto the conveyor belt. “I’ll just leave things alone. I’m sorry.”

I was fuming mad and not sure why that was exactly. Jett had money, my family didn’t. He was being nice. So why was I so mad? And who was I to tell him he couldn’t do something he wanted to?

But I didn’t utter one word. I held my tongue. It was far too complicated to talk about or understand. At the simplest form, I didn’t want Jett too intertwined with my family. I didn’t know what would happen with us after all.

Buying one sister, a house, meant he’d soon buy one for my other sister. Mom and Dad would get one too, and that would leave me beholden to the man forever.

No, it was best that I let that lie right where it had fallen. He didn’t need to buy any member of my family anything. That was that.

As we loaded the groceries into the car, I noticed how quiet Jett had become. It made me feel bad. “Hey, you know I love you, right?”

He nodded and closed the trunk. “Yeah. You know I didn’t mean to overstep any line you had drawn, right?”

With a light laugh, I got into the car, and he did too. “It was a line I didn’t know I had. But it’s there. It is most definitely there.”

“Okay.” He started the car. “No big gifts for your family. Got it.”

I nodded as he pulled away from the parking lot and headed back. Maybe I was wrong, but the decision felt right. Getting Jett too involved with my family wasn’t the right thing to do.

Things were just too up in the air to start things like that.

Jett

Driving to Maplewood, New Jersey, I held Asia’s hand. Back to the lying, and not feeling good about it. The sun was hanging low in the sky as I drove up to the place we called home before we struck it rich. A modest two bedroom, wood frame home that was once painted white was now bright yellow. “That’s it, Asia. That’s where I grew up.”

“Wow. From that to what you have now. Crazy, huh?” She shook her head as she looked at the small home. “And all because your mother came up with a great recipe and your dad figured out how to sell it. The American dream.”

The memories the old house stirred were filling my head. Soon, I’d be seeing people I grew up with. People who knew me before I was the man I became.

I had dressed down, not wanting to attract any attention to my financial status. That night I wanted to be plain old Jett from down the street.

Asia ran her hand over my arm. “Feeling a bit melancholy?”

The engagement ring and wedding band on her finger took my attention. I took her hand and kissed those rings. “I am. And I feel like things need to change. I’m a fake, Asia. A big fat phony.”

She looked at the rings too and sighed. “If I knew what to do, I’d tell you. But I don’t. Not without making us look like liars.”

“Which I am. You’re not one. I made you do it.” I looked down as I shook my head.

I needed to get out it all. But no idea that I’d come up with would work without leaving me in another boat full of lies or with egg on my face.

As hard as it was to think about, the only thing that would work was my original plan. A fake divorce. That would mean leaving Asia alone for a period of time. A thing I didn’t’ want to do.

As I pulled up at my old high school gym, I saw people walking into the double doors that I barely recognized. “Fuck, we’re all so old.”

“It’s only been ten years, Jett. You guys are still young. Come on. I can’t wait to meet your old friends. I bet they’ve got all kinds of stories to tell on you.” Asia got out of the car, looking excited.

I got out, feeling depressed.

We walked up to the doors, hand in hand as I prepared myself for what was to come. A girl I didn’t recognize but saw her name tag said Julie, was sitting at a small desk. “Hi, Jett. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. And this is your wife, I see. Sign in and fill out your names on the tags there and put them on your shirt, like I’ve done.”

“Hi, Julie. How are you?” I had no idea who the hell she was. But I knew I had gone to school with her. I guess I was pretty self-absorbed back then too.

After putting on our name tags, we headed through the next set of doors and found a bunch of people standing around in small groups. “Wow, so this is what a high school reunion is really like.” Asia looked around at everyone. “Kind of depressing how much it’s like when you were in high school, huh? Everyone is in their old cliques.”

And they were too. My little group was gathered around the punch table. “Come on. That’s mine over there, sipping punch that’s bound to be spiked already.” I took Asia by the hand and led her to meet my old friends.

“Hey, Jett!” the sound of a familiar female voice called out.

“Fuck,” I muttered then turned around. “Sandy.”

My old girlfriend was making her way to me. She’d put on the pounds and was followed by a man who was already going bald. “And she is?” Asia whispered.

“My high school girlfriend.”

“Oh, wow!”

“Yeah.”

Sandy was all smiles as she came up to me, demanding a hug and leaving a kiss on my cheek. “Oh, Jett, you look so good.”

“You too, Sandy.” With all the lies I’d be telling that night, what would one more hurt?

“Thanks. This is my husband, Doug. And who’s this?”

I put my arm around Asia. “This is Asia, my wife.”

Asia gave them nods. “Nice to meet you, Sandy, Doug.”

Sandy’s face fell. “I hadn’t heard you got married. When did this happen?”

“At the beginning of summer.” I looked past her and her hubby to see my friends making goofy signs at me. I guess they thought my old girlfriend coming up to me was amusing.

Juveniles.

“Oh, so you two are newlyweds then?” Sandy asked as she smiled. “Well, congrats you guys. Doug and I’ve been married for years. I met him right after high school. We have four kids.” She patted Doug on the back as if he’d done a great job at getting her knocked up so many times. “We just love our family. Doug, take out your cell, show Jett our kids.”

The dutiful husband took out his phone and handed it to me. “Dave, Donald, Davin, and Darla. That’s them there.”

I looked the photo over then handed him his phone back. “Great looking kids you two have there.” I lifted my chin in gesture to my group. “Looks like my buds are calling me. Glad to see you and glad things are going great for you, Sandy.”

“You too, Jett. Nice to meet you, Asia.”

Walking away, I felt relief that was over. “She’s nice.” Asia looked back over her shoulder at Sandy. “What happened to end it?”

“She tried to trap me into marriage by poking holes in my condoms.”

“Oh, shit!” Asia laughed. “Wow. People really do that?”

“She did. Lucky for me I caught on to what she’d done before anything happened that would’ve ruined my life.” I got to the guys I called friends what seemed like a hundred years ago. “Hey, way to help a man out, guys.”

“What?” Josh asked as he laughed. “Sandy ambush you, bro?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I took the punch he handed me as another old friend patted me on the back. “Hey, Todd. How’re things?”

“Like always. They’re going along as good as they can. And you? Is this your wife?” Todd handed her a drink too.

“Oh, yeah. Asia, these are my oldest friends. That’s Josh, this is Todd, those two over there are Larry and Clyde. Guys, meet Asia.”

She smiled at them all. “I bet you have great stories about this guy here. I’m up to hear them all.”

Josh pulled his wife away from the punch bowl and her chatting with the other wives. “This is Tammy, Asia. My wife. She’s been trying to set Jett up for years. But she never came up with anyone as pretty as you are.”

Tammy shook Asia’s hand. “It’s great to meet you, Asia. I don’t know how you managed to get this guy to marry you, but you’re one crafty woman. I couldn’t even get him to date, anyone.”

“Yes, he’s very picky.” Asia ran her arm around me, and I ran mine around her then kissed her cheek.

“I am picky. When I found her, I scooped her up and made her my wife as quickly as she’d let me.”

Tammy nodded. “Any plans for kids yet?”

“Yes,” I said.

“No,” Asia said.

Everyone laughed, except me. I wanted a baby. I wanted one with Asia so bad it was nearly all I could think about. And she had shut me down about it. I wasn’t used to being shut down. I didn’t like it.

Josh showed me pictures of his two kids and glowed with pride. The other guys all had kids too. I was the only one with a fake wife and no kids. I was pathetic.

The lights went low, and music began to play. I swept Asia into the middle of the floor to dance with her and get away from the others. “You didn’t have to be so honest about the kid thing, Asia.”

“Well, I’m sorry, it just kind of blurted out of me.”

“Don’t you see how they all have wives and families and I have nothing? It’s embarrassing. Humiliating.”

“You’re being dramatic. I’m sure some of the people here aren’t married with kids. There’s no rush to do all that, Jett.”

“If there’s not then why do I feel like there is? Why do I feel as if I’ve been doing shit wrong my whole life? Now, I’ve missed out on things my friends have already experienced?”

“You’ll get those experiences too, one day.” She leaned her head on my shoulder. “Time Jett, remember?”

“Oh yes, how can I forget about the elusive time that you want so much of.”

I was mad. Hurt. And feeling done.

With what, I didn’t know. But I felt like I wanted things to be done. One way or another, I wanted things to end. The lie, the love, something needed to stop.

Her hand moved to cup the back of my neck as she looked into my eyes. “We have one more thing to get through, Jett. Then you and I will sit down and figure out what we’re going to do.”

I had no idea when I lost all control. But I had lost it. Asia was telling me how things were going to be. I was going through the damn motions.

“Asia, I don’t like this.”

“Me neither.”

“No, I mean I don’t like you acting as if you’re in charge here. I’m still in charge.” I shouldn’t have even had to tell her that. “We still have a contract.”

“Yes, we do. And I’m doing what you want me to.”

A force was pushing me that I seemed unable to control. I took her out of the gym, away from everyone. Leading her out to the football field, I leaned her against the fence that surrounded it. “I might want you to get into another contract with me. One with more stipulations. This freedom thing isn’t setting well with me. I want you, Asia. It would mean more money for you if you agreed to one.”

Her soft hands caressed my face as she looked at me with love in her eyes. “Jett, I’m not about to get into any more contracts with you or anyone ever again. You’ve taught me that I’m not the kind of woman who can live that way. I don’t want any more of your money. I want to be with you, but I want to be free. Free to be with you on our terms. Not some contract’s terms. Do you understand?”

I did understand. I knew then and there, she was perfect for me.

I didn’t realize it myself until she gave me the right answer. Asia wasn’t using me for my money. She wanted my heart, and that’s all she wanted.

Holding her chin, I ran my thumb over her lips. “Asia, you’re the one, baby. You’re her.”

She was perfect for me. I knew I’d do everything I could to make her mine in name. She didn’t stand a chance of not becoming Mrs. Jett Simmons for real.

Asia

The night had been long, full of funny stories about Jett and his friends. I felt like I knew Jett a hell of a lot better after meeting the people he called friends in his younger days. I also felt like Jett wanted to move forward with me a lot faster than I thought was smart.

Another thing I could blame on the fake marriage.

As we made the ride back home the next day, Jett was in a rambunctious mood. “If I took you to the airport and we took off to Los Vegas what would you think?”

“I’m not doing that today, Jett.”

He looked at me as he pulled up to a stop light. “You know, there are tons of women who’d jump at the chance to marry a handsome billionaire.”

“I do know that.” I ran my hand over his shoulder. “But you don’t love any of them. You love me. And I want to go slow.” My cell rang, and I saw my mother’s name on the screen. “It’s Mom.” I swiped the screen. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hey, baby girl Guess where your father and I happen to be?”

“Where?”

“Harrison. We thought we’d stop by.”

“Oh, I see.” I looked at Jett, and he just smiled.

“Tell them we’ll be home in about thirty minutes and text them the address.”

I could tell he was happy about their visit. “Mom, I’ll text you the address. Give us a half hour to get home.”

“Sure thing. Bye.”

I put my cell down and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I don’t like this.”

“What? Your parents stopping by. I love it. It means they feel comfortable about us. Don’t you think so?” He ran his hand over my knee.

“And now they’ll know how much money you have and how you’ve bought me a car and expensive clothes. Jet, this is bad.”

I couldn’t see how he didn’t understand that. There’d be tons of questions, and all of our answers would have to be made up. On the fly too. We’d have to work to keep our answers the same.

“It’s okay, baby. Just tell them the truth about things. I asked you to move in. I gave you a car to drive and some clothes to wear. You don’t have to tell them the house is yours.” He gave my leg a pat, much like one would do to a dog.

Maybe he was right. Maybe they wouldn’t freak out too much. We already said we were spending the summer together. At least part of it was out there. But I had no idea how they’d react to Jett being filthy rich and me leaving all that out.

They didn’t know we went to South Dakota in a private jet. The car Jett rented was just a typical small car, nothing fancy. We wore shorts and t-shirts, nothing upscale. I knew they’d be shocked.

When they asked Jett what he did for a living, he downplayed it by saying he was in management. That might come off as lying to my parents. I guess we’d soon find out because traffic was light for once and we were nearly home.

“My stomach hurts,” I whined.

“It’ll be okay.” Jett chuckled. “If I’m nervous, you’re not and vice versa. That’s funny.”

“Nothing is funny about how badly my stomach is hurting. I don’t know if it’s nerves or that damn jungle juice punch we drank last night, but it’s cramping pretty badly.” I held my poor tummy all the rest of the way home. I had to make a mad dash to the first bathroom, once we got there.

Puking my guts up had me thinking it had to be the punch, not nerves. I rinsed out my mouth and went to find Jett putting our bags in the bedroom. “Your friends poisoned me.”

“Here, lie down, baby.” He came to me and made me lean on him as he took me to the bed. “Did you have a headache that you didn’t tell me about? You know, signs of a hangover?”

“No. It just hit me all of a sudden. My stomach doesn’t hurt anymore. I feel a little weak, but other than that, the cramping is gone.” I ran my hand over my stomach. “Maybe I just had to get it out of me.”

“I guess so. I’ll go get you some ginger ale. That might help.” He walked away, and I sat up as the bell to the gate rang. He smiled at me. “They’re here.”

I sighed then got up. No time to rest and get back to feeling a hundred percent, I guessed. “Crap.”

Jett ran his arm around me. “That’s no way to feel about your parents coming over. Should I call in? You know, have some lunch delivered?”

“I guess so.”

“I’ll do that while you entertain them. Show them all around.” Jett gave my shoulders a squeeze. “Invite them to stay over tonight.”

“Are you sure about all that?” I shook my head.

“Of course I’m sure. I want them to feel at home here.” We walked to the keypad in the living room, and he punched in the code to the gate then opened the front door.

We stood there, waiting to see my parents old Buick come up the drive. “If they freak out, then I’ll tell them that’s why we didn’t tell them that you’re rich. There, I feel better about it all now.”

“Good.” He hugged me tight and then his arms went loose. “Fuck me. It’s my parents.”

Right behind the BMW Jett’s parents were in was my father’s old car. “Fuck me! Jett, what the fuck are we going to do?”

“All that comes to mind is, run.”

“Why the fuck did we come to the door? We could’ve hidden inside from them. We’re totally fucked.” I couldn’t take in any air. My heart had stopped beating.

I looked at my hand and realized we still had on our wedding bands. There was only one thing to do. It would be hard to do, but we had no choice.

There wasn’t time to think, to plan, to hightail it out of there and run to Canada where they’d never find us. So I took a deep breath and waved with a happy smile on my face. Then I took Jett’s hand in mine and stepped off the first step. “Follow my lead, Jett.”

“Okay. Shit, I hope you have something great planned.”

Jett

Each step we took toward the people who knew different stories was excruciating. My ears were ringing, my gut was twisting, and I couldn’t think at all. But it seemed Asia could.

She took my hand and led the way as well as the plan that came into her head at record speed. My parents got out of the back of the car. “Hi, OMG! What a surprise, you guys.” Asia let my hand go and hugged my mother. “Okay, I have a confession to make.”

My knees went weak.

What was she doing?

Mom’s brows went up. “About what, dear?”

“The people behind you guys are my parents. And I made Jett lie for me. I’m really sorry.” Asia held my mother’s hands. “I know we told you that they knew about our marriage. They don’t know a thing about it. I’ve been too afraid to tell them.”

Mom smiled. It had worked. My mother loved being in the know about things. “I understand, perfectly. It was rushed and quite unexpected.”

“Thank you for understanding. It means the world to me.”

I was relieved and could finally take a breath. I watched Asia’s parents get out of their car and jogged up to greet them. “Hi there. We have a couple of surprise guests today. My parents dropped in as well. You’ll all get to meet, the way you wanted.”

Asia brought my parents along with her to make the introductions. And I had to hand it to her parents, they weren’t freaking out about the lavish home. Her mother looked around. “This is very nice, Jett. You’ve done well for yourself, haven’t you?”

“Well, my parents can give you the run down on why we’ve become successful.” I turned to take Asia’s hand as she came up beside me.

She grabbed my right hand with her left and held up our clasped hands. Her rings caught the sun, glistening and making me nearly choke. Then she said something that made me feel lightheaded. “Okay, we’re busted. Mom, Dad, Jett wanted to tell you guys right away, but I wouldn’t let him. I was afraid of how you’d react. He and I were married In Vegas on the first of June.”

“Asia,” I hissed. “No.”

She looked at me with a smile. “It’s okay, Jett. I’m ready to let them in on our secret. No more lies will come out of me.”

I looked from her to her parents to find them slack-jawed and wide-eyed. Her father cleared his throat and looked at my father. “Did you know about this?”

My parents nodded, and Asia’s looked at one another. Her mother nodded. “Okay, okay. You were right, Asia. We most likely would’ve overreacted.” She fanned herself.

Moving quickly, I headed toward the house. “Come inside. Sit down, I’ll get you something to drink. I know you must be stunned.”

They were probably just about as stunned as I was. I couldn’t believe what Asia had done for me. It was too much.

Asia made sure everyone got inside as I went to grab some wine and hard liquor. I needed a drink and fast.

Gulping down a glass of Scotch, I refilled it then took the wine and some glasses to the den where Asia had settled everyone. I found Asia showing her parents the wedding rings and smiling away as she told them that she also lied about how we met, a thing she also made me do. “You see, I’d snuck away with Joy to Los Angeles. I didn’t want you guys to know I did that. And I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t think about what I was doing. I don’t know why I thought the truth would never catch up to me, but I didn’t. Can you guys ever forgive me?”

Her father looked at me with a frown. “In the future, could you please help our daughter to be more honest with us?”

I fell on the sofa and nodded as I took another drink. The guilt was trying to take over. I wanted to tell everyone it was me who was the huge lair. Asia was an innocent victim in my scam.

But she’d thrown herself on the sword, so to speak. How could I turn her virtuous sacrifice into just another pack of lies?

I couldn’t do that to her. But I’d do anything to make things up to her. Anything at all.

The hard part was figuring out what I’d need to do to rid myself of the tremendous guilt. Asia was taking the blame for everything when she wasn’t to blame for one damn thing.

I gulped my drink down. “I’m going to go call in something for lunch.”

“That sounds fantastic, son.” Mom waved at me as I left the room full of cheerful people. I walked to the kitchen to find the take out menus we’d accumulated since moving in.

Pulling up a barstool at the island, I looked through the things then felt a warm hand on my back. “You okay?”

I turned around and saw Asia’s sweet face. “You shouldn’t have. I could’ve just told the truth.”

She shook her head. “No, I couldn’t let you do that. My way was easier. We’ll figure things out later. For now, we’re back to being fake married in everyone’s eyes. If I’d never gone to South Dakota, we’d never have been in this situation. I had to do it. I had to keep up our deal.”

“I’m sorry, Asia. I truly am. Is there anything I can do for you? I’ll do anything at all that you want. You want a beach house in Malibu? I happen to have one of those. It’s yours, baby.”

She ran her arms around me and rubbed her nose against mine. “All I want is your love, Jett. That’s all I’ll ever need.”

“I could really make you my wife.” I held my breath, hoping she’d agree.

“No.”

With one word, she shut me down again. “Okay. I won’t argue with you about that. I won’t argue with you about a thing. Not after what you’ve done for me. I know that wasn’t easy.”

“Well, it wasn’t that hard.”

She wasn’t fooling me. I knew she wasn’t a liar. I knew she would never intentionally tell her family lies. I’d made that happen. Now Asia wasn’t only lying to strangers she never had to have anything to do with again if she didn’t want to. Now she was lying to the people who’d always be in her life.

I’d taken her down a bad road that was leading us both into sinful territory. I was making her credibility something people would question if the truth ever came out.

But she didn’t seem to care at that moment. She kissed me and told me everything would be alright. Things would work out. And I believed her.

Don’t ask me how I did. The web of lies I had going on just kept getting thicker. Stickier. Trapping us in a situation.

I didn’t want to feel trapped, and I definitely didn’t want Asia to feel that way. I wanted our love to be free. But I was beginning to wonder if it would ever be that way.

“Asia, if I could go all the way back to the first time I saw your sweet face on that website and talk to you, I’d change so many things.” I kissed her back.

She leaned her head against mine. “Hindsight is twenty, twenty, people say. What’s done is done. We can’t change a thing we’ve done.”

“I feel like we’re stuck.”

She nodded. “Yeah. It’s kind of like the glue that will hold us together, or it might just muck everything up. I guess we’ll find out with time which that is.”

Mom came into the kitchen and gave a quick clap to let us know she was there. “Hey, we had a great idea. Let’s all go out and eat. Your Dad and I are treating. And I wanted to remind you that you need to get with our human resource department and get Asia on your insurance plan. Have you taken her to the banks to get on your accounts? You’ll need to do all that too. As your wife, she needs that protection. If something happens to you, she’ll have a hell of a time getting through all that paperwork. You’re married now. You have lots to make sure gets done.”

I looked at Asia, and she smiled at me then at my mother. “We’ll have to get busy with that then, won’t we?”

It became crystal clear. I hadn’t thought anything through at all. Maybe I wasn’t as smart as I’d always thought I was.

It seemed so simple. One little lie would keep me from being hassled this summer about finding a girl and getting serious.

Boy, that one went south on me!

Asia

So I’d done it. I’d stomped right in and told my family a bunch of crap just to make sure I kept up the sham for Jett. He didn’t ask me to. I knew he’d never ask me to do a thing like that.

But it was there, deep inside of me.

Keep Jett happy.

The money wasn’t the issue. Not the driving force that had me making that drastic decision. It was my love for him that forced me to do a thing I’d never even considered doing.

As we drove back from lunch, our parents all heading to their own homes, Jett and I held hands. My stomach was full of the Italian food we’d eaten. I was sleepy and in a daze.

Jett would marry me if I wanted. So why wasn’t I hopping on that as fast as I could?

Resting my head on the headrest, I turned to look at the gorgeous man who was driving. Jett was a masterpiece of a man. His dark hair, hanging in silky waves to his broad shoulders. A pair of Ray Ban aviators made him look hot and sexy. He was it. The complete package.

Was I mental or something?

I mean, if I was to go back to college and show my friends a picture of this man and told them, yeah he asked me to marry him, and I was like, no way, dude. They’d call the 911 and tell them I was in need of a brain transplant, STAT.

It whirled around in my head and came out of my mouth, “Jett, marriage is sacred to me. Like, I don’t ever want to get a divorce. My Aunt Shirley got a divorce. She and her husband had three kids, a dog, and a pet goat. When their marriage ended, the whole lot of them went downhill. The house, goat, and dog, vanished. The kids turned into delinquents. My aunt became a bit of a tramp, and my uncle wasn’t spoken about or seen again.”

“It is scary. And just so you know, I don’t take it lightly either. But I’m not going to ask you about that for a while. I respect the hell out of what you did for me today. I wouldn’t dare bother you about anything.” He gave me a smile. “You’ve gone above and beyond for me. Way past anything a typical sub would do. I may not have put you through the typical tests one puts a sub through, but I’ve tested your limits plenty. You’ve surpassed all of my expectations. And sexually, well you know you rock me, baby.”

So there it was, he wasn’t going to ask me to marry him for a while. I should’ve felt great. Relieved.

If that was how I was supposed to feel then why did I have an empty spot inside me that was growing by leaps and bounds? And it happened so suddenly.

The feelings I was having told me one thing. I was being bratty.

At first, I was all, no Jett, I don’t want to get married. We need time.

Then he tells me he’ll give me time and I’m all, what?

I felt like an idiot for getting what I had asked for and not wanting what I got.

I kept quiet, not wanting to let Jett in on the emotional rollercoaster I was on. He held my hand all the way home and into the house. It was early, yet I was feeling tired for some reason. All the stress, I guessed.

“Hey, wanna take a late nap with me?” I asked him.

“I’m not tired in the least.” He ran his arm around my shoulder. “But I could watch some television and hold you while you get some rest if you’d like.”

“Nah, I want some peace and quiet. I’ll go up to our room, and you can watch television in the media room down stairs.”

With a kiss, we parted ways, and I went to bed. I barely laid my head on the pillow before I was in a deep sleep.

I had no idea how much time had passed before I was woken up by a sharp pain in my stomach. Rushing to the bathroom, I blew chunks in the toilet. A cold sweat broke out all over me, and I was shaking as I hugged the toilet.

I managed to pull myself together as I washed my face, cooling myself down. In the mirror, I saw my reflection. I had dark circles under my eyes, even though I’d just gotten some sleep. Was I coming down with a virus?

Little by little, the nausea went away, and I felt perfectly fine. Great, actually.

Making my way to the media room, I found Jett lounging on the sofa. He was watching sports and drinking a beer. “Hey, you.”

He turned to look at me. “Hey, baby. You get your nap?”

I sat down next to him and nodded. “Yeah. I feel much better.” I decided to leave out the part about getting sick again. I didn’t want him to get concerned. “So, basketball, huh? You like sports?”

“Ah, I can take them or leave them. Not a crazy fan of any one team. I just like to watch the games now and then so I can keep up with things. You wanna do something?”

I was actually feeling quite horny but wasn’t sure how to approach him with that. “Wanna take a swim?”

“Sure. Let’s go change.” He got up and took my hand, but I pulled him back.

“Wanna skinny dip?”

He smiled at me and nodded. “With you, anytime.”

Quickly, we went out to the pool and ditched our clothes then jumped into the cool water. I felt free as we swam around each other in circles. I made sure to tease him, staying just out of his reach.

He made a quick grab for me, and I let him catch me. “Oh, no,” I giggled. “What will you do with me now?”

His sea green eyes danced. “Anything I damn well want to.”

Desire shot through me like a lightning bolt. “I am yours.”

Pressing me against the side of the pool, I ran my legs around him, urging him to enter me. He did as I wanted, giving me the long, thick part of him that I was craving.

Sparks shot through me as I moaned and leaned my head on his shoulder as he moved me. Connected to him was the best feeling I ever had. Somehow, with him in that way, I felt more alive than I ever had. Each and every time we made love, it just got deeper and deeper, what I felt for him.

His kiss sent me spiraling down, unaware of anything but how his body felt, moving with mine. It was blissfully slow and steady and when the wave inside me crested, I moaned, “Jett, I love you so much.” Then the wave crashed, and he groaned as he released too.

“Baby, I love you too.”

We were still for a while, just holding one another. I rested my head on his shoulder as he ran his fingers lightly over my back. We didn’t need to say a thing to convey what we felt for each other. It was all there in our bodies. It was then that I knew I’d kill for the man. I’d do anything in the world for him. So what was I waiting for?

“Jett?”

“Yeah, baby?”

I pulled back to look at him, gazing into his eyes. “Do you really want to marry me?”

He pressed his finger to my lips. “Hush. I know I’ve been pushy about that. I know that you’ll do anything I want. And I don’t want you to marry me just because I want it. I’d like you to want it too. As a matter of fact, I don’t want to marry you right now. Not because I don’t love you. I love you more than I knew I could love anyone. But because I’ve seen that you are completely selfless where I’m concerned.”

All I could do was nod and rest my head on his shoulder again. He no longer wanted to marry me. I had no idea when he’d want to or if he’d want to.

Maybe my selfless act was a bad thing for us. Maybe I was giving too much of myself to him. I wasn’t sure if I’d done the right thing. But it was done. I was in as deep as he was in the fake marriage.

There was a niggling notion in the back of my mind. One that said the fake marriage and the tower of lies would crumble, leaving us in the rubble of it all.

A tear slipped out of my eye as I held Jett tight in my arms, never wanting to let him go. Maybe if I just held on, things would never end. Nothing would change. He and I would become just like the other statues that highlighted our large yard. Frozen in time, the lovers who were doomed if they made any movements.

Like all things, that moment had to end. “I think we should think about eating dinner, Asia. What do you say to Chinese?”

My stomach growled at the thought, and he moved me in his arms, taking me out of the water. “I think my tummy is saying, yes.”

He chuckled as he grabbed a couple of towels and handed one to me. I wrapped it around me and followed him inside. All the while watching him as he strode along in front of me. And all the while wondering if I’d done the right thing.

But what else could we have done in the situation?

I had no idea what the answer to that was. I also had no idea what we’d do to make things legitimate. It seemed neither of us had an answer for that question.

Jett

As I watched Asia sleep the night before the wedding that would’ve been our last social occasion together, I felt that guilt that had come to be my constant companion. It moved like hot lava through me. Letting me know I had taken an innocent young woman and morphed her into something else. Something I didn’t want her to be.

Asia had become my fierce protector. Which sounds like a good thing, until you really think about it. She would hurt herself just to save me. I didn’t want her to do that.

I was a man who should be facing his mistakes and dealing with them. Not hiding behind lies and a girl to protect myself from feeling shame.

I needed to feel ashamed of what I’d done. I deserved to feel that ominous weight. I’d done wrong. I’d taken a person, made them lie for me to everyone, including her own family. And what was the absolute worst, she did it one her own to save my sorry ass.

Asia deserved a good man. And I wasn’t a good man. I was bad. I supposed I’d always be bad. Morally unsound, mentally incapable of changing.

Our time was limited. Even though we loved each other with everything we had in us, it had to end. I wasn’t good for her.

I knew she’d never agree to breaking up. She’d cry, demand that I stop being crazy. And most likely convince me that we could figure a way out of the lies and bring what was real between us out into the open.

But I knew that people would wonder why she did it. Because I would wonder that too. That’s when the whole Dom/sub contract thing would come out, ruining Asia’s life for good.

No one would look at her the same way again. Her family were good people. They’d never understand why she did such a thing. And they’d look at me like the dirt-bag I was. And they’d be right to think of me in that way.

Money is why Asia came to me, and she’d have plenty. She’d have a house, a car, a closet full of expensive clothes. She’d be upset by my leaving, but she’d get over it.

Eventually.

And I would too, wouldn’t I?

I was doing it out of my immense love for her after all. It was the only selfless thing I’d ever do. But it did nag at me that she’d be hurt by my selfless act.

But she’d be hurt if the truth about us came out too.

Asia was going to be hurt no matter what happened. She was a casualty in every way. I’d wreck her life any way I went.

I’d never felt more alone in the world. I’d never felt so sad and depressed while feeling so much love it hurt. It was the oddest of times and feelings.

Asia stirred, opened her eyes and found me looking down at her. “Jett, what in the world are you doing?”

“Just looking at how beautiful you are when you’re sleeping peacefully.” I pushed her hair off her face and kissed her cheek. “So, tomorrow is the last of the fake marriage. I’m just mulling over how I feel about that.”

“It can’t be the last of it. We’ll have to figure something out. Our families think we’re married too. Don’t worry about it. Just go to sleep. When the time is right, one of us will come up with an idea that’ll work. Have faith. I do.” She snuggled down under the blanket and closed her eyes.

Should I say something to give her a hint as to what I had figured out about fixing the fake marriage problem?

She looked peaceful again, and I knew I couldn’t tell her a thing. If she had any idea about what I was planning, she’d fight me like a badger. That was one of the best things about Asia. She wasn’t afraid of a fight.

But I wasn’t going to have a fight over what I knew was the right thing to do by her. I told her from the very beginning that I’d do right by her and I meant to keep my word.

Her breathing was steady, she had fallen back to sleep. I knew I should be getting some rest too, but I couldn’t stop looking at her. I’d leave her alone the very next night if things went the way I thought they would.

She’d wake up alone and find my note. The one I’d leave her to explain to our families what had happened to me. The one that would set her free from all these lies.

Perhaps one day in the distant future I could come back to see if things could blossom between us again. But I wasn’t sure about that. What I would do would hurt her to the core. I knew that.

That was a weight I’d have to take on. She was worth that. I was carrying around guilt anyway, why should I get to live life without any weight of that on my shoulders?

Asia didn’t need me in her life. I would just be a reminder of when she walked on the dark side for a while. She’d be better off without me.

No, I’d walk away and never come back. That would be the right thing to do. Leave her for good. It would be better that way.

Settling my head on the pillow, I closed my eyes, willing myself not to think about it anymore. I’d never leave if I thought about it too much. And I had to leave. For Asia’s sake, I had to do it.

Just as I got my mind to shut up, Asia threw the blankets off her and bolted to the bathroom. I got up and followed her, finding her with her head in the toilet, puking her guts up. “Baby?” I held her hair back as I kneeled beside her.

She wretched over and over, getting rid of everything that was in her stomach. Then she moaned and sat on the floor with her face in her hands. “God, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Jett.”

I got up and grabbed her a wet washcloth. Then I picked her up and sat her on top of the vanity. Wiping her face with the cool cloth, I felt her shaking.

Neither of us had a thing on as we slept naked each night. I picked her up and took her to bed, covering her up and running my hand over her forehead. “You don’t have a fever. You didn’t say your stomach was hurting.”

“It just hit me. I was fast asleep, then I was up and running. That’s the third time today.”

“I’ll take you to the doctor tomorrow. I’ll let my family know we won’t be going to the wedding.”

“Jett, no. I’ll be alright. It’s probably a little stomach bug. You know a twenty-four-hour thing. Just get back into bed. I’ll be better by the morning. You’ll see.”

I got back into bed, unsure that it was a stomach bug that was causing her to be fine one moment and throwing up the next. Something was wrong, and I was pretty sure I knew what it was.

Stress.

The stress of lying to her family was too much for her. Her brain thought she could handle it. Her body was rejecting it.

I could see it clear as day even if she couldn’t. The lies were getting to her, making her sick.

I had to leave. I wasn’t healthy for her. Not in any way.

But I held her that night. For the rest of the night, I clung to her and wished like hell there was another way to make things right. I fell asleep with no other idea in my head.

I had to go. I owed it to her.

Asia

In the month of August, I’d thrown up more than I had in my entire life. Much of the time, Jett knew nothing about it. I didn’t want him to worry about me.

I was pretty sure it was stress-related. I thought all the time about what we could do to make things right. It was always there, knocking at my brain.

If I’d been a liar my whole life, I think that would’ve helped me to deal with what I’d done. Lies apparently did not sit well with me. Hence the vomiting.

Jett was being bothersome, nagging me to go to the doctor. We had one more wedding to go to, and I wasn’t about to mess that up for him. I promised I’d go the next day if I got sick any more.

I had a couple bouts of nausea throughout the day, but nothing too bad. Maybe with the last wedding to attend, the stress would ease up. I hoped so anyway.

The fact was that I wanted to talk to Jett about really getting married. Wouldn’t that end all our problems?

We could simply go to Vegas and do it for real, and then no one had to know anything else. If Jett would agree, I thought the stress would vanish.

I hoped it would, and I hoped he’d agree. His notion of me wanting to marry him only because it was something he wanted and I wanted to please him, was stupid.

I loved the man!

I loved Jett more than I knew was possible. And I did want to marry him. The main reason was love. The other reason was to get the lie over with. We’d be married, and all that nonsense of a fake marriage would be over.

There was one easy fix. The hard part was getting Jett to accept the easy fix.

It was crazy, the man had wanted to marry me, and I had to be bullheaded about it. Then I want to get married, and he got stubborn about it.

It was funny, really. Only it was time for the joke to be over and for us to take the bull by the horns and take charge of the situation.

Stop the lie by really getting married.

It was the only way to go. The only thing in my way of fixing it all was Jett. Now how would I get him to see reason.

Jett

Our last social function was at hand. My cousin, Felicity and her fiancé, Ron had put on a fancy wedding at The Plaza Hotel in New York. My parents insisted we all get rooms there and stay the night. It trumped my plans for leaving that night.

I’d get one more night with Asia. That was both good and bad. Every minute I spent with her made it that much harder for me to leave. Doing the right thing was getting harder and harder to do.

The damn wedding wasn’t making things any easier, either. Holding Asia’s hand, we watched the bride go to meet her groom, and my heart ached that Asia and I’d never get that moment.

She gave my hand a squeeze. “She looks amazing.”

I leaned in to whisper. “You’d look better.”

Taking her eyes off my cousin to look at me, she smiled. I couldn’t take my eyes off hers. Our connection was deep and true. And I was a fool for what I’d done. But nothing could change it.

The music stopped, and we all sat back down. I ran my arm around Asia. She rested her head on my shoulder, and we watched the rest of the wedding play out.

There was a dinner that was held elsewhere then it would be back to The Plaza for the reception. Asia and I rode with my parents in their limo to that part of the event. Mom chatted away after we all got into the car, “Wasn’t that lovely? How I wish we could’ve done something like that for you two.”

Asia sighed. “As lovely as that was, I’d never want anything that large anyway. All this seems like a lot of trouble to go through to me.”

I wrapped my arm around her and kissed the side of her head. “I agree. I think it would’ve been nice to have had our families with us when we got married, but no one else.”

“Yes, keeping it informal and small would’ve been good.” Asia leaned her head on my shoulder. “Plus, I’m worn out just by attending. What must the bride and groom feel like?”

Mom’s expression grew to one of concern. “Asia, dear, have you been doing okay? I only ask because you seem to have lost weight since I saw you last.”

“She’s been a little under the weather,” I answered for her.

Asia nodded. “Although living with your son has been the best, I have a lot of worry over school. I failed two classes last semester and that has me worried about retaking them. I think the stress of that has my tummy upset often.”

“You know you could hire a tutor to help you out, Asia. I’m sure with extra help you could pass those classes,” Mom said, trying to be helpful.

I knew Asia was a little worried about those classes. Her real worries were about us though. Our contract would be ending the very next day. We’d be free then. And as far as she knew, we still hadn’t come up with a way to make the lies disappear so we could move forward as a real couple.

“I didn’t think about that. Thanks.” Asia smiled at my mother then looked up at me. “Maybe I should see about that then. In the next day or so, I’ll do that. Remind me, would you?”

With a nod, I pulled her close, leaning my chin on top of her head. “I’ll do that for you. No need to worry so much, Asia.”

My father shifted in the seat. “You two need to understand one thing. Worry never solved anything. It’s a wasteful emotion. Better to figure out what you can do to fix things, rather than worry about them. You have a problem, do something about it. Don’t just worry and accomplish nothing but making yourself sick.”

Dad was right, but Dad didn’t know everything. Asia and I had a mountain of things to worry about. And what was worse, each and every way there was to fix it would cost both of us some kind of mental anguish.

At least with my idea, we’d both be hurt, but Asia would come out with her dignity intact. Only I’d be despised. A thing I wasn’t looking forward to, but it had to be done.

“You’re right, Dad. Worry has never solved a thing. Action will be taken so Asia can stop worrying.”

Dad gave a nod of approval. “See to that, son. And I talked to Angie in human resources. Now, she told me that you’ve yet to go in and fill out the paperwork to put your wife on the insurance plans. Why is that? You’ve had nothing but time to get that done. You’re going to start working with me in just a couple of weeks to learn the CEO role. You’ll be very busy then. Best to get that out of the way before then.”

“I’ll get down there, Dad. It may seem like I’ve been free as a bird, but Asia and I have been doing all sorts of things.”

Asia nodded. “We’ve been going and going. It seems like we hardly ever just sit around. But we should take the next couple of weeks and do just that. We both have work and school looming ahead of us.”

I wondered if Asia would be too devastated to go back to school after I left her. I wondered how my parents would react to my going back to Los Angeles and picking up where I left off. Dad would have to maintain his role as CEO. I’d be deemed unworthy, and frankly, I didn’t want to be in New York where I might run into Asia or her family.

It’d be best for me to be far away from them all. I knew my parents would get over things, eventually. But I doubted Asia ever would. Not entirely. She wouldn’t die or anything, but there’d be a part of her that would remain broken forever. She trusted me. It was bound to leave a deep scar.

My leaving would leave its mark on me too. I’d never love anyone the way I loved Asia. I knew that. I’d never done anything so selfless in my life. I knew our love was true. If it wasn’t, I’d feel just fine letting everyone think bad things about Asia.

I couldn’t let that happen, though.

“Oh, before I forget,” Mom added. “The Petersons are having a dinner party next week. They asked me to extend the invitation to you two.”

“Tell them, thank you, but we can’t go.”

Asia turned her head to look at me. “Don’t say no on my account. I’m game, Jett.”

I kissed her on the tip of her nose. “I’m not. I’m not a dinner party kind of guy.”

“But, Jett, you should become one.” Dad poured himself a glass of Scotch and gestured to me with the bottle. “Would either of you like a drink?”

“None for me thanks,” came Asia’s quick reply.

“I don’t want one, either.”

He put the bottle back into the rack of the small bar that held a dozen different types of alcohol. “Jett, you’ll have to be more social once you become CEO. You’ll be expected to attend charity events and dinners, all kinds of things. It’s a big deal, you know.”

Nodding, I thought about all that. My father had been doing all that stuff, along with his real job as CEO. I knew he was tired and needed me to step in a relieve him of that heavy burden.

My leaving would hurt him a lot too. He’d be left to keep up with the furious work pace and schedule. He deserved some rest after working like a slave to build something out of nothing.

When would the guilt stop piling up on me?

There was no right thing to do. No matter which way I looked, I would hurt people. I’d never been in a tougher spot. Admitting to myself that I brought this all down on myself did nothing to make me feel any better about things.

After all, what did knowing the facts and facing them do to end the never ending guilt?

I felt lost. Alone. Depressed.

And I had no one to blame but myself. Would I ever get things right?

I’d lived pretty much guilt free up until the beginning of summer when I fucked things up so well. Now it seemed I’d live the rest of my life with guilt.

I had to wonder if it would become something that didn’t feel so horrible after a few years went by. But knew I was fooling myself. It would always feel terrible. But at least I was setting Asia free from it. Free from the lies, free from the guilt of telling her family a giant lie. At least she’d feel better. That was all I could care about. Asia, and how to make her feel better.

Asia

One minute I felt fine, the next my gut was twisting, and I was reaching for the door handle. “Tell the driver to wait at this red light.” Opening the door, I hurled as Jett held onto me so I wouldn’t fall out of the car.

“Baby!”

“Oh, my!” his mother shouted.

With the contents of my stomach gone, I felt better, but the embarrassment hurt like hell. I closed the door as found Jett running a tissue over my mouth. “Did that just hit you out of nowhere, Asia?”

I nodded and tried to regain my composure. “We need to get you to see someone right away,” his father said.

“No wonder you’re losing weight if this is what’s been happening.” His mother wagged her finger at us both. “This isn’t something that occurs from stress or nerves. I thought you meant you weren’t eating very much. I didn’t know you were throwing up. We’re going straight to the nearest emergency room.”

“I don’t…”

She shook her head. “I don’t care. We’re going, and you’re going to be seen by someone right now.”

“But the dinner,” I whined.

“I’ll let them know we won’t be coming. You’re more important than some damn dinner, Asia,” his mother was adamant.

Jett rubbed my back as he eyed me with concern. “We’re taking you to the hospital. No back talk about it, Asia.”

Resting my head on his shoulder, I admitted defeat and faced the reality that I was going to have to see a doctor about it. Maybe he’d prescribe me some kind of anti-anxiety meds, and I could be on my way.

I felt horrible for getting in the way of his cousin’s matrimonial festivities. But the three people, who were watching me like a hawk, didn’t look like they’d be swayed by a word I said.

Relinquishing the battle felt kind of great. It was out of my control. I’d be taken care of. I found my heart swelling with love for all three of them. I did matter to them all.

When we arrived at the emergency room, we found it was full. And my upset tummy wasn’t the biggest emergency there. A man was holding a towel around his hand, and red was beginning to soak through it. A little old woman was sneezing, hacking, and looking as if death was hovering around her, waiting for her to take her final breath. And three babies were crying with how badly they felt.

No, mine wasn’t nearly as bad as anyone else’s seemed to be.

So, we sat and waited and waited. After two hours, I told Jett’s parents they should leave and Jett too if he wanted. I could take a cab back to the hotel once I was done there.

“Hell, no, Asia!” Jett wasn’t having any of that. “I’m not leaving you here. Mom, Dad, you two go. Enjoy the rest of the night with the family. Tell them we’re sorry, but Asia is sick.”

They got up, making room for a couple of people who’d been standing. “They need the space in here anyway.” His mother hugged me. “You call us when you find out what’s wrong, Asia. We love you, dear.”

Her words tugged at my heart. “I love you too. I’ll let you know when I know something.”

They left, and Jett looked at me. “She told you that she loved you, Asia.”

“Yeah, I know. That was sweet of her.” I took his hand and held it tightly. “I wasn’t lying when I told her I love her too. I do. Your parents are great.”

He nodded but looked a bit upset. I figured it was because of the fakeness of our situation. But our love was real. We had to figure out a way to make things right. And soon.

“Asia Jones?” a nurse came out of a side door, looking over the crowd.

“That’s me.” I raised my hand and got up to go to her with Jett right at my side.

“Oh, good.” She looked at Jett. “Are you related to her?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Then you’ll have to wait here for her. No one except immediate family is allowed back. It’s hospital policy. Sorry.”

As she took my hand and pulled me inside, I looked over my shoulder at him and saw the frown that covered his handsome face. “Don’t worry, Jett. I’ll make this as fast as I can.”

The door shut before he could say a word and I felt my stomach clench. The nurse took me to a large room with six curtain covered areas. “This is you, over here. Your admission paper says you’ve been throwing up. Is that correct?”

“It is.” She handed me a gown and a small cup with a lid on it.

“Go into the bathroom that’s directly across the hallway.” She took a Sharpie out of her pocket and handed it to me. “Write your full name and date of birth on the label of the cup. Fill it with urine, put the lid back on and leave it on the counter. Then take everything off but your underclothes and put on the gown.” She handed me a plastic bag. “Your clothes can go in this bag. Bring them back in here with you when you’re done. Do you understand all of that?”

With a nod, I said, “Write my name, pee, undress. What’s so hard about that?”

“You’d be surprised at how many forget one or more steps in that process, young lady.” The nurse patted me on the back. “Get into bed and wait for the doctor after you get that done.”

So, I headed out to deal with all of that and found myself getting nervous and wishing like hell that they would’ve let Jett come back with me. I got it all taken care of, then went to lie in the uncomfortable hospital bed. The plastic mattress crinkled as I climbed on the bed and pulled the thin blanket up to cover me.

A man in green scrubs came in after a long time and smiled at me. Extending his hand, he shook mine. “Hi there, Asia Jones. My name is Doctor Sheffield. Can you say that for me?”

“Doctor Sheffield?” I asked as I had no clue why he’d ask me such a thing.

“Yes, I wanted you to say it. You’ll want to remember that name.” He let my hand go and patted my back. “You see, I want to be the first person to congratulate you.”

“On?”

“On being pregnant. Now, do you get it? You’ll tell your child about the day you found out you had him or her in your tummy. Doctor Sheffield was the person to tell you that great news.” His smile was huge, and his teeth were gleaming white.

His face would forever be etched into my brain. Thin, lightly tanned skin with a few wrinkles, plum colored lips, blue eyes, and a deep laugh that made his round belly shake made up the man who changed my life forever.

“I’m pregnant?” I shook my head in disbelief. “I’m on the pill. How can that be?”

He picked up the folder with my admission paper in it. “It says here that you began oral birth control on June the first of this year.” He looked at me with a grin. “Did you use condoms when you had intercourse during the first thirty days, Miss Jones?”

“No. I wasn’t told to.” I began to get short of breath.

“Yes, I see. But you were given paperwork from the pharmacy that you must not have read. That paperwork would’ve told you that you needed to use another form of birth control for that amount of time. By the way, stop taking them. They’re not safe for the baby.”

“Okay. Damn. I didn’t read it. You’re right. Shit!” My head was swimming.

I was pregnant!

His hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Let me tell you something, Miss Jones. Babies have surprised people forever. I know you’re freaking out now. But believe me, you’ll love that little surprise when he or she comes out into the world. Don’t make any hasty decisions. And let the father know. Let him have the chance to do right by this baby. You didn’t make it alone. Don’t make any decisions about it alone, either.”

“Yes, sir.”

His finger touched my chin as I stared at the floor. “You’re going to be okay. The vomiting comes with pregnancy. I want you to find yourself a good Obstetrician as soon as you can. Set up an appointment and work with them to make sure you have a healthy pregnancy.”

“Yes, sir.” I had to lie back. “I just need a minute to digest all of this.”

“I know. It’s a lot to handle. Stay as long as you need to. But remember that there’s a room full of people who are waiting to be seen too.” He chuckled and waved as he left me. “I wish you the best, young lady.”

I was going to have Jett’s baby.

What the hell was I supposed to do now?

A nurse pulled the curtain back and gave me a huge smile. “Well, well, well, we’re having us a baby. Are you excited?”

I gulped. “I don’t know.”

“You and the daddy getting along?”

“Yeah.” I hung my head. “He loves me. He wants a baby. It was me who had major plans that a baby will interrupt.” I looked up at her. “I don’t want him to ask me to marry him just because I’m pregnant.”

What was I going to tell Jett?

Jett

Inpatient and sick of waiting around, I managed to sneak in through one of the doors when a nurse came out to call in a patient. I was leaning on the wall next to it, hoping for an opportunity.

Not one member of the medical staff stopped me as I went through first one long hallway with various people moaning, complaining about their pain, or screaming in pain.

It was like a war zone in there.

There were curtains drawn around every patient, making it impossible to find Asia in any of the large rooms that housed the ER patients. I was relying on hearing her voice to get me to her.

Down another hall I went, passing a nurse as she stepped into one of the rooms. I waited on the side of the door to see if I could hear Asia.

I heard the nurse say, “Well, well, well, we’re having us a baby. Are you excited?”

I stepped away, knowing she wasn’t talking to Asia.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks as it was Asia that I heard, saying, “I don’t know.”

The nurse asked, “You and the daddy getting along?”

Asia’s voice began to quiver. “Yeah. He loves me. He wants a baby. It was me who had major plans that a baby will interrupt.” She paused then went on, “I don’t want him to ask me to marry him just because I’m pregnant.”

I fell back against the wall and tried not to scream. I was going to be a father!

It was exactly what I had wanted, and I was getting it. The only problem was that I had other plans now. I was leaving her. I was doing it for her own good.

How would leaving her and our baby ever do anyone any good?

I was left once more, not knowing what the hell I should do. But I sure as hell would let Asia know that I was happy about this baby and would make sure the child always knew it was loved.

Heading back into the waiting area, I decided I wanted to let Asia tell me the good news. Since she had the diagnosis, it shouldn’t take much longer for her to be released.

Another half hour had passed before she came out. Knowing she wouldn’t want an audience to hear our news, I waited until we got outside to ask, “So, what’s up?”

She took out her cell. “I’ve got a virus. I’m calling a cab to come get us.”

A virus?

“What kind of virus?” I couldn’t believe she wasn’t telling me news she knew I’d be ecstatic over. “And what kind of virus lasts a month long?”

“A pretty bad one.” She held up her finger at me as she told the cab company where to pick us up at.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I fought myself not to confront her.

What was she thinking?

Okay, I got it. She didn’t want me to ask her to marry me just because we got ourselves preggo. I understood that. But I deserved to know about the baby.

Didn’t I?

We both were quiet. The cab came, picked us up, took us to the hotel. Still, we were quiet. We went up to our room, got undressed, got into bed. Still, we were quiet.

I rolled over to look at her. “I love you, Asia.”

She closed her eyes as she lay on her back. “I love you too, Jett.”

But did she really?

How could she say those words to me?

She wouldn’t admit to being pregnant. So how in the hell could she say she loved me?

Unless she didn’t.

Maybe it had all been an act after all.

Lifting my head, resting it on my hand, I said, “The contract is over, Asia. The wedding is over. That was the last function I needed a fake wife for and the last day of the Dom/sub contract. Being that it’s midnight, you’re officially released as my sub. You can do as you want to now.”

She didn’t even bother opening her eyes. “All I really want to do is sleep, Jett.”

All I really wanted was to hear her tell me about our baby!

“So what did they give you for this virus you have?”

“Some pills.”

“Where are these pills?”

“I have to go pick them up at the pharmacy tomorrow.” She finally opened her eyes to look at me as I hovered over her. “What are you doing?”

“Asia, are you realizing that you’re rich now? You have a home of your own. A new car. And the money that I put in Escrow at The Dungeon of Decorum will be transferred to your bank tomorrow morning.” I watched her eyes as they darted back and forth.

“Wow. You’re right. I am a rich girl now.”

“If you were giving me what I wanted just because you were my sub, you can be honest with me now. You’re no longer my sub, Asia.”

Her eyes went wide as she rolled out of bed and hauled ass to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

I was left without an answer. But I had a gut feeling it was going to be one that just might break my heart.

It hit me hard that Asia might not be telling me about the baby because she was thinking about getting rid of it.

Would I just stand back and allow that to happen?

I sure as hell wouldn’t let that happen!

If Asia had been faking all this time, then I could let her go, but I wasn’t about to let go of the baby. She’d be in for a fight if that was her plan. But I really couldn’t see her thinking that way.

Asia had a good heart. Her morals ran deep. It was me who made her lie. If it hadn’t been for me, she’d never have done one bad thing. No, she couldn’t be thinking about getting rid of our baby.

But she might be thinking about ending things with me and taking the baby on her own. Would I allow that?

I didn’t want to. But I didn’t know what to do about any of it.

How in the hell did so many things come to pass that I had no idea how to handle?

I wasn’t a stupid man. But damn it, I was feeling pretty fucking stupid. My world was a lie. And I was afraid those lies were about to come crashing down on me.

Was I helpless to stop it? Could I change it all?

I had big decisions to make and not a lot of time to do that in. Getting up, I went to the bathroom door. The water was running in the bathtub. Then it went off and I heard Asia, “Little baby, I want you to know that I love you and I love your daddy too. But we’ve made up something and that lie is looming over us like a deadly shadow. If things were different, I’d be celebrating your creation with your daddy. But things are hard right now. Harder than I hope you ever have to live through. I know if I tell your daddy about you, he’ll ask me to marry him. And I want to marry him. Just not over being pregnant. But there’s also the fact that the lies will always hang over us if we stay together. Baby, I don’t know what we can do to fix it all. But no matter what we do, always know that we both love you.”

Falling against the wall, I held my head in my hands. I knew what I had to do. I had to make things right. Not only for myself and Asia, but for our baby too.

So I put my clothes on, and left.

Asia

After a long bath that did little to ease my mind, I went into the bedroom. The blankets were thrown back, the light was on, and Jett was nowhere to be found.

My heart began to race as I searched frantically for him, calling out his name over and over. I even opened the door and shouted down the hallway.

But he wasn’t there.

He was gone!

And I was all alone.

Shaking, I went to get my cell and called him. His phone was off, it went straight to voicemail. I sat on the bed and searched my mind for what we’d said to each other that would have him leaving me.

Then it hit me.

The contract was over!

He left me because it was over. He’d been acting the entire time.

But why?

He didn’t have to pull some act on me. Or was that something he just did? Did Jett Simmons hire subs to play out some weird fantasy love story with him, then leave them?

Had it all been a lie?

One lie on top of another one. And I was left with a baby inside me that belonged to a man who had it in him to do such a heinous thing.

Jett could’ve been honest with me. He could’ve told me that was what his fantasy was. I’d have played along.

But I would’ve guarded my heart all the while. I bet he counted on that happening. I bet that’s why he didn’t tell me what his real fantasy was. He wanted a fake wife to avoid being set up. He wanted a sub to do it so he could live out a love fantasy. But it was all over now.

I was a thing of the past he could move on from.

My heart hurt like it would never mend. I laid on the bed as it all soaked in. It wasn’t in Jett, to be honest. I knew that then. It had all been a fantasy to him. Never real, never lasting, never going to have my happy ending.

Left with a baby, a constant reminder of how I was duped, I’d live in the house he gave me, drive the car he bought for me, and live off the money he paid for me.

It was my own fault. I sold myself to the man for the period of three months. I signed a contract that said it would all end with no arguments what-so-ever. Jett was within his rights to leave me alone without one word.

But I wasn’t prepared for that at all. And I’d fucked up by not letting him know that I had his child inside of me. No matter what he actually felt about me, he might love the baby we created together.

He had a right to know. But I was bound by that contract not to attempt to contact him once it was over. I could lose the money that would be moved to my bank account the next day if I did that.

I needed money then. I had a baby coming. I couldn’t afford to bother him with some news about a baby. I was supposed to be on birth control. I was pretty fucking sure that getting pregnant could be grounds for the money to be taken away from me.

I was going to be alone to have the baby, but I’d have what I’d earned. I gave that man more of me than I knew I could. I earned everything I got from him. Every last thing and every last cent.

Tears burst from my eyes as my body ached. I’d never feel his weight on me again. I’d never feel his warm breath as it tickled the back of my neck as I woke up each morning. The soft way he’d caress my body was over.

I’d never love anyone the way I loved him. If I could ever bring myself to fall in love again. A thing I didn’t think I could do. It just fucking hurt so badly.

Sobbing into my pillow, I just wanted to leave the hotel and go home. Home to my family, not home to where I’d only see Jett in every corner. How was I going to live in that home?

How was I going to drive a car that reminded me of him? How was I going to look at a child that always reminded me of him? The man I once loved with more than I knew I had in me?

I was doomed.

Destroyed.

And desperately trying to hang onto my sanity.

Sleep wouldn’t find me, I was sure of that. I’d be left awake in my torment. No peace would find me that night or ever. I was sure of that.

But eventually, the tears slowed and exhaustion took me over. Darkness came in at me from all sides, and I slept. Even in my sleep, dread filled my dreams.

Would I ever be the same again?

When morning light penetrated the window, I opened my eyes. Immediately, I looked to see if Jett had come back. All I found was the empty bed, and I’d wrapped my body around his pillow.

My stomach lurched, right on cue, sending me to the bathroom at breakneck speed. Once I stopped puking, I began to cry.

He was really gone!

It was really over, and I was really pregnant and all alone.

All I wanted to do was climb back into the bed, pull the blankets over my head, and go back to sleep. My dreams weren’t peaceful or happy. But they weren’t real, and even in my sleep, I knew that.

I was in reality. A place where it hurt me to be.

Slumping back to bed, I heard a knock on my door, and a piece of paper slid under it. The bill, I guessed.

I climbed back into bed and closed my burning swollen eyes. But the damn paper was nagging me to pick it up and see what it was. Getting up, I went to pick it up.

There was a message that had been left at the front desk by my parents. It said I needed to get up this morning and come to their house before I did anything else.

I bet they had some kind of a surprise for Jett and me. Well, it would be me who would surprise them with the news that Jett and I were through. And I had nothing ready to tell them about why that was.

I didn’t want to go back to Harrison and face that huge empty house. And I didn’t want to stay in the hotel Jett had left me in. Might as well go home, tell my parents he left me and I wasn’t sure why. Must’ve been for another woman or something. But that I had a home, a car, and money. But I’d need to stay with them for a little while. Just until I got over it.

Somewhere in there, I’d have to add the part that I was now pregnant. Soon to be a single mother. But at least I had the means to take care of the baby. Going back to school would be out. I doubted my head would be right in two weeks anyway.

Gathering myself, I got ready to go to Queens to see my parents. Jett and I had only packed clothes for the next day. His were gone, he’d obviously put them on when he decided to leave me. But his tux was still there.

I folded it neatly and put it in the bag with the dress I’d worn to the wedding. It was then that I wondered if his closet would still be full of this things when I went back home. Would his car still be in the garage? Would his favorite coffee cup still be in the kitchen? His toiletries in the bathroom?

Maybe he’d get the maid to gather his things and send them to him in Los Angeles. I’m sure he was going to go back there. Then my heart began to ache for his poor parents. He’d also duped his father, although I’m sure that was inadvertent, into thinking he’d be taking over his CEO job.

I knew I couldn’t go to his parents and tell them about the baby, either. I had to leave them alone, per the contract, to avoid any contact with the Dom’s family and friends after said contract was over.

Man, they’d love knowing about the baby, though. It didn’t seem fair not to tell them about it. But I might have to give everything back if I did that.

My hands were tied. I had to follow the contract. Not for my sake but for the little guy who was living inside of me. The kid deserved at least some of what his father provided. I’d make sure to learn how to take care of the money he’d given me. I’d make it last, invest it, make it grow. I’d do it for our baby.

Dressed and ready to go, I headed to the lobby where the doorman hailed a cab for me and tipped his hat. “Have a lovely day.”

That would be impossible. But I nodded. “You too.” I got into the cab with my one bag, gave the driver the address to my parent’s home and sat back. It was hard as hell not to cry as we pulled away from The Plaza Hotel. The place that would forever be etched into my brain as the place where my life, as I thought it would be, was ended.

Like all things, everything must end. But why did it have to end like this and leave me with a souvenir that would forever remind me of the man I lost?

Jett

I had no choice but to do what I did.

Things had to be taken care of. There was just no other choice to make.

Sure it was hard. And sure I had to accept the fact that I’d hurt people. But it had to be done. There was just no other way to make things right.

Asia deserved to get to hold her head high. She was a good woman. And she was carrying my baby. I didn’t want the lie to affect her any more than it already had. There was only the one way to fix it all.

Pain was part of that process. It had to be.

When lies get told, pain is always part of the process when you try to fix everything. Humility is learned. And so is the fact that lying comes with a high price.

Thankfully, the lies were over. And Asia would get to have her real life back. Not that make-believe one we were living. That life was over.

I had to say good riddance to that life. I was glad to have it behind me. Who needs all that drama?

At least that’s what I told myself as I drove my car away from our home that morning.

Asia

“Mom, Dad?” I pulled the screen door open and went into the home I’d grown up in.

“Mornin’ baby girl.” Mom came into the living room with an apron on. “Isn’t this a lovely morning? Look at that sun. And can you smell the scent of autumn that’s just around the corner? Oh, I can’t wait for the first cold breeze to blow through our door.”

She was as happy. Telling her would be hard. I didn’t want to spoil her great mood. “You cooking breakfast?” I followed her into the kitchen after I dropped my bag by the door. It was then I realized that she hadn’t asked me where Jett was.

But I wasn’t about to say anything about it. Maybe she thought he’d come later. I didn’t know, and I wasn’t in the mood to spoil her mood.

“I have some wonderful things going on in here. Eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon. Homemade biscuits are just about to come out of the oven, and the hash browns are nearly done too. If you pour yourself a cup of coffee or juice and take a seat, I’ll have it all ready soon.”

I went for a coffee cup then stopped. My sisters both cut out caffeine when they were pregnant. I should too, I thought. I went for the juice glasses and poured some bright orange juice into one.

The first sip was bitter, and I wrinkled my nose then took a seat. The heaping piles of food had me wondering if company was coming.

Oh, I was not in the mood for company!

Before I could ask Mom about that, Dad came in and grabbed me by the shoulders as he kissed me on top of the head. “Well, look who’s here. How’s my baby girl this morning?”

Depressed. Dumped. Slightly deranged.

I didn’t want to bring him down, either. Whatever the night and morning had done for my parents was great. I wasn’t going to rain on their parade. “I’m doing well, Daddy.”

“Good to hear.” He made his way to Mom, snuggling her from behind then kissing her cheek. “Oh, honey this looks divine, and it smells like Heaven in here.”

Was that it?

Had I died and gone to Heaven?

Nah, I still felt too bad for that to be the case.

The way my parents were acting had me rethinking telling them anything. I might just go back to Harrison and stay at home. I shouldn’t bring them down with my tragic life.

I was the idiot who signed up to sell myself for the summer. A thing they didn’t need to know about. And they sure as hell wouldn’t feel sorry for me about how it all turned out.

I could already hear it. ‘What the hell good did you think would come out of such a thing?’ ‘Are you insane?’

Nah, I’d keep things to myself. Eat their food and put a fake smile on my face. Then go home, see what Jett had taken and left then cry my eyes out.

That was my main plan anyway. It didn’t matter where I stayed. I was just going to be crying anyway. No reason to burden anyone with my self-pity, self-loathing, and self-destruction.

A knock at the door signaled that my parents did indeed invite others to breakfast. “Come on in,” Mom shouted as she took the biscuits out of the oven.

“Oh, my! It smells wonderful in here.” Jett’s parents stepped into the kitchen, and I went limp. His mother patted me on the back. “Good morning, dear. Point me toward the coffee, please.”

Oh, crap!

I pointed at it then felt his father’s hand on my back. “Isn’t this a lovely day, Asia?”

“I guess.”

Now, what was I going to do?

My parents were hobnobbing with Jett’s!

He took the seat next to mine and turned to face me. “Your parents came up with a great idea. Sunday breakfasts at each other’s houses.”

Dad took a seat across from me. “Ours one week, theirs the next. We’ll alternate. The best part is that we’ll all get to spend time with our kids.”

Fantastic!

Our families had already planned shit out. And I was left to ruin their breakfast and probably their lives too when I told them that Jett had left me.

It was getting pretty rough to figure out when to break it to them. Before the meal that my mother had worked so hard on, or after it?

One way, they’d all lose their appetites and Mom’s food would go to waste. The other way, they’d all have stomach aches.

I wanted to cry and got up, excusing myself for a moment. As I walked out of the room, I wondered why no one thought it was odd that Jett wasn’t there too.

No one was saying a damn thing about his absence.

The screen creaked open, making me look up.

The sun shone behind the person, making them nothing more than a shadow. But it was a tall shadow. A muscular shadow. A familiar shadow. “Jett?”

He stepped into my parent’s living room. A bouquet of flowers in one hand and a black box in the other. I was frozen.

What the hell was happening?

He got on one knee, holding out the small box. Behind me I heard the shuffling of chairs and then felt people at my back, looking on.

What the hell was he doing?

Our parents would want to know why the hell he was asking me to marry him when they thought we were already married.

“Asia Samantha Jones.” He paused, and I walked closer to him. “I’ve come clean. I’ve told our parents how we met online at the dating site and I hired you to pretend to be my wife just to avoid the social problems that go along with being a single man. I told them how sorry I was that I made a moral young lady lie for me. I also told them that along the way I fell in love with you. I asked your father if I could have your hand in marriage and he said nothing would make him happier. So what do you say? Would you make me the happiest man in the whole world and become my wife, for real?” He opened the box, and a different engagement ring was inside of it. A bigger and better one than the one that was still on my finger.

I pulled the rings off my finger as my body shook and sobs held fast in my throat. “Jett, nothing would make me happier than becoming your real wife.”

He put the flowers down and took the ring out of the box then slipped it on my finger. “Our lives start now. Our real lives.” The weight of the ring felt better on my finger. Not one bit heavy. It felt like part of me. A part I never wanted to lose.

“Jett, I want to tell you something.”

He stood and pulled me into his arms. “What would you like to tell me?”

I wanted him to be the first to know. I pulled him to me and whispered, “I’m pregnant.”

His eyes glistened as he took my face in his hands. “You’ve made me happier today than I knew was possible, Asia.” He kissed me, sweetly then looked at our parents as he wrapped me in his strong arms. “More great news. Asia just told me that we’re having a baby!”

Suddenly, we were in the middle of a giant group hug as everyone shouted their congratulations and I cried with relief and happiness.

He’d done it!

He’d made everything right. We wouldn’t have to lie anymore. I felt light as a feather with that weight off me.

Things were going to be okay. We’d get married, have our baby, and hopefully live our lives truthfully forever. I sure as hell was never going to lie about a damn thing again!

Jett rocked me in his arms when our parents backed off. They all went back into the kitchen to give us a moment of privacy. “Asia, I’m sorry that I left you alone. I’m sure you thought it was over.”

Looking up at him, I pounding my fists against his chest. “Jett, you scared the shit out of me! I cried and cried until I fell asleep then I woke up and cried some more. I was devastated. Why didn’t you just tell me what you were going to do?”

“Because you’d have demanded to come with me and take half the blame. I wanted to take all the blame. It was mine to take. And I didn’t know how any of our parents would take that news. If your parents were super pissed, I didn’t want any of their anger taken out on you. That’s why I left, turned off my cell so you couldn’t call me. I knew the sound of your voice would make it hard for me to go through with it. But I bit the bullet and told the truth and righted all the wrongs.”

My heart was swelling with love for the man. He’d been so selfless. I’d never felt more pride in anyone before. I kissed him as I ran my arms around him. “Jett, I love you more than life, itself. I promise I’ll be the best wife I can be. And I’ll be the best mother to your child that I can be. What you did proves to me that you are a man I can rely on and be proud to call my husband.”

His smile was priceless. “I’ll try my best to be what you need in a husband. And I’ll be the best father to our child that I can be. You never have to worry about a thing, I’ve got you, baby. Now let’s go get some breakfast. I’m starving.”

With a chuckle, he put his arm around my shoulders and led me to where our parents sat, waiting for us to join them at the first, every Sunday breakfast. It would be a tradition that would go on and on. As would our long and happy, real marriage.

Jett

I couldn’t wait to make Asia mine. We got on a private jet and headed to Vegas with our parents right there with us. I had her sisters and their families flown in too.

Asia would get the wedding she wanted!

We all spent a week there, preparing the perfect wedding for the love of my life. All the clothes had been bought. The flowers were picked out, and the small church was decorated lavishly. A reception in a private dining area of Asia’s favorite restaurant was scheduled. She was getting her dream wedding. And sharing it all with our families made it that much more special.

The day of the wedding grew hectic, even though the plans had been made extremely well. I suppose that’s just how weddings go. Things have to go wrong, or they’d be no fun!

Spring’s baby spit up on her dress. My father, trying to help, took the baby from her and little Ray spit up on his suit too. Mom thought she was dabbing club soda on the spot on Dad’s suit, but it turned out to be cola, staining it even more.

Asia was puking a lot, slowing things down. All I wanted to do was get the nuptials over so I could take my real wife to our room and make love to her as a real married couple.

Finally, the time came. Asia was ready. The music started, and there stood my gorgeous fiancé at the back of the room. Her white dress billowed out, making her look like the angel I thought her to be.

With slow steps, she came to me. I lifted her veil to find tears glistening in her pretty eyes. “Nice to see you, Miss Jones.”

“Glad you could meet me here today, Mr. Simmons.” She smiled at me, making my knees go weak.

We held hands and faced the pastor who got us to repeat things he said, and in the end, we kissed as man and wife.

The sensations that were running through me, I’d never experienced before. I was someone’s husband. And not too far into the future, I’d be someone’s father. Life was real for me then.

The reception was lovely and went on far too long. All I could think about was getting my wife up to our room.

When I could take it no longer, I swept her away from our families and took her up to our room. She looked at me with wide eyes as I rid her of the billowy dress. “We’re really married, Jett.”

“We are.” I pulled the dress off her shoulders, letting it fall into a heap at her feet. Then held her hand, helping her to step out of the pile of material.

She pushed the jacket of my tux off my shoulders then unbuttoned my shirt. Her hands moved over my chest as she pushed it off me. I grabbed her by the wrists as her hands moved over my heart. “You feel that?”

She nodded. “It’s pounding.”

“Because it’s full of love for you and our baby.” I pulled her hands up and kissed them. “I’m complete now. I didn’t know how great it would feel. It’s indescribably pleasant.”

I turned her around to take her bra off then pulled her back to me, taking her breasts in my hands. She reached back to undo my pants, and they fell to the floor. I stepped out of my shoes, and she stepped out of hers then we made our way to the bed. Quickly, we got rid of the rest of the clothing that was on us and climbed onto the large soft bed.

She lay on her back, gazing up at me as I stroked her cheek. “This time it’s for real. I feel just like I did on our first night together.”

“Me too.” I leaned over and kissed her. Our tongues ran around together, playfully.

My hands roamed over her body as our kiss grew with passion. My cock was pulsing with desire, and I couldn’t wait any longer. Moving my body to cover hers, I pressed my cock into her hot canal. Moans filled the air as we became one.

I had no idea it would feel different. But it did. It was as if we were making love for the very first time. I felt every little thing about her. The way her hips curved as I pressed against them. The way her breasts heaved as my chest squished them.

Watching her face as I made love to her, I saw a glow about her that I’d never seen before. My wife had a glow about her. My wife was in love with me. My wife had made me a very happy man.

I trailed my fingers over her shoulder, down her arm and clasped my hand with hers, pulling it up, holding it down. Then I did the same with the other, pinning her to the bed. “How powerful you make me feel.”

She smiled and arched up to meet my thrusts. “You make me feel that way too.”

I rolled over, sitting her on top of me. “I’m glad you feel that way too. I want to be the man who supports you, takes care of you, nourishes your soul.”

“You are that.” She ran her hands over my abs as she licked her lips.

Riding me at the speed she knew I liked, then she leaned over and kissed me.

We were married, and life was finally going to be just fine. The problems were behind us, and everything ahead looked sunny. A man couldn’t ask for more than that.

Asia

I looked down at the man who was now my very real husband and smiled as I moved my body up and down his girth. There was a difference with how sex with him felt. It was better.

I had no idea it could get any better, but it had.

Steadily, I moved my body to stroke him as we looked into each other’s eyes. It was real, and I was in a state of pure bliss.

Jett smiled and rolled us over, pinning me to the bed as he revved up the pace. I wrapped my legs around him, loving how much deeper he could go into me.

All the sweetness was moving to the back as the animal lust we had between us took over. He pounded me furiously as I moaned with how insanely good it all felt.

I raked my nails across his back, as he bit my neck. That was all it took to drive me over the edge, and I came like crazy. He held back, not ready to let it end. “Oh, baby. Yeah!”

Panting, I groaned as he kept going, making the orgasm go on and on. It finally ebbed enough that it wasn’t driving me crazy. Jett smiled at me as he moved back. “On your knees.”

I scrambled to get on them, eager to feel him back inside of me. He slammed into me and gave me a hard smack on the ass. Then he pushed my shoulders to the bed and held my waist as he made thrusts so hard, he grunted with each one.

With him going that deep and hard, it took no time to send me into a trail of orgasms that exploded inside me like firecrackers. One after the other hit me until I was quivering and moaning constantly with arousal.

Jett wasn’t about to let it all end anytime soon. I realized that when he pulled out of me, turned me over and lifted me up. He put my legs over his shoulders, and I clung to his hair as he ate me out.

Lifting me up and down, he used his tongue to fuck me. I was screaming with desire. He couldn’t seem to get enough of me. And I was overjoyed for that.

Picking me up higher, he moved his attention to my clit, using his lips to manipulate it as he continued to lift me up and down. I was screaming with another intense orgasm soon, and he put my down on the edge of the bed and rammed his cock into me, leaving it still as I pulsed all around it.

He stood there with his eyes closed as he took it all in. I watched a vein in his neck pulse with each rapid heartbeat then he began to move. Slowly at first, then he went faster, harder, and his eyes opened. “You belong to me, Asia. My cock is the only one that will ever be inside of you.”

“Yes!” I was elated with how brazen he was.

“Only my seed will ever grow inside of you.” He slammed into me hard over and over as I quivered with desire.

“Yes!”

I was his. I couldn’t imagine being with another man. He owned me. Jett Simmons was my husband, and my heart would forever be his. And so would my body.

Taking me by the waist, he held me as he thrust his hard cock into me until I came again and he couldn’t hold back any longer. He burst into me with a heat I found amazing. Then he stood there, perfectly still as his cock jerked inside of me.

It took a long time for our bodies to stop the pulsing and pulling from the strong orgasms. Then he moved me up onto the bed and placed my head gently on a pillow and went to get something to clean me up a bit.

I caught my breath as I closed my eyes and reveled in the afterglow. Then a cool cloth was running over my heated areas down south as my husband cleaned me all up. He left one small kiss on my clit before he came up to lie next to me. “Hey, you.” His lips met mine for only a second.

I ran my hand over her cheek. “Hey, you.”

“It’s real, Asia. You and I are a couple. A married couple. A real married couple.” He smiled. “Does that make you as happy as it makes me?”

I nodded. “It does. I didn’t know it could get any better, but somehow it is so much better.”

“For me too.” He kissed me again. “Knowing you’re really mine does something to me. It fills me with some crazy emotion. Love isn’t big enough to describe it. It’s like you’re a part of me now. A real part. Like if I lost you, it’d be like losing a piece of my actual body. Don’t ever make me lose you, baby. Promise me that. Promise me that we’ll always work things out. No matter what. Nothing will be too big that we can’t get over it or through it.”

To agree to that was easy. I wanted that security too. “Jett, I will never walk away from you. And if you try to walk away from me, you can bet your sweet ass that I’ll find a rope to tie you up, make you stay, and work with you until we’re both happy again. Because you’re that important to me. Losing you would be like losing part of my soul. We can get through anything. We’re a team.”

He shook his head and kissed me again. “We’re more than a team, baby. We’re one in the same. You and I are one, forever and always. And I’ll do everything in my power to keep your sweet ass happy.”

“Me too.” I smiled and raised my head to kiss him.

We’d done it. We’d made it all real.

We’d found our happily ever after…

The End

Filthy Commitments Epilogue

By Michelle Love

Jett

Water cascaded over the enormous rocks. The sound was deafening. I saw Asia hiding from me just behind the waterfall. She didn’t realize I saw her.

Ducking back down, I moved through the tall grass, slow and stealthy, like a tiger who had found its prey. When I got to the edge of my cover, I waited, watching her.

Her dark hair was wet, slicked back. Her eyes were darting around as she kept an eye out for me, ready to run if she caught a glimpse of me. Her breasts heaved as she took rapid breaths.

I’m sure the swim to get underneath that fall had been a rough one. My little Asia thought she was clever. She was, but so was I.

She must not have seen that there was another way to get to where she was. A simpler way. But I’d be out in the open for a few seconds. If she saw me, she’d have time to jump back into the water and possibly swim away from me once more.

I’d had her in my grasp on the other side of the falls. She’d managed to escape and took the plunge through the rapidly moving water that took her away from me.

But I was going to get her back.

I had to.

And I had to move fast to get her back where she belonged. People were waiting. She’d made promises, and I meant for her to keep them, even if she didn’t.

Clad in nothing more than my bathing suit, I felt the first rush of cool air that signaled night would soon fall. I had to get her back before that happened.

Something made a splashing sound on the other side of her, and she turned to see if it was me, giving me the opportunity to get to her. Like a serpent striking, I sped across the open terrain and slipped into the shadows of the space under the falls.

She’d never hear me. The sound was much too loud for that. Moving in behind her, I took her by the shoulder, spinning her around to face me. She shrieked so loudly, I could hear it over the loud sound of the water.

“No, Jett!” She tried to wiggle out of my grip.

I wasn’t having any of that. She had to be subdued if I wanted to get her back to where she belonged.

Pulling her to me, I moved back into the shallow cave and pinned her to the rock wall. Her eyes were huge as she shook her head. I just nodded and pulled my cock out of my shorts, then pushed her suit to the side and thrust into her.

She wrapped her legs around me, helpless as she moaned in my ear, “Jett, yes.”

Moving my cock in and out of her, I looked into her eyes. I let her know who she belonged to. She was mine, all mine, and she would go back with me to do what she’d promised.

Her body began to give in as I moved in and out of her. I kissed her as she came all over me. Her nails curled into my back, but I wouldn’t stop. Not yet. She was still a flight risk.

Moving her to lay on the cave floor, I mounted her, pulling her legs back so I could push into her further. “Yes!” she screamed as her body kept quaking around my cock.

Pounding into her at a furious pace, I leaned in and bit her neck, then sucked it. It never failed to send her into a frenzy of orgasms. She was crying out with desire as her body gave me everything I demanded.

It was getting increasingly hard to hold back my own release, but I had to. I needed her helpless, putty in my hands. There was no other way.

Letting her legs go, I moved down her body and kissed her juicy mound. “Oh, Jett!” Her eyes were wide as she looked at me just before I went down on her, forcing my tongue into her swollen canal.

She let out a moan as I pushed my tongue into her, feeling the convulsions of her vagina. I lapped up the juices she was letting go. They tasted like heaven and made me salivate furiously.

Voraciously, I ate her out, then moved up to kiss her clit. Her nails dug into my shoulders as I put my lips on the swollen bud, then licked it over and over until she was crying out with another orgasm.

Only then did I move back up her body and force my cock into her as she came hard, so hard it was difficult to get my cock to go inside of her. But when I did get it in there, it was a bevy of sensations—all of them good.

I didn’t have to move at all as her body took mine over the edge. I groaned as I came, and she moaned, “Jett, oh, baby.” She was purring like a satisfied kitten after a bowl of warm milk.

I’d done it. I’d taken all the want to run out of her.

I waited for us to catch our breath before pulling my head up to look at her. “You know, you’re prolonging the inevitable, Asia. Once we’re done, then they’ll all leave, and we can have some fun all alone in the privacy of the cabin.”

“But, Jett, I don’t want to do that. It’s just that I know I’m not good at it.” She closed her eyes and frowned.

Nudging her cheek with my nose, I said, “You’ll be great at it. You’ll see. And you already said you’d do it. No wife of mine is going to say she’ll do something and go back on her word.”

I rolled off her and took her hand, picking her up. Taking a look at the water below us, I weighed the options. Jump in and let the water take us down the river a bit, then get out and walk back up, or climb the side of the waterfall to get back.

Asia made the choice and jumped, taking me along for the ride.

Would she ever learn how to let me make the decisions?

Asia

Jett thought he had me so easily. Boy, was he wrong. I wasn’t about to go back there and be humiliated, no matter what I foolishly said I’d do.

Swimming through the water, I made sure we headed far enough down the river that it would take us a while to get back—back to the place I’d run from. The place that held undo punishments.

Jett stayed right with me as we swam. He wasn’t about to lose me again. When I got away from him and purposely went over the waterfall, the look on his face was priceless.

He never thought I’d do a thing like that.

That’s how badly I wanted to get away. That’s how much I didn’t want to do what everyone else in our little party wanted to do.

Taking a vacation with other couples from The Dungeon of Decorum was something I had worried about, but what they wanted to do wasn’t something I’d ever thought would come up.

My exact thoughts were that I’d float down the river until I came to other campers. Then I’d hitch a ride to town, call my mother-in-law to see how the kids were doing, and tell her to send a helicopter for me. I wanted the hell out of those Oregon woods!

But Jett was staying close. I was sure he meant to take me back there kicking and screaming if he had to.

I wasn’t an idiot. I knew the little sexy session was to wear me out so I’d be easy for him to take back. It gave me an idea. Why not use that to my advantage too?

No one was around. The woods on either side of the river sheltered us. The water, which had been rushing, was slowing down and becoming more tranquil. It got shallow enough that I could stand up. Turning to him, I splashed his just a little, being playful. The water was up to my neck, but hit him mid-chest. I wrapped my arms around him and growled, “The cave was fun. I bet a little watery action would be fun too.” I ran my legs around him and humped him just a bit.

A grin broke out over his handsome face. “You do?”

I reached down between us and pushed his swimming trunks down, so I could play with the beast a bit and bring him back to life. Kissing him while I did that, it was no time before I had him right where I wanted him.

The cool water that surrounded us did little to ease the heat that was building in us both. I ran my hands over his muscular back, exploring the hills and valleys that were created by them.

He ran his hands around my ass, lifting me up a bit, then sliding me back down onto his cock that had become rock hard. We moaned as the connection was made. It just never got old, that sensation of being part of each other.

He rocked me back and forth, making my body stroke his. Moving my mouth off his, I trailed kisses up his neck, then whispered, “I love you, Jett.”

“I love you, Asia.” He moved one hand up my back as his other held my ass so he could keep moving me. His hand wrapped up in my hair and he pulled my head back, then kissed the front of my neck.

I opened my eyes to find the sun had nearly set. It would be dark in minutes, then we’d have a hell of a time finding our way back to the cabin. But I’d rather spend the night out in the woods alone with Jett than go back to the place where everyone else was.

It was easy to get lost in the passion with Jett. He moved in ways that took my body to an alternate state. Heat filled me while the water cooled my skin. It was intense, arousing, and highly satisfying.

Not only was I getting some awesome sexual action, but I was effectively staying away from the thing I didn’t want to do. A win-win in my book.

Jett started walking toward the shore, making me think he was about to end our special time. I wasn’t about to let him do that. Ramping things up, I nibbled on his neck. He stopped walking, and I found out what he’d been up to.

He pushed me back and made me release my legs. I floated on the surface as he held me by the waist and pushed and pulled me to stroke his cock.

Gliding over the water as he took me was out of this world. I looked up at the sky and saw the first few stars. It was gorgeous and everything felt otherworldly.

He moved one hand down my waist, over my hip, then to my clit, where he manipulated it, making me orgasm. He growled as I came undone and moved me faster and faster until he came too.

Picking me up in his arms, he held me, kissing my neck and murmuring sweet things to me. With our bodies easing and our breathing becoming normal, he let our connection end.

“Come on.” He took my hand and proceeded to lead me out of the water. “There’s just enough light to see how to get back to the cabin.”

“You don’t suppose they’re done, do you?” I asked as I situated my bikini as we got onto the rocky shore.

“I hope not.” He tugged me along, aware that I was lagging behind on purpose. “You’re being silly, Asia. It’s not like you to be this silly.”

“Silly?” Now I was getting hot. I jerked my hand out of his, but found he caught me quite easily and tossed me over his shoulder.

“Yeah, silly. And I’m done chasing after you.” He gave my ass a good smack, making me yelp.

“Jett! Put me down.” I pounded his back with my fists.

It just made him laugh. “Pound away, baby. It feels like a massage.”

It seemed I’d be dragged back there, kicking and screaming. Jett was bound and determined to get me back to the other couples.

I stopped struggling so I could think. There had to be something else I could do to get out of it.

Jett

The soft pine needles made a natural carpeting as I walked in my bare feet to get back to the cabin. The night sky was making more and more stars pop out and the breeze was cool.

Asia was light as a feather. I could carry her over my shoulder all night if I had to. But she was coming back with me, no matter what.

One would think that going through what a woman does when she has three kids would’ve had Asia where nothing would bother her. Shyness should be a thing of the past. But she was letting this shyness get to her.

Asia had finished college, then worked part time after that, as we had little Josh to take care of too. Two years later we’d had a girl, Jasmine, then only six months after Jasmine was born we’d gotten pregnant again. We had another son—Jake. He’d come a bit too close to his older sister. Asia had found she didn’t want to go back to work, even part-time. She wanted to stay home with the kids and be a full-time mom, which was great with me.

Whatever Asia wanted, I wanted for her.

Two years had gone by, and Asia had done nothing other than be a wife and mother. She wouldn’t allow anyone else take care of our kids, even though both our parents had wanted to take them at different times, offering us a break.

I was game. I wanted some nights alone with my wife, but she was adamant that she didn’t want them to go. She felt guilty that Jasmine and Jake hadn’t gotten to have our complete attention the way Josh had. That guilt was making her into a person she’d never been—an introvert with reclusive tendencies.

She’d only leave the house when we planned special trips to the zoo or a park—family things that we took the kids with us to do. She’d let our families come over and we’d go to our parents’ homes, but always with kids in tow.

I didn’t mind that, but I did mind what was happening to the woman I loved. She was losing herself in our children. I had made it my mission to find her again.

Asia was still as smart as she’d ever been, but the sharpness she’d always had was growing dull. She was becoming burned out and she didn’t even see it happening to her.

After our youngest son’s third birthday party, I got with our parents and told them I thought Asia needed a break. I knew she’d fight me like hell over leaving the kids with them for a week, but she desperately needed the vacation.

Secretly, I made plans to take her on an adult-only trip. I made some calls and found out a small group of couples from The Dungeon of Decorum were going on a camping trip out to one of the forests in Oregon. I signed us up for it.

There was one main lodge and six small cabins that surrounded it. In the main lodge, there’d be scenes played out that anyone could be a part of, or they could make one of their own. I thought Asia and I could possibly make one. If not, we could be spectators, and it would ignite our passion and spark her up again.

She was in desperate need of a spark.

It was a safe place to explore our sexuality more, and there’d be women she could talk to who lived the way she did. Not everyone lived the way we did.

In our home, I was king. What I said went. All decisions were mine. In theory.

I wasn’t the strictest ruler. Leniency was my policy, and because of that, my wife was beginning to lose her luster for life. I needed some Dom time with men who were good at that kind of thing.

Asia needed me to be more for her. I wasn’t just her husband, I was her partner. A partner who was there to help her be the best she could be. And she was that for me too.

Only, with the kids, things were getting out of hand. Our bed had become a family bed. It was never meant to be that, but it had ended up that way.

With our first one, we just loved the little guy so much that we kept him between us so we both could look at him, feel his presence, and know he was safe.

Jasmine came along, and for a little while, we put them in their own beds. It just made sense. Then the guilt of having Jake came and all three were in our bed every night.

Asia and I had to sneak off to make love. Needless to say, that only happened about once a week, if that often.

I missed my wife—my sexy, affectionate wife—and I wanted her back. If I had to learn how to be more dominant to make sure I got her back and kept her, then so be it.

The funniest part about Asia running away after the third day there was why she ran off.

That’s what made no sense.

Asia

As I laid over Jett’s shoulder, I thought about why he didn’t understand why I didn’t want to participate with the others.

Jett didn’t understand who I’d become. I wasn’t the old Asia—the carefree girl with no worries who was up for anything and happy go lucky most of the time.

With kids comes great responsibility. I couldn’t be carefree. I had to care about everything. From day one, I’d had to monitor poops, pees, cries, and feedings. The things I had to monitor on our newborn were endless.

‘Did you give him any water?’

‘Why did you give him water? He can’t have that.’

The advice was as endless as the things I had to monitor. But I’d managed, somehow, to cut through the advice and pick out what I thought worked best for our son. I had gotten the hang of parenting by the time Josh was two. Then I’d decided I wanted another child. I’d read that more than three years between siblings caused riffs in sibling relationships.

Jett was down for another kid, so we put Josh in his own bed, as he’d been sleeping with us, and we got busy producing another offspring. In that three-month period of so much love making, Jett and I reconnected.

It was fantastic!

I had gotten pregnant, and all through the pregnancy, we’d fucked like rabbits, delighting in the fact that we had effectively gotten Josh into his own routine and bedroom and were free to explore our love once more.

Jasmine came, and we’d waited out the six-week period of no sex like a couple of dogs in heat who had been chained up from each other. The day the six weeks was up, Jet had gotten Josh to sleep. I had gotten Jasmine to sleep and put her in her baby bed in her own bedroom, gotten the baby monitor, and taken it to our bedroom to wait.

When he’d come in, we’d virtually exploded around each other. It was hot, it was electric, and it wasn’t going to stop. We couldn’t get enough of each other. We’d done the same thing each night—put the kids to bed. then met in our room where it was back to fucking like rabbits.

It was awesome!

Until I found myself pregnant again. And our baby girl was only six-months-old. I’d lost that special time with her, and I’d lose my special time with the new baby. It was terrible timing.

And with that pregnancy, the sexual heat that Jett and I had begun to lose points on the thermometer. The urges simply vanished. We found ourselves letting the kids sleep with us. Then Jake came along and there were five of us in the bed.

Sex wasn’t even thought about. It would come as an afterthought once a week, or even less than that. Jett and I got along fine. We were good to one another and parented as a team.

Well, mostly as a team. Jett and I argued some over leaving the kids with our parents now and then. I was against it. I already felt guilty about Jasmine and Jake and how we had never gotten to develop that special bond with them that we’d had with Josh. I wasn’t about to start shipping them all off to the grandparents.

So I was stuck. I didn’t want to work because that would take away from the kids. I didn’t want to go out alone with Jett because that would also take away from the kids. So life revolved around home and my family.

Only Jett pointed out the day of Jake’s third birthday that life wasn’t revolving around the family, to which I wholeheartedly disagreed. He pointed out that my life was only revolving around the kids. Our marriage was left out of that. He was left out of that. And he took responsibility for his part in that too.

As the husband, it was up to him to monitor the mommy situation at all times and direct me accordingly. He’d let the sex go. He’d let the affection go. He’d let it all go because it was easier to be lenient than it was to take the hard road and make me be his wife too—not just the kid’s mother.

And he was right. I could see that.

I loved my husband. I didn’t want him to feel left out of anything. But what was I supposed to do about it?

I also loved my kids, and I wanted them to know that without any doubts at all. I wanted them to know they were my world.

Jett pointed out that I was his world as much as the kids were. And he was supposed to have the top spot in my world, just as I was supposed to have the top spot in his. We’d both fallen away from our core beliefs, and he took the responsibility upon himself to fix it for us all.

I was thankful for that, because even though he’d pointed out things that I agreed with, I was still one hell of a busy mom.

Things still had to be monitored—pee, naps, meals. But things were added as they got older. Josh had to be monitored on what he was looking at on his little laptop that he was only supposed to be playing learning games on.

All too often we’d find him playing violent games that were far above his age level. He’d tell us he was training for when he would become a marine and that we shouldn’t stop him. He needed to get used to seeing blood, guts, and assorted body parts. It would be his job someday.

Who were we to get in the way of the next great American War Hero?

Jasmine had to be monitored about the crayons. Our little girl was a budding artist, and when she ran out of paper, the walls became her canvas. Oh, how proud she was of her grand murals. That made it hard as hell to discipline her about coloring on the walls.

Jasmine would enter the room and take a bow. “Please, family, join me in the hallway where I shall show you my latest creation.”

Jett and I would sigh as we looked at each other. Neither of us had a clue how to discourage her from drawing on the walls while encouraging her on her art.

She was fantastic, after all. No one could make little squiggly marks like our precious daughter. In the end, we repainted often and blamed the maintenance man when she found her masterpieces had vanished into thin air. And we got her an easel to help combat her addiction.

Then there was Jake. Boy, that kid was into everything. I’d lose him so often after he began to crawl that we had to sew jingle bells into his clothes so we could track him down.

We were certain that he’d become the world champion at hide-and-go-seek.

With all the kids and all that went with them, my time was used up. Thinking about anything other than what they were up to and if their bodies were in proper working order was more than I could do.

Sex with my husband didn’t even enter my mind. There just wasn’t time for that. And he wasn’t as busy as I was, so he ended up missing sex more than I did.

When Jett came to me, making me take the time to talk to him while our parents looked after the kids after the festivities of Jake’s birthday, I was grateful.

He could’ve skirted around behind my back to get what he needed. Instead, he took the mother bear I was head-on. He let me know he was taking his wife back. However it had to happen, he wanted me back and he’d get me back.

I could still be a great mother, but he wanted me back. So he devised a plan where we’d spend a week in Oregon with other couples who liked to live the way we did. We’d explore our sexuality once more and learn some tricks of the trade from the other couples.

That might sound like a lot of fun to some. A BDSM retreat, if you will.

To me, it sounded merely okay. And the thought of leaving my kids for an entire week was like sliding bamboo shoots underneath my fingernails. I fought him as hard and long as I could about going.

I kept telling him to start out with one overnighter, then we’d go to two and move on from there. Jett wasn’t hearing it. He said I needed a clean break so I could come home and know, without a doubt, that I was his wife first and their mother second.

He and I were the heads of the household and our needs had to be met too. Without a strong union at the top, our troops would descend into chaos. And we had three teens to think about in our future. We needed to build the pyramid of power now.

No more waiting.

But it wasn’t easy, and I wasn’t happy about going back to do what the others thought would be best for me.

Jett

The light was still on in our cabin. I had a feeling our friends wouldn’t give up and leave. The women of our small group had come up with the idea when they’d seen how introverted Asia had become.

Though none of them had known her prior, they listened when I described the pre-children Asia. All of them had kids, so they understood.

I didn’t see a thing wrong with what they’d come up with. When Asia had taken off out the door, it had taken me by surprise.

She and I had participated in several things with the other couples. We’d watched some scenes and some impact training that she was really excited about trying. We’d even taken part in a power building session, where all the couples had sex in the same room at the same time. She’d taken part in that without running away.

So why would she run from something like this?

As I approached the front door, I gave her ass a smack and placed her back on her feet. I was sure to keep her between me and the door so she couldn’t get away from me.

I took her by the chin to make her look at me. “Asia, I want you to go in there and have a good time. I don’t want any more of this shy crap. We fucked in front of these people, for the love of Pete. How could this be embarrassing to you when that wasn’t?”

“I wasn’t alone.” She jutted out her jaw and crossed her arms.

“What?” I was confused.

“They want me to get in front of everyone, all alone. I don’t want to do it. Isn’t that enough for you? I don’t want to do it all alone.” She blinked rapidly as if she was about to cry.

I pulled her into my arms and rocked her. “Baby, my God, what’s happened to you?” I kissed the top of her head and looked down at her. “You’re going to laugh at yourself later when you look back at this.”

“Do you really think so?” She shook her head. “I’m scared to death, Jett. I am.”

“Baby, get in there. Take the card they give you. Act out the word and let everyone laugh with you. They’re not going to laugh at you. You’ll be having fun in no time. Being invisible isn’t nearly as great as you’re thinking it is. Hiding behind me or the kids is a thing of the past for you. It’s time to step up and be the best you that you can be. Starting with an innocent game of charades.”

I kissed her, then, and held her tight, knowing she’d get through that week and be one step closer to being back to the strong Asia she’d been before she was called Mom.

The door opened and she was greeted with hugs from her new friends. Then we went inside to play the game that would help bring my wife back to me.

The sex all week long had helped with that too. In the end, we got each other back and our marriage remained rock solid. Our kids had ups and downs that we all got through as a family—a family with a mother and a father who loved each other so much, they’d do anything to keep their love strong.

And we all lived and loved happily ever after.

The End

Mallory

A Billionaire Romance

By Michelle Love

When art student Quilla Chen bravely dives into a Venetian canal to rescue a suicidal man, she has no way of knowing the man she has saved is the eldest son of one of America's wealthiest families. But Jakob Mallory has his own dark secrets—an addiction to cocaine which has fueled his epic rise to the top, but now threatens everything as his addiction grows stronger. Their attraction to each other is palpable, and soon, they become lovers.

Part One: Torment Me

“Bella, bella, bella!”

Quilla ignored the calls of the gondoliers as she walked quickly over the bridge. It was dusk, and Venice was readying itself for the nightlife, but at this moment, on this particular bridge, it was quiet. Quilla kept her focus on her destination; she’d had good practice at tuning out the incessant catcalls and whistles that followed her. Even dressed as she was, simple white shirt and cargo pants, the Italian boys would make their appreciation known. It had annoyed her at first—her American sensibilities offended by their objectification—but now she just ignored it.

Every morning she woke up in this glorious city, Quilla Chen would spend a few seconds in wonderment. Italy … she never thought a working-class girl like her would get here. Oh, she’d worked eighteen hours days to fit in both work and college, ending up with a Fine Arts degree, but when her professor at her alma mater had called and told her she’d won the scholarship to go spend the summer painting in Venice, she could hardly believe it.

“And when you get back,” he’d said kindly, “we’ll discuss your Ph.D. thesis.”

Her. Quilla Chen, soon to be Doctor Quilla Chen. “I’ll make you proud, Mom,” she’d said the day she’d found out. The photograph of her mother, five years dead, didn’t make up for the loss, but Quilla had felt happier than in a long time. ‘Do something’ were her mother’s last words to her, and she had. She had done something. At twenty-four, Quilla was looking at a future which had some value, some meaning.

Now, as she walked towards the north of the city, towards Cannaregio, away from the tourist track, she wondered idly if she could make a life here, in this glorious city. There seemed too much to discover for one summer; she wanted to immerse herself in the culture, the language, the beauty. Since arriving a week ago, she had already sketched and painted a number of pieces, so inspired had she been. Tonight, her mission was to sketch and photograph dusk falling over St. Dell’isole Michele and Murano from the Ponte de la Sacca de la Misericordia.

The bridge was quiet when she got there. She settled down on a small stone walkway at the side of the bridge and looked out over the Venetian Lagoon. It had been a typical sweltering day but as the sun began to set, the colors that spread across the sky were heaven. Soon Quilla was so lost in her work that she didn’t even notice the last of the boats coming out from under the bridge and that the streetlamps were turning on.

It was only when she heard the scrape of shoes that she looked up. A man, tall, wearing a suit, stood at the pinnacle of the bridge, staring down into the water. He was handsome—if a little red-eyed and unshaven—Quilla judged him to be in his early to mid-forties. It was the expression on his face that made her heart twist with sadness. Hopelessness, utter, complete hopelessness … she drew herself back into the shadow of the bridge, not wanting to intrude on the man’s privacy, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. As she watched, he slowly, carefully, took his jacket off and laid it carefully on the bridge. With mounting horror, she saw him lay his wallet and phone on top and then his shoes. Oh, God no … before she could scream out, he leapt in one movement, plunging into the murky depths of the water.

Quilla reacted in a flash. Wrenching off her sneakers and shirt, she dived into the water. Opening her eyes, she could see nothing in the dark waters of the lagoon; instead, she stretched out her arms, searching. She knew it was probably hopeless, but something in the man’s face made her want to find him, want to save him. She broke the surface to suck in some air, then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something. Without thinking, she made a grab at it and felt an arm. She pulled on it and the man broke the surface, too, spluttering, cursing—in English. An American.

“No, you freaking don’t,” Quilla gasped, as he struggled to free himself, and using all of her strength, she hauled him to the side of the canal. He was a big man, so all she could do was pin him to the side of the canal and hope someone would come help them both out.

“Let me go,” he murmured, his voice breaking and cracking.

“No, never ...” Quilla had no idea why she said that with so much feeling, but her whole world was now about saving this man. She yelled out, hoping one of the people in the houses at the edges of the canal would hear her. A minute or two passed and then there were two young men scrambling to help. “Get him out first,” she ordered them, and though they looked unhappy, they did as she said, dumping the crumpled American to the stone walkway and lifting her out.

“Thank you,” she gasped, “Thank you.”

They asked her, in broken English, if she was okay—did she want them to call for an ambulance? Quilla, panting hard, looked down questioningly at the American, who shook his head.

“No, please, no ambulance, no police, no press.”

No … press? Who was this guy? Quilla put her shirt back on her damp body—clearly to the disappointment of the two boys. She shook her head, laughing. “Look, can you watch him for a sec while I grab his stuff from up there? Might tell me who he is and where we can take him.”

She climbed up onto the bridge and grabbed his jacket and personal items. She bent down to wrap his jacket around him and for the first time, he looked at her properly. Their eyes locked and Quilla felt something shift in her soul. He slowly lifted his hand and cupped her cheek, stroking the soft apple of it so tenderly, she thought she might cry, looking at her as if he couldn’t believe she was there.

“Okay,” she said, embarrassment making her cheeks flame. “Let’s see who you are … Jakob? Jakob Mallory?”

“Yes, I ...” He gave a big sigh and she was struck again about how hopeless he looked. “For what it’s worth, I’m Jakob Mallory.”

“Jakob, do you have somewhere you’re staying?”

He shook his head. “I flew in this afternoon. I wasn’t planning on a vacation.” He gave her a wry smile then, the first sign of his personality, and she found herself smiling back.

“Well, then … can you walk? You can stay on my couch tonight, and then we’ll get you a room tomorrow.”

He was still staring at her and for a moment she wasn’t sure he had heard what she said.

“Okay.”

It wasn’t until they were walking back into the city that she realized what she was doing. She’d just saved this dude’s life …and what, now she was taking him back to her apartment? You are insane. But her gut told her that he was no danger, and jeez, she felt a responsibility for him. Besides, she was pretty damn good at martial arts and if he tried anything …

“What’s your name?”

She smiled. “Quilla. Quilla Chen.”

“Quilla. Unusual.”

She said nothing, used to the reaction. They walked a little in silence for a little way, then he put a hand on her arm and stopped her.

“I can find a hotel … it’s okay.”

She looked up at him. His eyes were the same deep hazel as her own, his close-cropped hair a few shades lighter. He towered over her and was a pretty impressive physical specimen, she had to admit, but it was the look in his eyes that still spoke to her. Loneliness. Despair.

“I don’t think you should be alone, tonight,” she said simply, and Jakob smiled softly.

“You might be right.”

Quilla drew in a deep breath. “Look, come back to my apartment, take a hot bath. On the way back, there’ll be some tourist shops. We can skip in, get you some clean clothes. You need food, warmth, and someone to talk to. You’re not a homicidal maniac, are you?”

She asked the question with a grin on her face but there was still a little bit of her that was wary—he was a stranger, after all.

“Not lately,” he said, “Although there was that time I got stuck in an elevator listening to Justin Bieber.”

Quilla laughed, relaxing. “Completely understandable. Come on, then.”

She crushed the garlic cloves and added them to the pan. If there was one thing she loved in this world as much as art and books, it was cooking. And here, in this city, she had access to the farmer’s markets selling ripe and luscious fruit and vegetables and endless little delicatessens where they sold every kind of meat and cheese. It was nice, she reflected now, to have someone to cook for. A simple tomato and basil pasta dish it might be, but with crusty bread and a good red wine, and the sounds of the Venetian nightlife drifting up through the large open windows, it was a perfect evening. As the sauce bubbled away on the stove, Quilla leaned out of the window to see the lights of the city.

“Beautiful.”

She started. She hadn’t heard the tub drain or the bathroom door open. Jakob Mallory was grinning at her from the doorway, dressed in the light cotton T-shirt and shorts they’d managed to get from a tourist shop. They showed off his long, long legs and well-muscled calves. The T-shirt fit loosely on his big frame and the khaki reflected his eye color. Those eyes, still troubled, still so sad, met hers, and crinkled wonderfully at the edges as he smiled. “The food, it smells beautiful.”

Quilla rolled her eyes, blushing. “It’s just pasta.” But she was absurdly pleased. “Please, sit, it’s almost ready.”

She loaded his plate as he poured the wine, looking around her apartment. It was shabby, rustic, and she loved every inch of it. All spare surfaces were laden with her books, her paints, papers and pencils. At the end of the long kitchen table, there was a pile of books and he picked up the top one.

“The Story of Art. Huh, Gombrich. You’d get along with my pa.”

Quilla, balancing two plates laden with food, tottered to the table. She placed one in front of Jakob with a shy smile.

“Enjoy. Simple, but I think it’ll do you good. If nothing else, the garlic will be enough to kill any bacteria we might have picked up in the Lagoon.” She grimaced and he grinned.

“Sorry about that and … thanks. For the food, for saving my life, for your kindness.”

Quilla, flushing again, shoved a forkful of pasta into her mouth. “So...”

“Why did I try and kill myself?”

Quilla swallowed her food. “Not that it’s any of my business. You don’t have to talk to me about that … we can talk about something else.”

Jakob nodded, appearing to consider her words. After a pause, he attacked his food again. “This is damn good, Quilla. So tell me—do you live here?”

Quilla told him about the scholarship. “I never, in a million years, thought I’d ever come here. It’s like a dream.”

“Where are you from?”

“Seattle.”

Jakob put his fork down. “You have to be kidding.”

Quilla frowned. “No … why?”

Jakob grinned. “My family, all of them, live and works in Seattle. Born and bred.”

Something was ticking over in her brain but she couldn’t quite get there. “Your family?”

Mallory. Mallory. Something in that name …

Jakob looked vaguely uneasy. “My dad is Randall Mallory.”

Holy. Fuck. Balls. Quilla gaped at him. “There’s no way—you’re making this up.”

Jakob, still smiling, got up and went to grab her iPad, handing it to her. “The name of your scholarship award is...”

“… The Ran Mallory Award for Excellence in Art.” Quilla typed Jakob’s name into the search engine and a second later, her screen filled with images of the man sitting across from her. “This is too much … your dad is a legend. He came to talk at my graduation … damn, Jakob … this is too weird.” She shoved the iPad onto the table like it burned her to touch it. She narrowed her eyes at a laughing Jakob. “Was this a test? I get the grant, so ...” She immediately regretted her words as a shadow passed over his face. “God, I’m sorry, that was an idiotic thing to say.”

Jakob put a hand on hers. “Don’t worry. So, we’re both Washington natives then?”

Quilla smiled at him, grateful. “Looks like. Well, now I know you’re a Mallory, which kind of negates any questions about what you do … although I suppose I could ask which branch of the billion-dollar conglomerate you run.”

He grinned at the dubious amazement in her voice. “Sadly, not art. That’s my dad and my youngest brother Grady’s domain.”

“You have another brother, right?”

“Two. Kit’s the one you’re thinking of, actor, model, and major pain in the ass. His twin brother Joel coaches tennis, mostly his kid ...”

“Skandar Mallory!” she said, suddenly making the connection. “Wow. My best friend and I always go see him play when he’s playing in Washington.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Schoolgirl crush?”

“No,” she said, but she grinned, “So he’s your nephew, huh?”

Jakob laughed. “I feel so old right now.”

Quilla started to apologize but he held his hand up. “Please, I was kidding … though, do you mind if I ask?”

“Twenty-four.”

He looked her up and down. “Twenty-four, maybe five-five in your bare feet, and yet you dragged a two hundred pound, six-foot-five man out of a canal.”

“Adrenaline,” she said quickly. “Plus, you know, mad skills.”

He laughed. “You know, Quilla Chen, I’m not sure I’ve met anyone quite like you.”

“Good job. You’d need therapy.” There I go again, Miss Foot-in-Mouth. “Sorry, I have very little filter and clearly no tact.”

“I was lost,” he said suddenly. “I forgot what it was to have fun, to laugh, to enjoy anything. For months now. At that moment, I just thought … so quick, so easy.”

Quilla leaned on her elbows and studied him. “But you flew here with no luggage, on a whim?”

“Not exactly … I had a layover to Paris. My luggage is probably enjoying a trip to the Eiffel Tower right now. I thought I’d come into the city and waste a few hours, then ...” He trailed off. Quilla was sure he was keeping something back but she bit her tongue. He drew in a deep breath. “What about you? Family? Husband?”

“Neither. Just me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I have friends, good friends, amazing friends. And I’m good at being alone.”

He smiled at that but didn’t say anything. Quilla toyed with the stem of her wine glass.

“Jakob?”

“Yes?”

“Would you like some more food? More wine?”

“No, thank you. It was beyond delicious, but I couldn’t eat anything else. If it’s not too much to ask, I just want your company for the evening.”

“Of course. Let’s go sit on the balcony—and I’m bringing the wine, no matter what you say.”

“Alcoholic.”

“Shut up.”

She was amazed how easily they could talk—he must be a good ten, fifteen years older than her, maybe more, but she didn’t feel the age gap at all. They seemed kindred spirits, talking about music, Italy, books, food. It was nearly midnight before Quilla suddenly yawned.

“Sorry.”

Jakob looked amused. “It’s late.”

“It is.” Suddenly there was a little tension in the air. “Look,” she said eventually, “you’re a big guy and my couch is tiny. I’ll sleep on that; you take my bed.” She was blushing furiously but she didn’t know why. Bullshit, she said to herself, you’re attracted to him, is all.

Jakob shook his head. “No way. You’ve done far too much for me already. Do you have a sheet I could borrow?”

She pulled some sheets and a pillow from her cupboard and gestured towards the kitchen, suddenly so bashful she couldn’t meet his eye. “Help yourself to anything you want. Oh ...” She disappeared into the bathroom, then came out waving a toothbrush still in its packaging. “Lucky I just picked this up.”

Jakob took it from her. “I really can’t thank you enough, Quilla, I mean it.”

“It’s really okay. It’s been an unexpectedly lovely evening.”

Jakob lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, wondering how he got here. He hadn’t planned on seeing this night or any other. But that tiny girl in the next room … damn, when he’d felt her small hand pulling at his arm, her body pressing him up against the side of the canal, yelling with all her might for someone to help save him, he’d almost wanted to push her away and tell her he wasn’t worth it. Then he’d seen her face. Her ethereal beauty had sent a jolt through his soul, her soft smile, the dark hair hanging in bedraggled strands around the most exquisite face, the flush in her cheeks from the exertion—from saving his life. Jesus … his frazzled, delirious mind hadn’t known anything but that he would do whatever she asked.

And when he’d calmed himself, talked himself out of the hole, he’d found something new—a new friend, a chance at a new life.

… If it wasn’t for the millions of bugs crawling under his skin right now, scratching and clawing at his nerves, screaming for their medicine. Cocaine was an evil, insidious mistress and over the last year, he’d succumbed. Slowly it became a necessity, rather than a pleasure; something he thought that he could control. When it became clear it couldn’t …

He’d walked out of the lounge at Venice Airport, leaving his luggage and his flight to Paris, where his brother Grady was waiting for him. He should call him; let him know he was staying here for a few …

Wait, what? He pushed aside the sheet that covered him and sat up. Green eyes, pink lips, that smile … He didn’t even know the woman who had saved him, not longer than one day, and now he was what, planning on staying and dragging her into his fucked-up life? Shit, no …

He got up and went to check on his clothes, clean and drying on the balcony. Dry. He took them inside and dressed, shaking his head. The hell was he thinking? He glanced around for paper, a pen.

Sweet Quilla, there are no words to tell you how thankful I am to have met you tonight, for you being so brave and selfless. Allow me to be the same by not dragging you into my mess, but know I will never, ever forget you. Jakob.

He ignored the sadness pounding at his heart and left the note on the kitchen table. Unable to resist, he pushed her bedroom door open a crack and looked in. She lay on her stomach, her dark hair clouded around her on the pillow, her dark lashes resting on her cheek.

Brave, smart, funny, and beautiful, Jakob thought as he closed her door, feeling bad for intruding. He slowly padded to the door and stopped. No key. The door was old, no deadbolts, just a good old-fashioned lock and key. He glanced around for the missing key, felt above the lintel, moved some papers around on the cabinet by the side of the door. Nothing.

He checked the kitchen and now his pulse quickened. Quilla’s apartment was on the third floor, so he couldn’t get out via the balcony. Suddenly all the adrenaline came flooding back into his body, and he was desperate, needing to go find a fix from somewhere. He had people he could call who would know where to go here in Venice, but it was useless if he couldn’t even get out of …

“Looking for this?”

He spun around to find Quilla standing at her bedroom door. In her hand, the key. Jakob met her gaze, all ready to make up a story, but then she smiled sadly.

“What is it? Vicodin? Coke? I know it’s not heroin. You don’t have any track marks, at least from what I could see.”

She walked towards him, slightly unsteady from sleep, and handed him the key. “You can have this; you can go, get high, get depressed, and jump in the canal. If that’s what you want. Or you can stay here with me for a few days, get straight, and get some space, just chill out. I’ll help you through withdrawal; I’ve done it before for someone. It would be easy for us to just say goodbye now—we don’t know each other. So, I’ll leave it up to you. I’m going back to bed. If you’re here in the morning, I’ll be delighted. If not, well, you made your bed. Goodnight, Jakob.”

She turned and walked back into her bedroom and closed the door. Jakob, the key cold in his hand, stared after her with only one thought on his mind.

I’m going to marry that girl.

“Come on, faster.”

“God, I hate you ...”

Jakob grinned at her as she panted for air. “This was your idea, remember.”

Quilla squinted up at him.

“I said “let’s go for a stroll in the cool Venice evening, not, hey, let’s race across the city in hundred-degree heat’.”

Jakob laughed, handing her a bottle of water from his backpack. “Hush your grumbling.” Quilla stuck her tongue out at him, tilting her head back to drain the bottle in one go.

It had been a week since she’d pulled him out of the lagoon and Jakob could hardly believe the change that had come over him. In that week, Quilla had become his friend, his confidant, his challenger, his rock. Jakob Mallory had reached the age of forty-seven without forming any serious attachments beyond his brothers and a few friends. Probably why his closest relationship up to now had been his business partner Gregor, an ambitious Harvard grad. Gregor had been the one who shared his ‘secret’ with Jakob, the way he found the energy to work eighty-hour work weeks and still screw his way through the A-list of Seattle’s elite.

Still, Jakob thought now, all that was going to change. This tiny Asian American woman in front of him had changed all of that. When she’d come back into the living room the morning after they’d met and seen him still there, his long body cramped up on her couch, the smile on her lovely face had been all he had needed to know his decision to stay was the right one. That day, he’d called the airport to find out his luggage had been taken off the plane when he hadn’t checked in. Then, on the way to get it, he’d called Grady in Paris and said three words. “Met a girl.” Grady had laughed in his gruff way. “Hey, man, go for it. About damn time.”

Quilla blew out her cheeks. “God … I need a shower.”

Jakob shook his head. “Not yet, wise one. I’ve just seen a gelato cart over there.” He smiled as she looked excited. Food had been one of the highlights of this past week—she had taught him to cook with fresh ingredients and he had taken her out to some of Venice’s most high-end restaurants. They would sit at the outdoor tables long into the evening, talking about their lives. On the days he hadn’t been able to leave the apartment, the comedown from the coke fever too much, she had kept him cool, distracted him, and at one point, as his body became wracked with shivers, wrapped her arms around him to keep him from thrashing about.

That had been a bad night, with the delirium that came with withdrawal agony. He’d sweated and spasmed until finally falling asleep on the floor, in Quilla’s arms. When he had awoken, the fever had passed, and they were entangled on the floor, Quilla still asleep. Gently, he had laid back down next to her and studied her face, so peaceful when she was asleep. God, he had wanted to kiss her, that gorgeous, blush-pink mouth.

Jakob Mallory had never been in love—and he didn’t even know if this was love—but damn it, it felt good. Despite the difference in their ages, they connected on so many levels. This was all going through his head when Quilla had awoken herself with a gigantic sneeze, taken one look at him and dissolved into such infectious giggles that he could not help but laugh. It broke the tension. She had pulled him to his feet and sent him to shower while she made coffee.

The gelato guy grinned at him approvingly as Quilla debated over which flavor to have. “Pistachio,” she finally decided and Jakob nodded.

Carrying the over-filled cones away, they started to stroll back toward Quilla’s apartment. Casually, Jakob let his hand brush hers, then he took it, not glancing down at her to see her reaction. She didn’t pull her hand away. He risked a sideways look and saw a flush on her cheeks—which could be from running, he told himself—but she seemed very concentrated on the ice cream, all of a sudden. They walked slowly back through the tiny streets, over the bridges, stopping to watch the tiny boats and gondolas that traversed the canal system.

Jakob brushed his thumb over the back of her hand as he held it and he felt her squeeze his fingers just briefly. He looked down at her and she smiled at him, their eyes locking, a moment of understanding passing between them. As the streets grew quieter and night fell, Jakob saw a dimly lit street to the side of them. He glanced at Quilla.

“Adventure?” he said, his voice low, seductive. He saw her breathing quicken, the blush deepen, and she nodded once. He led her down the street, silent, with the noises of the city far away. A light breeze blew along the narrow street, washing over their hot bodies, giving some relief to the sultry evening. They walked slowly, taking their time before Jakob could bear it no longer and stopped, slipping his hands onto her waist.

Quilla looked up at him, her eyes almost shy, but as he bent his head to kiss her, he felt her relax into the embrace. Her lips moved against his, slowly at first, then as his big hand fisted her hair into a knot at the nape of her neck, he heard her give a soft moan of desire. His cock was hard against the fabric of his shorts and as Quilla pressed her body against his, he could feel her trembling. As they broke away from the kiss, breathless, he stroked her face.

“Quilla … are you sure you want this?”

She leaned into his touch, nodding. “I’m sure I want you...”

He grabbed her hand and they were running then, back to her apartment. Tumbling in the door, they were kissing and tearing their clothes off.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Quilla said, putting her hands against his chest, “I seriously need a shower first or ...”

As Jakob swept her up into his arms, she shrieked with laughter as he carried her into the bathroom.

Under the cool spray of the shower, they explored each other’s bodies, kissing, stroking, caressing. Quilla moved her hand down to cup his cock, stroking the hot length of it along her belly as Jakob, trailing his lips along her shoulder, slipped his fingers along the slick crevice of her sex. As he massaged her clit, she ground against his hand and with a growl, he tumbled her out of the shower onto the floor.

“I have to be inside you, beautiful ...” and he hitched her legs around his hips. She helped guide him to the entrance of her cunt and as he thrust into her, she gasped at the quick pain of his rigid, huge cock slamming into the core of her. They fucked hard, furiously, as if they had no time and were so desperate to be joined that all their feral animal needs came flooding out of them.

Quilla gripped his buttocks, moving her own hips to meet him, angling them up so he could drive himself into her. Jakob, his gaze focused totally on her, marveled at the way her breasts, so full and ripe, and her softly curved belly, undulated under their movements as he fucked her.

“Jakob, Jakob …” Her urgent whisper made his body react, his thrusts becoming fiercer, deeper. Inexorably he drove her towards a shattering climax and when it came, he marveled at the way her lips parted, her eyes closed, and her head rolled back. He kissed her throat, feeling the vibration of her cry of pleasure shimmer through the delicate skin.

“Quilla … my God, Quilla ...” His body was no longer his; it belonged to her and he came, shooting hot semen deep into her core. She tightened her thighs around his hips, running the tips of her fingers up and down his back, the delicious sensations prolonging his orgasm.

As they caught their breath, Jakob gathered her to him. “God, Quilla, I’ve been wanting to do that since we met.”

She chuckled shyly, laying her cheek against his hard chest. “Me too … but that’s not why I ...”

“I know that. Look at me.”

She looked up and he smiled down at her. “You are the best person I’ve ever known, Quilla Chen. You saved me—not just that evening at the canal, but in so many ways over the last few days.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “That’s such a lovely...” she got choked up then and he kissed from her forehead down, trailing his lips across her soft cheek until his mouth covered hers.

“Jakob?”

“What is it, baby?”

She gave a little chuckle. “This bathroom tile is really hard.”

He laughed and got up, pulling her to her feet. He ran a leisurely hand down her side, admiring the way her full breasts fell, the soft belly, almost but not quite flat, the curve of her hips. “You really are just beautiful,” he said idly, and she kissed him again.

“Come with me.” She took his hand and led him to her bedroom. “Our playground,” she said with a grin. “Bet you’re glad you’re off the couch from now on.”

Jakob grinned back and swept her legs from under her, laying her back on the soft bed. “Hey, I like that couch. I fully intend to fuck you on that couch.”

“Oh, you do, do you?”

“Hell, yes. Then I’m going to fuck you on the kitchen table and on the living room floor ...” He was lifting her legs over his shoulders, trailing his lips down the valley between her breasts down to the soft rise of flesh around her navel. His tongue circled and dipped into her bellybutton and he heard her drawing in a very shaky, excited breath. “Oh, you like that, huh?”

“Where else are you going to fuck me, Jakob Mallory? Jesus ...”

His mouth was on her sex then, tongue sweeping along the soft folds of labia, lashing around her clitoris. He paused for a beat to answer her and she moaned.

“Impatient girl … well, Miss Chen, you have that wonderful balcony. I’ll wait until the early hours of the morning, when the city is quiet ...” He bent his head to taste her again and felt her fingers knot in his short hair, “then I’ll taste every part of you, kiss very inch of your skin until you beg me to fuck you so hard, I’ll have to muffle your screams with my hand in case we wake the neighbors … but ...” He was moving up her body again so he could kiss her mouth, “we’ll wake the neighbors anyway and silently, they’ll watch us, marveling over your beauty, the way you blush and moan as my cock slams into you again and again and again …”

He plunged into her swollen and ready sex, his cock straining to find the center of her. Jakob put all his weight of his hands, on either side of her head, and locked his gaze on her face as he thrust into her. Quilla, her limbs liquid under him, gazed back at him as if drinking him in, wanting to memorize his face. She clung to him, her legs moving with him, her breasts pressing up into his chest. He smiled down at her as their bodies became damp with sweat from the exertion, from the hot Venetian night. Jakob glanced over to the large, dusty freestanding mirror and smiled.

“Look how beautiful you are,” he said, and lifted her leg so she could see his thick, long cock sliding in and out of her swollen cunt. It was a mesmerizing sight and soon they were clawing and tearing at each other as they came, pausing only to catch their breath, before beginning again, long into the night until the dawn began to break over the city.

Quilla opened one eye. She lay on her stomach in her bed, her limbs pleasantly sore. Her thighs were aching in a way that made her smile. Jakob wasn’t beside her in bed but she could hear him whistling in the kitchen. Quilla glanced over the clock. It was afternoon, but she didn’t care. Last night—and this morning—had been the most erotic, most exhilarating night of her life. Only exhaustion had stopped them eventually and she had fallen asleep, wrapped in his thickly muscled arms. She closed her eyes, recalling every part of the night, the way he’d kissed her in the darkened alleyway—she knew without doubt that if he had taken her right then, she would not have turned him down. The idea they might be caught was thrilling to her.

She felt cool lips against the small of her back then, and smiled as they trailed up her spine. The bed dipped as Jakob lay down with her and she turned over. He smiled appreciatively as he ran a hand over her belly and dipped his head to kiss both breasts, teasing her nipples with his tongue.

“Good morning,” she said lazily and felt his laugh rumbled through his big chest.

“Good afternoon, gorgeous. Damn, look at you … even supermodels don’t look like this when they get up ...”

Quilla rolled her eyes. “Sweet talker. Perhaps you like the way the pillow seems to have made my face into this abstract artwork.” She turned her far cheek to him and he grinned when he saw the soft skin rumpled from the pillow’s creases.

“I love every line,” he said, kissing her. “I bought you brunch.”

She heaved herself into a sitting position and looked over to the nightstand. Two long glasses of orange juice stood on a tray with croissants and fresh fruit. “Oh, yum, I am parched.”

He handed her a glass and she drank half of the cold juice in one go. “So hot.”

“Yep.” He wiggled his eyebrows and she laughed.

“I mean the weather. Thank you for this; I needed this.” She drained her glass and smacked her lips together, smirking at him. He was looking at her with a strange expression.

“’Sup?”

He didn’t answer, but instead grabbed her ankles and pulled her flat on the bed again. She giggled as he pushed the sheet away from her. “What are you doing?”

Playfully, he put a finger to her lips, silencing her. She took her cue, watching him lazily as he fished an ice cube from his untouched glass and placed it on her throat. With his thumb and forefinger, he gently traced a pattern with the cube around her breasts, taking his time with each, finishing by holding the cube on her nipple until it became painful, then taking each nipple into his mouth to warm it. Then, he drew it down the center line of her stomach, circling around her navel again and again, dipping into it, letting the icy water run into it, and then dipping his head to drink it from her.

The ice cube, melting against her hot skin, was trailed lower until it was on her clit, Quilla’s legs parting gently as his hand slipped between them. All this time, Jakob never broke eye contact with her and Quilla, being silent, held in her moans of pleasure. She felt the ice against her now as he brushed it up and down her sex until it finally melted away. Then, so gently, his long finger slipped inside of her while his thumb brushed a steady rhythm on her clit. Quilla felt her vagina clench and tighten around his finger, responding to him, and a small moan escaped. Jakob gently placed his free hand over her mouth, smiling, a question in his eyes. She knew without doubt that if she said “Stop”, he would do so immediately. She at once felt so vulnerable and yet safe under his caress.

Jakob increased the pressure on her clit and slipped another finger, then another, inside her, pressing upwards against her g-spot until she tensed and shuddered, the mellowest yet most all-consuming orgasm of her life rippling through her body. It seemed to go on and on. From somewhere, Quilla remembered the French saying La petite mort—the little death—and that’s what that felt like, a scintilla, a moment where she didn’t care if she lived or she died.

As her breathing returned to normal, she smiled up at him. “You have mad skills.”

He touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “I love watching you come,” he said simply, “it’s the most exhilarating thing in the world to me.”

Quilla shook her head. “Jakob Mallory … I’m going to wake up in a minute and discover I’m in a fever dream.” But she loved the way he looked at her, loved being naked and totally vulnerable with this man.

“Quilla?”

She locked her fingers with his. “Yes, lovely man?”

“Will you come back to Seattle with me? I mean, when your scholarship is done. Will you come back and live with me?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Live?” She was silent for a moment and Jakob, his eyes wary, tried to smile.

“I’m not trying to freak you out. And if you say no, if you think it’s too soon, that’s okay.”

Quilla sat up again, studied his face. “Jakob … I really, really,' she exaggerated the word and he smiled, “want this to work. I do. It is a little fast to live together … and we come from such hugely different worlds— seriously, look at this place, it’s luxurious compared to my actual one bed in St Anne’s. I’m a grad student; I work in the art department of the university and just about make rent and food. I’m crazy about you, but I think we should date a bit first.”

Jakob nodded, only wincing slightly. “I always go all in—it’s a character flaw – “

“No,” she interrupted, “It isn’t at all. Better to do that than always hold back. I’ve done that in the past, with ...” She sighed, hugging her legs to her chest. “My mom was a heroin addict. I helped get her clean, the last time and stupidly, I thought we’d actually made it. I didn’t get her the follow- up care she needed. And she started using again, but she hid it. I found her dead, overdosed. So, no, don’t hold back, please. It’s just I’m not ready quite yet.”

Jakob pressed his lips to hers. “Quilla Chen, you are wiser than your years.”

“Grandpa.”

“Ouch.” But he laughed. “So, you’ll think about it?”

Quilla grinned and slid her hand around to the back of his neck, leaning her forehead against his. “Yup. And what’s more, I’ll think about it while sucking your big, delicious cock ...”

“You are a filthy, filthy girl ...”

“Oh, I know ... I know ...”

If I hadn’t met Jakob, Quilla thought as she stared wide-eyed out of the window at a rain-drenched Seattle, I’d be sitting on a steaming, stinky bus instead of this air-conditioned behemoth of a town car. Next to her, Jakob was clearly enjoying introducing her to the luxuries in his life. He’d insisted on changing her plane ticket to a business class one—next to him, of course—and they’d arrived back in Washington rested and without a hint of the jetlag she’d expected. And of course, being with him had made leaving Venice easier—although she still felt a pang. She’d spent the last three months there, met Jakob there, and fell in love with … everything. Oh, to hell with it, she smiled to herself, I fell in love with him. She didn’t mind admitting that to herself, even if she was holding back from saying it to him … yet.

Jakob reached for her hand. “So, you want to go home, get changed? Get some rest?”

She nodded. “I think I need to. Do some laundry, call my friends. Just for today,” she said hurriedly, not wanting him to think she didn’t want to be with him.

He nodded. “Of course. Look, take as long as you need—but I would like to take you to dinner, meet my family. Separately, if you like. Then it’s not too scary.”

“That sounds perfect … I’d like to meet your dad at dinner, it seems respectful and appropriate. Then maybe we could do something more relaxed with your brothers, your friends.”

“Good call. Kit and Grady are still abroad, anyway, but Joel is around. Skandar, too,” he added with a grin, and she shrugged good-naturedly.

“I’ve moved on from my crush. I prefer his uncle now.”

“Damn straight.”

Later, at home, she suddenly missed his company—after all, they’d been together day and night for nearly three months—and after loading her washer with her clothes, she snagged her phone from her purse and dialed her best friend.

Marley Griffin yelled a hello down the phone that made Quilla laugh. Marley, a science nerd who was currently wowing the science world with her research, was a Canadian émigré who Quilla had bonded with at college over their loathing of the cafeteria’s food. The dark-haired, pale-skinned, hard-bodied Canook had been Quilla’s confident ever since, but when she was in Venice, calling each other had been a case of when they had the money to call Emails just weren’t the same, Quilla realized now, as she listened to her friend’s happiness at hearing from her.

“I’ve been saving up,” Marley told her now, “So that the day you came back, we could go out and blow it all on drink and loose men. Or was it loose drink and men? Either.”

Quilla giggled. “God, I have missed you. When can we start drinking?”

Jakob stopped by the office before heading to his father’s house. His assistant Miles was there and the two chatted.

“You back to work?”

“Not for a couple of days, Miles, as long as there’s nothing too urgent.”

“Nothing that can’t wait.” Miles was a slight man of Iranian and Irish heritage, with effortless poise and grace and a razor-sharp intellect. Jakob thought again that he was wasted as his assistant and had offered to fund further education for him, but Miles insisted he was happy where he was—for now.

“I might change my mind on it, so keep that offer open,” he’d said with a grin and Jakob had reassured him that it would always be open to him. He liked that Miles didn’t defer to him or kiss his ass if he disagreed with him. Gregor, Jakob’s business partner, loathed Miles—which was always a reason to keep someone around. Miles had no time for Gregor either.

“How is Gregor?”

Miles sniffed. “Busy spreading STDs as usual.”

Jakob snorted with laughter. “No change there.”

Miles made a face. “Ugh, can you imagine?”

Jakob grinned. “I hear women find him attractive.”

Miles mumbled something and Jakob was pretty sure he heard the words ‘Helen Keller’. He tried to look disapproving but failed.

“For someone as misogynistic as Gregor, he sure does enjoy having a lot of bad sex with as many women as he can. Oh, I’m assuming it’s bad,” Miles waved a hand dismissively, “because it’s him.”

Jakob laughed and right on cue, Gregor himself came through the door.

“Miles, can you send these by courier?” He threw an envelope down on the desk.

No please, no thank you. Jakob’s eyes narrowed, but Miles, as unflappable as ever, merely ignored the envelope. “I’m sure Mandy will send it for you in the morning.”

“I’m asking you.”

“Hello, Gregor.”

Gregor turned and blinked, obviously amazed at seeing him. “Hey, I didn’t know you were back. To be honest, I didn’t expect you back … your dad said something about Venice and a girl?”

Miles’ eyebrow shot up and he suddenly seemed very interested in their conversation. Jakob tried not to grin.

“Something like that. Anyway, I’m back.”

Gregor chewed his lips, then tapped the envelope. “Send that out. Tonight, Miles. Jakob, a word in private?”

Jakob winked at Miles, who made an obscene gesture behind Gregor’s back but did it with such a cheesy grin on his face, Jakob had to smother a laugh.

Jakob followed Gregor back to his office and sat down. He already knew what was coming.

“So … Venice. For nearly three months? Could have given me some notice, Jake.”

Gregor knew Jakob hated his name shortened. He looked over at him now, obviously trying to figure out where this new relaxed Jakob had come from.

“So, who is she?”

“My girlfriend.”

Gregor shook his head. “Man, I thought we had a silent agreement—no long-term things, no commitments to interfere with the business.”

Jakob gave a hollow laugh. “I seem to remember us saying that once, in college, stoned out of our minds. Didn’t think it was binding.”

“How do you think we built this business, Jake? Work. Eighteen-hour days.”

“Which we had the energy for twenty-five years ago. Jesus, Gregor, how much more money do you need? This place and the people we invested in are the top picks from every grad scheme in the country; hell, the world. You and me, we don’t even need to show up for work anymore.”

“So that’s it? That’s why you dropped everything for some Italian pussy?”

Jakob’s dark green eyes took on a dangerous gleam. “Watch yourself, Greg. And she’s American, actually, from here, too.”

“How’d you meet her?”

Jakob hesitated, then decided the truth was the best way to go. “She dragged me out of the Venetian Lagoon after I jumped in. I was coming down, Greg, hard. She nursed me back to health.”

Greg sneered. “So, she saves you from the drink, recognizes you, and thinks ‘hey, meal ticket’.”

Jakob moved suddenly then, diving across the desk and grabbing Gregor by the throat. “Gregor, you don’t ever talk like that about her again, okay? Or we are done.” He studied the other man’s eyes then released him in disgust. “You’re high at work?”

Gregor gave a laugh. “Seriously? You’re judging me? Did you think no one noticed at that benefit in January how wasted you were? Don’t be a hypocrite, Jake. You know how much we built because we could use it to fuel our energy.”

“Yeah,” Jakob said, bleakly. “I remember, and I can tell you now … it’s over. You need to get clean or I’m walking away with my share and you can do whatever the hell you want.”

He got up and walked to the door. “And I mean it, Gregor, you will speak about and to Quilla with respect, or not at all.”

He slammed the door behind him, stalked down to the car, and drove out to his dad’s place feeling irked and tired and … pissed. Why was he still in business with that clown? It wasn’t as if he even liked Gregor—the dude was snaky as all hell. Fuck it. He’d talk to his dad—who had warned him about Gregor from the beginning—and work out a way to separate from him without risking the jobs of the people who worked there. Buy Gregor out, maybe. Mallory Fisk didn’t need him anymore and Jakob didn’t need someone like that—such a malevolent presence—in his life.

As he drove out to the big house, he pushed Gregor to the back of his mind and focused instead on Quilla. He already missed her. Tomorrow he would go over early and see her before work. He still couldn’t quite believe she was his … or that he had fallen quite so hard. He’d always been such a workaholic, but the last three months he realized how much of life he had been missing.

He steered the car up the long driveway of his father’s home. Despite his billions, Randall Mallory’s home wasn’t a tacky monolith to bad taste. Instead, it was a two-story ranch-style home—large, yes—but not over the top.

Jakob didn’t bother to knock—it drove him mad that Ran never locked the door, but today he didn’t care. He found his father reading in his library, his beloved dogs asleep at his feet.

“Hey, Dad.”

Randall Mallory looked up and smiled, putting his book down. “Well about time, Jakob, come on in. I’ll call for some coffee.”

The dogs, two loopy Labrador retrievers, jumped up to greet Jakob and he wrestled with them while his dad ordered their drinks. Ran batted the dogs away affectionately and gave his son an awkward hug. He stood back and studied him. “Well now, you look good, Jakob. Healthy. Rested.”

They sat, Jakob relieved to see his father looking so relaxed himself. Since their mom had died, Ran had gone through life with his usual stoicism but with a stoop to his tall frame, a sadness, an almost palpable sense of bewilderment. Francis Mallory had been the love of his life and without her, Ran wasn’t sure how to exist. His father had never been the archetypal patriarch; he was kind, considerate, brilliant—and lonely and Jakob hated to see him so depressed.

Now, he smiled at his eldest son.

“You really do look good, Jakob. Now, tell me about this remarkable young lady.”

Back in his office, Gregor Fisk had done little work since Jakob had left. He knew his time at the company was at risk and that Jakob held all the cards because at the beginning, it had been the Mallory family who had bankrolled Gregor.

He hated it. He hated being in debt to a family who, for the most part, hated him. He’d had a plan to change that. Had a plan. And mostly that plan had had to do with Jakob being deemed unfit for service by the Board. Gregor had invested time and had risked everything to procure the highest quality coke. When he’d persuaded Jakob to use a little pick-me-up—the night his mom was buried—he’d had no idea how quickly Jakob would become addicted. He had been using the drug to fend off the pain of losing his mom, of working to prove to his dad that he could take care of the business. Gregor had been waiting ever since to see Jakob fall.

And now, damn it, he was clean. Gregor had seen it in the healthy pallor of his skin, the clear sclera in his green eyes. All that work wasted. His interest had been piqued when Jakob had admitted the suicide attempt. That would have been … helpful. None of Jakob’s brothers were interested in property—or were qualified to fill his position. It would have been Gregor’s ‘honor’ to take the reins.

Now this girl had screwed up his plans … twice. Quilla. Gregor smirked. It shouldn’t be too hard to find out who she was, with a name like that. He picked up the phone to call the person he knew could find her, wherever she was in the city.

Quilla flopped back on her bed, Marley beside her. “God, that was fun.” They had been out at a local bar, a band playing in the background, and Quilla had told Marley everything. Almost. She’d edited the way she had met Jakob—she just said he fell in the water by accident. Normally she would have told Marley everything, but she felt disloyal about discussing Jakob’s pain when they had never met.

“I still can’t believe it … Jakob Mallory. Damn, girl,” Marley propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at her friend. Quilla looked … amazing. That was the only word for it. Her eyes sparkled, her skin glowed … “Ugh, you are a living loved-up cliché,” Marley grumbled and Quilla laughed.

“Yes, I am.” She gave Marley a very cheesy, smug grin. “I got mine.”

Marley snorted. “And then some, by the sounds of it. So, what now? I mean, you lived together for three months so …?”

“He asked me to move in with him—I said I needed time. That was then, though,” she admitted, “and I thought I was being mature and sensible. But fuck it, if we can go through all of that and be ...” She trailed off when she saw Markley’s doubtful expression and sighed. “Yeah, I know. I just ...”

“If you say ‘miss him already’, I will vomit on you.” Marley growled, and pretended to throttle her friend. Quilla giggled and Marley relented.

“Well,” she sat up, adjusting her T-shirt. “I’m going to get a cab. I need to meet this man of yours before you decide to move in with him and be all like ‘Oh we must register for dishware, darling.”

Quilla pushed her off the bed with a foot. “Yeah, that’ll never happen.”

“You don’t know. When you’re all Mrs. Billionaire, you can spend your days buffing your nails and giving him blow jobs that you’ve learned from his personal sex sensei.”

Quilla was crying with laughter. “Yes, because that’s what they do. God, you are a lunatic; my ribs hurt.”

Marley leaned over and hugged her friend. “I am happy for you and not at all jealous. Nope, not one bit.” She grinned wickedly at her friend, before waving. “I’m outty.”

“Later, dude.”

Quilla heard her friend close her front door but lay on her bed still, catching her breath and thinking of the evening and her friend and Jakob—of course, Jakob. She rolled over onto her back, kicking her shoes off and easing out of her jeans. She grabbed her phone. Eleven p.m. There was a message she’d missed.

Thinking about your lips right now … thinking about what I’m going to do to you tomorrow … J xx

Quilla grinned. God, why had she said she wanted today to take a breather? She wanted him here, now …

She shook her head and went to run a bath in her tiny tub. If nothing else, she needed to shave her legs and primp herself for tomorrow. She took her phone in with her—just in case—setting her iPad on the sink to play soft music. She had nearly drifted off to sleep when her phone buzzed.

She smiled when she saw the caller ID. “Hey, I was dreaming about you ...”

Jakob gave a throaty chuckle. “Must be catching. How was your evening?”

“Fun, but it was missing something.” There was a chuckle in her voice.

“And what would that be?”

They both laughed. “I hear splashing. You in the tub … naked?”

“Nope, fully clothed.”

“Funny girl.”

Quilla grinned. “You still at your dad’s?”

“No, on my way back into the city. He wants to meet you.”

Quilla felt a shiver of nervousness and when she didn’t reply, Jakob reassured her. “You’ll be fine; he’s a kitten, really.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Anyway, this tub ...”

She laughed. “You know, it’s small, but it could fit two people if they were very, very close ...”

Jakob growled. “Woman, I’m already on my way.”

“I’ll leave the door open for you.”

Jakob pushed open the door to the apartment building and quickly ascended the two flights of stairs to Quilla’s apartment. 3E. He pushed on her door and let himself in. Down the hallway, then he was into the living room. There were dimmed lamps on and Quilla, naked and wet from the bathtub, sat on a chair, waiting for him, her posture upright, and a small smile playing around her lips.

“Hello, baby,” she said softly and slowly, and deliberately spread her legs so he could see her wet, slippery cunt, swollen and ready for him. Jakob let out a long sigh of longing and moved toward her. When he reached her, he bent his head to kiss her and felt her hands at his crotch, unzipping him. She smiled up at him. “Stay still, handsome.”

She took his already stiffening cock from his pants and glided her lips over the wide crest of it, teasing the ultra-sensitive tip with her tongue. Her hand stroked up and down the length of his shaft while the other cupped his balls and massaged them gently.

“Jesus … Quilla …” Jakob closed his eyes and let the sensation of her mouth and hands take over his body. God, this woman …

In moments, he was on the edge and made to move to pull away, but her hands clamped onto his buttocks, keeping him rooted there until, with a moan, he came, shooting into her warm, wet mouth.

As soon as he could gather himself, he reached down and took her in his arms. “Now that is a wonderful, wonderful way to be greeted.”

He pressed his lips to hers and wrapped his arms around her small body. “God, I missed you today, Quilla Chen ...”

“Me too, baby,” she whispered. “Come, let’s get reacquainted ...”

Gregor walked out into reception the following Monday, on his way to a meeting. He was already annoyed; now that Jakob was back, it was seriously curtailing his usual method of business. Plus, all his private detective had been able to find out was that his girlfriend was a grad student. Gregor had been obsessing over the woman all weekend, sure she was the reason that everything was changing.

Now, on his way to a meeting, he glanced over to the couches in reception – and stopped. A gorgeous girl was sitting there, waiting, her long dark hair pulled up into a messy bun at the nape of her neck, her slim legs in flared jeans and sneakers. Gregor felt his groin tighten. Glancing over at Maxine, the receptionist, who ignored him, he strolled over to the young woman.

“Hi.”

She looked up and smiled. God, beautiful. “Hi.”

“Can I help you with something?”

She shook her head. He guessed she must be part Asian; her eyes were a beautiful shape, her features delicate. “It’s okay. I’m just waiting for Jakob.”

Gregor rocked back. “Jakob … Mallory?”

She grinned. “Is there another?”

This couldn’t be her, she was way too young for Jakob … wasn’t she? Gregor stuck his hand out. “Gregor Fisk, Jakob’s business partner.”

The young woman, who had been sketching, shoved her pad to one side and stood up, taking his hand. “Quilla Chen, Jakob’s … friend.”

Gregor had to smile at that. “Jake and I have no secrets, Quilla. I know you’re fucking him.”

Quilla rocked back a little and her smile faded. “It’s Jakob,” she said finally, “and that is none of your business.” She dropped her hand.

“Everything okay here?”

Gregor looked around to see Jakob descending on them. “All good. Delighted to meet your beautiful friend.”

He noticed Jacob move to Quilla’s side and put a protective arm around her. “Hey, baby.”

“Hey,” Quilla said, her narrowed eyes fixed on Gregor’s. “Let’s go, shall we?”

Gregor watched them walk away, amused. Quilla Chen wasn’t going to be a problem, he decided. Her clothes, though she wore them well, were cheap—when you put that together with the studentship, the artist … hell, this was going to be easy. He’d pay her to disappear; he knew her type. Always using that off-the-charts beauty to snag themselves a rich one. And by the look of it, Jakob was in deep. Deep, deep. Her leaving would be a body blow. And if she wouldn’t?

Gregor watched as the couple got into Jakob’s car. Quilla Chen was slightly built. If she wouldn’t go voluntarily … there were other ways.

Ways that would break your little heart, Jakey boy. Gregor smirked to himself and went to his meeting.

Quilla drew in a big, shaky breath. Any minute now they would meet with Jakob’s father, and she could feel her palms sweating. She rubbed them on her jeans. Jeans? What had she been thinking? Jakob had said the dinner would be casual, but maybe she had taken him too literally.

“Stop panicking.” Jakob was watching her, his grin wide. He was enjoying this.

“Jerk.” She stuck her lower lip out.

Jakob laughed. “You can punish me later, woman. We’re here.”

Randall Mallory was waiting as they got out of the car and he walked down, smiling to meet Quilla. “Quilla, I’ve heard so much about you.” He stood only an inch or two smaller than his son, his dark blond hair worn in a flowing, pushed-back way. Elegance screamed from every pore. His handsome face showed little of his age—late sixties—and his smile was genuine and welcoming. His voice was warm and deep and he shook her hand before clapping his son on the back. “We’re barbecuing. Come around back.”

We’re? Quilla shot a panicked look at Jakob—who seemed to be looking everywhere except at her. Sneaky son-of-a … half grinning to herself, she managed to kick the back of his calf and heard his low chuckle. Ran led them around the house into the huge and beautiful garden. There, she saw a group of people sitting, laughing with each other. A very familiar blond young man was teasing the dogs. Skandar Mallory. Quilla’s nerves came racing back, but she wondered if she could surreptitiously call Marley—she would die of envy. The thought made her grin and she was still smiling when they reached the group. Jakob’s brother Joel, a tall, rangy man, his long blond hair tied back, shook her hand—she was surprised that he appeared shy. Completely unlike his son: Skandar Mallory was everything she expected, confident, arrogant, and a whole lot of fun. Ran introduced her to a gorgeous woman with caramel-colored hair and dark brown eyes. She shook Quilla’s hand. “Asia Flynn. Technically not a Mallory anymore, but they have trouble letting go,” she stage-whispered, winking at Ran, who rolled his eyes. Quilla laughed; she liked the woman immediately.

In fact, as she met other members of the family, cousins, friends, she wondered at how unlike the stereotype of a rich family they were. If it was possible to be so alike in their temperament and yet so different at the same time, the Mallorys had it down.

Joel, she discovered, was looking for a new career. “I’ve gone as far as I can, coaching him,” he told Quilla, gesturing at his son, who was now wrestling both the dogs and his uncle. Quilla saw Jakob was losing and grinned at him. Help me, he mouthed to her, and she shook her head, smiling triumphantly. Ha, ha, payback. Skandar raised his arms in victory as Jakob gave up.

“Isn’t he number one in the world?” Quilla asked Joel, who shrugged and smiled shyly.

“Yep, but I don’t have the experience he needs now to help him stay there. He’s enjoying it at the moment but it’s only going to get harder. Tennis players have a short shelf life past twenty-five.”

Quilla groaned. “Too depressing.” Joel grinned and tapped her beer bottle with his. “Preach it, sister.”

Asia, she learned, was Kit’s ex-wife. Very recent ex-wife. An entertainment lawyer, she’d married Kit Mallory in Monte Carlo on a whim, five years previously.

“It was good for four and a half of those years,” Asia told her with a wry grin as evening drew in. “Just didn’t go the distance. I might have left Kit, but I couldn’t bear to leave the family.” She patted Quilla’s hand. “I’m glad Jakob has you. We were worried.”

Randall Mallory echoed that sentiment an hour later. Feeling brave, Quilla had gone to seek him out and found him in his library. He stood up when he saw her and invited her to sit. He poured some wine for her.

“Whatever you did for my son, I want to thank you.”

Quilla flushed. “I didn’t do anything, really.”

“You are too modest.” Ran’s voice was so soothing, so mellifluous, that it was impossible to feel tense in his presence. “I know my son. Before he met you, before he went to Italy … he was breaking. He was breaking, and I didn’t know what to do. What happened in Venice, Quilla?”

Quilla shifted in her seat, uncomfortable. “Mr. Mallory—”

“Ran.”

“Ran … I respect you very much, but it’s not my place to tell you that. Please, I don’t want to offend you.”

“Quilla, my dear, if anything, you have proved his faith in you. I’m sorry, but in my position—in his position—I had to be absolutely sure. Jakob told me what happened.”

Quilla didn’t know how to respond to his testing of her. She chewed her lip. “Ran, I want you to know, I never did anything for any … gain of my own. It was all for him.”

Ran smiled. “Quilla, believe me when I tell you, I never thought any different. One only has to be in your presence to know your genuine empathy. Your love.”

He got up, and nervously, she followed suit. He placed his hands on her shoulders and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

“You saved my son,” he said, his voice breaking. “Thank you.”

Quilla wanted to cry at the emotion in his voice. “I guess I did gain after all, because I couldn’t imagine a world without him.”

Ran hugged her tightly. “From now on, Quilla Chen, whatever happens, you are a part of this family. I will never forget what you’ve done for my boy.”

She was still feeling the warmth from that hug when Jakob took her back to his apartment. She walked into what could only be described as a page out of a catalogue. Muted colors, black, white, gray blended perfectly. She nodded approvingly at the stuffed bookshelves and of course, his art. She looked at one piece, then turned to gape at him. “That’s a Hopper. A. Hopper. Please tell me it’s a print … no, don’t, I don’t want to know.”

Jakob grinned. “Come here, wench.” He opened his arms and she went into them, tilting her head up for a kiss.

“My family is crazy about you,” he murmured, trailing his lips down her neck.

“It’s mutual.” She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. “I adored them. Asia is great, too; Kit must be a fool.”

Jakob laughed softly. “Don’t be too hard on him; the divorce is hitting him hard. Yep, he’s an idiot, but he still loves her.”

He took her hand and led her into his bedroom, Quilla nodding approvingly at the massive bed. “Well, lookit, our playground.”

Jakob laughed as he slid his hands under the straps of her top and pulled them down her shoulders, stopping to kiss each one. “Quilla?”

She moaned as he freed her breast from her bra and took the nipple into his mouth, sucking and teasing it until it became so sensitized she could barely stand it. “Yes, babe?”

“I’m in love with you.”

A delighted smile spread across her face. “And I am in love with you, Jakob Mallory.”

Jakob chuckled. “Thank God.”

Quilla shrieked with laughter as he pushed her back onto the bed and started to tug her jeans and underwear from her, burying his face in her sex for a second before covering her body with his. She freed his quivering, rigid cock from his pants and stroked it while he kissed her.

“I’m going to fuck you all night long, Quilla Chen ...” And as he thrust into her, Quilla sighed happily, knowing that there would be endless nights like this, with this wonderful, sexy man.

She didn’t know just how soon the fairytale would end …

Jakob dropped her off at home before going into work. “Shall I pick you up from college later?”

“I’d love it, thank you.” She kissed him before regretfully breaking away and opening the passenger side door.

“Hey,” he said as she got out, “Call the movers.” He grinned, and she laughed.

“Don’t worry, I will.”

She went back up to her apartment, still smiling. Yesterday had been a momentous day—meeting his family, finally declaring their love, and then, later, after marathon sex, Jakob had asked her to move in with him. This time, she hadn’t hesitated.

Back in her apartment, she dropped her purse and looked around. They’d joked about movers, but really, they wouldn’t have that much to move. Books, records, art supplies, her clothes. All the furniture had come with the apartment. Quilla realized how compact her life had been before. What would it be like now? She still felt that vague uneasiness over the chasm between their lives, but she loved him. She didn’t want his money, she wanted him. Screw what anybody else thought.

A knock at the door. She grinned—Jakob, back for another kiss? She was still smiling as she yanked the door open, but it faded swiftly.

Gregor Fisk stood in her doorway, his face hard. “Hi, Quilla. I think we need to talk.” And before she could react, he pushed his way inside.

Jakob got to the office and greeted Miles with a beaming smile. His assistant looked amused. “I take it the family meeting went well?”

“Very well … plus, she’s agreed to move in with me.”

Miles, never one to avoid a spotlight, stood and did a celebratory dance. Jakob shook his head, laughing.

“Miles, never change.”

In his office, he sat and reflected. His life was so totally different from six months ago. And he hadn’t finished yet. When Quilla had agreed to move in with him, he’d lain awake, with her sleeping in his arms, and thought about the one thing he still had to change—his work. He was so tired of property. Even though it had made him billions, it no longer satisfied his soul. And then there was Gregor. Jakob shook his head. The best thing he could do was cut him loose; buy him out or vice versa. He didn't need Greg’s sneakiness, his duplicity, in his life. Quilla clearly hadn’t liked him from the start, even though she refused to tell him what Greg had said to upset her. She was protecting him, Jakob, he knew that, but still. Gregor had to go.

Jakob picked up the phone and asked the company’s head of HR to meet him as soon as he could.

Gregor sat without being asked, looking around her apartment with a sneer on his face. Quilla felt her face flush with anger.

“What do you want?”

Gregor smiled. “I’ll make this simple. I will give you a quarter of a billion dollars to leave this city and never come back.”

Quilla gaped at him. “What the fuck?”

“Come on. Don’t act innocent, Quilla; I really don’t have time. You’ve played the game perfectly. Jakob is crazy about you. But I need his head in the game, so to speak, and that means you,” he pointed at her as if she didn’t know whom he meant, “have to go. So ...”

Quilla stood and up and went to open her front door. “Get out. Now.”

He didn’t move. “Come on, now. Two-hundred and fifty million dollars. Just looking around here, I can see that kind of money would be life changing.”

“That kind of money would be life-changing for anyone,” she retorted. “Get out.”

Gregor stood, shaking his head, smiling. “Don’t be naïve, Quilla. This was your one chance for this not to turn nasty. Last chance. Take the money. It’ll be quite the step up for the daughter of a heroin addict and deadbeat dad.”

Quilla’s eyes filled with tears of anger, disgust, and humiliation. “Go fuck yourself, Gregor. You don’t know me or anything about me, and anyway, coming from a coke junkie, you have no room to talk. I don’t give a fuck about money; I just care about Jakob. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t have me followed or whatever it is you’re doing. Leave.”

Gregor stood up as if to leave. Then, in a flash, he was pressing her body up against the wall, his hand slipping between her legs. “And yet you spread your legs for the nearest billionaire.”

Pushing his hand away from her, she slapped him across the face, hard, and with a roar of rage, he grabbed her and threw her to the floor. “Fucking bitch!”

He kicked her, hard, in the stomach and she curled up into a ball. Gregor stood back, trying to calm himself. “Take the deal, Quilla. And I wouldn’t bother to tell Jakob about this—or it’s going to get a lot worse than that, little girl.”

He left her still curled up and not believing what had just happened. She eventually staggered over to her door and slammed it, shooting the deadbolt across before sinking to the floor. She had never been more terrified in her life—terror mixed with anger and disbelief. Fuck you, Gregor, I won’t be threatened. She got unsteadily to her feet and stumbled over to grab her phone.

When she heard Jakob’s voice, she couldn’t hold back the tears.

Gregor drove back to the office. Damn it, that shouldn’t have gone that far … not yet. He sighed. Maybe he’d scared her enough that she’d leave anyway, now. He had to admit—Jakob knew how to pick them—Quilla Chen was beautiful, but he knew a gold digger when he saw one.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice everyone staring at him as he made his way back to his office. When he got there, he stopped. Jakob, Randall, and the Head of H.R., Paul, were waiting.

“What’s going on?”

Ran put a hand on Jakob’s arm as Jakob, his face full of rage, stepped forward. Ran spoke, his eyes hard, and he held out a sheet of paper. “Gregor, this is a notice of your termination. You will leave here, after we have spoken, and you will not return. Your name will be removed from the company, and you will receive no financial reparation. In return, we will not contact the police and report your assault and attempted blackmail of Quilla Chen. Do I make myself clear?”

Gregor smirked. “You cannot do that. I have a contract—and half this company is mine.”

Ran’s smile was icy. “Actually, we can.” He looked over to Paul, who nodded.

“Because you were loaned the money to pay for your side of the business—and you have yet to fully repay the Mallorys for that loan, we can default you. Also—there’s an ‘appropriate behavior’ clause in your contract. We have deemed you in breach of that.”

“Put simply, leave now or we will ruin you.” Jakob’s voice was scratchy with rage and Gregor looked at his partner.

“Over some Asian pussy?”

It took both Ran and Paul to hold Jakob back. Ran narrowed his eyes at Gregor. “Get out and don’t ever come back.”

Gregor, realizing they meant what they said, shook his head. “This isn’t over.”

Randall Mallory let go of his son’s arm. “Oh, it is, Gregor. It is.”

“So you fired him? Just like that?”

They were sitting in a crowded bar in the city, at a booth with a table full of empty bottles. Joel and Marley, their drinking companions for the evening, were at the bar, getting along famously. Quilla was tucked into the crook of Jakob’s arm, his lips against her forehead.

“Yup,” he said, drawing away and looking down at her. “Good riddance. I should have done this years ago.”

“What will he do now?”

“I really don’t give a fuck. Besides, Gregor’s got enough money that he’ll never have to work again.”

Quilla shook her head. “I still don’t get why he wanted me out of the way so badly.”

“Christ, who knows what’s going on in that junky head? Drugs have fucked him up. He was always a tool, but never like this. And I might have turned out like that if it wasn’t for you, beautiful, so thank you again.”

She kissed him back, her mouth curving up in a smile. “You could never be like that.”

Jakob looked her over appreciatively. She had a white, floating dress on which made her look ethereal, her hair bunched up in a messy bun. The dress fell to her mid-thigh, her golden-skinned legs so tempting to him. He ran a leisurely hand up her inner thigh and she wriggled with pleasure.

“That dress is driving me crazy,” he murmured in her ear and she chuckled, sighing with pleasure as his fingers made contact with her panties. “I want to fuck you so bad,” he said, nipping her earlobe with his teeth. She grinned.

“Later, gator … our friends are coming back.”

The bar was still packed at nearly midnight. Quilla excused herself to go to the ladies’ room, and Jakob was being grilled by Marley. They were all a little tipsy and Jakob, Marley, and Joel grinned as Quilla made her unsteady way to the bathrooms. Jakob listened to Joel and Marley argue with each other. He liked Quilla’s friend very much—so did his brother, by the looks of it, but Jakob couldn’t tell if it was the teasing between soon-to-be lovers, or two future best friends the first time they met. He’d had way too much champagne, he decided. As his vision blurred, he looked out over the crowded bar, waiting for Quilla to return.

Then his heart began to beat faster and he sat up. Gregor. Gregor was in the bar. The other man saw him and saluted sarcastically. Shit. As Jakob looked on, he suddenly saw Gregor turn and he followed his gaze … Quilla.

God … Jakob stood suddenly, startling the other two who followed his gaze. Joel, knowing Gregor’s face, jumped up too, and all three of them dived into the crowd. With a wrench of pure terror, he saw Gregor get to Quilla first. He saw her turn and register Gregor’s presence with a look of alarm. Then Jakob lost sight of them in the crowed.

Someone screamed. “He’s got a knife!”

No, no, oh God, no …

“Out of my way,” Jacob shouted in desperation and a path started to clear. He got to Quilla just as Gregor disappeared. For a second, Jakob felt relief, but then, as Quilla turned to him, her lovely face pale, her eyes confused, he saw the blood. Her hands clutched to her belly, her white dress turning red.

Blood. Her blood …

As Quilla began to collapse, he raced forward to catch her …

Part Two: Touch Me

Joel Mallory leaned his head against the cool wall of the hospital waiting room. Next to him, Marley Griffin was sitting hunched over, jiggling her legs up and down. It was three a.m., and they’d been waiting for a couple of hours while the doctors assessed their friend, Quilla Chen.

Joel thought back over the last few hours. The laughter, the fun of hanging with his brother and Quilla and her friend in their favorite bar, then the utter horror when in an instant, the world had changed and his eldest brother, Jakob’s, girlfriend was stabbed by a vengeful ex-partner of Jakob’s.

The mad, panicked dash to get help, the flashing lights, Quilla passed out and bleeding in a terrified Jakob’s arms—God. Joel felt sick.

He looked over at Marley. They’d only met that night, but already they’d become good friends, but now the young woman looked hollow and scared. He took her hand and she half smiled at him. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. She’ll get the best care, I promise.”

Marley smiled gratefully. “I’m going crazy waiting. I’m going to find some coffee.”

Alone, Joel sighed. He’d called his dad, who was on his way. Skandar had wanted to come, too, but Joel, mindful of the constant press that followed his son everywhere, told him not to. “Last thing we need, pal, is a media circus,” he told him. “Quilla knows you care.”

The door to the waiting room opened, and a young woman with messy blonde hair to her shoulders came in. She nodded at Joel, then took a seat on the far side. She looked exhausted. In her hands there was no purse, just a set of car keys. Joel realized that she was wearing a nightshirt over her jeans, obviously having had to come out in a hurry.

“Hey,” he said, “you okay?”

The woman looked up, her eyes red from crying, and tried to smile. “Yeah, thanks.” She hesitated. “Teenage sister thought it was a good idea to go out, drink, then got in a car with a guy who was also drunk.”

“Damn … she okay?”

The woman sighed. “Yeah, she’s just getting stitched up now. Scared the shit out of me.” She studied him. “How about you?”

Joel shifted in his seat. “Friend got stabbed. We don’t know how she is yet.”

“God, I’m sorry.”

Joel nodded, then got up and held his hand out to the woman. “Joel Mallory.”

She smiled. “Nan Applebee. That’s awful about your friend … what happened?”

Joel sat down next to her, shaking his head. “Hell, if I know … she’s my brother’s girlfriend and the dude that stabbed her was trying to get back at my brother for firing him. Damn coward. She’s tiny, too; you should see her.”

The enormity of what had happened seemed to be hitting him now, after hours of disbelief. He clenched his fists tightly to stop his hands trembling. “Sorry,” he said when he noticed her watching him. “It’s the cruelty of it, you know? Never seen anything like that before.”

Tentatively, Nan put his hand on his back and rubbed it to comfort him. Joel blew out his cheeks, then looked up as first Marley, and then Jakob, came back to the room. Joel stood and hugged his brother, introducing the others to Nan Applebee.

“Quilla’s going to be fine,” Jakob said, his voice scratchy from stress. “One stab wound, clean, not too deep, but nasty enough. Painful. It didn’t hit any of her major organs. She’ll be here for a couple of days, then they’ll let her out to recover at home.”

Marley stood at his side, dark purple shadows under eyes. Jakob looked down at her and put his arm around her shoulders. “Hey, kiddo, do you want to stay at mine for a couple of days?”

Marley, pale and drained, move away from him, her entire body rigid with tension. “No, thanks. I’d rather be at home.”

Joel nodded. “I’ll take you.” But Marley shook her head.

“No … I’ll get a cab, thanks. I just … never mind.” She turned to go, then stopped and looked back at Jakob. “I don’t want to be the person who assigns blame … but make this right, Jakob.”

Joel stared after her. “Man, she’s angry.”

“She has every right. Look, they say I can stay with Quilla but ...”

Joel nodded. “I get it. Look, I’ll update Dad and the others. What are we going to do about the press?”

Jakob rubbed his face. “God, I hadn’t even thought … look, we say exactly what happened. We fired Gregor Fisk because of gross incompetence and his behavior. He got angry and tried to get revenge.”

“They’ll dig up everything on Quilla they can find—it might get rough.”

Jakob smiled humorlessly. “Not as rough as being stabbed. She’s a fighter; a little press intrusion is something we can protect her from. Can Skandar run some interference?”

Joel nodded. “I’ll talk to him. He’ll get questions, no doubt, and someone from here’s bound to leak it.”

“Maybe we can ask them to sign some NDAs?”

“No.” Ran Mallory walked through the door at that moment and heard them. “We’ve never been the sort of family who runs and hides. We ride ...”

“… out the storm,” said his sons in unison and Ran smiled.

“That’s right. How’s Quilla?”

Jakob told him the news and Ran nodded. “Good. That’s good to hear. Damn that Fisk … I have everyone out looking for him. Hello ...”

He suddenly noticed Nan sitting behind Joel, trying to make herself invisible. Ran smiled and shook her hand. “I’m sorry; we seem to have taken over the waiting room.”

“It’s no problem … oh, hey.” Nan looked over at the door, where a young blonde teenager hovered, her face crisscrossed with butterfly stitches. She glanced shyly at the three men, then at her sister.

“Doctor says I’m good to go.”

Nan got up and smiled at Joel. “It was nice to talk to you.”

Joel nodded. “You, too. Glad the kid’s okay.”

“You wait till I get her home,” Nan muttered with a wry grin. Joel laughed, but didn’t envy the younger woman.

“Look, can you get home okay?”

Nan, at the doorway with her sister now, turned. “Yeah, I have my car, but thanks. I hope your friend is okay.”

Hayley Applebee glanced over at her elder sister as they drove home. So far, Nan had said precisely nothing, but Hayley knew that just meant the build-up of magma under the volcano was just getting bigger and soon Vesuvius would explode.

To head at least some of the eruption off, she sighed. “Look, Nan, I’m sorry. It was a dumb thing to do.”

“So dumb.”

“I know.” Hayley waited. Nothing.

“Aren’t you going to yell at me?” She frowned at her sister, weirdly disappointed. Nan, who looked drawn and tired out, shook her head.

“Hays … I was all ready to rip you a new one, but then … that dude I was talking to, his friend got stabbed by a guy because her boyfriend fired him. He stabbed her. Not the boyfriend. When we live in a world like that, you doing something most teenagers have done at one point or another and getting off relatively unscathed—well, now, I can live with that.”

She shot a side look at her sister. “Doesn’t mean you’re off the hook entirely, though.”

Hayley smiled. “Didn’t think so. Nan, you know who those people were, don’t you?”

Nan looked blank. “I know the first guy’s name was Joel but ...”

Hayley sighed. “Nan, please, occasionally read a gossip site, okay? The Mallorys? The richest family on the west coast? Kit Mallory, the actor? Skandar Mallory, the tennis player?”

Nan looked confused. “He wasn’t there.”

Hayley muttered something under her breath, then said, “I know. The dude with the long blond hair? That’s Skandar’s dad.”

Nan shook her head. “No way. That guy is way too young.”

After trying to explain who the Mallorys were, to no avail, Hayley gave up. At home, she apologized to her sister again, hugged her, and went to bed.

Nan flopped down on her bed and checked the time. Just after five a.m. She groaned. In a couple of hours, she’d have to be up and ready to teach a class full of eighth graders about Hemingway. Why couldn’t Hayley have decided to do this on a weekend? Nan realized the absurdity of what she was thinking and sent an apology into the cosmos.

She plumped up her pillow and closed her eyes, but sleep would not come. For some reason, she was thinking about the tall, blond, impossibly handsome Joel Mallory. And you’ve just answered your own question, she grinned to herself. She couldn’t believe he was the son of a billionaire, the father of another. He had such a plaid-wearing homeliness about him. She could imagine him chopping down trees or bringing in the cattle, but not coaching a world-class tennis player. She wondered if the dark-haired girl with him was his girlfriend—she hadn’t seemed like it, but who knew?

She fell asleep eventually and was only ten minutes late to her first class. She called that a good day.

Two weeks later, Joel sat, watching Skandar’s practice session with his hitting partner, barely registering the skillful shots his son was hammering down the other end of the court. Soon, he wouldn’t need to do this, get up early to fly off all over the world. It had been his decision to bow out of Skandar’s training at the end of this season, but as his responsibilities had lessened and his time freed up, he’d been flailing around for things to do.

Before Skandar had been born, he’d started at college, intending to get an architectural degree, to go into business with Jakob, building and designing exquisite homes at affordable prices. But when a one-night hook-up with a girl called Felicity had resulted in a pregnancy and subsequent maternal abandonment, all that changed. He’d given his son both his own grandfather’s and his son’s grandfathers’ names, and Skandar Randall Mallory was born. And he had honestly loved every moment. His bond with his son had been one of trust and love and laughter. Skandar, as soon as he could run, was a bundle of energy, and when Ran had bought him a tennis racket for his sixth birthday, it was obvious to everyone that Skandar’s future career path was pretty much set.

Now, Skandar was twenty-five and the number one tennis player in the world. His matinee idol looks meant he was never off the front page of the tabloids and his dad, not a slouch in the looks department either, garnered almost as much attention. Joel, unlike Skandar, didn’t relish the attention, and he was looking to go back to relative anonymity when he left the coaching team.

“Yo.” Skandar nudged him out of his reverie, holding out a cold bottle of water to him, then cracking one open for himself and draining it. The morning was warm for a Seattle fall day, and Skandar’s shirt was drenched with sweat. Peeling it off and dumping it on the ground, he yanked another from his bag.

“You okay, Pa? You’ve been quiet all morning. I hit a pristine backhand down the line earlier, see it?”

“Good job,” Joel said automatically, then blinked, coming back to the present. “Sorry, my head’s not in the game today.”

Skandar sat down next to him. “Pa, I’ve meant to ask … what are you going to do now? It’s been a couple of months since you said you were going to hand over to Carlos.”

Joe shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I was talking to Jakob about it … I thought maybe I could go back to college, finish my degree, partner with him on some project.”

Skandar tipped half a bottle of ice water over his head. “Sounds good. What’s stopping you?”

Joel smiled, sheepish. “This sounds crazy, but my confidence in my ability to do that, now that I’m older, has taken a knock.”

Skandar studied his father. “What about taking a couple of adult courses at night school? See if you like that, before you commit to college.”

Joel squinted at his son. “When did you get so smart?”

Skandar grinned. “Just occasionally, I can bring my A game. Although, really, I’m thinking, you’re a freaking billionaire, just enjoy life. You did all the heavy lifting bringing me up on your own.”

“Never felt like heavy lifting, and it’s Dad who’s a billionaire; it’s you, not me. I need to make my own way,” Joel said, and Skandar clapped him on the shoulder.

“Dad, I know. Regardless, it’s not easy … I’m not sure I could have done it. Anyway, I’d better get back to it. Think about the night classes, yeah?”

The kid was right, Joel thought. A tester class might be the way to go. He grabbed his iPad and started to research as Skandar destroyed his hitting partner with a vicious serve.

Jakob started to laugh as soon as he got home. Quilla, obviously bored after being house-bound while she recovered, had built a fort out of the boxes of her stuff he’d arranged to have picked up. She lay in the middle of it, propped up on pillows, reading, and a half-drunk cup of tea beside her. He peered over the ramparts of the fort and grinned at her.

“Didn’t the doctor tell you not to lift anything heavy?” he said in mock-disapproval.

Quilla stuck her tongue out at him. After the horrific night, the terror of not knowing if she was going to be okay, Jakob had been afraid her natural merriment would be subdued, but no, she was astonishingly resilient.

Quilla had talked about the attack—she’d had to go over and over it a hundred times with the police, after all—and she seemed remarkably practical about it. “Weirdly, I didn’t even realize he’d stabbed me until I saw your face, and the blood,” she told Jakob. “I thought he’d just punched me. My body knew something was very wrong before my brain did … then, that’s when the pain hit. I don’t remember anything after that, until I woke up in the hospital. Did the police find Gregor?”

Jakob had shaken his head, his face grim. “No. He’s still out there, somewhere. But I promise you, Quilla, he won’t hurt you again.”

She smiled, touched his face. “I know that.”

She’d been released from the hospital a couple of days after the stabbing, but on the understanding that she was to take it easy. ‘Taking it easy’ had meant being spoiled by Jakob, he’d told her, and he had. He’d arranged for all of her possessions to be moved to his penthouse, had made sure his home was turned into their home now, making room in his closet for her clothes, room on his bookshelves for her beloved books. He’d even cleared out a guest room and made it into an artist’s studio for her. There were tears of gratitude and love when she saw it.

Now, though, restricted by her injury to sitting for most of the day until it healed properly, Quilla was being to get stir crazy.

Jakob helped her to her feet and led to the couch, pulling her onto his lap and kissing her. “How was work?” Quilla asked between kisses.

“Same old, same old.”

“So you’re not extra-busy because Stabby McDouchebag isn’t there?”

Jakob winced and laughed at the same time. Only Quilla could make light of something so serious. His arms tightened around her, but he kept his tone light. “Nope. To be honest, the place runs itself now. If I'm honest … you’re not the only one who is bored. I’m thinking about stepping back, letting the executives run it, and concentrating on smaller projects … affordable housing, places for the homeless. Stuff I—and Dad—always wanted to do.”

Quilla stroked the hair back behind his ears. “If I didn’t already love you more than it was possible to love someone, Jakob Mallory … ”

She kissed him, her lips moving firmly against his, her fingers knotting in his hair. Jakob closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of her skin against his, tasting her, his tongue moving against hers gently. Then, as the heat began to build, he pushed her away, gently. “Quilla … you have to take it easy. Seriously, we have to wait at least six weeks, the doctor said.”

“God.” She was annoyed now. “I feel fine. It doesn’t even hurt anymore; my stitches are coming out in a few days.”

Jakob is grinning at her sulky face. “Nympho. I’d rather wait a few weeks, then have you healthy for the rest of your life, rather than risk anything … tearing.”

They both winced and Quilla shrugged. “Fine … but after six weeks, you’d better be ready for some seriously dirty sex.”

He grinned, leaning over to kiss her. “Damn right, I will be.

Joel pushed his way into the community center slowly. The place was quiet this afternoon—there was a school across the street, and he could hear the kids playing in the sun. Joel went to the reception and pressed the bell. A kind-faced woman in her sixties smiled at him as she came around the corner.

“Hi there … you need something?”

Joel half-smiled, cleared his throat, nervous. “Yeah, um, I was wondering if you had any fall evening classes with any places left?”

“Okeydokey.” She sat down at her desk and wiggled the mouse to wake the computer screen. “Well, let’s see … what kind of thing were you looking for?” At Joel’s blank face, she smiled. “Okay, let’s just see what we’ve got available first, then go from there. Just a minute, dear.”

The phone rang on her desk and she picked it up, balancing it on her shoulder and chin. She spoke quietly into it at first, then glanced up at Joel. “Actually,” she said to the other person on the phone, “I could use some help. I have a very pleasant young man at reception who wants to know if we have any places left in the evening classes. No, that’s just it, I don’t think he knows, so maybe you could talk … that’s wonderful, see you in a minute.”

She put the phone down and smiled. “We have our career advisor coming to see you; she may be able to help you chose the right course for you. Take a seat, hon.”

Joel thanked her and went to sit down. He grabbed a magazine from the pile on the table and saw Skandar’s face on the cover. He never stopped feeling proud of what his son had achieved. Ever.

“Joel?” He looked up to see a very attractive, very familiar blonde woman grinning at him.

“Nan?” His voice broke in amazement. Dude, you sound like Scooby Doo.

Nan obviously had a similar thought and smothered a grin. “Come with me.” She nodded towards the inner sanctum. “I have an office with air-con we can talk in.”

He hadn’t noticed the reception was stifling until she said it. He followed her down a long hallway and into a small office at the far corner. As they sat, he smiled at her.

“It’s good to see you again … how’s your sister?”

Nan rolled her eyes. “All teenager. Shouldn’t say that. Apart from the odd aberration like that night, she’s a good kid. Cares about people, about the world. How about your friend?”

Joel smiled. “Well on the way to recovery. My brother tells me she’s bored out of her mind on bedrest.”

Nan laughed. “Maybe you should have brought her, too. Which brings me to my next question—Joel, Hayley told me who your family is, what they’ve done, so I guess my question is: What the hell is a billionaire doing asking after night classes?” She had such a sweet grin that Joel couldn’t help but join in with her laughter.

“My son needs more intensive coaching than I can give him and, to be honest, I’m sick of traveling around the world.”

She looked at him askance, and he held his hands up. “Sorry, that didn’t come out right. What I mean is … I need to do something for myself now, and I’d like to be closer to my family.”

“And you didn’t want to go into the family business?”

“That’s just it—the family business isn’t just one thing—it’s art, it’s property, it’s acting, it’s sport. I’m trying to find where I fit in.”

Nan nodded. “I understand … well, what is it you’re passionate about?”

Joel was silent for a moment. “I can’t remember anything past caring for my son. Is that sad?”

“Definitely not,” Nan said with feeling, her cheeks reddening. “That’s wonderful. I kind of get where you’re coming from—Hayley and I are a self-contained unit. Of course, that doesn’t help you now,” she admitted with a grin.

Joel smiled. He liked this woman very much, her humor, her intellect, her easy smile, her caramel-blonde hair falling onto her shoulders … concentrate, Mallory.

“Is this what you do then, give career advice?” He looked around the room at the information posters; the books stacked high, battered old file cabinets with drawers that didn’t quite close. There was something comforting about the room—about Nan too, he realized.

“No,” she said. “I just do this once a week when I have free time. I teach eighth grade at the school across the street.”

He blinked. “And on your free period, you volunteer here? Wow.”

Nan smiled shyly. “I like to give back. Hey, look, why don’t we start by talking about what qualifications you do have and see what comes up in the mix?”

Joel smiled gratefully. “Thank you. I really appreciate it and ...” he hesitated, not used to this anymore, “if it’s not wildly inappropriate, can I take you out for a drink to say thanks? You can say no, if ...”

“Yes, I’d like that,” she said, blushing furiously, and Joel grinned.

“Good. Now … my qualifications.”

He had no idea what prompted him to ask Nan Applebee out; it was just that second, a lock of hair had fallen over her face, the ends brushing her rosy cheeks, and she had looked so entirely adorable that he couldn’t help himself.

They’d arranged to go out the following Friday. She refused his offer to pick her up—sensible girl—and arranged to meet at one of her favorite bars in the city.

Joel smiled to himself now as he dressed to meet her. Of all his family, he had always been the one to enjoy simple things—not simple; he amended, just more natural—plain, hardy clothes rather than tailored and expensive suits, a good burger, beer straight from the fridge. He’d always felt the disenfranchised brother, the one who didn’t bring home the supermodels—he immediately felt bad at that thought. He loved Asia and Quilla, and neither of them behaved like some of the women his twin brother Kit dated. He still thought Kit was a fool for letting Asia go.

Nan Applebee was just the kind of woman he liked; smart, funny, kind. The fact was that he couldn’t stop thinking about her soft skin or the clean, fresh laundry scent of her.

Ease on down, tiger; you don’t want to scare her. But Joel grinned to himself. He was looking forward to tonight.

“Once again, your driver is waiting.” Hayley Applebee flopped down into the chair in her sister’s bedroom, watching her dress.

Nan flashed a panicked look at her as she stood in her underwear, chewing her lips. Hayley was wearing skinny jeans, a T-shirt, and a wooly hat pulled over her long blonde hair and looked like a page straight out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog. She grimaced at her.

“Which one?”

Hayley glanced over with a bored look. “The lilac one.”

Nan picked up the dress and slid it over her head. It was a casual summer dress, spaghetti straps, and loose fitting. The color suited her skin tone, but Nan still wasn’t convinced. “It’s awfully short,” she muttered, turning to look in the mirror and catching Hayley rolling her eyes.

“As long it covers your biscuits, who cares? You’re twenty-nine, for the love of God; I swear, sometimes you act like you’re fifty-nine.” Hayley stifled a yawn and went back to texting on her phone for a second. “I’ve just put it on Facebook that you’re going out with Skandar Mallory’s dad.”

Nan whirled around. “No, God, Hayley, delete it. I don’t want him to think … Jesus, is it gone?” She looked so wild-eyed that Hayley looked at her in alarm.

“I was joking … jeez.” She let out a long breath. “Do you honestly think I don’t know the way the world works?”

Nan sucked in a breath. “Tell me, oh wise one, how does it work? Little jerk.”

Hayley grinned. “If you don’t hurry up, he’ll be long gone anyway. You look great. Can we go?”

In the car, Nan tried to stop her palms from sweating. Hayley glanced over at her.

“Stop panicking. Have you got everything you need? Money, phone … condoms?”

“Hayley, stop.” Nan felt embarrassment spread through her.

Hayley shook her head. “I’m serious. A girl’s gotta look after herself, and you never know.” She glanced at Nan’s dress and hid a smile. “After all, if things get too hot, that dress at least gives him easy access.”

“Turn the car around,” Nan ordered, and Hayley laughed out loud.

“Chill, sis. Enjoy the moment. Go with the flooowwwww ...” She elongated the word and made it sound much filthier than it needed to. She really wasn’t helping Nan’s nerves. As Hayley pulled the car up to the sidewalk outside the bar, Nan got out and then stuck her head back to glare at her still-grinning sister.

“By the way … you were adopted—they found you under a bridge. Wearing Crocs,” she added, and Hayley laughed again.

“Go meet the hottie,” she ordered, and as Nan shut the door, she wound down the window and called out. “Remember, a girl’s got every right to get hers.”

Nan scowled after the car as Hayley drove off. Her emotions in a whirl, her stomach roiling with nerves, she took a deep breath and pushed open the door of the bar.

Joel stood as he saw Nan walk into the bar, her long legs trembling like a newborn foal, her lovely face nervous. He pushed away his nerves and crossed the room to greet her. When she saw him, she grinned with relief and something shifted inside him. Desire.

“Hey,” he said, smiling down at her, admiring the curve of her shoulder, the hollow of her throat, the way the lilac dress warmed her pale skin. Her warm dark eyes shone as she looked up at him.

“Hey, yourself. You look great. I love The Grateful Dead,” she said, nodding at his classic T-shirt. Joel put his head on one side, amused.

“Really?”

She giggled. “Nope. Couldn’t pick ’em out of a line-up, but you do look good.”

He laughed and held out his hand, and she took it. “Come,” he said, “I’ve snagged us a table … what’s your poison?”

He ordered their drinks and sat down next to her. “Well … hello.”

She laughed, relaxing. “How’s the soul searching going? Any progress?”

Joel grinned. “Well thanks to my awesome career advisor, I’m knocking a few ideas around.”

“Like what?”

Joel leaned forward. “Well, I’ve been coaching Skandar for going on seventeen years, so I thought, maybe teaching Phys. Ed?” He looked at her as if to gauge her reaction. Nan, her expression smooth, nodded, but he could tell she had reservations. “Just say whatever you’re thinking, Nan, I want your advice.”

She half-smiled. “I think if you want to teach Phys. Ed., that’s great—that’s wonderful, especially if you can commit to the four-year degree course, then to continuing your studies of the subject as you teach. You’re in an ideal situation—with those credits from college you already have, they’ll help—and it’s not as if you can’t afford it.”

Joel nodded. “But …?”

Nan took a deep breath in. “I just think … it’s not big enough for you. I think you need to build on what you’ve already done, not start over, albeit in the same field.”

Joel nodded, but then admitted “I’m not really following you.”

Nan smiled. “Not really sure what I mean, either. Just that, I think you’re meant for bigger things.”

Joel sat back and smiled. “You think?”

The waitress brought over their drinks then—two cold beers—and a cocktail. Nan looked bemused as Joel handed it to her. “Sip.”

She did as he said. “Man, that’s good … what is it?”

“Appletini,” Joel said, grinning. “I thought I’d get extra points by getting an apple for the teacher.”

Nan laughed. “That, Joel Mallory, is adorable. Or cheesy. I can’t tell.”

“Funnily enough, I was going for cheesily adorable, so ...” He put his hand up for a high-five, and she returned it, giggling.

“Anyhoo,” Nan said, relaxing back into her seat, all trace of nerves gone, “tell me about you and your family ...”

Skandar Mallory grinned to himself. He was flying across the Atlantic and had just logged onto his iPad to check his emails. He saw one from his dad and opened it.

Have a date. With a girl. Feel free to mock.

Skandar choked out a laugh. Thank God, he wrote. I was beginning to wonder whether it had fallen off.

He couldn’t actually remember the last time his dad had dated—or even who he had dated. He just hadn’t seemed bothered about it, but now that he was free of coaching duties. Skandar had tormented himself over his dad’s decision, wondering if he had somehow caused the sudden outcome. They both knew Joel had taken him as far as he could, but it was a big change for both of them.

He was on the way now to play in a David Cup match in Paris, the first big match since his dad left him. His new coach, the mercurial Carlos Sosa, the Argentinian legend, was sitting across from him, texting furiously, his permanent glower having etched deep lines on his handsome face. Skandar, while delighted that he’d managed to snag the un-gettable Sosa, hadn’t quite gotten the measure of the man yet. He had a feeling that his more social activities and his fun-loving approach to the game might come into conflict with the older man’s low tolerance approach.

Yup, he was definitely moving into new territory here. Skandar Mallory, at twenty-five, was the wealthiest sportsman in the world—it didn’t hurt that he’d inherited his father’s movie star looks. Sponsorship deals abounded. Cologne, watches, sports cars—they all wanted him. For the last two years, he’d ridden the wave of being completely untouchable at the top of the rankings, but now there were one or two newcomers—men in their late teens, who were coming from behind him. Fast. Skandar wasn’t naïve; he knew in a couple of years they’d leave him behind, but he was damned if he’d lie down and take it. He glanced back at Carlos. His first words to Skandar had been “I don’t give a fuck who you are; you will listen to me.” Yeah, scary as hell but exciting, too. He hoped his dad would be okay and wondered how his date was going. His own love life was a riot of … well, basically, whoever he wanted, but it was a lonely existence. Always being out on the road. Still, there was enough time for love.

Right now, all he wanted to do was win.

All right, so Joel Mallory was … delicious, Nan, four Appletinis on an empty stomach, decided. True, her head was a little woozy, but God, the man could bring the funny, the handsome, and the drop-dead sexy.

“How come you’re not married?” Oh, hell. Blabbermouth.

Joel didn’t seem to mind. “Just didn’t happen. Skandar’s mom skedaddled pretty soon after he was born, more fool her. Then I just got busy. Now and again, I would go on dates, but not for a while. But then, I was never interested in anybody until now.”

Nan flushed pink and couldn’t hide her smile. “Okay.” Deep breaths, deep, deep.

“Nan?” Joel’s mouth curved up in the sexiest smile she’d ever seen. “Are you free tomorrow?”

Saturday. Nan ran through her day in her head.

“I think so … why?”

Joel took a sip of his soda—he’d had one beer, she noticed, and stopped. “Oh, just to go through some college applications.”

Her face fell, and he laughed. “I’m kidding. I’d like to … oh, er, I hadn’t thought what, but I’d like to take you out again.”

“Love to.” She braved a grin. “How about you give me a tennis lesson?”

Joel looked relieved. “Good thinking. Note to self, always plan what you’re going to ask a woman to do.”

Nan grinned wickedly. “Sometimes … other times, you can wait until the moment is right, like ...”

She was hushed by his lips on hers, tender, hesitant, and then, when she responded, his hands slid around her waist. When they broke apart, she laughed.

“Just like that. Yes, very well done, illustrating my point.”

Joel grinned. “Glad you think so.” He drew a fingertip down her cheek. “Nan … .is it short for Nancy?”

She shook her head. “No, just Nan.”

“Nan … this is going to sound like such a line, but would you like to come back to my place?”

Yes, hell, yes. But Nan wasn’t drunk enough to be reckless. She hesitated, and he saw the doubt on her face.

“Hey, look, I’m not expecting anything. Just drink and talk, is all, I swear.” He gave a rueful grin. “Seriously, I have no game. I think Kit stole of all mine when we were in the womb.”

Nan laughed. “That scoundrel.”

“He is a cad and a bounder.”

Nan chuckled then sighed. “Look, I’ll be honest … I want to. I want to like you wouldn’t believe. But the Mary Sue in me is going ‘on the first date, you harlot?” Even if it is just drinks and talk.”

Joel nodded. “Understood. Can I at least give you a ride home?”

“That, you can do.”

She smiled as they walked, hand in hand, to his truck. “1963 Chevy C-10 pickup,” she said, running her hand over the hood. “Gorgeous. You refurb this?”

Joel smiled. “I wish. I’m afraid this is one of the perks of being a Mallory. I couldn’t resist.”

Nan hugged the hood. “It’s not a luxury, but a very expensive necessity.” She sighed and stood, getting into the passenger seat. Joel was laughing at her appreciation of the vehicle.

“I never took you for a gear head,” he said, getting into the driver’s seat and re-fastening her seat belt for her.

“My dad loved cars,” she said. “Hayley and I used to help him … well, I did, Hayley was too young.”

“Your parents still with you?”

Her face clouded a little. “Mom is. Or rather, she’s remarried and has a new family now. She lives in Florida.

Joel nodded, understanding, and changed the subject. “Now, at the risk of ending up in Tijuana, I’m putting navigation in your hands. Point the way.”

Hayley had left her bedroom door open a crack before she went to bed and was even now watching videos on her iPad as Nan opened the door. Hayley slid out of bed and over to the door, but she couldn’t hear anything. She opened the door wide, flooding the hallway with light—to see her sister, sitting on the floor, a huge, stupid smile on her face.

“Hi,” was all she managed before dissolving into giggles.

Hayley crossed her arms. “And yet they put the children of our future in your hands.”

Nan put her hand up for silence and Hayley tried not to laugh. “I might be drunk.”

“Disgraceful.”

“I know.”

“I’m judging you.”

“Julie no-shed.”

“Is that your new name?” Confused, Hayley eventually figured out she meant ‘duly noted’.”

Nan tried to focus on her sister. “Can you lift me up?”

Somehow, Hayley managed to wrangle her sister into bed. “I’ll put a bowl next to your bed, for if you need to hurl.”

Nan grunted and let out such a long moan that Hayley was alarmed, shooting up from the bed to avoid anything projectile coming her way. “What? What is it? Don’t you dare hurl until I get a bowl ...”

“No.” Nan rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. “It’s not that … oh, God, this is why I shouldn’t drink.”

Hayley’s interest was piqued now, and she sat back down on the edge of the bed—out of the splash zone, of course. “What? Did you screw him in the bathroom of the club?”

“Eww, no ...” Nan did look like she was going to hurl then. She struggled into a sitting position. “I hugged his truck.”

Hayley looked blank. “Is that some weird Kama Su …?”

“We didn’t have sex!” Nan yelled, then winced. “I mean, he had a great ’63 Chevy truck and I hugged it. Like a lunatic.”

Hayley’s interest faded. “Seriously, that’s it? You got the most action from a truck?”

Nan shook her head. “We’re supposed to be going out tomorrow … what’s the betting he gets home tonight and thinks ‘Jeez, she’s kinda weird, maybe this isn’t the best idea’?”

Hayley sighed. “Well, if he does, then he’s not worthy of you.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Nan asked in a small but hopeful voice. Hayley smiled.

“Then next time,” she got up and pulled Nan’s shoes off and tucked her into bed, “fuck him, instead of molesting his motor vehicle.”

Nan was already asleep by the time Hayley closed her bedroom door.

Quilla crawled across the gigantic bed to where Jakob was typing on his laptop. He looked up … and saw she was completely naked. Damn. His cock responded immediately but he still shook his head at her, with a smile.

She sighed. “Two days,” she grumbled, “two freaking days before our six weeks is up and still you make like a Maryknoll nun.”

Jakob laughed and then relented. “Come here.” He pushed the laptop aside and drew her to him, stroking her body. The scar on her belly was healing; the stitches had come out weeks before. He stroked the soft skin. “Tell me honestly. Does it hurt at all, ever? Even a twinge?”

She took his face in her hands. “Not at all, I promise.”

He searched her eyes for a long moment, then with a swift move, laid her back on the bed, covering her body with his. “Even a twinge and you tell me, swear?”

“I swear.”

Jakob kissed her mouth, then moved down to her throat and took her nipple into his mouth. God. He had missed this. Quilla hooked a leg over his back and tilted her hips to grind against his thigh. He could feel how warm her sex was and his cock thickened and lengthened, desperate to be inside her. He kissed her stomach, her belly, circling her navel with his tongue, running the tip against her scar, then down to the mound above her sex, shaved and smooth.

He grinned up at her as he moved still lower and caught the sensitive clit between his teeth, biting down gently, feeling it twitch and swell at his touch. His tongue lashed around it, probing and teasing, and he felt her become wet and swollen. He brought her to orgasm with his tongue and then moved up to kiss her.

“No pain?”

Her skin was damp, her hair sticking to her face as she panted, but her eyes shone. “No pain.”

He nuzzled her nose with his, fixing his eyes on her. “Spread your legs for me, my beautiful Quilla … wider … as wide as they will go … that’s it ...”

Her breathing quickened under his will. Jakob sat up and peeled his T-shirt from his chest, all the time gazing down at her. He pulled his belt from his pants and bent down, twisting the leather around her small wrists and lashing her to the bedframe.

“Are you mine, Quilla?”

Breathless, she nodded, and he smiled, his eyes sleepy with desire. “Are you hot, my love?”

Another nod. He picked up the glass of champagne he had on the nightstand, fisting the root of his cock as he did, and poured some wine into the hollow of her belly, catching the liquid with his tongue as it dripped down her side. Quilla wriggled with pleasure then moaned, as, taking a mouthful of champagne, Jakob went down on her again, letting the bubbles fizz against her clit as he slid a long finger into her cunt, and pressed upwards to massage her G-spot.

Quilla bucked, her body taking over as Jakob unrelentingly took her with his hands and mouth. He spread the swollen lips of her sex and slid his tongue up and down the slick cleft, moving between her clit and her cunt. He felt her body tense, nearly at orgasm, and with lightning speed he drew himself up and entered her, his cock almost desperate to be inside her. He gazed down at her, her arms on either side of her head, her hands gripping the bedframe they were lashed to, her eyes shining up at him.

“Remember when we were in Venice, my love? That night we fucked so hard, we thought we’d wake the neighbors?”

Quilla smiled, laughed a little. “How could I forget?”

“Remember we watched ourselves in the mirror, my cock sliding in …” he thrust hard, and she moaned, “and out of your perfect cunt?”

“I do … God ...”

Jakob smiled, quickening his rhythm. “Remember that night we talked about fucking on the balcony, about how I wanted everyone to see how beautiful you when you come?”

“God, yes, yes ...” Quilla arched her back, pressing her sex onto him as he thrust harder and harder and deeper and deeper …

“And we did that, didn’t we, Quilla?”

She nodded her head, now panting so hard she was unable to speak. Jakob drove her on and on until she moaned and came, her body vibrating as Jakob grinned in satisfaction. He pulled out just as he reached his own climax and came on her belly, shooting milky white fluid onto her skin. She smiled up at him as he massaged it into her skin.

“I love you so much, Jakob Mallory ...”

“As I love you, my darling, darling Quilla ...”

He released her hands, and she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him tenderly. “I have missed that so much … that was incredible.”

Jakob gathered her to him. “Quilla … would you like to go back to Venice, to our little apartment, for a time?”

She looked surprised. “I’d love to, but ...”

“You have work.”

“I do, and I love you for asking, but I can’t let them down, especially now that I’ve been … sick.”

Jakob nodded and then gave her a guilty smile. “Sweetheart, the thing is, I kind of talked to them already.”

Quilla drew back and looked at him. “What?”

Jakob nodded. “I’m sorry … it happened when you were still in the hospital. I was crazy scared and angry … I went to your boss and told him that ...”

“What?” Quilla sat up in bed. “You told him that I couldn’t make my own decisions anymore?”

Jakob rocked back from the anger in her voice. “Honey, I was acting crazy, I know, and I overstepped the mark. But the only thing I care about is you and trying to make up for what Gregor did to you because of me.”

Quilla contemplated for a moment then sighed. “Jakob, what Gregor did … it wasn’t your fault. He’s a psychopath; I knew it the first day I met him. A sociopath. Do you know one of the first things he said to me? He said ‘I know you’re fucking Jakob.” This is a man who’d known me all of five seconds.”

Jakob watched her in silence. She pulled her knees up to her chest unconsciously. “But that doesn’t mean you get to organize my life for me. And why the hell didn’t my boss—or you—mention this before? God … look, I’ll let this one go because of the circumstances, and I love you for wanting to make me happy, but please ...”

“I understand, and I’m sorry.” Jakob sighed. “Look, I’ve been messing up my whole life with the drugs. And I haven’t had a real relationship in a long time, so I’m relearning some of this stuff. Forgive me?”

Quilla smiled. “This time, Mallory. Now, show me again how much you love me

“Seriously, dude, give it up. We’ve been doing this for a month, and I haven’t gotten any better.” Nan twirled her tennis racket at Joel, who grinned back. He held his hands up.

“You’re right. Man, you suck at this.”

She hit a tennis ball at him which he dodged, laughing. “Come on, Martina, let’s get some lunch.”

At the little lunch place he took her to (which, she noticed, had no prices on the menu), they ordered. Then, as they waited for their drinks, Joel laced his fingers in hers. The last month had been blissful, fun, exhilarating—and chaste. What she’d found in Joel Mallory was a best friend, a confidant, a soulmate. He got along with Hayley, he talked to Nan about her work—he had fit so easily into their lives, and she couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t around.

Now, as they ate their crab salads, she was nervous. Because today, she was going to his place for the first time … overnight. And God, she desperately wanted to sleep with him, but the whole idea of being naked with this man was terrifying her and she didn’t know why.

She told him that, and he frowned. “Why?”

Because look at us, look where we’re both from. Different worlds. I’m a schoolteacher; I live in a two-bedroom chalet. But she didn’t say any of that to him. “Maybe it’s just first-night nerves,” she joked awkwardly. He squeezed her fingers.

“You’re thinking about it too much.” He moved his chair so he was next to hers, looping his arm along the back of her chair. His fingers slid along the exposed skin under her arm, drifted up and down slowly. Nan shivered; the feeling was blissful. Joel calmly continued to fork his food into his mouth with his free hand, but now the other hand had moved down to cup her buttock, his large thumb stroking the curve of it. Nan smiled at him. His hand moved to hold her thigh, and his fingertips traced a pattern, sending her blood racing, her breath quickening.

Joel put his fork down and nuzzled her ear. “Nan? Would you like something more to eat?”

She shook her head, concentrating on the furious pulse beating between her legs, his fingers so tantalizingly close to her sex, she wanted to scream.

“Nan ...” God, his voice, so low, so melodic. “Shall we go back to my place?”

She turned her head then and pressed her lips to his. “Yes. Yes.”

The next twenty minutes were a blur of cabs and streets and elevators and now, in his bedroom—his surprisingly modest bedroom—Joel slid his hands to the nape of her neck and untied her halter, letting her dress slither to the floor. With her small, perky breasts, she hadn’t bothered to wear a bra, and he cupped them in his big hands, kissing them as if he were worshipping them. Nan ran her hand through his hair and pulled out the band holding it back. It was silky, and she let the blonde strands fall through her fingers as Joel took her nipple into his mouth. She wavered slightly, and he gathered her into his arms. “Lay back on the bed for me, sweetheart.”

She did so and watched him as he stripped off his T-shirt and jeans. Undressed, he was even more unbelievable, taut chest, broad shoulders, thickly muscled arms. She could see his cock outlined in his underwear, already hard and long. She sat up as he moved to strip his underwear off.

“Wait ...” she said, her nerves gone. “I want to do it.”

Joel let go of the waistband with a smile and she slid her fingers over the top of them and slowly peeled them from him. She gave a sigh as his cock, ramrod hard and erect against his belly, swelled and quivered. She stroked her fingers up and down it, feeling the silky-smooth skin move under her touch. She smiled up at him, then took the sensitive tip into her mouth. She could already taste the pre-cum, salty and rich, and as her tongue flicked around it, she heard Joel suck in a deep breath.

After a few moments, he moved her head away and laid her back on the bed, hitching his fingers around her panties and freeing her from them. He pushed her legs up to her chest and buried his face in her sex, teasing and tasting until her labia swelled and pulsed with desire. Then he took her, sliding in so gently, so slowly, she cried out as he filled her and began to move.

“Joel … oh God, Joel ...”

They moved together, skin on skin, finding their rhythm easily and rocking their hips in unison. Joel kissed her, his tongue massaging hers, exploring her mouth. Nan clung to him, her legs wrapped around his hips, moving up to his waist as she tilted her sex to meet him, allowing him to drive himself deeper into her. God, yes, this was what she had been missing, the connection, the human touch, and the passion. Joel looked at her as if she was the most beautiful creature ever to walk the Earth and at this moment, this wonderful, sensual moment, she believed she was.

Her climax, building, building, building, slammed through her, and she let out a cry of “Oh!” and felt as if she were flying as Joel came, his groan like music to her.

Afterward, they lay side by side, facing each other and talking. She grinned at him.

“Why was I so nervous?”

Joel laughed. “Can I tell you a secret? I was scared to death.”

“No way.”

“Way.”

Nan sighed. “My whole body feels like it’s been rehabilitated. I wasn’t even aware of some of the sensations you brought out in me.”

“Right back at ya,” he said, and kissed her. “Hey, I do have something to talk to you about. An idea I’ve been kicking around for a couple of weeks.”

“Tell me.”

“Remember we had that conversation where you told me teaching Phys. Ed. was a bad fit?”

“Kind of.”

“Well, while I’ve been trying—and failing—to teach you how to, you know, hit a tennis ball.” He laughed and ducked away as she swiped at him. “I got to thinking … you’re right. That was thinking too small. I was thinking— what if we built community sports centers— somewhere where anyone can come and fulfill their curiosity or gain access to the equipment they need? What do you think?”

Nan nodded, her eyes excited. “That’s more like it. I think that’s great—have you talked about it with your family?”

“Not yet, but I’m going to. It really is a basic idea at the moment, and I wanted to run it by you first.”

She smiled. “Really?”

“Really. You, Nan Applebee, in less than a month, became my person. You kind of became my person when you hugged my truck on our first date.”

Nan groaned and covered her face. “God, don’t remind me.”

Joel laughed, then gathered her to him. “Wouldn’t change a thing. Will you help me with this?”

She nodded. “Of course.” She laughed, then rained kisses down on him, making him chuckle. “Of course, I will,” she said, calming down. “I’m your person.”

Joel rolled on top of her. “Well, then, my person, let’s see how else we can celebrate this new partnership ...”

It was the phone call in the middle of the night that woke them both. The landline in Joel’s apartment. For a second, blinking sleep from their eyes, they looked at each other. Then Joel scooted out of the bed and went to answer it. After a few moments, Nan got up too and went into the living room. Joel was sitting, his head in his free hand, talking in a low tone into the phone.

His whole body seemed to have slumped, his demeanor one of defeat. Nan sat next to him and put her arm around him. God … she knew all about the midnight phone call—it was never good news. She remembered the night the police had come and told her and Hayley that their dad had died suddenly. No accident, no suspicious circumstances, he had just … stopped. The grief was still raw five years on.

Joel locked his fingers between hers. “Okay … right. Thanks. Call me as soon as you know anything more.” He put the phone down and groaned. Nan, her heart pounding.

“What? What is it? Is it that psycho who stabbed Quilla? What?”

Joel shook his head. “No … no, it’s not. A girl’s been murdered, a German tennis player, at the match in Rome. God...Nan ...”

Nan saw the fear in his eyes. “What, baby? What is it?”

Joel closed his eyes. “It’s Skandar. He’s been arrested ...”

Part Three: Trust Me

It seemed to Skandar that even through the walls of the jail cell, he could still hear all the reporters that were outside the Rome police station, clamoring for news on the biggest story of the year. Annika Hahn, dead, murdered, and Skandar Mallory arrested. He kept repeating it to himself, because he couldn’t believe what had happened. Annika was dead. The German tennis ace had only been nineteen. Dead. It didn’t seem possible.

But then, neither did Skandar being awakened early that morning by the door of his hotel room being kicked in and guns aimed at him, cops yelling at him in Italian.

The door outside the cell opened, and his father came in, looking harassed, angry, scared—everything Skandar was feeling. The police officer with Joel opened the cell and nodded for Skandar to step out. Bail was set and paid.

He fell into his dad's arms, and Joel hugged his son. “Are you okay?”

Skandar shook his head. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, Dad. Annika’s dead.”

Joel silenced him with a look. “Later.” He didn’t want Skandar to say anything in front of the Italian police.

Skandar noticed a young blonde woman hovering awkwardly behind his father. Joel introduced her. “Skandar, my girlfriend, Nan.”

The woman had a kind face, and she put a hand on Skandar's arm. “I'm so pleased to meet you, if not under the greatest circumstances.”

Joel was antsy. “Come on, let’s get out of here. We have a suite at the Hassler.”

In the cab to the hotel, Skandar stared out of the window, hollow-eyed. He felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to his head. Joel, not the most effusive father, nevertheless had his arm casually draped over the top of the seat, his fingertips resting lightly on his son’s shoulder. It was a tiny gesture that meant everything to his son. At the hotel, they gave the few paparazzi who were stationed outside the building the slip by sneaking in through the kitchens.

Skandar raised his eyebrows at the opulence of the suite Joel had procured for them. Very unlike Joel Mallory—the most down to earth one of them all—and seeing his reaction, Joel grinned. “Jakob’s idea. Give the impression of huge influence and possible backhanders without ever saying a word.”

Skandar snorted. “Jakob’s a genius.” He grinned a little at his dad. “I thought this was a bit too over the top for you.” He glanced at Nan. “He’s probably showing off for you.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Joel rolled his eyes as Nan giggled, but then his smile faltered. “Skandar, sit. I’ll order some food, then we’re going to talk.”

“Hahn, nineteen, was found strangled to death in a hotel populated by her peers. More than one witness has come forward to say they saw Hahn enter the hotel room of American tennis superstar, Skandar Mallory, hours before her body was found. Mallory, who is the nephew of actor Kit Mallory, was arrested and bailed. He has not yet been charged but has been asked to stay in Rome until the investigations have concluded. Harry Aries is our reporter in Rome. Harry?”

Nan flicked the television off and grabbed her cell. Dialing, she tapped her fingers on her leg, agitated. So much stress—so much had changed in a flash. Still reeling from their first incredible night together, she’d immediately offered to come with Joel, seeing how devastated he had been by the news, although not realizing, she knew now, how much of a big deal this would be. Skandar was in trouble, serious trouble.

“Yo.” Her sister sounded sleepy, and Nan felt guilty about calling her, but Joel and Skandar were with the police, and she was antsy.

“Hey, you. I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“It’s okay, hang on ...” Nan heard Hayley cough and then the rustle of blankets as she sat. “How’s things? Did you break Skandar out of the clink? Are you on the lam?”

Nan suppressed a smile. Even thousands of miles away, Hayley could cheer her up. “Yeah, he got bail—I didn’t ask much. Joel had to lay down for that. Not my business. Skandar is shell-shocked … well, it's hard to say, since I've never met him before, but he's definitely subdued.”

“He didn’t do it, though, did he?”

“Of course not. Skandar's admitting to sleeping with Annika, but says she left after a couple of hours.”

“Is Joel doing okay?”

Nan sighed. “I don’t know. Listen, this has all happened so fast … are you sure you're all right there?”

“Hell, yeah. I have pizza on speed dial and Netflix. I’m good. Just ...”

“What?”

“Are you sure you want to get so involved with that family? I know Joel’s great, but from what you’ve said, he’s the exception.”

Nan frowned. “I didn’t mean to infer the others are shady … just that they’re more focused on what they do. Joel’s more relaxed about things—apart from this, obviously. Skandar’s a good kid, a bit arrogant and careless, but ...”

“I’ll say,” Hayley muttered. “Even if he didn’t do it, he has a reputation for screwing around, doesn’t he?”

Nan couldn't argue with that. After she had said goodbye, she wandered around the suite, feeling out of place. Maybe she should fly home and leave Joel to deal with his son’s predicament.

The door opened, and Joel smiled at her, his face tired. “Hey, gorgeous.”

“How did it go?”

“Well,” he dropped onto the couch, and Nan sat beside him, linking her fingers with his. “They have no physical evidence to prove Skandar had anything to do with the girl's death. The trouble is, they have no physical evidence of who did kill her either, nor a motive for the murder. So far, it all comes down to the word of a couple of witnesses; who, by the way, have gone to ground. They’re not part of the tournament and no one seems to know who they could be, not the hotel, no one. So, at the moment, Skandar remains the sole suspect based on the fact he was the last person to see her alive.”

“Apart from her killer,” Nan added gently, and he smiled.

“Apart from the killer.” Joel sighed and leaned his head back on the couch. “What’s more of a problem is the press. They’re working up to trying Skandar themselves; he’ll be crucified, no matter the outcome of the investigation.”

“Where is he now?”

“The pool, doing laps. Carlos—who is as terrifying as he looks—bawled him out after the police interviews. They’re replacing him in the team for the tournament.”

“Temporarily?” But she knew the answer already. Joel leaned over to kiss her.

“Thank you for coming with me, Nan; it’s made all the difference.”

She gave him a shy smile. “I haven’t done anything; I wish I could make you feel better.”

Joel gave a small chuckle. “Well … I know a way we could relax for a few hours.”

Nan grinned. “Hours? That’s ambitious.”

He laughed. “Give an old guy a break. It would be a shame to waste that enormous bed, wouldn’t it?”

Nan pressed her lips to his. “Why, yes, it would. It would indeed ...”

Skandar pushed himself harder and harder into the swim until, at last, exhausted, he hauled himself out. At least the pool was off limits to the press. His publicist, Zoe, a bulldog business person with the face of an angel, was scheduled to fly in tomorrow morning to start on a strategy. Jesus, a strategy. Annika was dead, and he was thinking about a PR strategy. Is this what he’d become?

He could still remember Annika’s smile. She was so much fun, so full of life. God. He refocused, remembering how her athletic body had curved against his, the way her skin felt on his, the way she moaned when she came … he’d had a crush on her since she’d exploded onto the tennis scene two years previously. But, of course, he had to play the cool dude. He unashamedly slept around—the same as any young guy would, and certainly, his cohorts were no angels. But he was Skandar Mallory—Superstar, Billionaire, The World’s Hottest Bachelor, and People Magazine’s Sexiest Man of the Year (beating his uncle Kit into second place—that was satisfying, he grinned to himself). His smile faded. Shit, he thought now, how did I ever think any of that mattered? Annika’s dead. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to let the grief overwhelm him. What he wanted, more than anything was to go home and wall himself up in his large condo. With a pang, he realized, even if all the charges were to be dropped and he could go back to the US, that the press would not let him alone.

Skandar went back up to his room and shut the door. He lay on his bed and took stock. Carlos was this close to quitting; although the Argentinian had committed to at least six months with Skandar, he had a feeling the man would drop him like a stone if he thought his own legacy might be tainted. Fuck him, Skandar thought, if he’s that flighty, good riddance.

He needed a distraction. He grabbed his iPad, then logged onto the sci-fi forum of which he was a secret member. His nom-de-plume was goofy, chosen when he was a fifteen-year-old—SkunkMaladyBibble. It had always made him smirk. He logged in now and checked who was online. He dismissed a couple of the ubergeeks—the ones who corrected anyone and everyone who got any sci-fi fact even slightly wrong—those people were nuts. Skandar smiled suddenly.

This was more like it—Samadamadingdong was online. “Yes,” Skandar hissed in delight, and started typing.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Yo, Dingdong, how’s it hanging?

Samadamadingdong: Hey, Bibs, slightly to the left. Good, thanks, just trying—and failing, obviously—to focus on a paper. Where are you at this time? Mars? Jupiter? Atlantic City?

SkunkMaladyBibble: Would you believe, I’m on Uranus?

Samadamadingdong: Why, why would you go there? I’m disgusted at your obvious joke.

SkunkMaladyBibble: But you’re snickering, aren’t you?

Samadamadingdong: Yes, I am. And I’m judging myself.

Skandar grinned to himself. Yes, this was what he needed, unadulterated silliness and mockery with his favorite online pal. They had agreed at the start, no real names or details, no flirting, no flaming. It had been a couple of years now since they started chatting—and whoever she was, she had been a constant source of escape. Strangers into friends, he thought, now, the power of the Internet, and he settled back to chat with her some more.

Nan laid her head on Joel’s stomach, feeling the rise and fall as he breathed. She adored these moments after they had made love, calm, peaceful, together. He held her hand—which always made her tear up a little. This man, she thought, this man feels like home.

“Hopefully, in a couple of days, the police will be able to let us take Skandar home,” Joel said now, apparently deep in thought. “Then maybe you should both stay with me for a while—he obviously can't go home.”

Nan turned her head to look up at him. “Maybe it’s not such a great idea for me to stay with you. I have Hayley to consider—if the press starts digging into my background as your girlfriend, then I don’t want her in the firing line. Does that make sense?”

Joel considered. “I never thought of that … huh.”

She rested her chin on the hand splayed on his stomach. “I know you've probably got all the security covered and if it were just me, then I'd—what was it your Dad said—ride out the storm with you.” She grinned as he stroked her cheek. “But Hayley never asked for this, so … '

“I get it. Man.” He shoved himself into a sitting position and pulled her to him. “This got more complicated than we expected. Thank God for you, though.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m serious, Nan. I could not have coped these last few days without you.”

Nan reddened to the roots of her hair and smiled. “No problem … it's …” She hesitated, dropping her eyes to her hands, “it's what I would do for anyone I loved.” Her heart was thumping ferociously against her ribs, and when he didn't immediately react, she risked a glance at him. His eyes were soft.

“Right back at ya, kiddo,” he murmured, and Nana felt the relief flood through her. He loved her. Good, she thought, thank God.

Because I am in way too deep …

In breaking news, tennis ace Skandar Mallory has been given leave to return to the United States by the Italian police investigating the murder of nineteen-year-old Annika Hahn, the young WTA player ranked fifteenth in the world, who was brutally murdered at her hotel last week. Mallory, the grandson of wealthy Seattle business and philanthropist, Randall Mallory, was arrested, but has not been charged with any crime. The twenty-five-year-old is known to have been with Miss Hahn on the night of her death, but so far, no evidence has been found to link him to her murder. The Italian police say Mr. Mallory understands that he may be extradited back to Rome, should formal charges be made in the future.

Skandar felt like kissing the Washington ground as he landed back in Seattle. The flight from Italy had been one of dodging the press—which meant change after change in remote parts of the world to get back home. Instead of the usual transatlantic route, he and Joel had taken the longer route—across Europe and Asia and finally down through Anchorage to Seattle. They’d sent Nan back a day before they themselves had left Rome, so the press wouldn't get used to her being with them and follow her home. He had to admit; he'd seen parts of the world even he had never visited, but it had taken four days, and he and his dad were exhausted and sick of fast food, grabbed at weird times of the night.

His grandfather, Ran, had arranged for a town car to pick them up and they flopped into the air-conditioned car, and both of them fell asleep immediately.

Somehow, they'd gotten back to his grandfather's house, because the next reasonable cognitive thought he had was that he was in a soft bed, and it was evening again. He got up and stood under a refreshing shower, sighing with relief at feeling vaguely normal again.

Downstairs, he heard voices from the dining room and followed the sound. He found Ran, Joel, Nan, and Quilla sitting eating pizza straight from the boxes—he loved that his billionaire family didn’t have graces—and a young girl he didn't know with long straight blonde hair, almond eyes a dark brown, and long, long legs. Jakob was on his cellphone on the other side of the room.

Quilla got up to hug Skandar. “You okay, bug?” She wrapped her arms around him—quite a feat when he stood over a foot taller than her. He lifted her off her feet and swung her. She giggled as he set her down.

“Well, that’s more like it. Come sit.”

Nan leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Skandar, this is my sister, Hayley—she doesn’t need me to tell her who you are.”

“Quite. Hi, Skandar.”

He liked that she didn’t look star struck the reaction he was used to getting—and it was a relief. If she was nice as Nan, then … he sat down next to her.

As if reading his mind, she grinned. “If you're wondering if I'll be as sweet and comforting as my sister, you're wrong. I will shamelessly mock you like we’ve known each other forever.”

Skandar burst out laughing. Ran, at the other end of the table, grinned. “You tell him, Hayley.”

Jakob finished his call and came back to the table. “Hey, Skan, happy to see you, buddy.”

“Hey, Jakob … how’s everything?”

Jakob exchanged a glance with Quilla, who smiled. “Actually, we might have some news.”

“Oh, my, you’re ...” Nan started, but Quilla quickly waved her hand.

“No, God, no, nothing like that. Joel … remember that you talked to Jakob about building sports centers for the communities in Seattle without access? We might have found your first site.”

Jakob smiled at his lover. “Quilla’s been scouting for places in her lunchbreaks—never let it be said this girl doesn’t commit.”

“That’s great … wow, I hadn’t even thought past the initial idea, but damn, Quilla, Jakob, that’s amazing.”

Skandar looked at his father, bemused. “What’s this?”

“Your dad’s going to build community sports centers,” Nan said proudly. Skandar smiled.

“You gonna find the new … um … me?”

Hayley snorted, and Nan scowled at her. Skandar raised an eyebrow and Hayley shrugged.

“Sorry, just warming up to that mockery I was talking about.”

“Hayley,” her sister's voice carried a warning, but Skandar grinned.

“You are one weird girl,” he said to Hayley, who smiled with her mouth full of pizza.

Soon they had broken up into groups and Skandar and Hayley went outside to play with the dogs. He sized her up as they ran around. She was tall, almost six-foot, he guessed, slender but not skinny. Her long blonde hair hung in a straight curtain around her, topped with a wool hat. Her willowy body was clad in skinny jeans and a loose-fitting tee. Skandar realized he was staring—and that she'd noticed. He grinned guiltily as she stuck her hand on her hip and struck a pose.

“I know, it’s impossible for you not to look, what with all this going on,” she waved her hand up and down her body, then laughed. “Dude, we’re practically brother and sister.”

He followed her over to the swing set which had been there since his dad was a toddler. “How’d you figure that one?”

“Well, if my sister and your dad are dating … I'm wrong; I'm your aunt. So behave.” She pulled a serious face, which turned quickly into duck face. Skandar grinned.

“Dude,”—she looked like she didn't mind being called dude, so he risked it—“You are so nutso. So come on, get serious, tell me about you.”

Hayley swung gently back and forth on the swing. “What do you want to know?”

“You work?”

She nodded. “Part time at a comic store downtown. I’m at college most of the time.”

“Studying.”

“Sports psychology.”

“Seriously?”

“No.”

“Jerk. So come on, what?”

“Architecture.”

“Jakob’s field. He could help you out.”

“I intend on picking his brains. His girlfriend is cute.”

“Quilla’s a peach, yeah. Still can’t believe what happened to her.”

“That’s the night my sister met your dad. At the hospital.”

Skandar raised his eyebrows at her. “Really? Smooth moves, Pa, macking on the patients while your brother’s girl is bleeding to death.”

Hayley winced then rolled her eyes. “Nan wasn’t the patient, I was, and he wasn’t macking on anybody.”

“Chill, I was kidding. Why were you there?”

Hayley didn't answer for a second, and a myriad of crazy reasons ran through his mind. Then she shrugged. “Potted version, got drunk, got in the car with drunk, drunk rolled car. Got lucky, minor cuts and bruises and no charges.” She looked at him and for the first time, she saw a vulnerable side to her.

“Hey,” he said gently, “no judgment here. We’ve all done dumb stuff …”

They were quiet for a moment. The evening was mild, and a fresh breeze blew in from the lake on the property.

“So,” Hayley’s voice was hesitant. “Do you want to talk about it? I just thought someone around your age, not family, maybe ...”

Skandar grinned sideways at her. “Didn’t you just tell me you’re my aunt?”

She didn’t smile. “Skandar.”

He looked away. “I … jeez, I don’t even know what to tell you. Annika and I had been flirting a while, you know. She never knew this, but I had the biggest crush on her for years. Of course, being a douchebag, I never let her know, played the field, tried to make her jealous. It worked. Now ...” He shook his head. “Wish I hadn’t waited. I thought we had forever.”

“I’m sorry.”

Skandar squinted across to where the dogs were busy digging up his grandfather’s prized rose bed.

“She was a sweet kid, you know? Why anyone would want to do that to her ...” He trailed off, looking inside at his family, talking and laughing. “They think it’s all going to be okay, I can tell.”

“That should give you some comfort.”

“I honestly don’t know. A part of me feels I should be punished for not protecting her.”

Hayley was silent. “Were you together long?”

Skandar shook his head. “Just that night. We'd been flirting and building up to it through the whole meet, then that evening, she came to my room. Said she was tired of waiting.”

“Why’d she leave, then?”

Skandar looked desolate. “Carlos Sosa. He has me on a strict no-carbs, no- sex, no-fun regime. He called me that night, said he was coming up to see me, so I had to send her away. If I hadn't, she'd be alive now. God.”

He put his face in his hands, trying not to scream. Hayley was quiet, leaving him to get hold of himself. He looked up eventually with red eyes.

“Thanks for listening. We don't even know each other, but it's been good.”

Hayley, never shy, grabbed his phone from his back pocket and programmed her number into it. “Call whenever. If you just need to shout and curse, call me. We’ll drive up into the mountains and find a quiet spot and howl and curse to our hearts’ content.”

She held her hand up for a high-five, which he returned, and handed his phone back. “I'm getting cold, so I'm going to head in. Coming?”

“In a sec.” He watched her lope back to the house. Good kid, he thought. Real good kid.

He looked forward to having her as a friend.

Quilla Chen rested her hand on Jakob’s thigh as he drove them back to their apartment, gazing out at the lights of the city. She heard him sigh and turned to him. His brow was furrowed, his eyes uneasy.

“What are you thinking about?” She stroked his hair back over his ear. Jakob flashed a smile at her but it faded, and he shook his head. “Skandar. Damn kid would get himself into trouble.”

“To be fair,” Quilla said gently, “he didn't do anything wrong. In fact, listening to Joel and Nan tell it, it just seems weird all around. Have you considered that someone might be out to frame him? A rival?”

He gave her a sharp look then, and she realized he hadn’t considered it. “I'm just giving you a for instance.” She tried to get him to smile, but his eyes were hard. “What? I didn’t mean to upset you.”

His face softened. “You could never upset me, beautiful. I just had never thought … we’ll talk about this at home, just give me five minutes. I don’t want to be driving when we talk about it.”

Confused, Quilla nodded, but twenty minutes later she understood. They were sitting in their living room, lights dimmed, and as Quilla kicked off her shoes and curled her legs underneath her, Jakob said the one word that made her skin crawl and her stomach drop. “Gregor.”

Quilla felt the blood drain out of her face. “What?”

Jakob, seeing her distress, sat down next to her and pulled her into the crook of his arm. “It's just a theory,” he said, kissing her temple. “But we can't find him; the police can't find him. If he thinks—and God, I hate even saying this out loud—if he thinks he hasn't got ‘enough' revenge on me, he could be going after the rest of the family. He knows he won’t get near you again.”

Quilla didn't say anything, and he tightened his arm around her. “Sorry, baby. I might be totally paranoid, but it's worth looking into, right?”

She nodded. “God, yes, anything to help Skandar. I'm a year younger than him, but I feel like a momma bear when he's around.”

“You’re an old soul, Quilla Chen. Something else made me think tonight.”

“What’s that?”

“When Nan thought you were pregnant.”

Quilla laughed. “Why is it that whenever a woman says she has news, it's always presumed she's either pregnant or engaged? I might be climbing Everest or … ' she cast around, “giving an enema to a Blue Whale.”

Jakob shook his head, still chuckling. “Only you could think up something like that. No, what I mean is … for just the briefest second when Nan thought you were pregnant, a part of me wanted you to say ‘Actually yes.’ Then, of course, I got it together and told myself … we haven’t even had that conversation.”

Quilla chewed her lip. “We’ve been together for what now? Six months? Do you think it’s too soon? I mean to discuss in the abstract, yes, but I’m not ready to have kids yet.”

Jakob nodded. “Which was my first thought, and there’s something else we’ve ignored up until now. There're twenty-three years between us, Quilla. We've glossed over that fact so far, but it is a consideration we have to deal with.”

Quilla suddenly felt tears threatening. “I love you; I don’t want to be with anyone else.”

He kissed her. “Me neither. This is it for me. But … I have, to be honest. Children have never been high on my list. So if we reach a point where it becomes an issue, we need to face it. Although for a second, I was swayed by the idea of you being pregnant. In all honesty, I can’t see it happening.”

Quilla nodded, her throat thick. She snuggled into his chest so he couldn’t see the sadness in her eyes.

Because she had thought about children—way off in the future, yes, but his children, green-eyed and beautiful. His revelation struck deep inside her. No kids? She heard him sigh, felt his chest rise and fall against her cheek.

“Anyway, my beauty, I’ve got an early meeting so ...”

In bed, they made love slowly, and later, when Quilla had fallen asleep, Jakob slid out from the covers and went into the living room. Sleep had been avoiding him lately, and he felt the build-up of those sleepless nights now. The reason was simple—and one he kept to himself—he was pretty sure Gregor was waging a campaign against his family. After Quilla had been stabilized, her surgeon had spoken to Jakob privately.

“The stab wound isn’t deep, nor was it violent enough to cause extensive bleeding. From the circumstances you’ve described … it sounds like the attacker meant to wound and not kill. If he was standing next to her, he could have easily stabbed her multiple times in a few seconds and deeply, too. He could have easily murdered her, but he didn't. I don’t get what his motive was.”

For a time, neither did Jakob. It wasn’t until he got the first email—sent through an anonymous IP address—that he knew.

Next time, she dies.

It has been a warning, the stabbing. A vicious, nasty, painful warning but just that. Gregor would never stop until he brought Jakob and his family low. Which was why, tonight, when Quilla theorized that someone was framing Skandar, the pieces had fallen into place.

Jakob looked at the clock. A little after midnight. He knew his dad would still be up reading. He grabbed his cell—then, hesitating, crossed the room and looked in to see if Quilla was still asleep. Her face rested on the pillow, her eyes closed, her hair tangled around her. So beautiful. Jakob leaned against the doorframe and watched her breathing for a few moments. I love you, Quilla Chen, so, so much.

Next time, she dies.

Jakob swallowed the knot of fear in his throat and went to call his dad.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Hey, Boo.

Samadamadingdong: ’Sup? You’re online late tonight.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Had a strange day. Met someone.

Samadamadingdong: Whoa. Do tell!

SkunkMaladyBibble: Not like that. She’s just the coolest person—apart from you, of course.

Samadamadingdong: I’m only your imaginary friend, though. What's she like?

SkunkMaladyBibble: Funny, smart, gorgeous. And someone I think could be a true friend one day. I wish I were able to say more.

Samadamadingdong: You know the rules. But I’m glad you have someone like that, dude. I think I may have met that person as well.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Spill it.

Samadamadingdong: Nah, too early to say for sure. When and if things progress, etc. He's kinda messed up at the moment.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Bad news. But I know how he feels, so don’t be too judgy.

Samadamadingdong: Judgy’s my middle name.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Some days I wish you were here, so we could really talk.

Samadamadingdong: I know. Me, too, but then we wouldn't have the luxury of spilling our darkest moments to each other without fear of recrimination or exposure. God, that’s deep for this time of night. Willies, bum, pee pee.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Lunatic.

Samadamadingdong: Ya, bruh.

SkunkMaladyBibble: The fuck? Is that some young person’s talk I don’t know?

Samadamadingdong: Ya, bruh.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Anyway, should probably get some sleep. Just wanted to check in.

Samadamadingdong: Ya, bruh.

SkunkMaladyBibble: Stop that. Sweet dreams.

Samadamadingdong: Right back at cha. Night, dude.

Skandar waited as his car was brought around to the back of the house. His grandfather, tense and antsy, shook his head at him. “This really isn’t a good idea.”

“I’m going stir-crazy, Pops. Just sitting here listening to Zoe plot out pre-canned sound bites and statements, waiting for the Italians to drop the bomb on me. The press is already eviscerating me. I need to get out, even for just a few hours.”

Ran sighed. “Just don’t bring Hayley into it. I don’t want those girls harassed. And if Jakob is right, if this is all Gregor Fisk’s doing, I don’t want him targeting Hayley or Nan.”

Skandar put his hands up. “That’s why we’ve planned this down to the last detail. Hayley will meet me there.”

“Halfway up a volcano, in a visitor’s center.”

“Exactly. No one will think to look for us there. And they have a great little café.” Skandar, rich beyond his wildest dreams, still had enough of his father in him that he enjoyed a homemade bowl of soup in a family-run café.

Ran nodded. His grandson was willful, had always been so, and besides; he was an adult.

“Okay, but, and I mean this, any hint of paparazzi, you hightail it out of there.”

“Like Road Runner, Pops, I promise.”

Thinking about what his grandfather said, Skandar got an unexpected jolt of pleasure when he saw Hayley waiting for him. His pulse raced, his stomach warmed when he saw her, regulation wooly hat pulled down over her hair, bundled up in a parka, skinny legs in her usual jeans and boots. Up this high on Mt. Rainier, even in the summer, the snow fell relentlessly, densely packed and towering above the few people that were milling around.

Hayley waved at him as he parked the car and got out. Already, they felt like real friends—since the first night, they had talked on the phone a few times, late into the evening.

She hugged him now, and Skandar relaxed into her embrace, breathing in her clean scent of her hair. “That’s a good, strong hug you have there, Miss Applebee.”

“Oh, shut up,” she said good-naturedly. “Can we get inside? It’s freezing.”

They lined up with the other visitors, Hayley opting for the tomato soup and hot chocolate, Skandar grabbing a salad to go with his soup, and a bottle of OJ.

They secreted themselves away in a far corner of the restaurant, away from the other patrons.

“So, got tired of holing up in the castle?”

Skandar nodded, swallowing a mouthful of soup. “I'm sorry for complaining about being captive in a luxury mansion, but yeah. And I wanted to see you.”

Hayley grinned, completely guileless. “Of course. Why wouldn’t you?”

“How’s your sister?”

“Desperately in love with your dad. It’s quite revolting, really.”

Skandar laughed. “Nauseating stuff. How about you? Seeing anyone?”

“Oooh, details. Okay, well, yes and no. Yes, I’m seeing someone. No, I’m not seeing anyone.”

Skandar, ignoring the sting that passed through him, shook his head. “That makes no sense.”

Hayley rolled her eyes. “It's complicated … his name is Tim; we dated a while back, last year of high school. He turned up at my college this year, and we reconnected. Now it’s getting where we have to decide whether we’re a couple or just friends.”

Skandar speared a tomato with a little too much force, and it burst, spattering him with juice. “Shoot. Well, how do you feel?”

“Weirdly obligated.” Hayley admitted, handing him a napkin. “I think it’s a case of...”

“He’s more into you than you are him.”

“Yep. And he’s the nicest guy, too, so ...”

Skandar pushed his plate away. “Want my advice?”

Hayley grinned, and Skandar knew she was about to mock him. “I'm just saying, as a friend, you deserve better.”

Hayley shrugged. “Truth is … unless I feel a real connection, a meeting of minds, I can’t be bothered. Do you know what I mean? In that case, sex is just sex, not anything of worth.”

Skandar was surprised. “You believe it should be?”

“Well, yeah. Look, I’m all for ‘in the moment’ stuff, don’t get me wrong, but there comes a time when a girl needs to connect with the mind as well as the body.”

Skandar shook his head, grinning. “How’d you get so wise at nineteen?”

Hayley smiled. “You sound like an old man.”

“I feel it, at the moment.”

Hayley reached over took his hand. “Skan, this will pass—you did nothing wrong, and they've already admitted that they have no evidence. As for your grief, ride it out. I’ll be here for you, and your family, too, but it’s not something we can make go away.”

He twisted his fingers between hers. “I’m damn glad my dad met your sister, Hays.”

She smiled, but after a beat gently withdrew her hand. Skandar felt bereft, but hid it with a smile. “So, tell me more about this mind/body thing you have going on.”

Hayley grinned wickedly. “I could show you a thing or two, Mallory. Um, I mean … God … deploy filter,” she muttered to herself, tapping her temple, as Skandar laughed out loud. Hayley’s face was red. “You know what I mean.” She waited until he’d stopped laughing and her face had returned to its usual color and heat. “What’s your kink rating, Skandar Mallory?”

Skandar, his mouth full of orange juice, had to swallow before answering. “We’re really talking about this, huh?”

Hayley shrugged. “Hey, look, I was brought up in a very sex-negative environment. It wasn’t until I got to college and read The Story of O and Anais Nin that I realized what a beautiful thing sex could be, almost like an art form.”

Skandar shifted uncomfortably, starting to get turned on. “Dude … you really into being pierced and led around by a chain in your hoo-ha?”

Hayley grinned. “Firstly, I’m impressed you’ve read O, and secondly, nope. But they did set something free in me.”

“So, that being said, have you ‘connected’ with anyone who satisfied you like that?”

“Oh, I haven’t slept with anybody yet; this is all just a theory.” She said it so nonchalantly that it took a moment for him to process what she’d just said.

“Wait, what? You’re ...”

“A virgin? Yep.”

“Wow.”

“Why ‘wow’?”

Skandar blinked at her. “Have you seen you?”

“What do my looks, good or bad, have to do with it?”

Skandar didn’t answer her for a moment. “Nothing, I’m just … you talk about sex as if you’ve really thought about it … so, why?”

“I told you. I’m waiting to have that connection. And I have thought about it.”

Skandar smiled at her. “You are something special; you know that?”

Hayley’s eyes narrowed. “Mocking me?”

“I swear, not at all. Impressed. Really impressed. I hope whoever you do decide to sleep with first, deserves you.”

“Thank you. You didn’t answer my question.”

“My kink?” He smiled at her. The restaurant had emptied out now, so he felt more relaxed. “Well, okay. Let's start with my history. Cashed in my v-card at sixteen. Haven’t formed any lasting attachment—until Annika. That night was the best one of my life—my sex life. And, of course, the worst.” He felt hollow again. Hayley pushed the rest of her hot chocolate over to him.

“It's only lukewarm now, but it helps, the sugar helps.”

He smiled at her gratefully. “Can we do this again?”

“Of course. Anytime. Next time, how about we meet in a mall, get some pretzels, and hang out like teenagers?”

“You are a teenager.”

“Only my body is. I’m actually forty-nine in maturity.”

He laughed. “I can believe that. And pretzels sound good.”

Skandar drove back into the city, feeling more relaxed than he had in weeks. Hayley Applebee was enchanting. That was the only word he could up with. And, damn, if she hadn’t turned him on with her brutal honesty about sex. A virgin at nineteen, these days? Alone now, he allowed himself a little fantasy about kissing that rose-bud mouth of hers, twisting his hands in her long hair, letting the fine blonde strands running through his fingers. He thought about the weight of her slender body on top of his, straddling him, her full pert breasts bouncing as she rode him …

Jesus, man, pull yourself together. You cannot fall for your dad’s girlfriend’s sister. God, that was way too complicated. Still, he felt lighter, almost high, a smile plastered on his face. At the turning for his grandfather’s place, he let the car drive past the entrance to the property, knowing where he really wanted to be. Home. His condo, where all his stuff was. Yeah, there might be paparazzi, but it had been weeks—maybe they had better things to do now. If nothing else, he needed to grab some more clothes. With that in mind, he turned the car and drove into the city.

Hayley got home, and distracted, walked into Nan’s bedroom without knocking. “Hey, I … oh God ...”

She turned around quickly at the sight of Joel Mallory orally pleasuring her gasping and moaning sister. Seeing her, Joel leaped up, off the bed, and Nan shrieked in shock.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Hayley made a dash for her bedroom and shut the door behind her. God, to unsee that. Luckily Joel had yet to remove his pants, so she was spared the sight of … Little Joel. Despite herself, she giggled but straightened her face when her sister knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Nan, scarlet, wrapped in her robe came to sit down on the bed.

Hayley waited a moment then asked 'Where's Joel?”

“Um, he left.”

“Okay.”

For a moment, they avoided looking at each other, then Hayley could stand it no longer, and a laugh escaped. Nan stared at her in horror for a beat, then her own face crumpled and soon they were both laughing hysterically.

“Stop, stop, my insides hurt,” Nan pleaded after a while, and Hayley dragged some air into her lungs.

“I’m really sorry, Nanny,” Hayley said, using her childhood nickname for her sister. “I didn’t think.” She smothered a grin and started to sing, “Skyrockets in flight, afternoon delight ...”

Nan swiped playfully at her. “We thought you were out with Skandar all afternoon.”

Hayley looked at her watch. “It’s seven p.m.”

“We may have gotten distracted. How was your date?”

Hayley got up to find some food. Nan followed her into the kitchen as Hayley grabbed a box of pop tarts. “Want one?” Nan nodded. “It wasn't a date; we're friends. It turns out I think we'll be good friends. So, Mommy, you don’t have to worry.”

“Not your mommy,” muttered Nan, but she smiled.

“No, you’re not,” Hayley suddenly grabbed her sister and hugged her. “You’re better than she ever was. Ever.”

Nan hugged her back. “You too, weird butt.”

“Have not got a weird butt.”

“Have too.”

Hayley gave up, laughing. She grabbed the pop tarts from the toaster, cursing as the hot sugar burned her fingers. She dropped one onto a plate and handed it to her sister.

“How was Skandar?”

“Fun,” Hayley said, gingerly biting into her pastry. “I think he’s coming out of the slump. I wish they would hurry up and let him know where he stands. He needs to grieve that poor girl and get on with his life.”

Nan waved her into the living room. “Sit. I need to tell you what Joel said to me.”

Hayley grinned wickedly. “How could you hear? Wasn’t his voice muffled?”

“Oh, ha ha. Annoying brat. Anyway, here’s the thing … they think it might be tied to the ex-partner of Jakob’s, the one who attacked Quilla. They seem to think he might be targeting all of the family as revenge.”

Hayley put her pop tart down. “Asshole. And they still don’t know where he might be?”

Nan shook her head. “He has unlimited funds to hide himself away with, plus, Jakob thinks he was planning to usurp Jakob or the Mallorys for years. Getting Jakob hooked on drugs, weaseling his way to the Board, positioning himself for a takeover. When Jakob fired him, he went insane—or was already halfway there. Gregor Fisk is a billionaire—and a corrupt one, at that; he could literally pay anyone to do anything. Which is why the Mallorys’ homes are like Fort Knox now.”

Hayley frowned. “Has he told Skandar any of this? Because him tripping up alone to meet me today probably wasn’t the wisest thing.”

“Probably not, but hey, the guy has to live.”

Later, when Hayley crawled into bed and switched on her iPad, there was an email from Skandar.

Had a blast today, thank you. Let’s do it again very soon, deal? S.

She grinned and typed back. Deal, I had a great time, too. Here for you whenever. H.

She sat back and thought about him. There was no doubting Skandar Mallory was drop-dead gorgeous; his dark blond hair cut short was never tidy, and she loved the undone-ness of it—nothing less sexy than a young man who spends more time doing his hair than his girlfriend—his crooked grin, his little-boy swagger. She loved that when he smiled, his eyes would crease so much they would almost close. God. A small heat shot through her groin. Yeah, that smile could ruin a woman, and he damn well knows it too, she thought to herself. Do not fall for him.

Do not fall for Skandar Mallory …

He’d gotten away with it by the skin of his teeth, had to lose a couple of paps, but Skandar was home. Before he switched any lights on, he regretfully closed the drapes—with drones nowadays, even a condo as high up as this one could be spied on—but it shut out the view of the city that he loved so much. The place smelled dank and unlived in. He was used to leaving it for extended periods of time when he was on tour, but this seemed different. He walked around the place, trying to get the feel for it again. This had been his solace, his cave, but now …

It's not the place that's changed; it's you, he thought to himself. The condo seemed empty; hell, his day seemed empty—without Hayley in it. Shit. He didn't want to complicate their friendship by having feelings for her; he really didn't. And after what had happened to Annika—he was gun shy and a little paranoid.

He took a shower and went to bed, logging on to see if Samadamadingdong was online. No dice. Damn. He could do with someone to talk about Hayley with. Hayley Applebee.

“Virgin,” he said out loud, shaking his head. He still couldn't believe it—but he did think she was telling the truth. He thought back to what she’d said and on a whim, downloaded Delta of Venus by Anais Nin to read in bed.

And when he went to sleep that night, he dreamed about Hayley Applebee in his arms, sweating, panting, crying out his name, and definitely no longer a virgin …

Quilla looked up from her paperwork as her boss turned off the lights in his office. Gerry smiled at her. “It’s after seven, Quilla, go home.”

She smiled, waved a wad of paper. “I will. Just want to finish this before the weekend. Jakob’s coming for me in twenty minutes, anyhow.”

“Well, goodnight.”

The art department at the college was quiet in the evenings. Occasionally a student would pop by for supplies or to borrow some equipment and they would always stop and have a chat with Quilla. She was one of the most popular grad students to go to for advice.

Tonight, though, all was quiet. Good, I can concentrate, and then she groaned as her phone rang. I jinxed that. She shook her head ruefully and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

Nothing. She heard the line crackle.

“Hey, I can’t hear you, so ...”

“Quilla.”

Her palms started to sweat. Gregor. “What the hell do you want?”

He laughed. “I’ll tell you that in a while. For now, I wanted to apologize for … hurting you.”

“Hurt me? You stabbed me, you son of a bitch.” She was mad now, and her voice rose. “And you killed that tennis player, that poor girl. Why?”

His chuckle made her want to scream. “No, why would I want to do that?” So fake—he wasn’t even trying to convince her. Bastard.

“To set Skandar up, to punish the family, because of the pathetic psycho you are.”

“You listen to me, you little whore,” he spat out suddenly, and Quilla's body started to tremble at the hatred in his voice. “You tell that boyfriend of yours that I will never stop until I've destroyed everything he loves. Everything and everyone. And Quilla?”

She didn’t answer him, her throat closed. She heard his breathing, hard and enraged.

“Tell him soon, very soon. Because when I come for you next time, Quilla, I’ll make damn sure that you don’t survive my knife again.”

The line went dead. Quilla froze and dropped the receiver onto the desk, hearing the dial tone. She wasn't sure how long she stayed frozen like that, but it wasn't until Jakob came to get her that she moved. He took one look at her terrified, stricken face and dashed to her side, locking her into his arms.

“What is it, darling? What is it?”

She mumbled something, and he smoothed the hair away from her face. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I didn’t catch that.”

She stared up at him. “I said, he’s going to kill me ...”

The police were kind, but Jakob could see their hopelessness. Gregor was in the wind. Quilla told them about her accusation that Gregor had killed Annika and was setting Skandar up. She saw them exchanging glances and desperately blurted out everything she could think of to help, but eventually one of them calmed her down.

“Miss Chen … it’s okay. Mr. Mallory came to us a few days ago with his theory, and in concert with the Italian police … well, we think it has some credence. Skandar Mallory should hear something in the next few days, but we can't, for legal reasons, confirm that yet. It’s entirely up to you whether you pass that information on to him.”

Later, Jakob and Quilla were in the bathtub, Quilla’s head resting back against his shoulder. The fear that had been roiling in Jakob’s gut since the phone call hadn’t abated and now, stroking his long fingers down her belly, he couldn’t help but picture her dead, stabbed not once but a hundred times, bled out in his arms, her lovely eyes staring and sightless for evermore.

Fuck. He squeezed his eyes shut. He should have told her about the messages earlier. He’d had to admit to receiving them when they were interviewed and the look of surprise, of betrayal on her face, he would never forget. She hadn’t said anything to him about it afterward.

Now, they bathed in silence; he heard her sigh. Pressing his lips to her temple, he asked her if she was okay.

“I’m mad.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Not at you, baby. At that asshole. For making me afraid again. Fuck, I'm so mad.” She sat up and turned around to face him, straddling him. Not for the first time, he was struck by the beauty of her, her face, her breasts, and the way her belly curved out slightly as she sat on top of him. There was fury in her eyes. “Jakob, will you do something for me?”

He slid his hands onto her face. “Anything, anything.”

“I need angry sex,” she said. “I need to fuck and be fucked, hard. All night. In this tub, on the floor, against the wall. Fucking do what you want to me, just nail me right.”

At her words, he felt his cock respond, and she slipped her hands between his legs. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he growled and pulled her to him, kissing her until they both tasted blood.

She pulled and massaged his cock until it was pulsing with the desire to be inside her. Jakob lifted her so she could guide him in. Then, with one furious thrust, she impaled herself on him, taking the long, thick length deep inside her, grabbing the back of his head with her hands to kiss him as they fucked. His cock drilled into her as she moved and he could feel the muscles in her cunt constrict and pull at him, sending glorious sensations through his body. He clamped his hands around her waist, his fingers biting into the soft flesh there.

“When we get out of this tub,” he growled as his lips found her throat, “I’m going to lick your pussy until you cannot stand it any longer. Then my fingers are going to go deep inside you as I fuck you in your perfect ass.”

Quilla moaned. “More.” She slammed her hips onto him and threw her head back. Jacob molded her breasts in his hands, feeling the weight of them, stroking his thumbs over her nipples. He smiled at her. “You want more?”

He tumbled them out of the tub onto the floor and pressed her down on her stomach. Grabbing the belt from his robe, which hung on the door, he bound her hands behind her. “You like this, Quilla?”

She nodded, her breath quickening as he pushed her legs apart and eased into her ass. Bracing his hands on either side of her head, he began to thrust slowly, listening to her moan and say his name over and over.

“You’re mine to do with what I like tonight, Quilla Chen.”

“Always yours, always...”

They fucked until the sun came up, the rays of light streaming across their aching bodies as Jakob took her against the bedroom wall, holding her small frame easily as he slammed into her. His eyes were full of her; he could not get enough of this goddess in his arms. Finally, exhausted, they fell into bed, wrapped their arms around the other and slept. Neither of them noticed—again—the tiny camera that been planted in their bedroom for months now, watching them fuck and kiss and sleep.

The man watching the feed smiled as he watched them, marveling over the body of the woman, so curvy and ripe. He stared at the man, his old friend, his former partner, and wondered to himself how he would feel when she was dead. He would soon find out …  

This just in … all charges against Skandar Mallory have been dropped after the murder of Mallory’s girlfriend, Annika Hahn last month in Rome. Police are now satisfied that Miss Hahn, a former Wimbledon Juniors champion, was killed in a random act of violence by an unknown assailant sometime after leaving Mr. Mallory’s room on the seventeenth of the month. The Italian Police Association has offered an unequivocal apology to Mr. Mallory for the inconvenience caused and asked for anyone with any information to come forward …

“Holy shit,” Hayley said, shooting upright in her bed, and grabbing the remote. “Holy shit, holy shit.” She turned the volume up and listened for a few seconds more before raising her arms above her head and whooping loudly. She muted the TV. and grabbed her cell. Skandar’s line was busy. It clicked onto voicemail.

“Yo, dude, I just heard. God, I'm so happy for you, Skan, so, so happy … ' She found herself choking up as the house phone started to ring. “I'll try and call you back in a few but … baby, you made it. You made it!'

Still half crying, half laughing, she grabbed the house phone. “Hello?”

“Get off your phone, I’m trying to call you,” yelled an obviously deliriously happy Skandar, and she laughed through her tears.

“I was trying to call you! It was just on TV. God, Skan …” She did cry then, and he laughed.

“I know, I know, that’s how I feel … look, there’s only one person I want to celebrate this with, but my family is making me have a celebration dinner with them. Say you’ll come and we can make our escape later.”

“Of course, of course. God, I can't believe it. When did they tell you?”

“They called about five minutes ago. My dad and my grandfather are dancing. It’s quite a sight to see.”

She laughed. This family, with her sister dating Joel, had felt more like a family than she’d ever experienced and now that she and Skandar were best friends—they spent nearly all of her free time together now—it just made this all the sweeter.

“Skan, I want to do something special then, something mad, just the two of us.”

“Hmm, mad—for us that’s not a stretch. Come over soon and we’ll discuss it.”

As soon as the cab pulled up to the Mallory homestead, she raced up the driveway. Skandar must have been watching from inside because as she reached the huge wooden front door, it was flung open, and Skandar scooped her into his arms and spun her around so fast she started to laugh. Finally, he relented and put her down, and she staggered, still laughing. He locked his arms around her to steady her, and she caught her breath.

“It’s over,” she said, grinning, touching his face. He grinned that crinkled smile of his and nodded.

“It’s over, boo.” They both laughed breathless, then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, his lips found hers and they were kissing. Hayley closed her eyes and sank into it, his mouth as sweet as she had always thought it would be. His fingers slipped into her hair, gentle, the pads of his fingers stroking delicious patterns on her scalp. She slid her arms around his waist, fingers running over the taut, hard muscular body.

They broke apart just as she was about to pass out from oxygen deprivation, but his hands stayed on her face, his thumbs gliding over the apples of her cheeks. His eyes, that warm brown color, those long, long dark blond lashes, gazed down at her, his smile, his beautiful smile, breaking across his face.

“They’re waiting for us inside,” he said softly, with regret. She nodded, unable to tear her eyes away from his. He took her hand, and they walked inside slowly.

Their family greeted them, and Hayley could see Nan trying not to grin at their clasped hands. She was grateful her sister didn’t say anything about them to her; this was brand new, and she didn’t want to share it with anyone else, yet. Skandar stayed at her side for the whole evening as they toasted with champagne, his hand resting lightly on the small of her back.

Hayley knew that in a few short hours, her life had changed forever and when, finally, Skandar drove them back to his condo in the city, top down in his Mercedes, she felt something shift in her soul.

In his home, she walked around the vast living space, looking around. It was surprisingly chic, and of course, she nodded approvingly at the game consoles. Skandar handed her a cold soda and grinned as she pored over his games collection. “Wanna play?”

She grinned at him, relieved that he was so relaxed about the change in the status of their relationship. Reading her mind, Skandar put his soda down, then took hers and put it next to his. He took her hands. “Hayley, nothing needs to happen here until you’re ready. We can just hang out and have fun and talk. I wouldn’t mind another one of those sweet kisses of yours, but if you’re not ready, that’s okay.”

Hayley’s eye filled with tears, and he stepped towards her, but she smiled, waved him away. “I’m fine. These are happy tears, I promise. I have a confession. I Googled you after we first met and all I read were these articles on how much you were a player and this and that. When we became friends, I thought ‘Give him a chance’ instead of judging you. The man those articles described—I’ve never met him. All I know is you, Skandar Mallory. The funny, sweet guy who became as important to me as my own family.”

Skandar simply held out his arms, and she went into them. He buried his face in her neck his lips against her throat.

“You changed me,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion. “You gave me back hope. You made me believe in goodness again.”

Both of their faces were wet with tears when they kissed again. “But I meant what I said,” he said finally, “nothing needs to happen unless you want it to.”

“Is it okay that I’m scared?”

Skandar grinned. “Hell, yes. I’m terrified. I don’t want to screw this up.”

Hayley laughed. “In that case, how about we game for a bit, relax us both?”

“You got it. Choose your poison.”

She settled on Red Dead Redemption. “Nice,” he approved, and they scooched down on the couch to play.

By the time they finished, she was barely able to keep her eyes open. He smoothed her hair back from her face. “You can have my bed; I’ll sleep in the guest room.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “No,” she said sleepily. “I don’t want to be alone.”

She couldn’t bear to think of him not being next to her. He didn’t reply, but got up and hoisted her into his arms.

In his bedroom, he removed her sneakers and jeans and tucked her into bed; she turned over to watch him undress. He stripped down to his boxers. God, he’s magnificent, she thought, his athlete’s body honed and cut, the broad shoulders leading down to the deep vee of his hips. He was watching her watching him, a strange smile on his face. She took her time drinking him in, every curve of muscle, every soft silky inch of his skin. He made to move to get in bed, but she sat up.

“No.”

His eyes were sad, disappointed, but he nodded. “It’s okay, I’ll ...”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I meant … don’t stop … there.” She blushed, but suddenly it was imperative she see him … all of him.

He got it. “Off?” He gestured to his boxers, and she nodded. “Okay.”

Slowly, he peeled his boxers down his legs, stepped out of them, and stood. Warmth flooded through her as he stood there and let her study him. His cock, beginning to stiffen, was thick and long, beautifully shaped. Slowly she crawled to the edge of the bed and he moved so she could touch him. She ran her fingers lightly down the shaft, marveling at how silky it felt and how it quivered and grew under her touch. She heard him pull in a ragged breath and looked up at him.

Their gazes locked and at that moment, a silent agreement was made. Hayley peeled off her T-shirt, then unhooked her bra. She was astonished that she didn’t feel self-conscious or embarrassed—she wanted him to look at her, to touch her. Skandar gently cupped each breast in his hand, and then bent his head to plant a kiss on each one. Hayley felt herself get wet as he slowly climbed onto the bed and pushed her back onto the pillows. She reached down to stroke his cock again, feeling the heft of it in her hand.

Skandar kissed her mouth. “You want to stop, you just say stop, and I’ll stop, okay? No matter when, baby ...”

Hayley pulled his head down so she could taste his lips again. “I don't want to stop; I want you so much … '

Skandar smiled and Hayley gasped as he slipped his hand into her panties and began to stroke her. “Is this okay?”

She nodded, feeling her clit harden under his touch, and when he bent his head and took her nipple into his mouth, she gasped, the rush of arousal, the depth of her feeling scaring her and thrilling her at the same time. Her hands, still stroking his cock, brushed over the sensitive crest of it and he shuddered. “God, Hayley … that feels so good...”

He moved down her body, trailing his lips down her belly, his fingers hitching under her panties and pulling them down. He parted her legs gently, then looked up at her. “You’re beautiful … don’t be scared.” She nodded and he bent his head and took her clit into his mouth.

Hayley let out a cry that turned into a giggle of pleasure. Skandar laughed and she felt the sensation rumble through her sex. His tongue teased and lashed around her clit and she felt her sex flood with desire. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the pleasure. Skandar brought her to near orgasm, leaving her panting and needing more as he leaned over to the nightstand and retrieved a condom from the drawer. He sat back on his haunches to slip it on—he even made that look sexy—and smiled at her.

“Remember, you say stop, we stop.”

She nodded, panting, wanting to feel him inside her. Skandar gently moved the tip of his penis up and down her slit before nudging at the entrance of her vagina. “Okay?”

She nodded, and he pushed inside her. Her eyes widened at the quick sharp pain but as it faded and Skandar began to move, finding his rhythm, her legs wrapped around him and she began to move her hips along with him. Skandar locked his gaze on hers, and they rocked gently, the pace quickening as they both drew near climax. Hayley's vision exploded in bright sparks, and she thought she would pass out as her orgasm ripped through her and she clung to Skandar as he thrust harder once more and came, shuddering and groaning her name over and over. Her body, still vibrating with pleasure, felt different, as if finally, she fit her own skin.

Skandar excused himself to use the bathroom but was back in a flash, climbing into the bed with her and gathering her to him. “Hey, beautiful.”

He kissed her. “You okay?”

She nodded, her eyes shining. “More than okay, Skandar Mallory.” She ran her finger down his cheek. Skandar nuzzled his nose against hers and smiled.

“Tired?” She nodded, and he pulled her to him. “Sleep now, baby. I'm not going anywhere.”

She thought she might not be able to, given the delicious temptation of his skin next to hers, but soon found herself drifting off, knowing, without any hesitation that she was in love with him.

Nan rolled over in the bed to find Joel away and furiously texting. “Morning, baby.”

He turned and smiled, but she could see the worry in his eyes. “What is it?”

Joel shook his head. “Fucking Kit. Now that Skandar's in the clear; he wants to do a joint interview with him. Diane Sawyer, for chrissakes.”

Nan frowned. “Why?”

“Because,” Joel pushed the sheet back and got up. “Kit is a narcissistic asshole who will exploit his own nephew to get publicity.”

Nan slid out from the bed and went to him. “I’m so sorry, Joel.” He gathered himself.

“I better call Skan.”

She gave him some privacy, wondering what would happen. She had never met Kit Mallory, box office superstar actor—or Joel’s youngest brother Grady, for that matter—but Joel and Kit were fraternal twins and to hear Joel tell it, polar opposites. She had met Asia, Kit’s gorgeous ex-wife, and found her to be down to earth and professional, as well as warm and generous, and could not reconcile the two personalities.

“I fell in love with him,' Asia had told her quietly. “But sometimes, love isn't enough. Not with Kit.”

She had piqued Nan's interest, but she hadn't felt she could ask Joel more— there was obvious some sibling tension there.

Which reminded her … last night Hayley and Skandar had not taken their eyes off each other. Admittedly, it was a bit weird seeing her boyfriend’s son so obviously smitten with her sister, but they’d looked so happy. She retrieved her cellphone and called her sister.

“Hey, bug,” she said when Hayley answered. She could hear the TV. in the background.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Sure, just calling to see if you got home okay.”

“Um,” Hayley hesitated and in that second, Nan knew.

“Hays … are you at Skandar’s place?”

“Yeah, we came home to play PlayStation, and you know, it got late, so I crashed here.”

Nan smothered a smile. “Well, that’s cool. Look, I don’t want to disturb, just to say I have that parent/teacher thing tonight so I’ll be late home. Call if you’ll be out, okay?”

See, she could do ‘cool older sister’ in her sleep. To be honest, she was relieved that Hayley was with Skandar—he could keep her safe, at least.

“Sure thing,” Hayley said, catching onto her tone. She lowered her voice. “Thanks, sis, love you.”

“Love you, too,” Nan replied and saying bye, she put down her phone just as Joel reappeared, his face grim.

“Kit’s flying in to try and persuade Skandar to do the interview.”

Nan nodded. “Will he do it?”

Joel sighed. “I honestly don’t know.”

“Sure, let’s do it,” Skandar shrugged nonchalantly later that day. Kit Mallory grinned at his family.

“See? The kid’s up for it, so what’s the problem?”

Hayley glared at the man. She didn’t care if he was the most famous actor in the world; he was a giant douchebag. That was her first impression, and she wasn’t changing it in a hurry. Yes, he was staggeringly good-looking (although nothing on Skandar, she decided somewhat smugly), his long blond hair coiffed perfectly into perfect surfer style, his blue eyes enhanced with contacts. Skandar, his usual easygoing self, who was still living on the high from the charges being dropped, and from their lovemaking, didn’t see the harm but Joel, Randall, and Jakob were dead set against it.

“It opens you up to any questions they want to ask about your relationship with Annika,” Joel told his son, but Skandar grinned good-naturedly.

“It'll be fine, Pa. I haven’t got anything to hide.”

Kit grinned his thousand-watt smile and clapped his hands together. “Good, that’s settled. Cherry,” he barked at the poor PA, who looked exhausted and hungry. “Get that confirmed.”

“Maybe Cherry would like something to eat and some rest first.” Randall Mallory was usually a calm, warm center but his voice, this time, took on an edge. Hayley watched as Kit graciously inclined his head in agreement. Ran Mallory’s words apparently carried some weight with his famous son, if no one else’s did.

Nan stood and held her hand out to Cherry. “Come, let's grab some food and I'll take you up to your room.”

Cherry followed her out, as did Hayley. Nan nudged her sister. “I got the good twin,” she muttered, and Hayley snorted.

“Word,” she shot back, and she saw Cherry nod, her tired eyes amused.

“You’re not wrong,” she blurted out, then looked alarmed, as if she’d said too much. Hayley tucked her arm under hers.

“What’s said here stays here. How the hell do you not beat his ass with a baseball bat?”

They were in the kitchen then, and Nan made a sandwich and heated some soup. Cherry smiled at them gratefully. “He pays very well,” Cherry admitted, “and he’s not always like that. Sometimes I get to see the real Kit—he’s not so bad.”

Nana and Hayley exchanged a look, and Cherry chuckled. “No, it's not like that, I don't have a crush. I have a very patient, very understanding wife at home.”

Hayley grinned. “Then pretend you’re having a crush on Asia—that’ll get to him.”

“Hayley,” Nan warned, and Cherry shook her head, smiling.

“I’d never do that. That was one time Kit genuinely was crushed. He still loves Asia.”

Skandar and Hayley drove out to Discovery Park then hiked the mile and a half to the West Point Lighthouse. The weather had turned cooler, and the fall leaves were flaming red and gold. They found some driftwood to sit on, Skandar with his arm around her, looking out to the lighthouse and the water. Hayley leaned her head on his shoulder and Skandar pressed his lips to her forehead.

“You okay, Hays? After last night, I mean.”

She looked up and smiled. “More than, Skandar Mallory. You made everything so … natural, and easy and exhilarating. You made it perfect.”

Skandar nodded. “You’re the perfect one,” he said, his voice thick. He cleared his throat, then grinned his wicked smile. “Although you are making me all mushy, which is not acceptable at all.”

“It’s revolting, isn’t it?”

“Totally.” He laughed along with her. “Actually, I do have an admission … there’s someone else.”

Because he was grinning, she knew not to be shocked or scared, but still, it stung a little. “The floozy.”

“Want the story?”

“Well, I’m going to need to know whose ass to kick, so yeah,” she pretended to be angry. He grinned.

“Jealous. You don't need to be; I've never met her. I'm even presuming she's a ‘she', although I'm pretty sure. Promise you won’t think I’m the biggest geek?”

“Too late.”

“Ha ha, funny girl. Well, it gets lonely on tour, especially when Carlos has the key to my chastity belt.”

She stuck her tongue at him.

“So, I found this forum, this sci-fi nerd heaven and starting lurking on it. After a while, I found this thread where this person was posting, and we got to talking on the forum, then later, private messaging.”

Hayley was staring at him in shock. “Skan … which forum is this?”

Skandar looked sheepish. “Battlestar Galactica and Cap ...”

“Caprica,” she finished for him.

He looked amazed. “Yeah, you know it?”

She nodded, trying not to grin. “Yeah, I love it. Ask me who my favorite character is, Skandar.”

Something was tugging at his brain. “Who?”

“Sam Adama.”

It hit him then. “You’re Samadamadingdong?”

“You’re SkunkMaladyBibble.”

“Holy shivering fuck,” he said and started to laugh. “Of all the … wow. We were really meant to be, huh?”

She flushed with pleasure at his words. “I think so.”

Skandar kissed her, tilting her chin with a gentle hand. “Hayley Applebee, you are my world now. I am away a lot—do you think you could live with that? You’re always welcome to come with me, of course, but I know you have college. I want to make us work. Can you trust me?”

She nodded. “With my life,” she said and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him fiercely. “Hey, … so … it’s getting cold and um, well, I need … practice so ...”

Skandar grinned. “You got it, beautiful … let’s go back to my place.”

Hayley lay back in Skandar’s arms, sweat-drenched, her body reeling from making love. God, if this was what it was like … she grinned at him. “You may have turned me into a nympho.”

He laughed. “That’s just because you have no one to compare me to.” His stomach growled, and she giggled. “Well, thanks, belly, that’s ruined the moment. God, I’m starving. Pizza?”

“Hell, yes.”

Skandar scooted out of bed and threw on his jeans. “I'll order some.” He went out to grab his phone and Hayley got up and reached for her clothes. Then something caught her eye, and she stopped and smiled. When she walked out to join Skandar, she was wearing a white shirt of his, halfway buttoned up, the length of it falling to just above her knee. Skandar was just finishing up ordering and grinned.

“Wow.”

Hayley posed for him. “I just always wanted to wear a guy's shirt and look sexy for him. Like in the movies.”

“It worked … come here.”

Twenty minutes later, when the pizza arrived, they fell on it like savages. Skandar picked up the remote. “Wanna watch some TV while we eat?”

Hayley nodded, her mouth full of food. Skandar flicked it on and scanned through the channels, settling on the news. They watched as the anchorwoman talked, not really taking anything in. It was only when they heard his name that they looked up.

“Skandar Mallory, recently exonerated in the murder of German tennis star Annika Hahn, now faces a new crisis as gossip sites have published photographs of the twenty-five-year-old superstar in bed with another woman. The woman, seen here, is believed to be nineteen-year-old UW sophomore, Hayley Applebee. Karl Harlow reports, with images that some viewers may find offensive.”

Hayley dropped her slice of pizza, nearly choking on the mouthful she was eating.

“What the actual fuck?” Skandar growled. He turned the TV up. A reporter, standing outside the very home they were in, was talking to the camera.

“The photographs, which are explicit, show Mallory with a young woman. Both are naked, and as the sequence continues, it is clear they are having sexual relations. This comes just a day after Mallory was cleared of suspicion in the murder of Annika Hahn, his then-girlfriend. Some say the timing is suspicious ...”

But Hayley stopped listening. The photos—thankfully, her breasts and genitals were blanked out—were obviously taken last night—the most wonderful, erotic, private night of her life. She felt violated, exposed. Shamed.

Skandar looked horrified. “God, Hayley, I’m so sorry … what the fuck?”

“How the hell did they get pictures, Skandar? Did you tape us?” She stood and fled to the bedroom, yanking off his shirt, not caring if she ripped it. She tugged her clothes on as he followed her. “Is that what happened? You taped us, and they hacked your hard drive?” She was pulling on her sneakers now as Skandar held out his hands.

“Sweetheart, no, I would never ...”

“Then how did they get the fucking pictures?” she screamed, then burst into tears, sobbing, humiliated. “God, what am I going to say to Nan? To my friends? My God, I’m going to have to drop out of college—if they don’t throw me out first.”

“Hayley, calm down. We’ll get to the bottom of this … you haven’t done anything wrong. I have no idea ...” He looked around the room then started to open closets, drawers. She knew what he was looking for. Cameras. She searched, too, then, desperate for proof that he didn’t know they were being watched. God, she wanted to throw up.

“Here,” Skandar said in a dead voice. He stood back from the closet and let her see. A tiny recording device with a feed lodged in the door, directly facing the bed. She stared at it.

“And it’s not part of your security system?”

“No.”

“God.” She watched as Skandar ripped it from the wall and stamped on it. “You shouldn’t have done that. There might have been fingerprints, evidence the police could use.”

She went to sit on the bed and after a second, Skandar came to her. “I swear, I didn’t know. I would never do anything to hurt you like this.”

She couldn’t speak, couldn’t reassure him. She wanted to believe him but he had been so reckless in the past. She looked at him, studied his face, his dark, hurt eyes and knew that even though she loved him, she didn’t quite trust him.

“I have to go.”

Skandar put his arms around her. “No, please, stay and let’s figure this out. I’ll get Zoe to come over and—”

“This isn’t about public relations, Skandar. It’s about whether I can trust you with my heart.”

He followed her out to the doorway. “You can … you can trust me.”

She couldn’t look at him. “We’ll see. I need some time.”

Skandar nodded. “Okay … okay...” He opened the door for her but then shut it again, his face creasing with emotion.

“Just, please remember this … I love you.”

Tears were dropping down Hayley’s face. “I love you, too … but I need some time. I’m not saying forever, but ...”

Skandar took her face in his hands. “Kiss me before you go...”

She pressed her lips to his, her resolve nearly faltering but then she pushed him away and fled, banging down the stairs and out onto the street. The paparazzi assailed her immediately, and she kicked and fought her way through them, cursing them out, not caring that it was all being captured on film.

She ran three blocks before stopping, bending double to sob her anger, her hurt out. She managed to hail a cab and almost fell into it.

“Where to, Miss?” The cab driver had a kindly face—which made her sob even harder. As he waited, she managed to choke out. “I don’t know … I don’t know ...”

Part Four: Tame Me

It wasn't the first time Joel Mallory had punched his twin brother across a room, but it was certainly the hardest.

To be fair, Kit Mallory deserved it, stalking into his father’s house with an entourage the size of a small army and yelling at his nephew in front of everyone. “What the fuck are you doing with this tramp, Skandar? Are you trying to ruin the whole family? What next?”

It had been a race to see who could punch Kit first, but Joel beat his son out by a hair. Randall grabbed hold of Skandar while Jakob hauled Joel off his brother. Ran nodded at Kit’s entourage. “Please wait in the library, folks; we'll get you some refreshments. Thank you.”

As Jakob hauled Kit to his feet and blocked him from going at Joel, Ran released his grandson, giving him a meaningful look. “The rest of you, sit down.”

Skandar, struggling to simmer down after hearing Kit insult Hayley, slumped back in a chair. “Don't you ever call her a tramp again, you fucker,” he hissed as Ran put a cautioning hand on his shoulder.

Kit was unrepentant. “You can forget about Diane Sawyer now; I can't have you crapping all over my career as well as your own.”

“Kit, shut the fuck up,” Jakob had heard enough. “Skan’s done nothing wrong—we have to figure out who put the cameras in his condo, and why.”

Kit rocked back a little. “Wait … I thought this was a sex tape you released.”

“No,” Skandar’s voice was like ice, “unlike you, I actually have respect for the women in my life.”

Kit gave a hollow laugh. “I’m sure Annika ...”

“Do not finish that sentence; do not finish that sentence, cocksucker,” Skandar was up again. This time, it was Jakob who body-blocked him.

“Enough!' Randall Mallory roared, and his three sons and one grandson looked at him in amazement. Jakob tried to remember when his father had raised his voice in his lifetime. He couldn’t remember such an occasion. His father, looking drawn and exhausted, sat down and motioned for his family to follow suit.

“I am tired,' he said, “The last few months have been difficult enough without us imploding, too. Kit, you will never again refer to Hayley with anything but respect, do you understand?”

Kit rubbed his face. “Of course, … look. Skandar, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. It was wrong of me.” His swagger had disappeared now and he was genuinely contrite.

Skandar nodded stiffly.

“Good, now, let's see if we can't come up with something to control this idiocy, this disgusting violation. First, we need to make sure that Hayley is protected … Skandar?” Ran looked at his grandson and noticed a shadow pass over his face. “Where is Hayley now?”

Skandar sighed. “At home, holed up, I think. I’ve tried to call her a couple of times but … she’s distraught, Pops. What we did … it wasn’t a one- night stand, or anything tawdry. I love her. I hope to God she still loves me.”

Joel looked at his son and gave him a proud nod, a half smile. “Nan told me this morning that Hayley’s regrouping. I'm going over there later; I'll see if she wants to talk.”

Skandar dropped his head into his hands, and Joel put his arm around him. Kit sat forward.

“So, what can we do? What with this, the murder, Quilla’s stabbing, this family has been through the mill. It’s already impacted on my work—not that I don’t realize how much worse it’s been for you all,” he added, hurriedly.

“Look … we call it what it was—a disgusting invasion of two people’s privacy, call the person who did it scum, say we’ll spend every penny, do everything to bring that person to justice.” Ran let out a tense sigh. “I could do with a drink.”

“Good thing I brought you some single malt back from Scotland then,” said a familiar voice.

They all turned around in surprise. Grady Mallory, his grin wide, raised his hand. “Hey, folks. What did I miss?”

Kit Mallory went back to his hotel. Unlike his brothers, he didn’t own a home in Seattle, preferring to be in L.A. It was more convenient for parties and attending red carpet events, he told them, but over the years he'd begun to feel the disconnect, and it had made him resentful, even if it was his own doing.

He gave Cherry, his PA, the night off and ordered room service. He sat down and flicked on the TV, not really watching it.

He shouldn’t have insulted Skandar’s girl—that was wrong. He’d just come from a meeting with his people and found out he was being dropped from the Oscar presenting roster—humiliating when he’d already announced it. To do damage control, he had to agree to appear in a British singer’s music video—filming at the same time as the Oscars. It gave him a good reason to miss the Oscars without losing face.

Trouble was the singer herself. Bo Kennedy. They'd clashed once before over Twitter over a throwaway remark he'd made about … God, he couldn't even remember now. Bo, a no-nonsense Londoner with strong feminist credentials, had ripped into him … eviscerated him, and done it with a great deal of humor. He had a grudging respect for her. She wasn’t like all the cookie cutter Barbie dolls clogging up the music; Bo Kennedy had the soul of Billie Holiday inside her and the voice to match. Everyone loved Bo. She’d bucked the trend of stick-thin singers by remaining curvy—by Hollywood’s standards she was on her way to being obese, but in real world terms, her curves were the stuff of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield and many a man’s fantasies.

Her people had reached out to him to be in her video … the pitch being he would play the handsome rogue boyfriend she was about to leave in a very public, very embarrassing fashion. He'd said no, at first—actually; it was more like “Fuck, no, with that ballbreaker?” - But when he thought about it, there was something that made him laugh about the offer. It was as if she was challenging him to prove he was the douchebag she thought he was. So when the whole Skandar/Murder Suspect/Sex Tape debacle had forced his hand …

Shit. His guilt over abandoning his family had only gotten worse when Grady had shown up. Of all his brothers, Grady was the one who never put a foot wrong in his father’s eyes. Mostly, that was because … Grady never put a foot wrong. He was solid, dependable. Kit had always resented him because Grady had been in love with Kit's wife, Asia. To be fair to Grady—he had met Asia first and when he had brought her— just as a friend—to a family barbecue, Kit had taken one look at the gorgeous young woman and made his move. Grady had forgiven him, but it didn't stop Kit from being paranoid every time the golden boy was around Asia.

Stop going over the same crap, he told himself. He was rethinking the interview with Skandar and Diane Sawyer—maybe it would be good to do and act righteously indignant—especially when it came to the filming of a vulnerable young woman. Yeah, perhaps.

His food arrived, and he ate quickly, showered, and went to bed. In the morning, he would get Cherry to confirm the interview with Sawyer. Then, after that, he would fly to England and see about Bo Kennedy. He had to admit; he was rather looking forward to it.

Skandar left his grandfather’s house just past midnight. Grady's arrival had been a relief to them all; he had idolized him when he was young, and because they were closer in age than his father and his brothers, Grady had always filled the big brother role for Skandar.

He’d asked his advice about Hayley. His uncle, who’d married his childhood sweetheart, Molly, only to find after the honeymoon she had Stage IV cancer—talked to him and told him to give Hayley her space. “But not too much space, kid,” Grady had smiled. “You don’t want to pressure her; just let her know you’ll wait.”

Skandar opened the windows of his car and let the night air flood over him. He couldn't stop thinking about Hayley, her hurt, and humiliation. Damn the fucker who did to this her, to them. But it wasn't just them. The police had gone to his house, scoured it, and found hidden cameras everywhere. On their advice, the rest of his family had their homes checked. Jakob and Quilla were horrified when the police found cameras in their home, too. Quilla had sobbed, and Skandar’s heart broke for her—they all knew what it meant.

Gregor. That son-of-a-bitch. If Skandar could get his hands on him, he’d ripped him apart with his bare hands for what he had done to Hayley, to Quilla, to them all. He had no idea why Gregor would go after him, though. The answer came back to him: he was an easy target. Skandar shook his head in desolation. Am I truly the weakest link in our family?

His cellphone rang, and he pulled over to the side of the road to answer it. His heart leaped when he saw the call ID.

“Hey, sweetheart, it’s so good to hear from you.”

He waited, but Hayley didn't reply. Instead, he heard her sob. It made his chest hurt. “Oh, baby … '

“I'm sorry,” she said through her tears, “I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but I miss you, I just miss you.”

“I love you. I miss you every minute,” he said, his own voice cracking. He hesitated then, “Samadamadingdong, can I come see you?”

He heard her laugh softly through her tears. “Yes, please, SkunkMalady.”

“Don’t forget the Bibble.”

“SkunkMaladyBibble. Nan is at Joel’s.”

His chest tightened. “You’re on your own? She left you alone?”

“I’m a big girl, Skan. Nan offered to take me with her, but I wanted to be on my own ... except I don't want to be on my own. I want to be with you.” She sighed.

“Darling, I'm coming over now. Lock the doors, the windows. I’ll call you when I’m outside.” His heart was thumping unpleasantly, his adrenaline flooding his veins. He kept picturing Gregor hunting Hayley down, stabbing her like he had done to Quilla, but then was aware he might be scaring Hayley. “Just to keep the paps out, you understand.”

“’K. Hurry.”

“I will, baby, I promise.”

He was at her door within a half hour. As soon as she opened the door and saw him, she burst into tears. Skandar pulled her into his arms and closed the door behind himself.

“It’s okay, baby, I’m here now ...”

She nodded as he smiled down at her, brushing away her tears with his thumbs. “God, you look beautiful.”

She laughed through her tears then. “You never told me you had a kink for snot. I need a tissue.”

He followed her into her bedroom, looking around approvingly. Every surface was stuffed with books and records; her laptop opened on her desk. Her closet door was open, and it looked like she'd taken everything out—searching for more hidden cameras. She followed his gaze.

“All clear,” she sniffed, rubbing at her eyes. He sat down next to her.

“Hayley … I cannot begin to ...”

“Ssh, don’t say sorry again. I’m sorry for even accusing you of...”

He caught her mouth with his, and she responded, her lips hungry against his. “I love you so much, Skandar,” she said when they broke for air. She stood and lowered the blind on her window, then stripped her T-shirt off in one fluid movement. Skandar’s breath faltered. God, just to see her … so lovely, such a turn on.

“Sweetheart, are you sure?”

She bent down and kissed him again, then pulled him to his feet and slid her hands under his T-shirt. As she pulled it over his head, she smiled up at him. “No more talking.”

He grinned. “Yes, ma'am.”

She took his nipple into her mouth and teased the small nub as he unzipped her jeans and slid his hands into the back of her jeans, his fingers sweeping down to cup her perfectly rounded buttocks.

“I want to be on top,” she murmured against his lips.

“I have no problem with that,” he chuckled, then grinned as she pushed him back onto the bed. She pulled her jeans and panties off, unhooked her bra and straddled him, gloriously naked, her pale skin almost luminous in the dull light of the room.

“In an act of supreme defiance,” she said, “and after torturing myself by checking every gossip site, I decided my time was better used researching technique. If the world’s going to label me a whore, then I’m damn well going to live up to that label.”

Skandar caught her wrists and made her look at him. “You are not a whore. I will kill anyone who calls you that.” His voice was rough, cracked, and she smiled down at him, her eyes soft.

“I'm reclaiming the word,” she said confidently, her hands at his fly. “Whore being your lover, whore being the girl who thinks about you all day, every day … ”

He nodded and as she reached in free his cock, already pulsating and thickening, he stroked his thumbs over her nipples, let his fingers drift down her belly. “I love you, Hayley Applebee.”

“I love you too, Bibble,” she grinned, and then her mouth was on him. As her tongue, hesitant at first, swept over the head of his cock, he shivered with pleasure, his hands in her hair, letting the soft strands fall through his fingers. He drew in a deep breath, his head falling back as she sucked gently at him, his cock, his entire body at her mercy.

After a few moments, he lifted her up so he could kiss her mouth, his hand drifting between her legs to feel her already wet for him. Hayley leaned over and grabbed a condom from her drawer, and helped roll it onto him before she straddled him again and guided him inside.

God, it felt like coming home, making love to this gorgeous girl, his best friend, his compadre. Skandar felt like all his limbs were being made numb with pleasure, all his blood rushing to his cock as she moved on top of him, her slick sex enveloping his size. He stroked her body as she began to breathe hard, his fingers sliding into her bush and feeling the engorged clit swell and pulse under his touch.

He came, his body arching up, slamming his hips against hers as she cried out and he felt the hot rush of her orgasm. As she wilted, panting, he sat up and rolled her onto her back, hitching her legs over his shoulder and burying his face in her sex. For a moment, she moaned—“God, Skandar, I don't know if I can”—but he was unrelenting, sweeping his tongue the length of her slit until it lashed mercilessly around her clit again and again until she nearly screamed as she came for the second time.

This time, she did beg him to stop and he grinned and complied, taking her into his arms. He smoothed the damp hair from her forehead, and they gazed at each other.

“This is all that matters,' he murmured. “You and me. Forever.”

Kit shifted uncomfortably under the studio lights. He never gotten used to that heat, even as experienced as he was. Skandar was sitting next to him, texting, a sleepy grin on his face. He didn’t even look nervous.

“Five minutes,” the floor manager called, and Skandar looked up, finally putting his phone away.

“Stay on script,” Kit muttered as Diane Sawyer came towards them. He didn’t miss Skandar rolling his eyes.

The interview itself began well, comfortable, discussing Kit’s latest film and the fact he was about to work with Bo Kennedy. Diane brought up the Twitter spat and Kit, ever magnanimous, laughed it off as a way to meet new people. He felt Skandar snort under his breath and surreptitiously kicked him.

Diane turned to Skandar, and as they discussed Annika Hahn, Skandar told her how he had felt about the dead girl, that he missed her, that he wished her family didn't have to go through the pain of her sudden and violent loss. Diane was gentle but thorough, and Skandar was honest and touching. Kit was impressed. It had been a good idea not to cancel the interview.

“Now, Skandar, in light of what you’ve just said … we can’t not talk about the photographs seen on the more salacious gossip sites.”

Skandar drew in a deep breath. “No, I don’t suppose we can gloss over it,” he said with a rueful smile. “Diane, I’m used to the public eye, the intrusion, the loss of privacy. It comes with the territory. This, however, was such an intrusive, despicable, heartless invasion of privacy that I don’t even have the words for how angry I am. It is inexplicable to me why this happened—what has anyone gained from it? The woman in those photos, Hayley Applebee, the girl I love, deserves to be treated with respect and love. She is a brilliant, smart, funny, beautiful student who is worth ten billion of any of the scum looking at, commentating on or publishing these photos. We were engaged in a private act of love. If the person who broke into my home—and, I have to add,” – and he looked straight into the camera, “the home of my brother, and installed these cameras is watching, just know this. We will stop at nothing to find you, and you will be brought to justice.”

His whole body was trembling. Diane looked at him with renewed respect. Kit, sensing a moment, threw his arm around his nephew. “And as his uncle, I have to speak up and say here that privacy is the watchword of our family, and we will vigorously defend it.”

Diane blinked, then her professional smile returned. “Quite. That was an impassioned speech, Skandar; you must be serious about your lovely new girlfriend.”

“I am. Very serious. This is it for me.”

Even Diane was taken aback by his words for a second. “You do seem very happy.”

“It would be impossible not to be with Hayley.”

Kit could swear that Diane almost swooned at that. Jesus, kid, laying on much?

Finally, to Skandar’s relief, Diane turned to Kit. “And how about you, Kit? I know you’re still reeling from your divorce from the gorgeous Asia Flynn, you saw the photos of her at the Met Gala with Sebastian Winter, I presume?”

Kit's face went red, but he gave her a strained smile. “We remain on good terms. I’m glad she’s finally moving on.”

Skandar shot his uncle a hard look. Low blow, Unc, he thought, feeling sorry for Asia. Diane looked equally unimpressed by the childish slight.

“And what about you, Kit? Have you moved on? Apart from the dalliance we all know about, of course, with Lulu Florentine? Have you and she reconnected since your divorce?”

Ouch. Kit, his eyes wary, shook his head. “No, we’re still friends, but no, we’re not together. To be honest, Diane, I’m at a time in my life where I just want to be alone, really work on myself, find out who I am when I’m not ‘Kit Mallory, superstar’”

Skandar gazed in horrified wonder as his uncle made air quotes around his name. Skandar met Diane's eyes and the corner of her mouth hitched up. Skandar thought he might lose it.

“Well, that's all the time we have.” Diane was clearly dying to get away from Kit and howl with laughter. “Thanks so much for talking to me; it’s been fascinating.”

“Thank you, Diane.”

“We're out.” The floor manager called, and Diane shook their hands--giving a wink to Skandar and a slight nod to Kit. Good luck with that. Skandar decided he liked Diane very much indeed.

“Talk about hogging the limelight, jeez, Skan, let a guy get a word in.” Driving them away from the studio and to the airport for Skandar to get a flight back to Seattle, Kit’s perfectly-styled hair whipped around him as they sped along the freeway in his convertible.

Skandar grinned to himself. “This was your idea, Kit. I was answering the lady’s questions.”

“And declaring endless love. I'm surprised she didn't throw her panties at you, like every other woman in America will want to now.”

Skandar shrugged. “I thought it went well. Asia will probably want a word, though.”

Kit didn’t reply. Skandar studied his uncle’s profile. How was it that he was so entirely different from Skandar’s dad, his twin brother? Where Joel was humble and low-key, Kit was vain and extroverted. He wondered if he had always been like that or whether his chosen career had made him like that.

Skandar thought back to some of the times he himself had been arrogant or careless with others. He knew one thing: Kit had loved Asia, really loved her, but he couldn't control his baser instincts or eschew the stereotypical life of a global film star. Lulu Florentine (seriously, that was her real name?) wasn’t the first.

When they got to the airport, Kit surprised him. “You know, you should marry that girl. Don’t let her go, if she means that much to you.”

Skandar smiled. “I won’t. Thanks.”

Kit nodded once, then turned to leave him. He stopped. “Skan … if you see Asia, tell her … tell her hi from me. Hope she’s good. Sorry about the … you know.”

Skandar could see the sadness in his eyes. “You could call her yourself, you know.”

Kit laughed softly. “If I were her, I wouldn’t take my call. See you when I get back from London.”

Two days later, after a long transatlantic flight, he was finally being driven to the video set. Kit stared out of the window at the sunny streets of London, packed with workers, tourists and shoppers. Living in L.A., he wasn't used to seeing people walking around the streets, and he found it fascinating to watch the interactions of different people—the exasperated stressed faces of the city workers, pushing through slow crowds of tourists, the determination of the shoppers.

At the studio, he was greeted with brisk efficiency by a PA., Sindy, who had long legs and a great rack. He smirked to himself—shouldn't be too hard to find some after-hours company. Sindy led him into makeup and introduced him a huge man, who waved his makeup brushes at Kit.

“Wotcha,” he said in a broad London accent, straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie, and steered Kit into a chair. “Nice to meet ya. Right, what are we doing? Full glamor puss?” His dark black eyes twinkled and his smile beamed through the thickest beard Kit had ever seen.

Kit blinked. “Um ...”

Sindy punched the giant playfully. “Terry, don’t tease. Mr. Mallory, we'll call when Bo is ready, okay? Can I get you anything?” She pronounced it ‘anyfink’.”

Kit cleared his throat. “Tea, perhaps?” He was suddenly aware he was speaking very, very correctly—in a faux English accent. Damn it. “Tea would be great, thanks,” he said, relaxing and speaking in his regular American accent. “What time do we start?”

Sindy beamed. “When Bo arrives. I’ll be back with your tea.”

Kit had to admit twenty minutes later that Terry, while he looked like a Sasquatch, had a supremely light touch with makeup. Kit now looked awake and fresh-faced without looking at all … cakey. Dewy fresh, even. He nodded at Terry in the mirror.

“Dude, if Hollywood isn’t already banging the door down, they should be.”

“Cheers, mate.” Terry gave him a thumbs up.

“Seriously, it takes a lot of skill to make me look good.” Kit could afford to be generous in this mood.

“Cool. Look, I have to get ready for Bo so … '

“She’s not here yet?”

“Dunno, mate. Bo is Bo. Wardrobe should be coming for you soon. See ya.”

Kit waited for anyone else to come and see him but after ten minutes, he decided to go out and see the set-up of the shoot. To him, there were a lot of people hanging around, talking, and not much work being done. Well, maybe things worked differently here in the UK. Wardrobe came to find him and after that, he grabbed his iPad and answered some emails. He checked the gossip sites to see the reaction to his and Skandar’s interview, which had aired in the US the previous evening—and wished he hadn’t.

They loved Skandar and his emotional declaration of love for his girlfriend. There were pictures of Skandar and Hayley walking in the park, gazing at each other—obviously, pre-set up by his publicist Zoe—who Kit immediately considered poaching. She was clearly a genius.

Kit, however, did not come over well. Passive-aggressive much, Kit? Star disses ex-wife in a tell-all interview. Sour Grapes of Wrath! Mallory seethes as Winter sets his sights on the beautiful ex-wife. Pictures of Sebastian Winter kissing Asia. Fucker. His mood plummeted as he looked at Asia, so gorgeous, her warm, easy smile lighting up the red carpet. There was a time when she lit up his red carpet.

He switched off his iPad and went to find Sindy. She was chatting to the lighting guys. Kit drew her aside. “Look, anyone have any idea when Bo will be here?”

She looked blank. “Dunno. She doesn’t have a manager, so she sets her own times. She’ll ’ere, don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried,” he hissed and turned away from her. Fuck, why did I agree to this? He stalked off and sat in the chair with Bo’s name on it. A minion approached him but he scared him off with a stare. How long was he supposed to wait for this woman?

An hour and a half later, just when he was seriously considering ditching the whole thing, there was a commotion. Laughter, raucous cackling and cursing, and there she was. For a second, all Kit could see was fake fur coats and fingernails, then finally, she reached him. He stood up, fury racing through his veins.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

Everything went silent. Bo looked at him, expression blank, but with her eyes challenging him to shout at her again and see where it got him. She was gorgeous, Kit reluctantly admitted. All breakneck curves, soft pillowy breasts with a cleavage you could lose yourself in, and the face of an angel.

“’xcuse me?”

“You were supposed to be here two hours ago! Do you think I have the fucking time to waste waiting around for some torch singer?”

Silence again. He seethed, refusing to back down. Not looking away from him, Bo called to the rest of the room. “Who got the time?”

“One minute twenty,” said a voice from somewhere in the back. Bo smiled.

“Fucking brilliant. I win!” She turned and raised her arms to the room, and they all cheered. Kit had no idea what was going on and it showed in his face. Bo turned back to him smiling. “I bet these fuckers that I could get you to lose it in less than two minutes. You’ve just won me a hundred bloody quid!”

Again with the cheering. Kit drew in a breath, trying to calm himself. Losing it now—again—would not help anything.

“Look, can we just start?”

Bo waved him away nonchalantly. “You take your shirt off and look pretty; I'll just be a minute in makeup, then we can get down to it.”

Hell, why, why, why did his cock just jump to attention when she said that? This bitch was insane, a pain in the ass, slovenly, over-the-top, spoke like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins … Fuck. He gave a stiff nod. “Fine.”

She was true to her word this time and when she emerged, in a stunning red dress which clung to every curve and lit up her face, her honey-blonde hair falling in soft waves to her shoulders, it didn’t do his erection any good. And of course, as soon as they got into their first clinch as the music played back, she would sing along with the backing track and her voice was so smoky, so divine, that, despite himself, he lost himself in the role. Bo was utterly professional—and a great actress, he was surprised to find—and their chemistry was undeniable.

At the end of filming, there was a scene where his character, dejected and abandoned by his love, sits alone in their bedroom (all artfully shabby chic, of course) only to look up and find her waiting in the doorway for him. Kit played the part perfectly, glancing up as Bo waited. He stood and walked to her and took her in his arms.

The moment their lips met, it was as if lava covered their bodies and they kissed passionately, for real. She tasted so good, so sweet, and God, the scent of her skin was driving him mad. He pulled her closer, not hearing the director shouting cut. Bo, her lips curving up in a smile, made no effort to pull away. Unseen by anyone else, she slipped her hand down to his pants and cupped his cock, squeezing the hot length of it through the fabric. A small growl escaped Kit and he fisted her hair in his hand and ground his mouth down on hers.

“Guys … guys? Yeah, that's a wrap.” The director coughed awkwardly.

Kit released her and Bo stepped back, grinning. “Get what you needed?” she said calmly to the red-faced director, who nodded. “Good.” She looked back at Kit then very deliberately looked down to his groin and smiled. “Thanks for coming. You were great ... impressive.”

She turned and walked off the set, shouting her thanks to everyone, who applauded her as she left.

Holy fucking shit. Kit couldn’t believe what had just happened—and now she was just leaving? The hell? He obviously couldn’t go after her—what, was he supposed to chase her? Him, Kit freaking Mallory? Hell, no.

Instead, he plastered on his best smile and thanked each and every member of the crew before leaving. He toyed with the idea of taking the PA back to his hotel-- she’d looked at him eagerly when he'd shaken her hand, but he found he didn't want to—despite the necessity of getting rid of the worst aching boner he'd ever had. Damn you, Bo Kennedy, ballbreaker and prick tease.

It was only back at his hotel that he felt bad. Why are you such a douchebag all the time? he said to himself as he looked into the bathroom mirror. You never used to be like this. The truth was, ever since he lost Asia, he’d been lost. He’d covered up his devastation and guilt by becoming this unbearable untouchable pig. Bo Kennedy was neither a ballbreaker or a tease. She was a goddess who had now bested him three times.

And, God, he’d absolutely love it if she did it again …

Bo Kennedy was, at that moment, back in her massive home in the north of the city. Face and body scrubbed clean in the shower, she went back downstairs and grinned at the woman sitting on the floor with an angelic blond-haired toddler playing with some trains. Bo sat down with them.

“Thanks, mum.” Bo kissed her mother's cheek and then tickled the little boy's feet. ’Ello, you. Got a kiss for Mummy?”

The boy, Tiger, threw himself into her arms, and she rolled back, cuddling him and blowing raspberries on his cheek until he screamed with laughter.

“He did drawing at school today,” her mum, Daphne, said proudly, “and he won a prize. Show Mummy what you won.”

Boo made an excited face. “Oo, what did you win? Show Mummy, go on.”

Tiger skipped merrily up to his room to find his prize. Bo sat back against the couch and sighed. “He’s been okay, Mum? Have you?”

“We’ve been just fine, darlin’. You look exhausted. How was the movie star?”

Bo grinned. “Movie starry. Big-headed, bit of a wanker, but very, very shaggable.”

Daphne went red but giggled. “Bo, you are naughty.”

Bo ran a hand through her hair, scooping it up into a ponytail and fixing it with the band she had around her wrist. “Mum, I wish I was naughty. Do you know how long it’s been?”

Daphne made a sad face and Bo laughed. “You’re no help.”

Daphne got up and started to tidy the boy’s toys. “Bo, I’ll tell you what I told your aunt. She kept on at me after your dad left to find someone else. I told her, I’ve me own money; I’ve me own ’ouse; and I have full access to the Ann Summers website. Who needs a man?”

Bo screeched with laughter, rolling on the floor. “You never said that to Auntie Rose.”

“I did too. And I’m saying it to you—you’ve made your success, my girl, and you’ve got that little angel upstairs.”

Bo waved her hands. “I know, Mum. Just sometimes, you know?”

“I know. That’s why I’ve got a dog.”

“Eww, Mum!”

“To cuddle, you idiot,” her mom grinned wickedly. “Look, if you're okay, I'd like to get home.”

Bo checked her watch. “Oh, right … what is it tonight?”

“Supernatural,” her mum said excitedly, “Carry on my wayward son … especially if it’s Dean Winchester.”

“Dirty. Old. Woman.” Bo said but laughed. “I hope that vibrator runs on batteries. I don’t want the National Grid going out on me.”

“Cheeky cow.” Daphne kissed her daughter. “Bye Tiggy-Tiger,” she called as Tiger came back in the room, dragging a massive bag of candy with him.

After her mother had left, Bo sat with Tiger, trying to persuade him not to eat the whole bag of candy at once—she checked the sugar count and wondered why someone at school would think it was a good idea to give sugar as a gift. Maybe it was a rogue teacher hell-bent on revenge on the parents who sent the kids to school all hopped up on sugary cereal.

Later, when Tiger was asleep, she lay in her bed and allowed herself to think about Kit Mallory. Yeah, the guy was a dickhead but … Jesus … when he kissed her, she’d felt it right between her legs. Never shy, she’d decided on impulse to check out his goods … and he wasn’t lacking. At all. Good thing the director had come up to them—if Mallory had fucked her right then, right there, she wouldn't have been complaining.

She flicked her phone round and round in her hand. She knew where he was staying in London … she could call him … no. Don’t do it. You left him wanting more. Don’t offer it on a plate.

“Just don’t be too fucking long, Kit Mallory,” she groaned into her pillow. Sighing, she sat up and flicked the TV on. Then on a whim, switched to Netflix … search Kit Mallory films …

There was one, about twenty years old, right at the start of his career. Bo put it on and settled back to watch it. After half an hour of watching his blond-haired perfection, she nodded to herself.

“Yeah, Kit Mallory … don’t you take too long … '

In Seattle, Randall was having dinner with his eldest and youngest sons. Jakob and Grady—Gray, to his family—had always gotten along best of all his sons and he delighted in their company.

“I haven’t met Quilla yet,” Grady said to Jakob. “I’ve heard she rivals Helen of Troy.” Grady’s amused grin made Jakob grin.

“You heard correct. She’s with her friend Marley. Marley’s been away on a research trip, so they want to catch up.”

“She fully okay now? Quilla?”

Jakob nodded, but Ran exchanged a glance with Grady. “We still have nothing on Gregor Fisk. He keeps sending threats, vicious, evil things he says to both of them.”

“I never knew,” Jakob said, the desolation in his voice making it scratchy. “I never even imagined he would be this twisted, this full of hate.”

Grady put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Bro, we got this. If he thinks he can hide anywhere in the world, if he thinks he’ll hurt any of us again ...”

Jakob winced, obviously recalling the terrible night his beautiful girl was stabbed by his ex-partner. Ran changed the subject. “So, Gray, where’s the next adventure to?”

“Local … well, somewhat. New Orleans. A huge estate sale is coming up with some pretty serious pieces. A couple of minor Rothkos, some Georgia O’Keefe sketches.”

Ran’s eyes lit up. Even now, art was his first love—the same as his youngest son. Grady had spent his life as a nomad, going to all corners of the globe to first learn his craft, then to help his father build up their portfolio. Rarely did they keep what he found—except for the Hoppers that hung both in Jakob’s and Ran’s home and some Kahlos in Grady’s. Their business was to buy and sell, and they had both made billions doing it. “Rothko,” Ran said now, “Always a favorite.”

Grady grinned. His dad was like a kid in a candy shop when it came to art. “Say, Dad, have they lifted your restraining order?”

Ran looked confused. “Who?”

“Every major art gallery in the known universe,” Grady intoned, and Jakob laughed loudly.

“'Excuse me, sir, but you seem to have picked something up by mistake.”'

“No, no, officer, my jacket has always been this boxy,” Grady replied in an uncanny impression of his dad’s voice.

“Sir, that’s the Mona Lisa,” replied Jakob, and they both howled with laughter as Ran chuckled.

“Remind me to write both of you out of my will,” he mock-scowled. Then he smiled, sighing. “God, it’s good to have you back, Gray. You’ll stay for a while?”

“Couple of days, then I gotta get to NOLA,” Grady said. “But I promise, afterward, I’ll be back for a good long time.”

Quilla Chen pushed the pizza box away. “No more, there’s no space left in my belly.” Marley Griffin, her oldest and best friend, grinned at her. They sat in Marley’s apartment, the scene of many of their fun times together over the years. Now, though, it had been months since they’d gotten together. Marley had left town as soon as she knew Quilla was going to be okay, for a three-month long research trip to the Brazilian jungle, and now she was regaling Quilla of tales of the Amazon jungle, her research fellows, and the many, many bugs she saw.

“Size of my fist,” she told a cringing Quilla, “and its legs were another five or six inches as well.”

“Gah, stop, I do not want to know about the tarantulas.” Quilla clamped her hands over her ears. “I won't be able to sleep.”

Marley grinned wickedly. “Don’t forget the jumping spiders ...”

Quilla threw a pillow at her. “The words ‘jumping’ and ‘spider’ should never be in the same sentence, ever.”

Marley sat back, satisfied she’d scared her friend enough. Apart from the face, she was pulling now, Quilla looked good, if a little tired. Marley fiddled with a slice of leftover pizza.

“How’s the love life?”

Quilla beamed. “Truly, truly fantastic. Jakob is … God, I wish I could tell you how he makes me feel.”

“Stabbed?” Marley couldn’t help the sarcastic comment that fell out of her mouth. Quilla blanched, and she immediately regretted her words.

“It wasn't Jakob's fault,” Quilla murmured. “Please, Marls, don't hate him.”

“I don't hate him; I just think he was careless, and you paid the price.”

“How was he careless? Should he have not fired Gregor? Wouldn’t you have done the same thing?”

Marley was annoyed now. “He knew that asshole for years, and he didn't see that side of him until that day?”

Quilla squirmed in her seat, not wanting to get caught between her best friend and her lover. “Marls ...”

“And he’s still out there.”

“The police, the Mallorys, they’re throwing everything they can at the search.”

Marley got up and went to her window. Outside, she could see the black sedan in which sat the two huge, silent bodyguards that had delivered Quilla to her door. Marley shook her head.

“How can you live like this? I know you; you hate being watched or supervised or … '

Quilla sighed. “Make up your mind, Marls—do you want me protected or dead?”

It was Marley’s turn to flinch. “God, Quilla ...”

“He calls me, Fisk; he calls me and says the most disgusting things, most vile, barbaric things. He describes exactly how he intends to kill me and I listen to it because I can’t stop listening, because in between the threats he might give something away. And if he thinks I'm not the only one on the call, then he'll hang up and we'll lose the only chance to catch him. He's a psychopath, Marls. If someone else were Jakob's girlfriend, she'd be the one with the scars and the threats.”

Marley went to her friend, seeing she was getting upset, and hugged her. “I just worry.”

Quilla struggled not to cry for a moment. “Please, Marl, now that you're back, come meet the rest of the family; get to know them. I promise you'll change your mind.”

Marley sighed but smiled at her friend. “For you, anything. For you, I'll make friends with the billionaires.”

Quilla laughed. “Thank you. I promise, you'll love them as much as I do.”

It had been two days, and Bo Kennedy still hadn't called. Kit, stalking around his hotel room—he had found himself deliberately extending his stay—couldn't believe that he, Kit Mallory was waiting for a woman to call. Him!

Fuck it, he was sick of waiting around like a lovesick teenager. He grabbed his cellphone.

It rang eight times before she answered. ’Ello.”

“Bo?”

Silence. “Christopher Mallory, I presume,” she drawled and laughed. It was a thick, throaty, sensual sound. Kit closed his eyes and imagined how the vibration from that laugh would feel with his cock inside her. God, he had to fuck this woman and soon, or his balls would explode.

“That’s me,” he said lightly. “Listen … I figured I should maybe call, thank you for inviting to be in the video, maybe take you to lunch.”

Lunch followed by an afternoon of fucking. That's what he was offering, and he was pretty sure she knew it, too. There was a silence on the other of the phone.

“What hotel are you in?” she said shortly, and he grinned and told her, knowing she already knew.

“Good. Order room service. I like steak. An hour.” The line went dead.

Kit grinned. “Victory is mine; victory is mine.” He did a little dance and then pulled himself up. Don't be an idiot—this, after all, is what you do best. The Art of Seduction.

It was his turn to win.

Bo Kennedy sat in the cab to the hotel, still not sure she was doing the right thing. Maybe just screw him and then leave; you both get what you want. Finito. Over. Itch scratched.

She hoped.

Kit opened the door to his suite and smiled. Not a smug smile. A friendly, conciliatory smile. Okay … Bo went in, confused, and saw he had indeed arranged room service. Two covered plates sat on a table in front of the massive wide screen TV.

Kit nodded towards it. “I thought we might eat in front of the TV, watch some trashy program.”

What was this, a move? Bo narrowed her eyes at him, but his gaze was steady. “Hey, you wanted steak, we have steak and fr—I mean, chips.”

She grinned at his attempt to Anglicize French fries. “You had me at steak.”

Kit's mouth hitched up in a grin. “Promising.”

The meal was heavenly, Bo had to admit a half hour later, and Kit was surprisingly easy to talk to. True to his word, they watched some trashy tv—some of which Bo had to translate for him, as the regional British accents stumped him.

'What is a 'gobshite'?”

Bo couldn't help but giggle. “It's English for a jerk.”

“Got it.”

Finally, he turned to her, leaning back on the couch, his arm along the back of it. His fingers were almost touching her hair.

“So, like I said on the phone … thanks for inviting me to be part of your video. The song’s great, by the way.”

He was touching her hair now, twisting the ends in his fingers. Bo was slightly discombobulated; this was clearly a move, practiced, maybe, but give her a good meal and a handsome man … that was her kryptonite. No. No way. She wasn't falling for this.

She gave him a half smile. “This has been fun, but I should go.”

Kit just grinned. “Okay.”

Okay? Okay? “Fine.” She got up and in a flash, he had taken her in his arms.

“Bo, let’s stop this game playing. We both know what we want.”

Asshole. But he was right, she had to admit. “I don't do commitment,” she said. “I don't do flowers and hearts and love. I don't need a white knight.”

“I understand.”

“Then what do you want, Kit Mallory?” As if she didn’t know.

Kit bent his head to kiss her and it was so soft, so sweet, it sent her senses reeling. “You. Now.”

His fingers were at the nape of her neck, on the fastening of her halter-neck dress, and when she didn’t pull away, he released the tie. The dress slithered down her curves and fell to the floor.

“Wow, oh wow,” he said and dropped to his knees, burying his face in her belly. Bo shivered as his lips trailed across her skin, his fingers kneading the soft flesh of her hips.

“You should be naked all of the time, Bo Kennedy, or on the bow of a ship.” She giggled. He stood and kissed her mouth again. Unfreezing, Bo started to unbutton his shirt, flattening her hand against his hard pecs, her fingertips seeking out the puckered nipples, tweaking them before she placed her mouth on them.

Her mind was a whirlwind … she had expected a full-on fuck fest: hard, fast, dirty and done in twenty minutes. Not this slow seduction. She kept in the back of her mind that this was Kit Mallory, well-known swordsman and player, but … this was unexpectedly tender. He released the clasp on her bra and let her full, heavy breasts fall into his hands, kissing them, plumping them, taking her nipples into his mouth in turn. She felt the heat between her legs, the rush of arousal, and by the time they reached the bedroom, she was so wet for him that when at last he drove his huge, diamond-hard cock into her, she was more than ready.

“God, you feel so good,” he murmured, kissing her eyelids, her cheeks, her mouth. “Not just your delicious cunt but your skin, your breasts, your soft belly. God, Bo Kennedy ...”

His words were turning her on as much as the strong rhythm of his thrusts, and she tilted her hips to take him in deeper. Their bodies fit together so well, she forgot any reservations and just went with it, enjoying every sensation and electric pulse of pleasure, her body was experiencing.

“Not so bad, yourself, Kit Mallory ...” She grinned and he chuckled and then she saw who he was truly, a good man under all that bluster and arrogance. A kind, loving man.

God, she hoped she was right as he drove her inexorably to a shattering orgasm, his own following quickly, crying her name out over and over again.

She was prepared for the quick kiss-off, the ‘I’ll call you sometime’, the ‘I’m going to the bathroom and when I get back you won’t be here’ thing. Instead, with his cock still semi-hard, still inside her, he stroked her face, his eyes soft, holding none of the arrogance she had come to expected, and said one simple word.

“Stay.”

Skandar, Hayley, Ran, Grady, and Jakob listened to the recording of Gregor Fisk's latest threatening phone call to Quilla. Quilla wasn't present—she didn't need to go through this twice, but Jakob had told them he needed them to listen, to see if they could glean anything, anything, from it.

“No theory is too small or too big,” he said, wearily, “we just need a lead.”

The threats were sickening in their violence and now Gregor had added a sexual element that made Hayley clamp her hand over her mouth and rush out to throw up. Skandar went to find her. He found her sobbing in one of the guest bathrooms. She fell into his arms.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, until that recording, I never knew for real what this guy’s deal was. He’s obsessed.”

Skandar grimaced “I know. We got off easy, but I’m still not taking any chances. When does your semester close out?”

She told him and he nodded. “At the risk of sounding like I’m controlling you, I think we should go away, far away, for a couple of weeks. We have a private island we can use. What do you say?”

She smiled through her tears. “It sounds perfect, but I still feel for Quilla and Jakob. They can’t escape this, wherever they go.”

Skandar sighed. “No. Look, come back down. Maybe we can come up with some ideas for Jakob.”

Bo opened her eyes. Light seeped through under the curtains in Kit Mallory's hotel bedroom, so she could tell it was morning. Kit was still asleep, the sheet pushed down to hips, his broad chest turned towards her, his hand resting on her waist. God, he was beautiful. She stroked a finger under his eyes, along the path of the dark shadow there, and he opened his eyes, the blue eyes twinkling at her.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

She smiled. “Mr. Mallory, I presume.” He chuckled and kissed her.

“Forgive my morning breath.”

“Right back at ya. Good thing about hotel rooms; they always have spare toothbrushes.”

“That’s right,” he said, sitting up and pulling her up, “and it just so happens this one has an enormous shower, too, so I can get you all soaped up and have my wicked way with you.”

She giggled. “That sounds just about perfect.”

“Get in that bathroom, woman.”

He'd ordered breakfast by the time she was finished dressing, and she swooned over the fresh fruit compote and Greek yogurt. She saw him grinning at her obvious enjoyment.

“I love my food,” she said unapologetically. “When I was first signed to the label, they did everything to try and get me to lose weight. Real passive aggressive stuff—and when I told them to do one—sorry, that means to fuck off, in English,” she grinned at him, “they just got aggressive. And then my debut album sold twenty-seven million copies. Haven’t mentioned my weight since.”

“Nor should they,” he said, shaking his head. “The number of eating disorders in the showbiz industry is horrendous. As long as you're healthy, who cares? Don't change a thing; you're a goddess.” He meant it as a throwaway comment, but she suddenly beamed at him through tear-filled eyes.

“That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me, thank you.”

He took her hand and kissed it. “Are you free today?”

She shook her head. “I wish, but I have a kid at home who wants to see his mummy.”

“You have a kid?” To her surprise, he didn't look wary but excited, interested. Had she misjudged this man that much? Yes.

“I do. Tiger, he's four. Me and his dad, well, it was more of a one-off, but we get on really well, and he loves Tiger.”

“That’s cool … my twin brother had Skandar when he was really young, but the mother didn’t stick around.”

“Usually the other way around. So, yeah, I’d love to spend the day with you but … unless you want to come along? We’re going to the Natural History Museum.”

Kit looked surprised. “Really? I’d love to … are you sure it isn’t too soon for him to be exposed to me?”

Bo couldn't help smiling. ‘Too soon' implied he wanted to see her again, and the idea thrilled her more than she liked to admit. “Nah, mate, he’s cool.”

Kit was surprised with himself. Normally, spending an afternoon with a brat wasn’t on his wish list at all, but he was curious about this woman. This woman who could command audience numbers in the tens of thousands for her live shows; could sell millions of copies of records; and yet still found time to manage herself and look after a kid.

She made him laugh, too, and later, when he was with Bo and her entirely adorable nerd of a son, he found himself both relaxed and happy; yet suddenly depressed. Was this what he had been missing? He had everything—everything—and yet he was having more fun listening to a four-year-old kid tell him about each different dinosaur he’d had than at a million Hollywood events. Tiger had taken to him straightaway—like his mother, he wasn't shy, and when Bo introduced them, he'd looked Kit up and down with clear green eyes and shrugged. “Okay, cool.”

Now Tiger was listening, enraptured, to the tour guide. Kit grinned down at Bo. “Such a great kid.”

She beamed. She wore a simple navy wrap dress cinched in at the waist to emphasize her curvy hips and bust; her hair tucked up into a loose chignon, her lovely, radiant face bare of makeup.

You are everything the world says I shouldn’t go for, he thought, looking down at her, and everything I want.

They were recognized, of course, and frequently stopped for photos and autographs. Kit admired the easy way Bo interacted with her fans, hugging them and posing for selfies with a mad grin on her face. He abandoned his usual ploy of posing like a movie star and followed her lead.

“You're so sweet,” he was told, their voices amazed and again, and he felt both happy and sad at their surprise. Was his reputation as a douchebag set for life? Damn. No wonder his family was so distant. He'd been a pig to Skandar, the poor kid—he vowed now to make it up to him, to all of them, when he got back.

“You look deep in thought.” Bo, finally free of fans, tucked her hand under his arm. He kissed her temple.

“Bo … do you think it’s possible for someone’s life to change completely in the space of a few days.”

Bo grinned. “Mate, my life changed in a millisecond,” she nodded at Tiger, “but yeah, of course. Why?” She studied him. “You’re not going to tell me you’re in love with me yet, are you?” She was joking, but then she saw his face and her smile faded. “Kit, don’t. Please don’t. If you say it now, so soon, I won’t believe you.”

Kit was stung. “I can’t help how I feel.”

She took his face in her hands. “Look, whatever you’re feeling, happiness, desire, lust, heck, even the beginnings of love … that’s what I’m feeling, I promise you that. So don’t look so down … this is the exciting part. We’re getting to know each other.”

He stroked the back of his hand down her cheek. “You’ve changed me already.”

She smiled. “Bloody good job, too.” Her eyes softened. “Look, I’m not saying don’t say it, just make sure you’re sure before you do, and I’ll do the same. We’re not teenagers.”

Kit smiled. “Then how come I feel like I am?”

She laughed. “Kit Mallory … are you telling me you’re finally tamed by this London girl?”

“I don’t know,” he said, and kissed her, “but I’m getting there.”

Skandar grinned at Hayley as he drew up to her house in his convertible. “Hayley Applebee, one day soon I hope I have to say ‘I'm taking you home’ and mean our house instead of this house.”

Her eyebrows shot up and she laughed. “Baby, people will talk if I move in with you so soon.”

“Bah, humbug.”

She kissed him, savoring the taste of his lips. “I’d invite you in, but I think your dad’s in there with my sister and you know what happened last time I burst in on them.”

He groaned. 'The image is seared into my brain.”

She laughed and started to get out of his car but he stopped her. She frowned at the expression in his eyes.

“Seriously, Hays. I hate leaving you here. Please … go grab some stuff and move in with me. Now. Tonight. Let’s just jump in and figure it out on the way.”

Hayley stared at the man she loved beyond reason and knew what she was going to say.

“Skandar ...”

Her face was blank, and she could see the sadness in his eyes … so she grinned widely. “Come help me pack, then.”

Skandar blinked, then beamed. “Really?”

She laughed. “Really, truly, yes, yes, yes ...”

Inside, Joel and Nan, who were watching them from the window, laughed as Skandar picked his girlfriend up and carried her, shrieking with laughter, into the house.

Quilla Chen bent double over the toilet and threw up again. Ng … she hadn't felt this bad since she was stabbed—the searing pain in her stomach made her want to scream. Outside the bathroom, Jed, one of her ever-present bodyguards, knocked cautiously. “Miss Chen, do you want me to call a doctor?”

She didn't answer for a second, rinsing her mouth with water. She wiped her mouth, then went to the door. “Not just yet.” She smiled at Jed weakly. “It's probably just the stomach flu. I'll call if I change my mind. Thanks, Jed; you're sweet to worry.”

Jed nodded. “If you're sure, I'll be in my room.” Their guest room was now the bodyguard's room, six of them on a rotating schedule of eight hours a day, three days on, three days off. She was never alone—but she was certainly safe.

Jakob was at work late again, so she got into bed and switched on the TV. She was just falling asleep when she heard her name.

“Chen, a twenty-four-year-old art graduate, is best known for dating billionaire Jakob Mallory. Now that her past is better known, it remains to be seen if that relationship can overcome the revelation that Chen comes from a family of high-end prostitutes and drug addicts … '

She couldn’t breathe, the shock slamming into her; she was reeling, reeling …

Not knowing where she was going, she stumbled out of the bedroom, trying to get help and reaching for the phone. An all-consuming agonizing pain in her stomach ripped through her, and as she passed out, she heard Jakob's voice calling for her, far away, so far away …

Part Five: Trouble Me

Grady Mallory stepped off the plane into one-hundred-degree heat and grinned. New Orleans was experiencing a late summer heat wave, and it was just as Grady loved it—hot, sweaty, and sexy.

He caught a cab to his hotel in the French Quarter, showered, and stepped back out onto the street. Whenever he came here, he had a tradition of walking around the Quarter for an hour or two, getting his bearings, soaking in the atmosphere.

He was glad to be away from Seattle—so much drama and upset. After the revelations about Quilla’s family had hit the headlines, and her subsequent illness—thankfully just stomach flu and nothing worse—Jakob had been snappy and irritable—back to the wreck he had been before he met her. Grady hoped against hope that his beloved older brother wasn’t using again. His father, Ran, was worrying himself into an early grave, because of this thing with Gregor Fisk. That asshole, Grady thought now, if I got my hands on him …

The streets were crowded with tourists and entertainers. He found a restaurant off the main thoroughfare and went in to grab some food. The diner was filled with, by the looks of it, mostly local people, so he regarded this as a good sign.

He loved this city, so when he heard about the artwork being auctioned here—a very exclusive invite-only auction, at that—he had jumped at the chance. He’d tried to persuade his dad to come, but Ran was too locked into the Fisk situation and taking care of the family. Grady understood. But now, sitting, here he would have loved his dad to be sitting opposite, excited about the new pieces. Grady had no doubt he would get them for the Mallory collection—he was that good at this now. That wasn’t conceit, just the confidence of a man who had spent the last twenty years honing his craft.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t see her at first—although to be fair, it looked like she didn’t want to draw any attention to herself. She was sitting two tables away, at a tiny table stuffed into an alcove, her laptop out and on, her eyes intent on the screen. Something blue must have flashed on the screen because that’s what drew his attention. The girl looked exasperated, and knocked the computer as if annoyed with it.

Grady studied her with interest. Dark brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail, massive black-rimmed spectacles on a small, delicate face, huge blue eyes rimmed with kohl. Geek, Grady thought with a smile, and a very attractive one. He heard her curse—Italian then English—then sigh, shutting the laptop and shoving it into her bag. She got up, throwing some money onto the table, and he watched her slim, athletic frame stumble through the nest of tables, apologizing to the diners who got hit on the head with her overstuffed messenger bag. Cute, Grady decided. Seriously cute. Time was he would have followed her out, got her number. A long time ago. Before Molly, before the cancer that took her less than a year after their wedding. Before Asia. Before Asia and Kit.

Stop it. If Grady was going to break one damn habit this year, it was wondering “what if?”. It had been holding him back from living, from loving again.

No more, he said to himself, it’s time to start over.

He hoped he could stick to his new plan. 

Asia rolled her eyes after Quilla had apologized for the hundredth time. “Sorry you got landed with babysitting duties again,” Quilla said ruefully.

“Girl, stop. It’s a pleasure spending time with you; we don’t do it enough.” They were driving along the highway, out towards the Olympic Mountains. Asia had suggested the trip after Jakob had insisted that Quilla not be alone. At all. She was starting to feel trapped both by Jakob’s fear and Gregor’s malevolence, she told Asia now.

Asia, driving, turned to glance at her. “How are you feeling about the … you know?”

“A lot better after Ran told me it made no difference to him what my family was alleged to have been, or what they did.”

Asia frowned. “Did Jakob not say that to you first?”

Quilla hesitated. “He did. Over and over. But I always felt like he was saying it because he had to. God, what a mess, and what a fucking bastard Gregor Fisk it—what did I do to him? Wasn’t stabbing me and threatening me enough for him?”

“Ran seems to think that his obsession with you has become his … how can I put this, his main focus. Yes, he wants revenge on Jakob and Ran, but it’s almost as if he just can’t get you out of his head. It’s like he stabbed you—then realized ...”

“… He enjoyed it. God.” Quilla looked like she was going to throw up. “Can we change the subject? I hate feeling like a damn target.”

Asia squeezed her hand. “Sure, honey.”

Quilla shot her a look. “How’s Sebastian?”

Sebastian Winter was one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, from old New Hampshire money. In essence, he was a money man in the city, but really, he was a party boy and a socialite.

Asia sighed. “Sebastian is very, very pretty. Also, very, very gay, but don’t tell anyone that. He asked me to accompany him to a couple of things to help throw his father off his scent—he thinks his dad knows about Sebastian’s boyfriend and doesn’t know how he will react. His father is, well, old school.”

“Bigoted, you mean?”

“Pretty much.”

“Asshole. So what’s Sebastian like?”

“Like a little boy lost. Underneath all the glamor, he’s a sweet kid who reacts to his lack of paternal love by acting the big man.”

“Gosh,” said Quilla hiding a grin, “never let it be said you have a type, Asia Flynn.”

Asia conceded with a grin. “Kit can’t claim lack of paternal love, just a rampant immaturity. I think Joel stole it from him in the womb, because he never has trouble stepping up to the plate.”

“I know. How sweet are he and Nan? I swear to God, one moves and the other moves with them.” Quilla sounded almost jealous, but Asia decided not to push it.

“Yeah, so, romance wise … I’m just doing a favor for a friend. Nothing else happening.”

“Shame.” Quilla shot her a sideways look. “You know, Ran and I were having a chat, and he tells me Grady is in New Orleans for a week or so.”

Asia chuckled. “You are two are like scheming old matchmakers, sitting around hatching your plans.”

Quilla laughed. “Can you blame us? We love both of you and now that Kit’s, er, ‘moved on’ ...”

Asia snorted. “Don’t remind me of that damn interview. You know, people were coming up to me, this look on their faces like … oh poor, poor thing, you must be devastated. Ugh.”

“If you want, I can bust some moves on him, kick his ass?” Quilla looked like she was serious but Asia smiled, shaking her head.

“Nah, leave it alone. I suspect Kit’s being handled properly now.”

Quilla giggled. “I love Bo Kennedy. You’re right; she won’t take any crap from him, will she? Did you see that video of her taking down that pap who tried to take photos of her kid?”

Asia nodded. “Warrior Woman.”

“Kit’s going to have his ass handed to him if he tries to do what ...” Quilla broke off, looked over at Asia apologetically. “Sorry. I’m about as sensitive as ...”

“Don’t worry about it.”

They drove in silence for a couple of minutes. “You know,” Asia said thoughtfully, “maybe it isn’t the worst idea to reconnect with Grady. As friends, I mean, before you get excited. I miss our talks; we were always such good friends.”

Quilla tried not to grin. “Just so happens I know where he’s staying.”

Okay, this is not happening. No way, nuh-uh. Grady Mallory did not lose out when he went to auction. Ever. Something about having a vast pot of money to dip into, but … it was happening. He’d had to stop when the two pieces already auctioned went way past their reserve … way, way past even what they were worth for two rare O’Keefe sketches, and that was saying something.

And what was bugging him, even more, was that he didn’t know who was bidding. He’d scoured the room every single time, but no one apart from him was even signaling. Every time Grady nodded at the auctioneer, the man would check the ledger in front of him and hike the price another twenty thousand. In the end, Grady had to forfeit.

Not this time, though. The Rothko was being brought out. Jesus, it was magnificent, a monument to color, depth, abstraction. Grady got that feeling he always did when he saw a piece that spoke directly to his soul. His heartbeat would quicken, his breath would catch in his throat. Only two human beings in the world had ever had that effect on him: Molly and Asia. He struggled to think of one piece of the artist’s which didn’t incite that reaction in him.

The auctioneer introduced the piece, then looked around the gathering. “So I’ll start us off at thirty-two million dollars.”

Even though the starting price had been expected, there was still a hum of awe around the room. Grady nodded, and the auctioneer signaled to him. “Thirty-two, I’m bid, thank you, sir, thirty-three.” He glanced down at his book.

Not this time, buddy. Grady gritted his teeth. “Thirty-four.”

“Thirty-five ...”

The bidding went on, Grady refusing to back down even when the price went past one hundred million. Finally, just as Grady thought he had it at one-hundred-and-seven, the auctioneer was tapped on the shoulder by a clerk who handed him a piece of paper. The auctioneer’s eyebrows shot up.

“We have a bid … goodness gracious … a bid of five hundred million.”

Afterward, Grady would swear you could hear the collective jaws dropping. He felt sick. There was no way he could justify spending that much on a painting, no matter what it was. His dad would kill him. Shit, shit, shit. Grady shook his head as the auctioneer looked questioningly at him. It slightly cheered him that the auctioneer knew he could afford it if he wanted, but Grady hadn’t made his fortune by being reckless.

He sat through the rest of the bidding, occasionally making a half-hearted attempt to bid, but whenever he did, he was quickly outbid. It was hard not to think someone was messing with him.

At the end, he got up, and as he stopped to let people pass, he saw her. The girl from the café. Grady blinked. This auction was an invite only, an incredibly exclusive gathering for which you had to have a clear few billion in the bank to be allowed entry. What the hell? The way the girl had been bashing her ancient computer the other night, he was certain she didn’t fit the brief. She moved toward him, her gaze flicking left and right, but never at him.

“Hey,” he said as she passed. She nodded briefly, and then disappeared. Grady shook his head. This was so damn weird. The secret buyer with the seemingly bottomless pockets and this girl, who looked like she had fallen asleep in her clothes.

He was still shaking his head as he walked back to his hotel. The sun was hidden behind some pretty black clouds, and a few fat raindrops hit him as he entered the hotel. Still preoccupied, he was about to press the elevator call button when he heard his voice being called.

A familiar voice. One that made his heartbeat quicken. He turned.

Asia Flynn was standing at the reception desk, smiling her beautiful smile at him, and to him, the sun came out again.

Skandar Mallory was watching his girlfriend Hayley trying to figure out how to work his very expensive, very complicated espresso machine. And failing miserably. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“You could help.”

Skandar grinned his crooked smile. “I could, but then I’d miss your perfect little tush jiggling when you move.”

Hayley tried to look mad. “Sexist pig.”

“That’s me.” He grabbed her and swung her up into his arms. They had been living together for a month, and though neither would admit it, both were waiting for the day when they’d regret moving so fast. So far, neither of them had, even the slightest bit.

He hustled her over to the couch and lay down on top of her. She giggled as he rained kisses down on her. “Dude … I have a lecture at nine, and if you keep doing that, I’m going to be late.”

“Ssh, I’m using my best moves.”

“Shouldn’t you be at practice? Carlos will never take you back if you don’t keep up … what are you doing?”

Skandar was pushing up her skirt and tugging her panties down. Grinning widely, he kissed her. “Just sending you off to class with something to think about ...”

She gave up and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Hard and fast, then, soldier.”

“Damn, you sure got a dirty mouth, Hayley Applebee.”

“Get busy, Mallory.”

Later, as she walked into her lecture hall, she was still smiling, her body buzzing from the high; she didn’t notice the stares of her fellow students. Or rather, she ignored them. They’d been staring at her since the ‘sex tape’ had hit the headlines. Fuck ’em, Skandar had told her, and she had laughed. Still, you’d think, the novelty would have worn off by now, she thought. She sat in the middle of the class defiantly, staring down each student as they glanced at her. So what if she had no special friend here, she thought; jealousy was an ugly thing. That’s what she told herself. She had Skandar. Who cared if these idiots judged her?

The professor—a guest speaker today—was running late. Hayley pulled her iPad out of her bag and flicked to her email. Like a lovesick teen, she had set up email alerts anytime there was a news story about Skandar. She didn’t particularly relish the myriad of real and fake exes who daily slammed him. She could tell which was which by what they were complaining about. The real exes were complaining about him being the champion of the one-nighter. (Not with me, she thought smugly); the fake ones were complaining about his … performance. Those stories just made her snort in derision.

She flicked down the list, then her heart seemed to tremble and freeze. Tennis Ace Corrupted My Daughter. Fuck, no, no, no … her damn mother was selling her own kids out—again. Hayley shoved the iPad back in her bag and got up, and as she stomped down the stairs, she caught the eye of a particularly creepy jock, who smirked at her.

“Go fuck yourself,” she hissed and ran out to her car. Locking herself in, she yanked out her phone and called Nan.

“Our goddamned mother is at it again. I’m coming over.”

Grady looked over the breakfast table at Asia and grinned. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Did you sleep okay?” The hotel had been very accommodating and found Asia a room at the last minute.

Asia smiled. “I’ll say. I’ve got to give it to you, Gray; you always know the best hotels to pick.”

She dug into her fruit salad, and as she ate, she studied him. “I had some vacation time owed and nothing better to do so I thought, why don’t I go see my old pal, Grady?”

He tapped her juice glass with his. “Good decision. Hey, this is exciting, I can take you around Orleans, do the tourist thing. I do have some more auctions coming up … God, I hope they’re not like yesterday’s.” He told her what happened, and Asia frowned.

“That is unusual … but then again, there might just be a new player on the scene, someone who’s just made their fortune, wants to get in on the game.”

Grady shook his head in disbelief. “Half a billion, though? For a painting, even if—and this pains me to say—it’s a Rothko? Damn, I keep thinking about it, Asia; it was glorious. Whoever, he or she is, they’re no fan of etiquette. Went straight in, bang, knocked everyone else out of the running.” He sighed, and Asia reached out and touched his cheek.

“It is just a painting, Gray, don’t get down. You’re so like Ran, sometimes.”

He caught her hand and held it against his face, closing his eyes. “It really has been too long, Asia.” He was gratified when she didn’t move her hand away. He opened her eyes and saw her expression; soft, loving, wondering. He lifted her hand to his lips.

“Asia …”

She shook her head. “Don’t say anything. Let’s just see what happens.”

A thrill flooded down his body. She wants me, too. God, he had been waiting for this day for years. He laced his fingers between hers, his heart thumping against his chest. Asia’s lovely face was flushed, her dark eyes, soft, full of desire.

“Do you want to go for a walk?”

Slowly, she met his gaze and shook her head, the flush on her cheeks deepening. He said nothing more but stood and led her back to the elevator. Inside, he pressed the button to his floor and then took her in his arms. He wanted to ask if she was sure, but instead kissed her, tasting the lips he had dreamed about for years, his fingers sliding into the soft, dark hair that clouded around her. Asia returned his embrace, her gentle tongue caressing his, her hands on his chest, her thumbs brushing over his tightening nipples.

His cock was ramrod hard, and as he pressed her against the wall, his body curved into hers, the feel of it pressing against her soft belly made him moan with desire.

“God, Asia...”

In his room, they undressed each other slowly, taking their time, Grady kissing her shoulders as he removed her bra and let her full breasts fall into his waiting and eager hands.

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this,” his voice broke as his emotion overcame him.

“Ssh,” Asia stroked his face, “It’s okay...”

He swept her into his arms and laid her back on the bed, not able to tear his eyes away from her incredible body. Athletic but with gentle curves, she was slim, slight, her skin a lovely olive color. He covered her with his body, his cock erect against his belly and as she stroked it with her hands, his own hands slipped between her legs to find her already wet for him, her sex swelling and pulsing with her desire.

The moment his cock pushed into her, Grady knew he’d found what he had been looking for all these years. As her legs curled around him and they kissed and fucked and sweated and cried out the other’s name, he could hardly believe it was happening at last.

Asia, Asia …

Half a world away, Asia’s ex-husband was sitting backstage at a concert venue in Paris, watching his girlfriend get ready to go out and sing for some of the most important VIPs in France. On Kit’s knee, Bo Kennedy’s son, Tiger, slept, Kit’s arms tight around the sleeping child.

Bo grinned back at Kit in the mirror, and then turned. “You’re a natural at that.”

Kit smiled. “Who knew? But it helps that your kid is awesome.” Bo flushed with pleasure and went to kiss him.

“You surprise me every day, Kit Mallory, and I adore that.”

“I adore you, Miss Kennedy. How’re you feeling?”

“Shit scared,” she said bluntly in her London accent, and he chuckled. “I’m serious; I feel like I could chuck up me lunch. It’s bollocks that you can’t smoke inside anymore. I could do with a Gauloises right now.”

Kit shook his head, grinning. “You don’t even smoke. And think of your voice.”

To be fair, she did look a bit green. “How do you do it, then?” he asked, curious. “How do you stand up in front of all those people every night and not throw up?”

“Not helping,” but she grinned and turned back to the mirror to put on her mascara. “Well, it’s like … you know what it’s like when you go out on stage? You must have done theater?”

He shook his head. “Not once.”

She turned, obviously shocked. “Never?”

“Not even at school.”

She blinked. “How’d you get into acting then?”

Kit looked uncomfortable. “At the risk of sounding like a complete asshole … this.” He pointed at his face. “I got ‘spotted’ at a charity benefit by my agent, Naomi. She put me up for a part, and that’s that. It turns out I’m okay at it. Please don’t hate me.”

Bo laughed. “I ain’t gonna hate you for getting a lucky break. Pretty boy.”

Kit grinned. “It’s painful being this beautiful.” He flicked his long hair back, and she threw her makeup brush at him, giggling.

“But you’ve never fancied doing a stage play?”

Kit shook his head. “Stage fright. So come on, tell me the secret.”

Bo still looked surprised. “Well, it’s different than acting because with a music set you can really build up the anticipation of the audience. That’s why it takes so long for the singer to come on, building that atmosphere. It’s great for the audience, but not only that, it gets my adrenaline going and that is crucial to overcoming stage fright.”

Kit was fascinated. “Huh. Always thought it was an ego thing, that ‘I’m going to keep you waiting so you can beg for me to come out and stroke my huge ego.”

Bo nodded. “Oh, there’s definitely some of that going on, too; we’re artists, after all, as insecure and as monomaniacal as the next.”

She got up and grabbed her stage outfit, a long, midnight blue sheath that slithered over her body. Kit watched her dress, admiration all over his face. Man, he’d known her only a few weeks, but he’d changed his plans and cleared his schedule—much to the disgust of his agent—so that he could accompany her on the short sold-out world tour. When she wasn’t performing, they’d take Tiger to all of the tourist spots in whatever city they were in. Tomorrow, it was Disneyland, Paris, and Tiger, who had been hyper all day, was finally exhausted from excitement.

There was a gentle knock on the door and Tiger’s nanny, Felicity, poked her head around the door, saw Tiger asleep and grinned. “I’ll take him back to the hotel,” she whispered, “give you two some privacy.”

“Cheers, pickle, you’re a peach.” Bo kissed Tiger’s forehead. “Night, sweetie. See you in the morning.”

When they were alone, Bo checked her watch. “Half an hour till kick off.”

Kit took her in his arms. “You’ll knock ’em dead, gorgeous.”

She tilted her head up for a kiss. “Christopher Mallory, you know what? I bloody love you.”

“Beatrice Fenella Kennedy,” he made up her middle name and she giggled, “I am so in love with you, it’s pretty gross just how much, actually.”

“Who’d have thunk?” She grinned. “I’m still not convinced the real Kit Mallory wasn't kidnapped by aliens and you got sent in his place.”

“Was I really that much of an ass?” Kit was slightly stung, and then conceded. “Yeah, I know.”

Bo kissed him. “Don’t be sad; you were never really like that, you just built up a mask.”

Kit shrugged. “Tell Asia that. I did not treat her the way she deserved.”

“No, you didn’t, but that’s in the past.” Bo’s voice had a little edge, and Kit looked at her curiously.

“You’re not jealous of Asia, are you?”

“Not jealous … curious. I mean,” Bo sat down next to him, “and this is not a criticism, but I’ve seen her picture, heard you talk about her … why on earth would you cheat on her?”

Kit sighed. “The simple, awful answer is because the opportunity presented itself. Because I told myself it didn’t count as infidelity. I was an insensitive idiot.”

Bo nodded slowly. “And now? If the opportunity presented itself again?”

Suddenly he got why she was asking. He shook his head. “Bo … you are everything to me. Everything. I’m older; I’m wiser; and I’m committed to making us work, to us being a family; you, me, and Tiger.”

He could see she wasn’t convinced, and his chest hurt with the pain of it. “Guess I’ll have to prove it to you,” he said gruffly. Bo leaned her head on his shoulder.

“I want to trust you, Kit, I do. It might take some time, but I’ll be right there with you, trying to put other relationships, other hurts, other mistakes behind me, too. But I think, it’ll be worth it … don’t you?”

“You bet that sweet ass of yours, it will be,” he said fiercely, and took her face between his hands to kiss her, but she pulled away, grinning to soften the slight.

“One last question.”

“Go for it.”

She searched his eyes. “I have no doubt that you love me, Kit, but … are you still in love with Asia as well? It’s okay if you are.”

Kit sighed. “I don’t want to be. I don’t. But yeah, there’s a little part of me which still loves her in that way. I’ll get over it. You are the only one I want to be with, Bo; I swear to God.”

She nodded. “I believe you.”

Kit glanced at the clock. “Almost time. You knock ’em dead, beautiful.”

She kissed him, and then moaned. “My bloody lipstick!”

They both laughed and quickly, she re-applied her gloss and was out of the door.

A quarter hour later, Kit listened to the roar of the crowd as she went on stage and felt such rush of pride and love that it overwhelmed him.

She was his queen, and he was a slave to whatever she wanted or needed. He would do anything not to mess this up.

Grady wasn’t concentrating on this sale—not one bit. All he could think of were the last four days, the days filled with Asia, laughter, love, sex—a wonderful reconnection. It had been everything he’d hoped for, everything he’d dreamed about. Her soft skin against him, the bliss on her face as she reached orgasm, the way her lips moved against his. Afterward, they had talked like old friends, and it was if both of them felt as if an age-old torment had been extinguished.

Now she was flying back to Seattle for work, and he felt empty. He had thought the auction might distract him, but all he wanted to do was to get on a plane and go to her.

Way to act cool, he grinned to himself. He must have laughed out loud, as the elderly women next to him started and glared at him.

“Sorry,” he smiled broadly and winked at her, giving her the full-on Mallory charm. She simpered and waved his smile away. Back in the room, Mallory.

The next artwork was a beauty—a little known Italian painter, for sure, but one whose star was rising. Grady was confident he’d get it for a steal and started the bidding off. Two hundred thousand. He didn’t expect anyone to follow that, but once again, the price took off until Grady, exasperated, held his hands up in defeat. This went on all throughout the whole sale. Grady had had enough. Walking slowly around the auction room, he tried to see who was taking his legs out from under him.

He stopped when he saw her. Café Girl. Mysterious Broken Laptop Girl. She was facing away from him, her phone in her hand. As he watched, she tapped out a text every time a price was called. She was texting someone. Grady didn’t take his eyes off her, and as the gavel came down on another outrageous price, she gave a little smile and put the phone to her ear, talking so low into it, he had no hope of hearing what she had said.

At least he had a lead now, though, and when the auction was over (and he’d once again failed to secure a single painting), he followed her out into the street. She moved so quickly he didn’t have the time to call out, and after he’d scrambled after her for a few blocks, he lost her.

“Fuck it,” he breathed and turned down the nearest alleyway. The Café Girl hit him from behind like a wrecking ball, shoving him, face first, into a wall.

“What the hell?” he managed to shout, before she waved a blade in his face.

“Why are you following me, asshole?” For a small woman, she certainly had some strength about her. Grady, despite the threat to his person, had to grin and, clearly annoyed, she shoved his face hard against the brick of the building. He held up his hands.

“I’m not following you, you idiot, I was trying to catch up to you to ask you something. I was at the auction. I’m Grady Mallory.”

The knife disappeared, and she let him go. He turned—wait, he was wrong—the knife was still there, just not pointed at him. Well, that was progress. He smiled at her.

“Hi.”

She was as cute as he remembered, and clearly could take care of herself. She looked at him with suspicious eyes. “I know your name. What do you want?”

“To talk, that’s all.”

“About what?”

“About how you or someone you work with or for keeps outbidding me.”

She shrugged. “What of it?”

“I’d like to talk, is all. Can I buy you a coffee?”

He’d expected an outright ‘no’, so when she nodded, it took him aback. “Fine. I know a place.”

She led him through the back streets of Orleans, places even he didn’t know existed, until they reached a small, out-of-the-way bar. It was dark and atmospheric inside, low jazz playing on the sound system. She sat down in one of the booths and signaled to a waitress.

“Dewar’s, rocks,” she said, and Grady nodded.

“Make that two, thanks.” He looked back at her. She was making the most of the free nuts in baskets on the table. He guessed she must be mid-twenties, her clothes cheap but functional. Dark hair tied back in a ponytail. Army surplus, by the looks of it. She carried a messenger bag; he supposed it was convenient for her piece of crap laptop and assorted deadly weapons.

“Who are you?”

She shrugged. “No one. An art student. I like to see the pieces when they’re going up for sale.”

The drinks arrived, and he took a sip. “But there’s more to it, isn’t there? You’re bidding for someone—or feeding them information as the auction goes on.”

Her chin lifted. “How do you know I’m not buying them?”

He didn’t even bother to reply to that, and she sighed. “Look, Mr. Mallory ...”

“Grady.”

“Mister Mallory,” she said firmly, “I don’t mean any offense, but how is what I do any business of yours?”

“It isn’t,” he shot back honestly, and she looked taken back. “I'm just curious—or nosy, whichever suits you. I gotta say, I’m not used to being outbid.”

For the first time, she smiled, and Grady was struck by how lovely her face was when she grinned. “I guess that’s just tough luck, Mr. Mallory. A bit of competition never hurt.”

“Agreed,” he nodded. “So, who is it?”

She shook her head, still smiling. “I am not at liberty to disclose my associate.”

Grady gave up. “At least tell me about you. What’s your name?”

She hesitated for a second, and then relented. “Floriana Morgan.”

“American?”

She nodded. “Half. Half Italian, hence the Floriana. If it helps, just called me Flori.”

Grady stuck out his hand. “Well, then, hi, Flori. I’m Grady.”

She gave a sheepish grin as she shook his outstretched one. “Hi … sorry about the …” she mimicked a stabbing motion and mimicked the Psycho music. “Can’t be too careful.”

“That’s perfectly okay. You’re like an artist/ninja, then?”

She laughed. “Just an art student, I’m afraid. My attempts at art itself are somewhat amateur. My focus is on the history of art.”

“Grad student?”

She shook her head. “No, still an undergrad, sophomore. Had to defer my college place for a couple of years.”

“Are you based here?”

“Portland.”

“Maine or ...”

“Oregon.”

“Then we’re neighbors; my family is in Seattle,” Grady signaled for some refills, “Only seems right we should be friends. I don’t know if you know anything about what my family does, but—”

“Of course, I know,” she said gently. “You and your father have done so much for the art world.”

Grady’s mouth hitched up on one side. “So why are you helping the opposition, whoever they are?”

He softened the question with a smile, but Flori looked uncomfortable. “Mr. … Grady, I don’t want to … it was never my intention ...”

He put his hand over hers for a brief second. “Flori, don’t worry. You’re right, a little competition never hurt. Besides,” and he leaned back and sighed dramatically, “it was getting a little too easy, anyhoo.”

He laughed as she lobbed a peanut at him. “But seriously, Flori, if you need any help with anything … like that crappy laptop of yours?” He grinned when she looked askance at him, and a little scared.

“I’m not stalking you, I promise. I was just at the same restaurant as you the other night, when you were beating the crap out of it.”

“Ah,” she said. “Is that why you said hello to me that time?”

“It is.”

“Sorry I ignored you; I was freaked out by the bid on that Rothko.”

“Join the club. Half a billion.” He shook his head, his mind still blown.

“Is it worth that?” She looked genuinely interested.

“Rothko’s work has gone for big sums before, the most for about seventy-five million for Royal Red and Blue in 2012, but no painting by any artist has yet to reach that half billion. Some have come close—if you can call a difference of two hundred million close.” He smiled. “I was tempted, very tempted, I tell you. Rothko is my hero.”

She was looking at him with curiosity. “You’re not what I expected, Grady Mallory. Of course, I realize I know very few billionaires, so it’s hard to compare, but when I see the exploits of your brother, the actor, and your nephew ...”

Grady half smiled. “Don’t believe the crap you read about Skandar; he’s a good kid, and now that he’s with Hayley, he’s a different man. Settled, happy. Responsible. Kit, well, Kit is Kit.”

He had no idea why he was telling this stranger so much, but she was so easy to talk to. “What about you, family still alive?”

Her face lit up. “Yep. Working class girl, paid my own way through college, or rather, paying. My mom and dad are good people. They’re so happy I’m following my passion.”

Grady was impressed. “That’s great.” He hesitated, then shrugged. “I have to ask … how did you get hooked up with your associate? I’m only asking because actually it seems like a great idea of his or hers—you get the experience of seeing first-hand how the art market works; he or she gets to keep his anonymity. Hmm.”

Floriana nodded. “He contacted me—yes, it’s a he—through my art lecturer, asked if I wanted my education paid for, no questions asked. All I had to do was go to the auctions he wanted me to and help him bid most, to win the sale.”

And you’ve no idea why he chose you, apart from your obvious passion for it?”

“Honestly, I heard ‘paid college tuition’ and ‘unlimited travel expenses’ and that sealed the deal for me. It was bugging my dad that he couldn't pay for me, that I had to work twenty-hour days to pay for it. So I said yes.”

Grady chewed over this information then smiled at her. “You know, it’s been really good to talk about art with you. I don’t get to do that enough.”

“Ditto. Thanks for not being an asshole about the auctions.”

Grady held up his hands. “Hey, look, like you said, healthy competition. Flori, would you like to meet again, just for drinks and a chat? I’m in NOLA for another week or so.”

Flori grinned shyly. “Wow. Hanging out with a Mallory. I’ll get airs and graces.”

Grady laughed. “Money doesn’t make me classy, Flori, it’s just money. Here’s my card; give me a call. Where are you staying?”

She told him and gave him her cellphone number. “Thanks for the drinks.”

“You’re welcome. Can I walk you back to your hotel?”

“Actually, I want to sketch in the Quarter for a while, but raincheck?

“You’re on.”

Quilla was dying to get rid of Jakob so she could get the gossip from Asia about New Orleans. She was due to come over any minute, but Jakob was taking forever to change for a business dinner.

“You sure you don’t want to come? The place is supposed to have amazing food.”

She smiled and kissed him. “Asia’s already on her way, and we have an evening of girl talk and Chinese food planned.”

Finally, after kissing her thoroughly and wondering out loud if they had time for sex before he left, she got him out of the door. She had just grabbed some wine from the cooler when her phone rang. She was smiling when she answered it.

“Hello, Quilla.”

Gregor. Again, the sweating palms, the way her stomach dropped when she heard his voice. He hadn’t called for a couple of weeks, and there was a part of her that wanted to pretend he’d simply gotten tired of terrorizing her. Now, though, she rubbed a hand over eyes and pressed the ‘record’ button on the surveillance the FBI had installed. Every word that was said was sent to them, processed, and scoured for any clue. He never stayed on long enough for a trace, but the FBI had said to her, “Try and stay on as long as you can; get every bit of information from him. Anything could be the key. As long as you can stand it.”

Easy for the FBI man to say. It wasn’t his own brutal, horrific, bloody murder he was listening to being described in minute detail. Gregor would describe in sickening detail what he intended to do to her, and while Quilla had steeled herself for the worst, it always got to her. The nightmares were unimaginable, and on more than one occasion, she’d woken up screaming and having to be calmed down by a deeply concerned Jakob.

She was tired of it, tired of Gregor’s shit. “Hello, Gregor. Calling to give me an update on when and how you’re planning to kill me? How original. I tell you what. Why don’t you go fuck yourself?”

She hung up the phone and cursed loudly. She grabbed a pillow from the couch and screamed into it. However much she pretended she was fine, she wasn’t. She was close to breaking.

She heard a knock at the door and went to open it, smoothing out her expression. She smiled when she saw Asia, but Asia, having spent a great deal of time with the other woman of late, wasn’t fooled for a second.

“He called, didn’t he?” She walked in and hugged Quilla fiercely. “That son-of-a-bitch.”

Quilla relaxed into Asia’s hug. “Doesn’t matter,” she muttered. “Come, let’s have a drink.”

Asia dumped her purse onto the couch and studied Quilla. “Enough is enough, Quills. This is abuse. The Feds can’t expect you to listen to his filth until you break.”

A sob escaped Quilla then, and Asia went to her. “Oh, sweetheart.”

“I’m okay, really,” Quilla said, brushing away her tears. “I’m just so angry all of the time. Please, Asia, please, please distract me. Tell me about New Orleans.”

Asia smiled. “New Orleans was great. Grady sends his love.”

Quilla, her tears drying, handed Asia a glass of wine and searched her face. “Asia Flynn … did you sleep with that man?”

Asia tried not to grin. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Quilla gasped. “Oh, my God, you did! Hallelujah, hang on; I have to call Ran …’

She pretended to go for her phone and Asia, laughing, swatted her away. Quilla nodded at the couch, her low mood lifting. “Food’s on its way, Flynn, so get on that couch and tell me everything.”

Skandar Mallory put his arm around his girlfriend and kissed her temple, as her older sister, Nan, read through the newspaper article. Joel, Skandar’s father, and Nan’s boyfriend, sat stone-faced beside her. The third one in three days. The paparazzi were obviously doing some sort of series on them, with all of their family secrets laid bare by Zinnia, their absent and errant mother.

“To be fair,” Nan said, her voice cracking with her anger, “All of this is bullshit. Practically every word.” She looked at her sister then Joel. “Someone must have given her a lot of money, because this is some classic Zinnia fantasy right here.”

“Well, Nan, we did ‘abandon her as soon as we found ourselves a couple of billionaires,' after all,” Hayley spat out. “God, I hate her.”

Nan’s shoulders slumped. “What you have to understand,” she spoke to Joel and Skandar now, her voice low and upset, “is that this is a woman who does not have the capacity for love. Or empathy. Our dad was such a good guy, but he totally enabled her, to our detriment. She would rant and scream at us for nothing, and he’d always excuse it as just one of her moods. But it was worse. It was prolonged, sustained abuse. She had serious mental health problems that she would not take responsibility for. We think it was Narcissistic Personality Disorder.”

“Everything revolved around her, everything. When she wasn't downright aggressive, she played the martyr card; she did so much for us, and we never did anything for her. In fact, all we did was cause trouble again and again—you know, things like wanting to participate in after-school activities, and getting straight As. Terrible things like actual parental support and occasionally getting sick and it being really inconvenient for her.” Hayley was spitting out the words; such was her anger. “If we didn’t have video proof of our births (and how much pain we caused her, of course, and how grateful we should be), I’d take a DNA test and prove that bitch had nothing to do with us.” She choked up on the final words and Skandar and Joel shared a look of concern.

Nan put a hand on her sister’s arm. “Calm down, sweets; it’s not like this is actually harming us, just more of her bull crap. And look what paper it’s in.” She waved the tabloid in the air. “The thing I want to know is, who put her up to it. She’s a bitch, yes, but unless there were some serious financial incentives, she wouldn’t bother. She likes to pretend we don’t exist.”

Joel sighed and sat back. “I don’t think we have to look far to see who is behind this.”

“Gregor?” Skandar cursed. “I don’t get what he gets out of it. This is some petty shit.”

“Yup.”

For a while there was silence, all lost in their own thoughts, then Joel got up. “Look, I say we ignore anything he does that isn’t a direct threat to personal safety. By reacting to every made-up story, we’re giving him the oxygen of attention, of publicity. The more elegant thing to do is to say nothing. If you get direct questions from the press, roll your eyes and walk away.” He grinned at Hayley. “However tempting it might be to cuss them out.”

Hayley smiled back and high-fived him. “I’ll try. You’re right, though, as long as he doesn’t threaten any of us physically or the business, what harm can these stories actually do?”

“Tell that to Quilla,” Nan said softly.

“That,” Skandar said, sounding twenty years older than he was, “is a different situation entirely. That’s not revenge; that’s obsession.”

Floriana Morgan thanked the bellboy and took the huge package, frowning, staggering under its weight a little. She wasn’t expecting anything; her mom had sent her a care package two days ago. She sat on the bed and pulled open the envelope that had come with it.

Thought you could use these, compliments of the Ran Mallory Art Foundation. It’s always thrilling to me when someone else loves art as much as I do, so think of this as both a thank you and a ‘way to go'. Enjoy. Grady Mallory. (PS: absolutely no strings attached)

Flori was touched beyond words, and as she began to pull open the package, she had to stop and catch her breath. Inside was the highest-end Apple laptop money could buy, a graphics tablet, and an iPad Pro. She couldn’t quite believe it. With trembling hands, she pulled each item from its packaging, turning them over in her hands. She flicked the laptop on and waited for it to boot up.

Could she accept this? Were there really no strings attached to it? She shook her head, blindsided. Grady Mallory was clearly a very generous man—as well as being drop-dead gorgeous. The screen flicked up, and an image opened. Flori started to laugh. It was a picture of Grady posing like the Fonz. Underneath, he’d added “Coffee at the Spitfire at 4:00 p.m. today? If no, text me.” He’d left her his cellphone number.

Flori felt a small thrill pass through her. She wasn’t sure exactly why Grady Mallory had taken such an interest in her—at first she thought it was just to get information from her, but talking to him that first time had changed her mind. He genuinely loved art.

She would meet him for coffee later, to thank him, if nothing else. As a friend, she told herself, just as a friend.

Grady smiled as he heard Asia’s voice on the other end of the phone. “Hey, beautiful.”

“Hey, yourself. How goes it in the Big Easy?”

“Pretty cool—missing my buddy,” he said with a grin. Asia chuckled.

“Gray, you don’t know how much I’d rather be there, but work calls. Have you managed to get any pieces yet?”

He told her about the auctions and Floriana Morgan. “Good kid, loves art.”

Asia laughed softly. “You’re just like your dad, you know, never can resist a good cause. Listen, I do have something I need to talk to you about.”

“What’s that?”

“Kit. Now, I know I don’t owe him anything at all, but as a courtesy, I need to tell him about whatever this—you and me—is. I don’t have a definition yet … and I’m not asking you for one, it’s just with you being siblings, it complicates things.”

Grady chewed this over. “I know … look, for what it’s worth, I’d like to see how things go, on a more formal footing when I get back to Seattle. What do you say?”

“I’d like that.”

“And maybe I’ll just tell Kit I’d like to ask you out, test the water.”

Asia sighed. “I guess so, and I need to talk to Sebastian. God, why is this so complicated?”

Grady laughed but didn’t reply. Asia was silent. Then, in a low voice,

“I should have never married him, Gray. I hurt everyone, especially you, and I can’t stand that. I hate that I caused you more pain.”

“That’s in the past,” he said, but his voice broke, and he cleared his throat to cover it. “Just don’t do it again.”

“I promise.”

After they’d said goodbye, Grady called Kit before he could chicken out. Kit sounded happier than he’d ever heard him. There was a lot of raucous laughter in the background.

What’s going on there?” Grady said with a chuckle.

“I’m being ganged up on, that’s what’s happening … Tiger, no, arghhhhhh!” There was scuffling, and more laughter, then Kit came back on the phone, breathless. “Sorry about that. I was just defeated by the great knight Tiger of Tiggerdom. He might need to work on that name.”

“Who are you and where is my brother?” Grady said dryly, and Kit sniggered.

“All me, bro. Just a better version. What’s up?”

Grady took a deep breath. “Look, I’m just going to come out and say this … I’d like to date Asia.”

There was a silence on the other end of the phone.

“Kit?”

Kit cleared his throat, and there was noticeably less warmth in his voice when he spoke. “You two been talking?”

“Well, yeah. We’ve always been friends; you know that.”

“Yeah. Well. Gray,” Kit sighed, “it’s not my place anymore to give my blessing for you two to date. You’re both free and single. And it’s not like the most surprising news I’ve had.”

Grady frowned. “But I don’t want it to affect our relationship.”

“Gray, you do what you have to do. Look, I have to go. Speak soon.” And he hung up.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it.” He might have known Kit would be reticent, but now that he was with Bo Kennedy and happier than he’d ever been, Grady had counted on his blessing. Was he naive, thinking Kit would be happy for them? That he didn’t still love Asia, despite everything?

Damn it.

“I cannot even begin to thank you,” Floriana said again, but Grady waved her thanks away.

“Just promise me you’ll keep on following your passion, even through the rough times, and I’ll be happy.” He picked up his coffee and sipped it. Flori shifted nervously in his seat. Since meeting her, Grady had been preoccupied, edgy, and aloof. It made her uncomfortable.

“So, are you going to the sale tomorrow?” Just say anything.

Grady smiled. “Is it worth me going?”

She flushed, and he relented. “I’m kidding, Flori. Look, sorry, I’m a bit out of it. Let’s start again. Yes, I’ll probably go. There’s a Kahlo sketch I have my eye on. I’m prepared to go pretty high on it, so ...”

He gave her a wicked grin, which she had to return. “Good, I’m glad you’ll be there,” she said, flushing, “Makes it more fun knowing I’m going to kick your ass.”

Grady laughed loudly. “Challenge accepted.”

Flori looked around the coffee house. “This place is nice; I hadn’t come across it before.”

Grady nodded. “Always has the best coffee,” he remarked, nodding towards the baristas. “They’re properly trained, for years. Makes a difference. I came here on my honeymoon seventeen years ago—Molly was born here and knew all the best spots to eat and drink. She used to say that unless I loved good food and good coffee, she couldn’t be with me. Doofus,” he added fondly.

Flori felt a small pang of both of sadness and a little jealousy. “Are you still together?”

Grady gave her a sad smile. “Molly died six months after our honeymoon. Stage IV breast cancer.”

Flori was shocked. “Oh God, I’m so sorry. That’s awful.”

Grady nodded. “It was. No denying that, it was horrific. And I lost my best friend. Molly was an artist, too.”

He sighed and looked away, obviously not wanting to get emotional in front of her. Flori studied him. His dark blond hair had a light curl to it, cut short and efficient, no need for styling. There was a faint shadow of stubble on his jaw, the dark green eyes rimmed with dark blond lashes. She liked that he had a few scars, a few lines; it made him less perfect and entirely more desirable.

Shit. Desirable? Really, Floriana? Like Grady Mallory isn’t way out of your league? She kicked herself mentally and cast around for something else to talk about. Grady grinned at her, not helping her with her crush. She smiled brightly.

“Have you been to the art gallery on Chartres?”

He thought about it, then shook his head. “I think I must have missed it.”

“You wanna come with me? If you have time this afternoon, that is?”

Grady nodded. “Sure thing. Then, if you like, we can grab some dinner?”

Flori grinned, trying not to let her delight show too much. “Love to.”

Grady drained his coffee. “Deal. Come on then, before it closes.” 

Yep. Yup. Definitely. She had a queen-sized crush on Grady Mallory. He was so much fun, so knowledgeable, so … something. Last night they had laughed until their sides hurt at dinner, messing around. She hadn’t felt the age gap between them once, and was surprised, in fact, when she got home and Googled him to see he was in his late thirties. Fifteen years between the two of them and yet, when they were together, she couldn’t tell. Not that Grady wasn’t mature, just, he had little regard for what anyone thought of him.

He’d walked her back to her hotel and kissed her cheek, very gentlemanly, but God, she had wanted to drag him into her bed and fuck him senseless. The Google search hadn’t revealed any girlfriends or lovers, but who knew? She read how he’d lost one girlfriend to his brother Kit; a beautiful, dark-haired woman called Asia. Flori felt inadequate as she looked at the lawyer’s photograph. Damn, she thought, absentmindedly scrunching her own messy hair up into a bun and fixing it with a pencil. Brilliant, smart, and beautiful. “The golden trifecta,” she thought to herself now, as she walked to the auction place.

Grady had called—he was supposed to meet her before, but had gotten a last-minute commitment he couldn’t break.

“I’ll make it up to you after the sale,” he promised, and she couldn’t help fantasizing about what that might entail.

After I beat him out for the Kahlo, he walks me out, his hand on the small of my back, shaking his head ruefully. Another one bites the dust, he says. As we walk back towards the Quarter, he takes my hand, then suddenly pulls me into a side street. I’m sorry, he says; I can’t wait another minute, and he kisses me. God, that kiss, his mouth soft and yet so passionate, his hands on my body, sliding under my skirt, into my panties. Please, I gasp, and he takes me there, in the evening streets, his cock so big, so hard inside of me and …

“Wake it up, lady.” A grumpy man pushed past her into the sale room. She stuck her tongue out at him and followed him in. She glanced around. No Grady yet. The room began to fill, so she grabbed a seat quickly. There were so many people now that she couldn’t see through the crowd to find him. Cursing under her breath, she turned her attention back to the sale. Her phone vibrated.

You there?

She sighed. Yes.

Mallory there?

Flori closed her eyes for a beat, then typed, No. She waited.

If he doesn’t show, don’t bid on anything.

Even though she had almost expected that answer, she was still shocked. So it was to do with Grady. Hell, what had she gotten herself in the middle of?

Okay.

Let me know what happens.

She turned her phone off and decided to block everything from her mind.

The Kahlo was the fourth lot to be sold. Flori heard a few bids shouted, but none of them were Grady … suddenly it was imperative she get it for him.

“Twenty-five!” All heads turned towards her, and her cheeks flamed red. The auctioneer took it in his stride and continued. The bidding got up to thirty-three million dollars.

“Thirty-four.”

Grady. She turned and looked for him and finally spotted him looking straight at her, grinning, challenging her to top his bid. Everyone else had dropped out. Flori smiled as the auctioneer raised his eyebrows at her.

“I have thirty-four … Miss?”

Her smile widening, she turned back to the auctioneer and shook her head. “No.” Her voice was true and clear as she glimpsed at Grady, to see him looking shocked. She laughed a little.

“At thirty-three million dollars … going once … twice … sold! Congratulations, Mr. Mallory.”

Flori giggled as Grady looked astonished—and grateful. He mouthed to her “Why?” and she merely shrugged and smiled.

He caught up with her finally as the crowd dissipated and hugged her. God, those thick arms around her … “You little dreamboat,” he said. “I’m still in shock. How … why …?”

Flori swallowed over the lump in her throat. “Because you deserve it. I wish it had been the Rothko.”

He looked down at her, lost for words and their gazes locked. Her heartbeat quickened.

“Grady?”

They both turned at the sound of her voice. Flori’s stomach dropped to the floor. Asia Flynn stood behind Grady. He took her hand. “God, I’m sorry, As, I got carried away. Asia Flynn, meet Floriana Morgan.”

Flori shook the other woman’s hand and tried to return her warm smile, but her heart was cracking open. Asia smiled at her. “Grady has told me a lot about you; won’t you join us for dinner?”

Flori was about to decline, but Grady was having none of it. “Hell, yes, she will; I need to buy this girl some seriously expensive food.”

Flori grinned then. “Gold-plated caviar with diamond ice on top.”

“Foie grass made from the bird who laid the Golden Egg.”

She giggled. “Grapes handpicked by Bacchus himself.”

“At the very least. Come on, women; man feeds you now.” He pretended to be a caveman and Asia shot Flori an amused look, rolling her eyes. Damn it; don’t make me like you, Flori thought.

Half an hour later, it was a done deal. Asia Flynn was lovely, Flori had to admit. She’d been afraid she might feel like the third wheel, but they were both so inclusive, so welcoming, that Flori had relaxed.

“I feel I might be able to get used to this far too easily.” She gestured around the French restaurant, the beautiful layout and atmosphere a reflection of its surroundings. She’d passed on the escargot that Grady and Asia had tucked into so readily, and was quite happily working her way through the soft and fluffy bread, dipping it in garlic butter and swooning. At Grady’s recommendation, she’d ordered the Cote de Boeuf. When the food was brought out, she suddenly understood why Grady and Asia were grinning. It was huge, at least a thirty-two-ounce hunk of prime beef.

“It’s bigger than my head,” she said weakly, prompting loud laughter from the others. Grady wiped his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I had to. But, I swear, it’s utterly delicious and,” he leaned forward to whisper, “they do doggy bags.”

She boinked him on the head with her fork. “I’ll put you in a doggy bag, Mallory.”

He sat back and grinned. “Eat up.”

It was out of this world; Flori actually moaned with delight as she took her first bite.

“Good?” Asia grinned at her. Flori was glad to see the other woman hadn’t ordered salad or something ‘light’ but instead had a demi-poulet on her plate that she was enthusiastically tucking into.

“So good,” Flori replied, “Please, have some.”

Asia tried it and swooned. “God, yes. Next time, we’ll share one, yes?”

Flori smiled. “Deal.”

Afterward, they walked Flori back to her hotel, and it was only then that she felt the pang of sadness as Grady and Asia walked hand in hand back to their hotel and the room they were obviously sharing. Flori waited until they’d turned a corner, then sat down on the stone steps, breathing in the night air. She felt so conflicted; Asia Flynn was so lovely, so kind and warm, and yet … the thought of Grady making love to her was making Flori feel ill. Sick, actually, sick with jealousy. She breathed in a few lungfuls of the cool night air. I’ll get over it, she said to herself, I will. It’s just a crush.

But she’d deliberately defied her employer. If he ever found out …

“Bye bye college,” she said. No, to hell with that, friendship was more important. Grady had wanted that Kahlo, and her boss would have to get over it. If he fired her, so be it. She’d find the money someplace else.

Decided, she got up and went up to her hotel room. She was pulling off her scarf when suddenly she gasped and turned. The man she called her boss was sitting on her bed. He stood, his face creased with rage.

“You damn little traitor. I saw you with them.”

Flori backed up. “What?” Her knees started to tremble. God, he knows …

Gregor Fisk smiled without humor. “I gave you everything you wanted. All you had to do was beat out Mallory for those paintings.”

“I did,” she said, “every time he was at a sale, I beat him out. The paintings are yours.” Even to her own ears, the lie was pathetic. She’d backed up, so the door was behind her, her hand on the handle, ready to yank it open.

She tried but Gregor slammed his body into her, banging the door closed. He reached over and locked it. Flori was terrified and could feel his hot, sour breath on her face. To her horror, he pulled a knife out from his pocket. Oh God, no … Gregor smiled.

“Oh, no … I’m not done with you yet, girl ...”

And for the next few minutes, Flori could think of only two words.

Help me …

Part Six: Tarnish Me

Pain. That’s all there was now, not night or day, not seconds, minutes or hours, just pain. Floriana Morgan opened her eyes to see a stranger, a man, a man with a kind face, bending over her. He was talking to her, but it sounded a million miles away, hollow, weird. It’s okay, sweetie, we’ve got you now. Her eyes closed again. Pain.

That’s all there was.

Asia Flynn pressed her lips to Grady Mallory’s and smiled. “Good morning, handsome.”

Grady chuckled. “Good morning to you, angel. Come here.” He pulled her on top of him. “God, is it possible you get more beautiful every day?”

Asia puffed out her cheeks and crossed her eyes. Grady grinned. “I take it back.” He looked over at the clock. “God, look at the time.”

Asia shrugged. “So? We have all the time in the world.”

Grady acquiesced. “Or until you have to go back to Seattle.”

“Well, there is that ...” she half frowned, half smiled at him. “You talk as if you weren’t coming back to Washington … I thought you were only in New Orleans for a couple of weeks.”

He hauled himself up onto his elbows. “I was … but I’ve been thinking this last week about the future. You and me, obviously, but more than that, about making a legacy for myself.”

Asia looked interested. “Go on.”

“Well, it’s a lot to do with Flori … you know she’s working for this guy who pays her to screw me over, right?” He was grinning at this and she laughed.

“Yeah, so? Oh wait … I see something, give me a minute ...” She pretended to be receiving messages from the beyond.

“I just thought she would be a good ...”

“I see pro … project … no, I got it, protégé.” Asia laughed and kissed him. “Seriously, you are so your father’s son, Gray.”

He half-smiled. “Not quite. Dad had his students, yeah, but they were all in a classroom. I’m talking about a hands-on mentorship—so to speak. I teach Flori everything I have learned and pay her to be my student on the understanding that she, after a few years, does the same to another art lover. Pay it forward.”

Asia nodded but said nothing. Grady studied her. “Asia? What?”

“So you would travel around the world with Floriana?”

He hid a grin. “As her teacher. Jealous?”

She shook her head, but then had to laugh. “A little. Flori’s gorgeous.”

“And young enough to be my kid.”

“If you grew up in a trailer park.”

“Snob.”

“Hell, yeah. No, seriously, I do think it would be a great thing to do. I’m just jealous she’ll see more of you than I will.”

He kissed her. “I’ll be a cruel, mean tutor. Make her get my coffee and then change my mind about what I want and yell at her for getting it wrong.”

Asia laughed, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, right. Go for it.”

“Really?”

“Yes, absolutely. In fact, call her now; ask if she wants to meet for lunch, I’d like to see her before I go back to Seattle.”

Grady’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. Are you jealous of me traveling with Flori, or of Flori traveling with me …?”

“Shut up. I need to pee. Call her,” she called back as she went to the bathroom. Grady, still grinning, snagged his phone from the night stand and called Flori’s number.

“Hello?”

Grady frowned. Not Flori’s voice. “Hey, I’m sorry ...” he checked the number—definitely Flori’s. “I’m looking for Floriana Morgan; this is her cellphone. Who are you?”

“Dr. Thomas at the Sacred Heart. Are you a friend of Miss Morgan’s?”

Grady’s heart began to beat unpleasantly hard. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Yes, why … God, is she okay?”

The doctor hesitated. “I’m afraid Miss Morgan has been brought to the hospital in a serious condition, more than that I cannot tell you. We’re trying to get in touch with her family.”

“I can help with that, Doctor, please, how bad?”

Another pause. “Bad. If you can get her family here as soon as possible, that would be a help.”

Grady thought he might pass out from the shock. When Asia came out from the bathroom, she went to him immediately, and he told her what had happened. She was as shocked as he was. Grady looked up at her, his eyes red and scared.

“I have to get to the hospital. Now. God, Asia, I think Flori’s dying.”

Parker Thomas M.D. swept his hand onto Flori’s forehead. “Hey, Floriana, can you open your eyes for me?”

No response. God, this poor girl. In his fourteen years, he’d never seen a case like this. Floriana Morgan had been beaten and stabbed in such a brutal attack; Parker wondered how she was still breathing. Bags of blood and saline hung above the gurney she was on. He nodded to his resident. “Yeah, let’s get her down to surgery now, get this bleeding stopped. Then arrange for a head CT. I’ll be as fast as I can—if she weren't bleeding so badly, I’d be tempted to do the CT first, see if there’s a brain bleed, but I don’t want her exsanguinating on me.”

In the theater, he managed to stop the bleeding but it was touch and go so many times, he had to make the choice several times to carry on and not let her go. She’s just a kid, he thought, I have to try. He cursed the person who had done this to her over and over in his mind.

At forty-one, Parker Thomas had made his fortune early by specializing in plastics, but six years into his own practice, he found himself needing more. Needing to help people in emergency situations, bringing people back from the brink, that’s where his heart truly lay. His half-sister, Valentina, called it his God Complex and laughing, he’d agreed, yes, it probably was. Valentina, an actress with a flair for the dramatic, now referred to her brother as Dr. Savior. He would grin, but really, knowing that his talent for going the extra mile for his most urgent patients, filled a hole in his heart.

After Flori’s head CT, he sat in the booth looking at her scans, satisfied that there was no brain bleed. Thank God. She had a fighting chance, if her brain was okay. He went to see her in the ICU. Coma was a scary word but sometimes, like now, it was the best thing for her. It saved her some of the pain. “Keep fighting, little one,” he said.

Out in the corridor, he saw a couple talking with the nurse. The man looked at him. “Dr. Thomas? Grady Mallory, this is Asia Flynn; we’re here for Flori – I’m sorry, I mean, Floriana Morgan.”

Parker shook hands with them. “As I said on the phone, I’m not able to tell you much because you’re not family.”

Grady nodded. “I know, just … please ...” He got choked up and Parker took pity. He drew them to one side. “Look, I didn’t tell you this, okay? Floriana was brought in with multiple stab wounds to the abdomen. She was also badly beaten.”

The woman, Asia, made a distressed noise and her eyes filled with tears. Grady Mallory hugged her to him, his own distress obvious. “Do the police know what happened?”

Parker sighed. “I really shouldn’t … she was attacked in her hotel room. I really don’t know anymore. You said you could help find her family.”

Grady nodded. “Yes, we’re looking into that right now, and we’ll fly them out as soon as we can locate them. As for press, I don’t think we should release her name.”

“Agreed. Look, I wish I could tell you more or give you better news, but we are doing everything to help her. She’s very sick.”

Grady thanked him. “Doctor, I know this is a stupid question, but can …?”

Parker shook his head. “I’m afraid you can’t see her yet. When her folks arrive, it’ll be up to them.”

“Of course. I thought I’d ask.” Grady gave him a half smile, “She’s just a kid,” he said, echoing Parker’s thoughts.

“Yeah.” Suddenly, Parker felt bleak. “This world, sometimes.”

Asia Flynn put her hand on his arm. “This world. Thank you for looking after her.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks. Look, I have to get back. If you can let the desk know when her parents get here?”

“Sure thing.”

He nodded, smiled, and left them standing there. Checking again on his patients, he left Flori until last. She was about the same age as Valentina, and the thought made his chest clench up. He would call his half-sister as soon as he got off work tonight. He checked her vital signs—steady, not great, but stable. Jesus, what people did to each other. Her injuries would heal; the bruises on her pretty face would fade; but only God knew what psychological scars would be left.

“Keep fighting, little one,” he said to the comatose woman. Shit, why did it always get to him? He was a freaking professional. He went to update his charts. Helena, the ICU head nurse, nudged his shoulder as she sat down next to him. A Mexican woman in her forties, she had taken him under her wing as soon as he transferred to emergency medicine all those years ago—now she was family.

“You okay, punkin? Rough day?”

“Not as rough as that poor kid in there.”

“Amen.” She studied him. “You ever go out, let your hair down, Parker? Because you look like a guy who needs a big night, some good friends, and an almighty hangover.”

He grinned gratefully at her. “Hels, all I need is you to remind me that the world isn’t always a bad place.”

She smiled. “I’m serious, dude. You need a woman.”

Parker laughed out loud. “Ha, you’re joking, right? When do I have time for dating?”

Helene gave a chuckle. “Maybe you don’t need a date, but you definitely need to get laid.”

Parker sighed. “No argument there.” He looked at the clock. “You about finished? Wanna get a drink?”

Helena pretended to be shocked. “I am a married woman, Dr. Thomas.”

“Shut up and get your coat.”

Asia glanced anxiously at Grady. He had been withdrawn since they left the hospital-- understandably so—but she was worried. From what the doctor had told them, Flori was in a very bad way, and Grady was devastated. Was there such a thing as too devastated for someone who’d known her only a few weeks? She immediately felt bad for even thinking such a thing but...

“Gray? She’s in the best place.” Asia took his hand. The cab ride back to the hotel was almost over, and she couldn’t bear to think of the whole evening passing in silence. It was better to talk about it. Grady gave her a sad smile.

“I keep thinking what if … no, it’s ridiculous.” He shook his head and turned away again.

“What?”

He didn’t look at her. “Later.”

Back in his hotel room, Asia waited for him to speak. He seemed to struggle with something in his mind then sighed. “What if … Flori’s boss … she deliberately didn’t bid on that Kahlo, so I could get it, and what if her boss found out?”

Asia frowned. “But why would he try to kill her for something like that- wouldn’t he just fire her?”

“Well, that’s what I figured, but her employer is loaded, so maybe I thought it might be someone from a mob background, who didn’t take too kindly to her ‘betrayal’, as they would see it.”

Asia wasn’t convinced. “It’s more likely to be some psychopath seeing a pretty girl and doing what psychos do. God,” she suddenly felt sick. “I’m so sick of women being targets for men who can’t keep their baser instincts under control. First Quilla, now this.”

The idea occurred to them at the same time and their eyes locked. Grady was the first to shake his head. “No … it can’t be.”

Gregor Fisk. “Damn it, damn it ...” Grady reached for his phone. “This has got to stop. Yeah, police, my name’s Grady Mallory. I’m calling about the stabbing at the Rose Hotel—I think I might have some information. I know it’s late, but can I come and see you right now?”

Grady had to hand it to his family, as soon as his dad and Jakob heard the news, they filled New Orleans and Louisiana with private detectives and security, all searching for any trace of Gregor Fisk. Meanwhile, Flori’s parents, Mac and Jean, were flown in by private jet and Grady himself drove them to the hospital.

When they got there and saw Flori—still comatose—and the extent of her injuries, Jean broke down and sobbed in her husband’s arms. Grady watched as they spoke to Dr. Thomas, Flori’s father stone-faced and pale. Afterward, they came to sit with Flori. Grady looked in through the glass door. She looked so tiny and fragile in that bed, he could hardly stand it.

“Please, please, Flori, don’t go ...” He hadn’t realized he was talking aloud until Asia took his hand.

“Grady … let’s give them some privacy.”

He shook his head, not looking away from Flori’s still figure. Asia’s hand slipped out of his. “I’m going to grab some coffee in the cafeteria, then.” There was a slight edge to her voice, but he brushed it aside.

“Okay, see you later.”

Asia thanked the server, took her coffee, and looked around for a chair. The cafeteria was busy, but she spotted an empty seat and aimed for it. The other seat was occupied, and she recognized Flori’s doctor. She hesitated, but he looked up and smiled, gesturing to a chair.

“Please, it’s no trouble.”

She sat and smiled gratefully at him. “Hello again.”

He looked blank, and she grinned. “Sorry, I’m a friend of Floriana Morgan’s—Asia Flynn.” She stuck her hand out, and he took it. His fingers were warm and dry and dwarfed her small hand. A little frisson went through her. He was a dark-haired man, pale-skinned, with the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. His dark brown beard framed a handsome, boyish face and she couldn’t tell if he was young or just looked it. He was studying her with interest,

“Parker Thomas. Hey, yes, of course, I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “You probably meet hundreds of people every day.”

Parker grinned and leaned forward. “There’s so many things I could say right now and they’d all sound so cheesy, so I’ll just go with I have no idea how I could forget you.”

She laughed at his mischievous smile. “Still cheesy.”

He shrugged good-naturedly. “Yup, cheesy’s all I got. Hey look, Flori’s doing a little better. I’m considering bringing her out of the coma, to see if we can test her brain function.”

Asia’s nausea returned again. “God ...” She rubbed her head and suddenly felt the tears filling her eyes. “Sorry, it’s just; we had this happen a few months ago. Luckily that time my friend’s injuries weren’t as bad, but to have it happen again.”

Parker Thomas looked sympathetic. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Your friend okay now?”

“Oh, yes. But it’s just the violence of it, you know. Flori’s only a kid.”

Parker nodded. “I know. I was thinking earlier, I have a sister about the same age.”

“You have a big family?”

“Just me and Valentina. She’s an actress.”

Asia studied him. “Valentina Thomas?”

“Valentina Rose.”

Asia was impressed. “Wow.”

Parker grinned shyly. “Sorry, I have to boast about her; she’s my best friend.”

Asia smiled. “That’s sweet. I’m an only child, but I kinda married into a big family. Even after the divorce, I still see more of the Mallorys than I do my own family.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Valentina is the daughter of Stylo Thomas, right? The banker? Your father, yes?”

Parker nodded. “For my sins. We don’t see him a lot; he’s always working.” He gave a little laugh. “I must take after him.”

Asia still remembered something. “I think my ex-father-in-law Ran did some business with your father in the late seventies—aren’t they still friends?”

“Oh, those Mallorys,” Parker realized who she was talking about. “Wow. Yeah, I think they did, and they might still be in touch, I don’t get to see my dad as much as I’d like. So you were married to …?”

“Kit Mallory,” Asia told him, and he nodded. “Now, though, I’m sort of ...” She tailed off, suddenly not wanting to tell him she was seeing Grady.

“Sort of?”

“Nothing.” She smiled. “So you come from old, old, money—why are you an emergency room doc?”

“Business was not my forte or my passion. I wanted to help people—I started in plastics,” he said and laughed at her expression, “Hey, look, it’s important to some people, and I don’t mean the celebrity stuff. People who have been in fires, been mauled, attacked, been in car wrecks—you would be surprised by the scope of the field.”

“So you worked mainly on those people?”

Parker’s mouth hitched up at one side. “No, I mostly pandered to celebrities,” and he grinned as she laughed loudly. “But, listen, it made me a lot of money in a short time, so I was able to go into something more fulfilling.”

Asia met his gaze. “I’m glad, Parker. You don’t seem like one of the bloated Real Housewife surgeons I see on TV.”

“You need to watch better shows.”

“That’s very true. Look, thanks for the company; it’s been really good to talk to you. I have to ask,” she added as she stood up, she grinned widely, “Do the nurses call you McDreamy?”

Parker groaned loudly. “No, thank God. That’s a firing offense.”

She laughed. “Good. Because a—thankfully, you look nothing like Patrick Dempsey; and b—because all the screwing in on-call rooms is very unhygienic.” She shuddered dramatically.

He laughed. “If only that ever actually happened in real life. Good to talk to you, Asia, but please, watch better TV.”

“I’ll try.” She waved and left the cafeteria, feeling cheered and happier than in days. Parker Thomas was cute as hell, her brain told her. Her body clearly agreed because her skin felt tingly, her nipples hard, and there was a definite beat pulsing between her legs. For a moment, she let herself enjoy the feeling, then shut the feeling down. She was with Grady, wasn’t she? She cared so deeply for him, loved the incredible sex, but since Flori’s attack he had been withdrawing from Asia so much that she had no choice but to recognize it and deal with it.

She steeled herself for the scene upstairs in ICU but when she got there all was quiet. Mac and Jean had left for the evening, and Grady was sitting in with Flori. He was holding her hand, and as Asia watched, he brought the unconscious girl’s hand to his mouth and pressed his lips against it. Oof, gut punch, Asia thought wincing. But something in her understood, told her this had been inevitable ever since Flori had come into their lives. She’d known from the first time she’d seen Grady and Flori together.

Neither of them has any clue, she thought to herself now. She stood back, just watching Grady sit with the young woman, watching his expression as he watched her sleep. Love. Whether Grady realized it, their relationship— his and Asia’s—had just ended with that tiny gesture, that kiss against the soft skin of Flori’s hand.

And Asia didn’t feel as sad as she should have.

Jakob picked at his food while around him, his family chatted and laughed. Only his adored girlfriend, Quilla, looked as subdued and tired as he did. She was working long hours at the college, hoping to make up for some of the negative publicity she thought she had brought them. Her professor had called Jakob to express his concern at Quilla’s state of mind, but Quilla had dismissed his worries, even got a little angry that she was being discussed behind her back. It had caused a rift between Quilla and Jakob and he was at a loss for how to mend it.

Marley Griffin, finally persuaded to join the party, met his gaze, and he saw her frown and nod almost imperceptibly at Quilla. He shook his head. Not here. Marley sighed, and when Quilla excused herself to go to the bathroom, Marley scooted into her vacant chair at Jakob’s side.

“That’s not my friend,” she said bluntly. “My friend is funny and loving and excited about life, even when she feels crap. Have you suggested therapy?”

Jakob gave a humorless laugh. “Many, many times. She just shuts down on me. Look, I know you and I have had our differences, but please, help me. You’ve known her longer than I have, you can ...”

“… tell it to her straight,” Marley finished for him, looking grim-faced. Jakob laughed softly.

“Right.”

Marley studied. “I’m working on my anger issues with you,” she said, her voice softening. “I know it wasn’t your fault she was stabbed. I just, God, I felt so helpless. We’re each other’s family, you know? I don’t know what a world without her would be like.”

“Then we have more in common than you think,” Jakob said gently. “I just don’t know how to reach her.”

Marley gave a frustrated sigh. “Just keep on loving her no matter what. I’ll be the bad cop, and we’ll see if that has any effect.”

Quilla washed her hands, avoiding her reflection in the vast mirrors of the restaurant bathroom. She hated looking at herself now; her eyes always seemed wild, scared, and angry. She had tried to analyze what was making her feel like she was on a tightrope without a net. It was him, Gregor; his obsession had become her obsession. She wanted to deal with him herself but knew, frustrated, that it wasn’t likely to happen that way. She had even, not to Jakob’s knowledge, given her security detail the slip and gone out in the open, wondering if he was watching her, then, if he would strike, if she could drive the knife she hid in her pocket into his heart and be done with this horror forever.

She scared herself. Never, in her life, would she ever have considered harming another human being, but her shredded nerves and fragile mindset made her sure she could kill Gregor if it came down to it.

She dried her hands then stopped, leaning her forehead against the cool tile. She was losing it, she knew it, but sheer orneriness kept her from asking for help. You are not a victim, she said to herself. Grady’s friend had it much, much worse than you did. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. She needed something, to reconnect with Jakob, to spend time with Marley and Asia and Nan—her friends, her sisters.

She drew in a deep breath and went back out to rejoin the party. She smiled at Jakob, and his delighted grin broke her heart. She pressed her lips against his. “I love you, Mr. Mallory.”

She felt his big body relax into the embrace. “Me too, Miss Chen, and when we get home, I’ll show you just how much.”

She grinned, then smiled over at Marley, who was watching them. Marley’s mouth hitched up in a knowing grin. “Strumpet”, she mouthed at her friend, and Quilla laughed, giving her the thumbs up.

Maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay.

“Okay, Floriana, I’m going to ask you to open your eyes now.”

Flori stirred and slowly, very slowly, she opened her eyes, the lids gummy, sticky with sleep. The bright light assaulted her vision, and she clamped them shut again and moaned.

“It’s okay, Flori, I’m sorry, we’ll draw the blinds … nurse, could you …? Thanks. Now, how about we try that again, Flori?” He had such a lovely, melodic voice. She opened her eyes and looked into the face of the dark-haired man leaning over her and smiling.

“Hey there,” he said with a smile. “I’m Dr. Thomas. How are you feeling?”

“Thirsty.” The words came out as a whisper. Someone was moistening her mouth, then holding a cup to her lips. She gulped down the cold water gratefully, not taking her eyes from the handsome doctor. “Where … am?” she said in broken words; her head felt fuzzy, and she couldn’t find the right words. “I am … no … where?”

He smiled, but his eyes registered concern. “In hospital, sweetheart. Do you remember what happened?”

Pain. A fist being slammed into her face, him, straddling her. The knife. Pain. A whimper escaped her.

“It’s okay, darling. We’re here.”

“Mom?” Her mother came into her field of vision and Flori’s eyes filled with tears. “Mom ...” Her voice cracked, then her vision was blurry because of the tears. Dr. Thomas smiled and stepped aside to let her father come in and hug her. As she embraced her parents, she saw him. Grady, standing at the end of the bed, smiling through his tears.

The police were kind, but after two hours of questioning, she was exhausted. She’d sent her mom and dad back to the hotel; You don’t need to hear this, she’d told them. Relieved when they’d agreed, she was glad to have Grady by her side. He’d wrapped his arm around her shoulders and now, when she was drooping from telling them everything she remembered, over and over—he stepped in. “Okay, gents, Flori needs to rest now.”

Alone, he perched on the side of her bed, cradling her in his arms. She leaned into his big body, relaxing her tensed shoulders. Her body ached and felt heavy from the dressings. They told her what he’d done to her, the man, her boss … whose name she now knew. She’d identified Gregor Fisk from his photographs; in the glossy shots, he looked handsome, respectable, and business-like. She’d seen the devil within, the feral creature who had stabbed her repeatedly and left her dying in a pool of her own hot, sticky blood. Gregor Fisk.

“I’m so sorry, Grady,” she whispered now and Grady, frowning, moved so he could look at her.

“Why are you apologizing to me? If anything, I should be begging for your forgiveness.”

“Why?” she coughed, her throat still raw from the tubes, and Grady immediately reached for the water glass at her side. She took a sip. “I took the job; you had no way of knowing.”

“Neither did you. Look, this fucker has been targeting us since Jakob fired him and ...” He trailed off, staring at her as if seeing her for the first time.

“What?” She raised her eyebrows—painfully—at him.

He shook his head. “I never saw it before … you look like her.”

Flori didn’t get it. “Who?”

“Quilla. Dark hair, slight, your eye color is different but not by much, both beautiful, both art students … God, that sick fuck.”

“I still don’t understand.”

Grady sighed, twisted his fingers in with hers. “Fisk targeted you to send us a message. God, Flori, I’m so sorry I didn’t see it.”

“How could you have? It’s insane.” Flori shifted uncomfortably; the last morphine shot was wearing off. Grady stroked his hand down her face, and Flori leaned into his touch.

“Hey there.”

They both looked up to see Asia watching them from the doorway. She was smiling, but there was something else in her eyes. A resigned look, sadness. She came in and kissed Flori’s cheek. “How are you feeling?”

Flori smiled at her. “Better. I think.”

Asia squeezed her hand. “Well, look, I have to go back to Seattle for a couple of days, so take care of yourself, won’t you? I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

Grady followed Asia into the corridor. “You didn’t mention going back to Seattle.”

Asia smiled sadly. “I did, actually, a couple of times. Look, Grady, maybe this is a good thing, get some space, figure out where we want to go from here. We never made a commitment to each other that was anything more than friends with benefits.”

Grady’s eyes were hurt, confused. “What? I don’t get it … are you breaking up with me?”

Asia chuckled softly, shaking her head. “You really don’t see it, do you? Grady, you are my best friend, and you will always be that to me. But I think your heart lies elsewhere.” She deliberately glanced back into Flori’s room. Grady suddenly understood.

“No … Flori’s my friend; I thought you understood that … .it has nothing to do with us.”

She suddenly grabbed him, hugging him hard. “It has everything to do with us, my sweet,” she whispered. Then, dashing away a tear, she smiled up at him. “You deserve a chance at real love. And so do I. When you think about it, you’ll realize.”

Grady kept shaking his head. “No, this … this is real, you and me. I’ve waited so long for this to happen.”

“I know, I know, and I will never regret what has happened between us. Never,” she said fiercely. “But I can’t be a portion of someone’s love, and I am not blaming you or Flori because I know neither of you realizes it yet. Try, Grady, and I swear you’ll understand what I’m saying. She is your heart, not me.”

He was silent then, his mind whirling. Asia kissed him softly. “Goodbye, Grady. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

As she started to walk away, he called her name. As she turned, he looked into her eyes. “If you’re so sure, why are you coming back in a couple of days?”

She smiled. “Because Flori’s my friend, too, and so are you. I’ll be here as long as you both need me.”

She could feel him watching her walk away. As she pressed the call button, she willed him to go back to Flori’s side, not make this harder—although there was still part of her that wished he’d come for her, beg her to stay. A small part. But not her whole heart.

Because over the last few weeks, Asia had realized that Grady wasn’t her future. He would always be in her life, but lately, there had been someone else, someone she’d grown close to, met for coffee every day, sometimes, twice a day. Someone with the bluest, sexiest eyes she’d ever seen.

She headed for the hospital cafeteria now, walked in, and saw him.

Parker Thomas looked up and with obvious delight in his eyes, he stood and smiled at her.

Marley waited until Quilla was strapped into the car. Her friend grinned at her, but Marley could see the dark purple shadows under her eyes.

“So where are you taking me?”

Marley smiled. “Not telling. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Quilla smiled. “Fair enough. How have you been, Marls?”

“I’m fine,” she said, concentrating on the road. “Have you been sleeping better?”

“A little.” She was lying, Marley could always tell, and she shot her a look. Quilla shrugged. “You know how it is.”

Marley pursed her lips. She and Jakob had spent hours on the phone trying to figure out how to help her but at last Markey had said, “Right, screw all this, I’m just going to take her to a therapist myself and use extreme emotional blackmail.”

Which is what she was doing now. Twenty minutes later, they pulled into the underground car park of a tall office building, Quilla looking confused. Marley parked the car and turned to her friend.

“What’s going on?” Quilla was studying her face, her eyes wary.

Marley’s face was set. “Upstairs, on the third floor is an office. In that office is one the world’s best—and most expensive—psychiatrists. He specializes in PTSD in victims of violence. You are booked in for a course of sessions with him. You will attend every single one of them. Either Jakob or I will bring you, to make sure you attend them.”

Quilla was staring at her in horror. “You cannot be serious—who do you think you are? Both you and Jakob need to realize I’m not a child. Switch the engine on and let’s leave.”

“I haven’t finished.” Marley’s voice was hard now. “If you miss even a minute of a session, that’s it. I’m done. You will never see me again. Ever.”

Quilla’s eyes were filled with tears. “Please don’t make me do this,” she whispered, “I can’t. I can’t relive that night.”

“You’re reliving it every minute! Do you think we can’t see that? And it’s destroying you, and Jakob, and me and everyone that cares for you.”

Quilla was getting more agitated by the second. “For God’s sake, of course I’m upset. He’s still out there! And he wants to kill me. A man I barely know wants to kill me. Wouldn’t you be …?” Her voice cracked then, and she turned her head so Marley couldn’t see her tears. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I love you,” Marley said, softening her tone. “Because you need this. This will help you get stronger, mentally, so you can deal with this other crap.”

“This other crap meaning death threats,” Quilla snapped. She dropped her head into her hands. “I don’t believe what you’re doing to me. I can’t believe it. Please, Marley, I ...”

“No more talking. Get out of the car, get into that elevator, and get the help you desperately need.”

Quilla stared at her. “I’ll never forgive you for this.” But she got out of the car, slamming it shut, and went to the elevator. A few moments later, Marley’s phone beeped. A text message from the psychiatrist’s assistant.

She’s in.

Marley let out a huge sigh of relief … then burst into tears.

“You’re cheating.”

“I am not.”

“You are. You’re rocking the table so that ...”

The Jenga tower collapsed and Flori groaned, swatting at a grinning Grady. “I told you.”

“Sore loser,” he chuckled as he swept the pieces back into the box. Flori was looking so much better; the six weeks since the attack had flown by. Grady had spent every hour he could with her, apart from when her mom was with her, not wanting to intrude.

Her father had returned to Portland, work calling him back after a couple of weeks, but by then, they knew Flori would be fine. A long recovery time, yes, but essentially, she would return to full health within a few months. Grady had assured her parents and Flori that all the medical expenses would be taken care of—as well as Flori’s college fund. Flori had protested, but Grady would not hear of anything else.

“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” he’d said earnestly and now, as he looked at her lovely face, so delicately featured, so expressive and warm, he knew that to be true. What Asia had said to him all those weeks ago had made his whole outlook on the world change. She was right—he had fallen in love with Flori. Completely and utterly.

But he was afraid. Afraid of the age difference between them, afraid she would not feel the same way, afraid that if she knew his true feelings, she would feel beholden to him. And God, the thought of that made him feel sick. He wanted her, yes, but only if she wanted him back without condition or hesitation. So he kept his feelings to himself—for the most part. He had a feeling Jean, Flori’s mother, could read him like a book. She reminded him so much of his own mother, so kind, and nurturing.

Flori was harder to read. She certainly welcomed him, treated him as her best friend—and that made him a little gun-shy after what Asia had said—but he couldn’t tell if she felt anything more for him. They were always holding hands, or touching the other’s face, or hugging, but then, Flori was a very tactile person.

Asia had kept her promise and had been back to see them, not showing any resentment or giving Flori any clue to why she and Grady were no longer together. Flori had asked Grady what their deal was when she was on a lot of morphine, and he’d told her they were just friends.

“Sexy friends,” Flori had mumbled, just before she fell asleep and Grady had smiled sadly. The more time he spent away from Asia, he realized she had right. Maybe their brief love affair had been just the blissful, short way to resolve unfinished business.

“Earth to Grady,” Flori said now with a grin. She stroked his face. “Beardy.”

Grady grinned, leaning into her touch. “Want me to shave?”

She shook her head. “Nah, you look good with a beard. So good, you’re making me jealous. I sometimes wish it was socially acceptable for women to have beards. I’d rock a little goatee.”

Grady laughed. “That medication you’re on is really something, huh?”

She smiled. “Actually, at the moment, no pain meds. I’m riding it out. Better for recovery, so I don’t strain any core muscles when the morphine fools me into thinking they don’t hurt.” She winced then and laughed. “Like that.”

Grady frowned. “But if you’re in pain, surely …?”

She shook her head. “Only when I move awkwardly. I’ve got so used to being in pain that now that it’s just general soreness, I think I feel great. Maybe they’ll let me out soon.”

She looked hopeful, and Grady grinned. “Keep dreaming. But I wanted to ask, what are your plans for when you do get out? Will you go back to Portland?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think I’m going to transfer my college credits to somewhere else, start over.”

“You know wherever you want to go; I’m going to cover everything, tuition, housing.”

“Grady ...”

“No arguments. This is non-negotiable.”

She gave him a small smile. “You are the greatest.” She hesitated and leaned towards him, and her lips brushed his, quickly, gently. Grady’s mouth tingled from the sensation of it and he smiled. He moved nearer to her, taking her face in his hands, and once again covering her mouth with his. He felt her little fingers tangled in his hair as he kissed her, as the kiss became more urgent, he heard her moan softly, the sound of it making his cock harden, his pulse race.

Eventually, he broke away, and they smiled at each other. He ran the back of his fingers down her cheek. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured. She nuzzled her nose against his.

“Come lay down with me,” she said and shifted across the bed—wincing. He kicked off his shoes and stretched out beside her, her head on his chest, his lips against her forehead. She fit so naturally in his arms that his heart felt like it would burst. He was in love with this gorgeous, fragile, vulnerable girl. And right then, right at that moment, he knew he was lost.

Asia walked straight to the cafeteria the minute she got back to the hospital. You should be visiting your friends, she told herself, but she couldn’t help pick up her stride. God, she wanted to see Parker. Their talks over coffee had been so flirty, so much fun, that she could barely wait to get back to New Orleans to see him. So far it had all been very casual—coffee, text messages arranging … dates? Could she call them that?

All she knew was, Parker Thomas was the first thing she thought of when she woke. She grinned to herself now as she walked into the cafeteria and stopped, her heart failing. Parker was at their usual table, but there was someone else there, a woman, a blonde, and Parker was laughing with her. He caught Asia’s eye and waved, his smile still in place and slowly, she walked towards them.

The blonde woman turned and smiled at her warmly, and the relief she felt was all-consuming. Valentina; Oscar-winning actress and Parker’s sister. Oh, thank God. She nearly said it out loud, but kept her face friendly and open. Valentina kissed both of her cheeks.

“It’s so lovely to meet you at last,” she said as they sat down, “Parker hasn’t shut up about you.”

“Dude, way to play it cool,” Parker muttered, suddenly seeming less like the medical wunderkind he was and more like a goofy teenager. He grinned at Asia. “Hey, beautiful, good flight?”

Valentina, it turned out, was only with them for an hour, then had to catch a connecting flight to Europe. She was funny, bright, and told them outrageous stories of life on set. Asia grinned.

“God, I remember it well,” she said, and Valentina leaned in conspiratorially.

“Between you and me, you were always too good for Kit. He’s a nice guy, but an idiot when it comes to woman.”

Something made Asia wonder if Kit and Valentina had ever hooked up; then dismissed the idea—who cared now? Kit was blissfully happy with Bo Kennedy. She wondered if Valentina had someone special in her life—maybe you should spend some time on gossip sites, she told herself with a grin.

When they were alone, Parker took her hand, his cheeks flushing pink. “So I was wondering if we could go out of the hospital, on a real date. I’d like to cook you something. If you are free, of course.”

She smiled, her own face blushing. “Love too … tonight?”

Parker grinned, relieved. “If it suits you … right now?”

God, yes, yes. “Sure thing. You cook?”

The red cheeks were back. “I love food, especially French cuisine, but here, I don’t get a chance to cook for anyone.”

Asia smiled. “That sounds good.”

His apartment was not as she expected but thinking about it, it made sense. He came from a vastly rich family and his apartment reflected that. A vast open-plan space, exposed brickwork, a kitchen to die for. At the far end, a large bed, swathed in gray, navy, and white sheets. Asia’s heart began to beat faster as Parker gave the quick tour. His hand brushed hers and took it, and he gently pulled her to him.

“Are you hungry?” he murmured and as she looked up at him, she shook her head. He smiled.

“Me either,” and he bent his head and covered her mouth with his, his tongue gently probing her mouth, massaging her tongue. Asia moaned as the kiss deepened and she felt him lift her into his arms and carry her to that vast bed.

God, she wanted this man so badly, in a way she’d never felt before, so that if she didn’t have him inside her now, she would die. She tugged his shirt open, running her hands over the fine smattering of hair on his firm chest. Parker grinned down at her, his fingers on the belt of her wrap dress, untying it and pushing the fabric away from her body.

“Wow, oh, wow,” he said with wonder in his voice as he took in the smooth curves of her belly, the full breasts, and her rich olive skin. They spent a long time undressing each other, kissing every exposed piece of skin. Parker was tall and well-built, his body firm, if not defined. Asia felt utterly feminine with him; he made her feel so beautiful that she could have cried.

When they were naked, they lay beside each other for a long time, stroking their hand over the other’s skin, drinking each other in. Finally, when neither could wait any longer, Parker gathered her to him and his cock, trembling and bobbing under its own weight, slid into her, filling her, stretching her out in the most blissful way. They moved together, and as they did, they laughed and smiled and had fun and her orgasm, when it came, was mellow and carried on, even after they collapsed back onto the bed. Asia felt warmth flood through her as she looked at his charming, boyish, gorgeous face and knew she’d found something remarkable.

Parker propped himself up on his elbow and gazed down at her, his fingers tracing delicate patterns over her belly. “Asia Flynn, you have no idea what you being here means to me.”

She nodded. “Right back at cha. My God, Parker … if this isn’t a weird thing to say, I feel … free. As if suddenly I get ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ is.”

Parker grinned and kissed her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but as long as you’re happy.”

She chuckled. “I’ll explain some other time.” She studied him. “How the hell are you single?”

Parker lay back, and she settled her head on his chest. “I just … it wasn’t something I particular cared about, a relationship.”

“You slept around?” Her voice held no judgment—he was a good- looking guy.

He shrugged. “Some. I guess I was tied up with my work. Then I saw you and ...” He made a swooning; gesture, and she laughed. “You have the cutest face,” he said. “Hey, I’m curious … what’s your deal with Grady Mallory? When I met you, I figured you were a couple.”

She sighed. “You know, we were, God, how can I put this? Laying old ghosts.” She grinned wickedly. “Literally for a while, but then Flori happened.”

“Regrets?”

“None. It hurt, of course, but when you see two people that are so right for each other ...”

Parker stroked her face. “I know what you mean.”

She rested her cheek on his hard chest. “Can we just stay here and not deal with the outside world for a while?”

Parker grinned. “You got it, sweet cheeks.”

Asia closed her eyes, breathing in his clean scent, and suddenly realized why she was so relaxed with this lovely man. It was because he wasn’t a Mallory. She had been too tied up in their world for too long.

Now it was her turn to find the happiness she deserved, outside that world.

Grady went to grab some coffee with Jean as Flori slept. The doctor who had checked her this morning told them with a smile that she could go home at the end of the week. Flori had been so happy but now, exhausted again, she’d fallen back asleep.

Grady carried the tray over to the table, and he and Jean relaxed. “She’s doing so well,” Jean said happily. Jean, a tiny woman in her sixties, was the spitting image of her daughter, except the dark hair was flecked with white, and the cornflower blue eyes were lined and covered with spectacles. But Flori was there in the easy, warm smile and the plump cheeks which made Jean look decades younger. She was smiling at Grady now.

“That girl’s crazy about you, young man.”

Grady grinned and tapped her cup with his. “As I am about her.”

“Well, I’m delighted, although you may find her father a tougher nut to crack.”

Grady sighed, nodding. Mac Morgan blamed him for Flori’s attack. “Yeah, but I have to admit, I can’t say I blame him. It may have been Gregor Fisk, that damned coward, who tried to kill her, but it’s because of my family.”

Jean shook her head. “I cannot even imagine what your family has been through these last few months.”

Grady was silent for a moment. “Jean … Flori tells me she doesn’t want to go back to Portland. I would like to invite her to come stay with me in Seattle for a while. We, my family, have our base there, security, a home where Flori would be safe. But I wanted to ask you what you thought about that.”

Before Jean could answer, Parker Thomas interrupted—with Asia in tow. Grady shook hands with the doctor and kissed Asia, who said hello to Jean. Grady looked between the two newcomers—there was obviously something going on and for that, he was glad. Relieved, which was a weird feeling but …

Asia pulled him to one side. “Hey, you,” she said, her eyes warm. “How’s Flori?”

He couldn’t help but smile. “She’s being released at the end of this week.”

“Oh, Gray, that’s wonderful, I’m so glad.”

Grady hugged her then nodded at Parker. “You and the doc, huh?”

She chuckled. “Pretty much. You okay with that?”

He looked into her eyes and realized that whatever happened, they would always share something special. “More than. You know I love you, right? But in the right way, now.”

“I feel the same. I don’t regret anything, though, Gray, not one thing.”

He smiled. “Me either. Truly.”

She snickered and pretended to count on her fingers. “Let me see; that’s two Mallory brothers down ...”

Grady laughed and hugged her again. A beeper sounded. Parker, talking to Jean, checked his message and, to Grady’s horror, his face dropped. He glanced up at them.

“It’s Flori. She’s coding ...”

Every time she went to see the psychiatrist, she got stronger. Yes, it was painful, and Quilla knew as she sobbed all her fear and anger out that something fundamental inside her was changing. She began to feel herself again, to want to be with Jakob, to be more intimate with him as time passed. But it was difficult. No longer did she need the hard, clinical fucking they had participated in over the last few months. Some days she couldn’t bear to think of sex at all.

Quilla would never forget Jakob’s gentleness, his patience. Not once did he flinch when she would pull away suddenly, fists balled up, panic rising in her, terror choking her. He would simply wait, a hand on her shoulder, her back, or smoothing her hair until she calmed down. She longed for the early days of their relationship where they would fall into bed easily, all of the time, desperate for that connection. Now she felt some of that feeling coming back.

But her relationship with Marley was fractured. Although she had gone to each session as Marley asked her to, the rift was still there, and Quilla felt enormous sadness and guilt. Marley had gone to Antarctica on another research trip—or rather, she had volunteered to go, and Quilla felt as if she was responsible for her friend’s absence.

She had reached out to Nan Applebee, Joel’s girlfriend, and the two of them had been growing closer but still, Quilla felt Marley’s distance keenly.

After a few weeks of psychiatry, Jakob had suggested a vacation, and now they were on the Mallorys’ private island, close to the Hawaiian Islands. From the huge villa, they could see the constant stream of lava from the island’s volcano from a distance, and at night it was a strangely serene sight.

The island was stunning, a respite, and a haven. They swam and snorkeled and rediscovered some of that joy they’d found so long ago in Venice and Quilla truly started to believe that everything would be okay again.

They got to Flori’s room as the nurses were frantically giving the young woman resuscitation. To Grady’s horror, they had already shocked her twice, but still the flat line screamed out. Dead. Dead. Parker went into emergency mood, cool, calm, utterly professional, and took over from the nursing staff.

Grady, Jean, and Asia stood well back, the younger people hugging Jean to keep her from collapsing in terror as they watched them trying to save her daughter’s life.

Parker got a rhythm, to their relief, then immediately listened to her chest. “Okay,” he said, “I think it’s an embolism, air or a blood clot. Let’s get her down to surgery now.”

In a whirl, they were all gone, and the three of them stood there, not knowing if they’d ever see Flori alive again.

On the fourth night, they were lying on the sun loungers watching the sun set over the ocean. Jakob looked over at Quilla, stretched out on the lounger, white bikini against her tanned skin, full breasts and soft belly, and long, slender legs. She looked so much happier and healthier than for months now. She sensed his scrutiny and turned her head to smile at him. “What are you thinking about, Mr. Man?”

Jakob grinned. “That impossibly delicious body of yours and what I’d like to do to it right now.”

She stretched leisurely. “Do what you will with it, Jakob Mallory; it’s all yours.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

He thought about it for a moment. Then, sliding his legs off his chair, he moved to her lounger and straddled it, lifting her legs over his hips. His hands went to the halter strap on her bikini top and released it, her ripe, golden brown breasts freed. He grinned and made a ‘wow’ shape with his mouth, and she laughed. He drew her hands together and, with her top, bound them above her head.

Quilla wriggled, obviously turned on, as his fingers slid under the side ties of her panties. “Side fastenings, very convenient,” he murmured.

“I thought they would be,” she whispered and sighed happily as he removed them. Jakob spent his time devouring her luscious body with his eyes, watching her belly rise and fall with her breathing, trailing the tips of his fingers in gentle circles around her navel. He did this for a few minutes, knowing she loved the feeling of him touching her belly, before moving down into her groin, his fingers exploring her dampening sex.

“I want to see you,” she murmured, but he shook his head.

“Oh, no, tonight you’re all mine; do you understand?”

As he slipped a finger into her velvet warmth, she gasped and nodded.

“Good. I want you to spread your legs a little wider, beautiful, that’s it.” He moved down so he could taste her, taking the hardening clit into his mouth and sucking on it, teasing it with his tongue, feeling it pulse against his lips. His fingers kneaded the soft flesh of her inner thighs and when he could stand it no longer, he bit down on the soft flesh, hard. He heard her squeak, a little cry of surprise, and glanced up to check that she was okay. She met his gaze, breathless, and she nodded, encouraging him. He grinned and crawled up her body.

“Quilla, do you trust me?”

She nodded, her eyes alive with excitement.

“Good. Because I have an idea … I’ll be right back.”

He left her tied to the lounger and went to the closet, where he’d stashed some purchases he’d been making. He hadn’t known if she would be up for what he wanted to do, but now … he grinned to himself and took the box out to the terrace. She wriggled with pleasure when she saw him. The light was fading, so he lit some candles and placed them around the terrace. Then he took the oil from the box, followed by a selection of dildos, blindfolds, lube, and other toys. There was a beautifully supple leather harness that he had chosen especially for Quilla. She grinned as he placed each one carefully on the table. When he was done, he looked at her.

“Is there anything on this table that you wouldn’t want me to use?”

She shook her head. “I told you … anything.”

He smiled and kissed her. Then, taking the harness, strapped it slowly around her body, the buttery soft leather crisscrossing around her breasts, more straps around her thighs, under her buttocks.

He sat back and admired her. “Jesus, you’re the most beautiful thing on this planet, you know that?”

She smiled, blissed out on love and arousal, but said nothing. He grabbed the bottle of monoi oil and, tipping it gently, poured a little between her breasts, so it ran down her belly and into her cunt. He tipped some of the oil into his hands and rubbed them together, then, as she quivered under his touch, began to massage her soft skin, her breasts, and the soft planes of her belly, then finally down into her shaved sex, the oil slick again her skin. His fingers moving against her swelling, aching sex and she moaned, wanting to be fucked by him.

Jakob smiled. She was completely at his mercy, and the thought was giving him the biggest hard-on of his life. He grabbed one of the dildos, sliding it into her wet and ready sex. Quilla gasped as he moved the toy in and out of her, thrusting harder as she cried out, begging him to put his cock inside her.

“Be patient, my love,” he smiled as she groaned in protest. With his free hand, he flicked on a tiny vibrator and held it against her clit, making her scream out as the buzz hit the sensitive cluster of nerves at its tip. He couldn’t stop looking at her, helpless under his ministrations and when she came, her body arching up, golden in the light of the candles, he could feel the desperate urge of his body. He ripped the dildo out of her and in one swift movement, tore his underwear off, his cock rearing up, and so ramrod hard, he could hardly stand to touch it, pulling her legs around his hips; he plunged into her, his fingers biting into the soft flesh at her hips.

He fucked her hard, brutally, and she screamed his name over and over again as wave after wave of orgasm ripped through her. His gaze never left her as he shot thick, hot spurts of cum deep inside her, his body jerking and convulsing with the strength of his climax.

God, Quilla, Quilla, Quilla …

As they both started to recover, he brushed the damp hair away from her forehead, gazing into those lovely green eyes and said the thing he’d been wanting to say since the night he met her.

“Marry me ...”

It was a little after four a.m. when Parker came to find them. He looked exhausted, but smiled at them. “We got her back. She’s lost a lot of blood, but we’ve stabilized her. I’m afraid it looks like she’ll be here another couple of weeks, at least, but, fingers crossed, she should be fine.”

Grady’s knees went, to his embarrassment, and he collapsed onto a chair, breathing hard. Jean thanked Parker, throwing her arms around the young doctor. Asia rubbed Grady’s back, blowing out her cheeks with the breath she’d been holding in. Grady looked up at her through tear-filled eyes.

“She’s okay?”

Asia smiled. “She is, baby. She is.”

It was a more few weeks until Flori was released and when she was, they flew back to Seattle. Jean had given Grady her blessing and in turn, Grady had promised to fly their daughter back to see them whenever they wanted and vice versa.

“Just call,” he told Jean and Mac, “We can have you together in less than an hour.”

Mac had snorted. “Different world,” he’d said, looking around the sumptuous apartment Grady had bought for Flori and himself. Grady grinned; there had been a definite thawing in Mac’s attitude to him over the past few weeks. Grady suspected Jean had something to do with it.

“Keep her safe, that’s all I ask,” Flori’s father had said gruffly, and Grady had given him his word.

Now, alone, they grinned at each other. Grady had insisted she have her own room. “I don’t want to crowd you. I know how I feel, and that’s not going to change, but when you’re feeling better, you might rethink ...”

He was cut off by her kiss. “Shut up; there’s no way I’m going to change my mind, Grady Mallory. None.”

Later, much later, she had gone to sleep in her room, but just as Grady was getting into his own bed, Flori, without a word, padded into his room and got in beside him. She still had heavy bandaging around her abdomen, so she wore pajamas, but in bed she snuggled into his arms. Grady kissed her temple, then chuckled softly.

“This is a whole new way of beginning a relationship for me.,” He drew a finger down her cheek. “God, Flori, to think I almost lost you before my dumb ass realized how much you meant to me.”

Flori smiled sleepily. “I fell for you that first night,” she said, and he wondered in amusement if her pain meds were making her say these words, but she went on. “That’s the real reason I let that Kahlo go. I couldn’t bear to think of it in anyone else’s hands.”

Grady grinned as her eyes closed and her breathing became regular. He kissed her gently. “I know exactly what you mean,” he whispered and cradling his love, he too fell asleep.

“Everyone here? Good, good. Welcome, everyone, and hello again to Floriana.” Ran Mallory smiled down the long table at them all, and Flori, a little awed by being invited to the family meeting, smiled tentatively back at the patriarch. She had met all of the family gradually, individually.

From the other side of the table, Jakob’s new wife, Quilla winked at her. She felt a kinship with the other woman, both of them having survived Gregor Fisk’s knife, and Quilla had been so kind to her. It was weird, but Flori had loved each and every one of them. She found Skandar and Hayley hilarious. Nan and Joel felt like protective older siblings; Jakob was serious and crazy about Quilla; and Ran—she had adored him at their first meeting. They were nothing like she imagined a wealthy family to be. Only Kit Mallory was absent, still following his beloved Bo Kennedy around on tour.

Ran cleared his throat. “So, what’s on the table is this: we step up the search for Gregor, no expense spared, every possible lead followed. We scour the earth for him, even if it means breaking a few laws here and there. We deliberately antagonize him into trying something, so he makes a mistake. I’m still not sold on that, by the way. I don’t want any of you in harm’s way.”

“Too late, Pops,” Grady said, taking Flori’s hand. “The harm’s been done. Let’s nail this fucker.”

There was a murmur of assent. Ran rubbed his chin. “Then we have to decide what will antagonize him the most.”

Jakob leaned forward. “Gregor’s weakness is his own ego; that’s pretty obvious. So we target that. We’ve had news corporations reaching out to both Quilla and Floriana to do interviews on their ordeals. They can tell their story and we can plant things about his lack of success with women, in business, his drug taking.”

“My experience was nothing compared to yours, Flori, but if you’re up for it, we could do that together.” Quilla smiled at her, and Flori nodded.

“Anything to help, really … put me in a room with that asshole and a baseball bat; I swear to God he’d regret it.”

Skandar laughed. “Ninja.”

Grady grinned back at him. “You have no idea.”

Ran smiled, but his eyes were serious. “Let me be clear. None of you is to deliberately put yourself in danger, do you understand?”

He might be a gentle giant, Flori thought, but Ran Mallory’s words carry weight.

Later, at home, she and Grady lay together in bed, kissing, Grady careful not to hurt her. They had yet to make love, due to her injuries, but every night they spent together, skin next to skin, she fell in love with him more.

Grady drew his hand down her body. “Sweet thing, are you okay? You were quiet in the car on the way back.”

Flori smiled. “I am, I truly am. More than you could know.”

She wasn’t lying. She truly was better than she had been for months.

He didn’t need to know about the nightmares.

In Sydney, Australia, Bo Kennedy’s final sold-out night at the Opera House had just concluded to rapturous applause and she and Kit, having just made wild love in her dressing room, escaped their public and made their way to the restaurant, which was staying open late for them.

The meal was raucous, Bo, still high from performing, was making Kit laugh so much, he had barely touched his food.

Eventually, he caught his breath. “God, baby, have you any idea what it feels like to watch you up there? It’s better than any pharmaceutical high. You soar.”

Bo kissed him. “Well, babe, home tomorrow, then ...”

Kit grinned. “Seattle. At last. I can’t wait to introduce you to my family. Jakob tells me Quilla and Hayley are already fangirling you, so you know they’ll give you a warm welcome.”

Bo looked nervous, and Kit kissed her. “I swear, they’ll love you as much as I do.”

She leaned her forehead against his. “I ’ope so, darlin’.”

As they were leaving, just after midnight, some paparazzi found them, and they had to run the gauntlet of flashing lights to get to their car.

Kit yanked open the door and tugged Bo towards him ...

Which was the moment the shots rang out …

Part Seven: Threaten Me

Seattle. 6 a.m.

Nan groaned loudly as the alarm clock went off. “Shut that thing off.” She burrowed back under the cover.

Joel, already up and showered, chuckled and bent over the bed, tugged the covers from her face and kissed her. “I hate to tell you this, but you have class in an hour, and I have to go close on the new sports club. So, up and at ’em, beautiful.”

She stared at him sulkily. “How about if I go sign some paperwork, and you go deal with some feral eighth graders?”

Joel reached under the comforter and grabbed her ankle. “Ha. No deal,” he said, dragging her from the bed and hustling her into the shower. She stood obediently while he stripped her, then wound her arms around his neck. “You know what would wake me up?” she purred as she nipped at his bottom lip with her teeth. Joel feigned innocence for a second. Then, growling, he scooped a giggling Nan into his arms and under the shower.

Sydney, 11:00 p.m.

“Oh, of course, the paps are here,” Bo Kennedy grumbled as Kit helped her into her coat. She kissed him. “Thanks, babe, and thanks for dinner.”

“Anything for my girl.” Kit leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you, smushface.”

“And I love you, you big American gobshite.” She grinned widely. “Now, take me back to the hotel and screw me into next week.”

“As you wish, your majesty,” Kit grinned, holding open the door. “Here, take my hand.”

He pulled her through the throng of flashing lights to the car. He turned back to grin at her.

One gunshot, then two more. Quick. Decisive.

Final.

Seattle, 6:30 a.m.

Skandar Mallory grinned up at his gorgeous girlfriend as she moved on top of him, her vaginal muscles tightening around his swollen cock, gripping and pulling, sending almost unbearable pleasure ripping through his body. He gripped her hips as she breathlessly thrust harder onto him. He came before she did, his body arching up, and as Hayley moaned out her own climax, he gathered her to him and kissed her deeply. They lay facing each other, catching their breath.

“Why can’t we just do that all day?” he said, puffing, “Instead of all of this adult responsibility and work and that crap.”

“Making billions hitting a ball around some grass,” she intoned back at him, then grinning.

“Hey,” he said, smiling, “There are clay and hard courts too.”

She rolled onto her back. “It’s probably best we don’t fuck all day; there might be some chafing issues.”

Skandar laughed out loud. “Well, that ruined the moment. You are the best part of my day, Hayley Applebee, even if you’re killing my hard-on.”

Hayley laughed and rolled back on top of him. “That thing would survive nuclear war,” she grinned. “At the end of time, it’ll be cockroaches, Twinkies, and your boner.”

Skandar groaned. “Stop. It’ll retract into nothing if you carry on like that.”

She giggled and reached down to stroke him. “Hmmm … wonder what we could do about that?”

Skandar rolled her onto her back and hitched her legs around his hips. “I wonder...”

Sydney, 10:30 p.m.

Blood. Blooming red on white. Screaming. Panic. Paparazzi scurrying away from the scene, security desperately looking for the gun.

And in the midst of the melee, brokenhearted pleading of “No, please, please ...”

Seattle, 8:00 a.m.

Her small hand on his chest was one of Jakob Mallory’s favorite ways to wake up. He looked down at Quilla’s divine, serene face as she slept beside him. My wife. After he’d proposed to her on the island, they’d flown to the big island and found a justice of the peace to marry them the very next day. Jakob had told her it was entirely up to her whether she wanted to keep her own name and she told him that she would.

“Just so I don’t disappear into being a Mallory wife,” she grinned, but her eyes were wary.

“That would never happen, Ms. Chen,” he grinned.

“How about I’m Mrs. Mallory when it’s just you and me and the family?”

“I like that.”

Now, he took her hand in his, rubbing his finger over the small platinum band. His wife. He never thought he would be married, especially not after he’d started on the drugs, spiraling down so fast it was almost unbelievable. Then Venice, then Quilla, hauling his ass out of the drink and making him fall so in love with her, then Gregor and his knife. They’d been through so much together in the space of a few months.

Quilla stirred and opened her eyes, smiling up at him. “You’re still here,” she said sleepily. “No work today?”

“Nah.” He kissed her. “Thought I’d take the day off, hang with my woman.”

“When’s she coming over?”

He laughed and covered her body with his. His cock was already stiffening as she hooked a leg around his waist, arching her body up into his. He buried his face in her neck, trailing his lips down across her collarbone as Quilla slid her hot sex along his thigh. He looked into her eyes and she smiled.

“Take me now,” she whispered, and grinning, he launched into her— God, that gasp when his cock found her center—and began to thrust, his cock thickening and swelling inside her. He kissed her throat as she threw her head back, lost in the sweet sensation of their fucking. He knew he would never get tired of making love to her, talking to her, laughing with her. He’d told her once he didn’t want kids—he didn’t even remember that person now—he wanted a hundred little Quillas running about the place.

Afterward, they showered and screwed again under the hard pelt of water, Quilla shrieking as he turned the cold water onto her hard nipples—Christ, the sight of the water bouncing off them made him so hard, he had to have her again, against the wall of the shower.

She was making breakfast when he finished dressing—Spanish omelets and fresh fruit. He sat across the breakfast bar and studied her as they ate. She finally was looking like that girl he had met in Venice again, happy, relaxed, even though the threat to her life was in no way diminished. Gregor was still out there, still obsessed with her, with killing her. Jakob risked it and asked her.

Quilla shrugged. “Talking about it helped, and now that the FBI have given up on him saying anything when he calls—and I don’t have to listen to it— I’m feeling optimistic. Stronger. I don’t underestimate the threat; rather, I’m living in the moment.”

Jakob was silent for a moment. “Quilla … my love, I said once to you that I didn’t know if I wanted kids. That was monumentally selfish of me and … no, let me finish,” he smiled as she started to protest. “What I should have said is this. I didn’t want kids then. With anyone else. But I do want them with you. I want a bunch of ’em. If you want them with me.”

She was staring at him, bemused. “What brought this on?”

Jakob grinned. “Just me, growing up at last. I might be catching you up in emotional maturity. What do you say?”

Quilla laughed. “Today on Mallory—life-changing decisions over breakfast. Can I think about it?”

He clinked his juice glass with hers. “Of course. And I don’t mean right now, of course, just something to think about for later.”

Quilla sipped her juice to hide her grin. “Charlie Chaplin had kids in his seventies.”

“I’m not that old, Quilla Chen,” but he laughed. He reached over and stroked her cheek, and she leaned into his touch.

“We made it, Mrs. Mallory. We really did.”

Sydney, Australia, 11:00 p.m.

Red and blue lights. Paramedics and police. SWAT scouring the streets. The press, the paps, starting to drift back towards the scene, arguing with the police blocking them from taking pictures, shouting that they were there, they got shot at, too, they could tell them what happened—all to no avail.

The paramedics listening to lungs filling with blood, horrific gargling sounds, shouting instructions to each other, compressions and air. The lifting of a prone body into the ambulance. The comforting voices, the fake optimism.

The sound of someone dying.

Seattle, Washington, 9:15 a.m.

Floriana Morgan sat on the couch gazing out of the window at the panoramic view of Seattle. Grady Mallory had bought this apartment for her; she couldn’t quite believe it. Of course, now it was their home; they shared a bed, a life together. It was all so new and unreal somehow.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat; her injuries from the brutal attack Gregor Fisk had unleashed on her. The healing muscles and organs and flesh were the reason she and Grady had not yet made love … and it was frustrating as all hell.

She sighed unconsciously. Flori looked around her, everything she could want—except to climb all over Grady’s incredible body, feel him inside of her … God …

“Hey, cutie.” Grady, dressed in a vintage tee and blue jeans, was coming through from the reception hall—obviously having been chatting to their security team. Yup, she thought, we have a security team.

“Hey, gorgeous.” She held her hand out to him, and he took it, flopping down next to her, then looking aghast as she winced. Damn you, torn abs— she gritted her teeth against the pain. Grady stroked her hair.

“Still in pain?”

It was useless denying it, but she tried to lighten the mood. “Damn belly doesn’t want me to get laid,” she grumbled and he half smiled, but she could see the concern in his eyes.

“Hey … I’m okay. It’s just taking more time, probably because of the embolism. But I’m still here.” She touched his face and then brushed her lips against his. “Still here.”

“Forever. Promise?”

Her heart missed a beat and she smiled, tears in her eyes. God, this man … “I promise. For as long as you want me.”

“Forever.”

“Forever, then. I love you, Grady Mallory.”

His kiss became more urgent, and she moaned and pulled away. “I can’t, not yet. God, I wish ...”

“Ssh, it’s okay. I want you so bad, but I’m not prepared to risk your health.”

He sat back and ran a hand through his messy mop of dark blond hair and sighed. Flori held his hand. “What did Riggs and Murtaugh want?” she asked, nodding towards the reception.

Grady smiled. “Nothing to report. Look, Jakob gave me an idea, and I want to run it by you. I know you want to see colleges and decide where you want to finish your Ph.D., but what do you say to a vacation first?”

Flori looked excited. “You mean that island? The one I’ve been dreaming about since Quilla told me about it? That island?”

Grady laughed at her childlike glee. “The very one. Weirdly, I’m the only one of us who has never been, so it’ll be new to me, too.”

“We can discover it together.”

“We can … the island and each other. For example, I’ve never asked … do you like hiking? Swimming? Exploring? Or are you a sun lounger and paperback kind of girl?”

“Definitely the first, but I don’t mind what we do, as long as I’m with you.”

“Right back at cha. So, I’ll set it up?”

Flori hesitated. “Can we wait a couple of weeks? The thing is, from what Quilla has told me, the island has a very sexy, very sensual vibe and I want to be … ready.”

Grady’s grin was definitely a shit-eating one. “Oh, yeah,” he said, making her laugh. He kissed her. “It’s a deal, gorgeous.”

Flori was thrilled, and she hugged him, wincing slightly as her stomach muscles protested. “It’ll be like the official start of our relationship.”

Grady buried his face in her hair. “The beginning of our life together.”

“The beginning of our lives ...”

Sydney, Australia, 12:15 a.m.

“Gunshot to the chest, no exit, vitals low and falling. Saline and O-neg were given, but patient is losing it as fast as we can get it in.”

Straight to the operating theater, the surgeon ready for their V.I.P. patient. Anesthesia—even though there was still no response.

Ten-blade. Rib-spreaders. Manual heart massage for nearly an hour. The surgeon looked at the clock. “The other one?”

“Gunshot wound to shoulder, not serious.”

The surgeon, getting exhausted now. Another half hour. Checking the vitals, shaking his head.

“Not coming back. I’m calling it. Time of death, one fifty-three a.m.”

Seattle, Washington, 11:00

“Marley?”

Marley Griffin turned around in the line to see who had called her name. Randall Mallory, casually dressed, sweater and jeans, waved his paper at her. “Lovely to see you.”

Marley looked at the customer behind her in the line. “You go ahead. Hi, Randall, how are you?”

“Good, thank you. We haven’t seen you at the big house of late.”

Marley grimaced. “I don’t think Quilla wants to see me.”

Ran shook his head. “Give her a chance. She’s a lot better now, more relaxed. “

Marley gave him a half smile. “Ran, I appreciate you trying to mediate, but maybe it’s for the best. We move in such different circles now.”

The barista called to her. Ran stepped up. “Let me buy you a coffee—do you have time to talk?”

Marley hesitated. She really didn’t want to talk about the rift between her best friend and herself—but Ran was such a friendly, warm man, she felt relaxed in his company—and she could do with a stress reliever. “Okay.”

They sat in a small booth away from the main café and away from the large flat screen TV which flashed rolling news in silence.

Marley stirred her flat white and smiled at Ran shyly. “Thanks for the coffee, Ran. Look, I wish things had worked out with Quilla, but sometimes friends drift apart.”

Ran nodded, but she could see he wasn’t convinced. “Look, pardon me for interfering; I have a tendency to want to make peace. Marley … did you know Quilla and Jakob are married now?”

Marley felt a lump in her throat, but she nodded. “I read it in the paper,” she said shortly, and looked away from him so he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. He saw them anyway and she felt his hand cover hers.

“I’m sorry, Marley. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“’S okay,” she said thickly, then cleared her throat. “Let’s talk about something else; I haven’t seen you in here before.”

Ran smiled. “I’ll admit, it’s my first time. The coffeehouse I’d been going to for years closed down and I’m loath to frequent the big chains. I found this one by accident; there’s a great secondhand bookstore at the end of the block.”

Marley’s eyes lit up. “You go to The Armchair? I love that store … although I wouldn’t have thought that a billionaire would need to shop secondhand.”

Randall laughed and she noticed just how handsome he was, his dark blond hair streaked through with gray, and his hazel eyes kind and intelligent. “Marley Griffin, surely you of all people must know and appreciate the heady scent of old books?”

She inclined her head, conceding his point. “I guess I have a fixed idea in my head of how billionaires are supposed to act. Forgive my prejudice.”

Ran studied her. “You still don’t like Jakob, though, do you? He can be bloody-minded, surly, domineering,” he said of his eldest son, “But he adores Quilla and would do anything for her. He never saw this thing with Gregor coming.”

Marley leaned forward. “But that’s my point. How could he not have?”

“How many times do you hear the news of neighbors of people who have committed atrocities s saying ‘But he seemed like such a good guy? But she loved those kids?’ People are blinkered.” He sighed, suddenly seeming tired. “We warned Jakob about Gregor. When my wife was alive, she took an instant dislike to the man, but I told her not to say anything to Jakob. Let him make his own mistakes.”

He was silent for a long moment, then smiled sadly at her. “So, if you’re to blame anyone, blame me.”

Marley shook her head, suddenly feeling emotional. “I could never … you’re impossible to dislike, Randall Mallory, gosh damn it.” She laughed, and he smiled.

“Good. Listen, this was fun. Say I’m in here tomorrow morning. If you’re around, I’d like to buy you a coffee and talk some more. I’d like to know about your work.”

Marley flushed pink but nodded. “I’d like that.”

“Good.” Ran stood and held out his hand. She shook it, smiling, enjoying the feel of her small hand in his big one. “Tomorrow then, Marley Griffin.”

“Tomorrow.” She watched him walk out, get to the door, and glance back at her before leaving. Lovely, lovely man, she thought. Her eyes drifted around the coffeehouse and settled on the flat screen. A reporter was talking to the camera; a Breaking News banner ribbon across the bottom of the screen. Wherever the reporter was, it was nighttime, she pondered idly.

Then her heart constricted as a photograph of Kit Mallory and Bo Kennedy flashed up on the screen. In horror, she read the words … shooting … injuries … police ... Marley stood and ran. Yanking open the door to the coffeehouse, she darted out into the street, looking around wildly for Randall Mallory. She saw a figure just entering the bookstore along the block, and she started towards it. Pushing open the door of the store, she searched the shop for him.

She heard a cellphone ring and his voice answering it. She followed the sound of his voice and stopped when she saw him.

The look of utter desolation on his face told her everything she needed to know.

Joel Mallory was about to sign the paperwork to begin work on his first sports center when he heard the door open. He looked up and was surprised to see Nan, her face pale, her expression one of numb disbelief. He went to her immediately, his arms wrapping around her.

“What? What, baby, what is it?”

She stared up at him, shaking her head. “Joel … it’s Kit ...” She couldn’t say any more. Joel pushed her away, staring at her in angry confusion.

“What? Damn it, Nan, what about Kit?”

She gasped in a breath which turned to a sob. “There’s been a shooting, in Sydney … Kit and Bo … it’s all over the news.”

Joel kept shaking his head. “No … no … what … I need to call my dad.”

He started to walk toward the door when she called him back. She walked up to him.

“Your dad called me, Joel, to come bring you to the big house. He’s on his way to Sydney … Joel, God, I’m so sorry.”

He was trembling now, ice in his veins. “Just say it, Nan. Say it out loud or I won’t believe it. Say it.”

Tears were pouring down Nan’s face now. “I’m so sorry, Joel ...”

“Stop fucking saying you’re sorry and tell me!”

His roar filled the room, and Nan quailed under it, but took his hand. “Joel...” Her voice was cracking. “Kit was shot in the chest. They took him to the hospital and tried to save him, but they couldn’t. Joel, Kit died.”

Every single cell in his body was both numb and yet screaming. “Kit’s dead?”

Nan nodded and now he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. His brother. His twin. Gone forever. His world collapsed.

Kit was dead.

A month later …

Ran Mallory stared out of the window of his mansion. Winter was on its way; the fall leaves had dropped, and the bleak look of the trees outside mirrored how Ran felt deep in his soul. He was at a loss to know how he should cope with the loss of his son.

Kit simply hadn’t stood a chance when the shooting started. He had shoved a bleeding and injured Bo into the waiting car and in the second it took for him to steady himself, the bullet slammed into his chest. The doctors at Sydney hospital had worked on him for longer than they usually would, knowing the international spotlight would be on them, but he’d been dead by the time he got to the hospital.

Ran swallowed the scream that always seemed to be threatening to escape him now. For the last month, the family had gone through the motions— public statements with vows to find Kit’s murderer, the funeral, the avoidance of the media since then. The press was relentless in their search for new angles, for clues. They’d rehashed every story from the last year, and the coverage was blanket. None of the family dared turn on the radio or the TV.

At the funeral, he’d help to support Bo Kennedy. The young woman, her arm in a sling from being shot in the shoulder, was pale and shell-shocked, her usual merry and gregarious nature smashed by her grief. Ran had liked her very much and asked her to stay with them for a while. She had politely refused. “It’s too painful, Ran. At the moment, I just want to be with Tiger and my mum. When I see you all—and especially Joel … I can’t. I’d like to in the future, just not now.”

He’d understood, as had the rest of the family. Asia, Kit’s ex-wife, had come to the house as soon as the news broke. She was shattered, devastated. Her partner, Parker Thomas, had accompanied her, and Ran had been impressed by the young doctor’s grace and compassion.

“Hey.”

Ran turned to see Marley smiling at him. He kissed her cheek. “Thank you for coming.”

“Of course.”

Over the last month, since that day in the coffeehouse, since she’d chased him down to support him, Marley had been Randall’s rock. The young scientist canceled plans and put her own life on hold to support him through the worst time in his life. She made herself available twenty-four-seven in case he needed to talk, or to sob. She became his best friend. Ran was also glad that something good had come from the tragedy; Marley and Quilla had grown close again. Not for the first time, Ran realized that the women in his family were the stronger ones.

“How is it today, one to ten?” Marley said as they sat down outside on the deck. The day was cool but sunny, and Ran’s dogs ran around, playing, barking, making them smile.

“Maybe an eight,” Ran began, then saw Marley’s skeptical face and sighed. “A ten. I can’t imagine a time when it won’t be a ten. How could it be?”

Marley put her hand on his. “I can’t answer that, Ran. But I’m here, so talk to me. Or don’t, entirely up to you. Have you heard anything from the Australian police?”

Ran nodded. “From the weapon used, they think it was a professional hit … God...” He choked on the words. Marley interlinked her fingers with his in a gesture that had become natural between them. Ran drew in a breath. “So, they have a few suspects in mind, but I don’t have any doubt who is behind it.”

Marley grimaced. “Fisk.”

“He won’t get away with this, any of it, Quilla, Flori, Kit. We’re throwing everything at the search; I don’t care if it takes every last penny I have. Gregor Fisk is going to pay for what he’s done.” He looked over at her unhappily. “I am worried that by being here, you’ll be on his radar. Selfishly, though, I could not have gotten through this last month without you, Marley.”

She smiled at him. “Don’t worry about me, Ran; I can look after myself.”

He squeezed her fingers but said nothing. Marley tried to say something to comfort him but found herself lost for words. She desperately wanted to take away some of her friend’s pain, but had no idea how. The rest of the family was equally fractured. Joel, Kit’s twin, had barely spoken to anyone since Kit’s death, especially not his girlfriend, Nan.

“He’s pushing me away,” Nan told her and Quilla, tears rolling down her sweet face. “I can’t reach him.”

Quilla was having the opposite problem; Jakob, already paranoid about her safety as Gregor’s obsession with her grew, was now suffocating her. The independent Quilla was having trouble not becoming annoyed at his constant vigilance. “He tells me if I can go out or not well, he tries to. Then when I disagree, it turns into an argument.” Quilla looked tired. Marley regretted the weeks they had spent distant— it seemed so ridiculous now.

Grady Mallory, the youngest of the brothers, had been the most collected of all of them, quietly supporting his father, his brothers, his nephew. His young girlfriend, Floriana, knew Gregor’s violence firsthand, having only just survived him herself. She told them that Grady would only drop the façade of calmness at home, with her.

“I think it does him good to just let go at night and be as vulnerable as the rest.” Flori had said, and Quilla had hugged her.

“You do him good,” she said. The two women, both survivors of Fisk, shared a bond that Marley felt was healthy for them both.

“I don’t want to think of the fact that he’s out there, planning another murder.” Ran’s voice brought her out of her reverie.

“Ran, you’ll drive yourself crazy like that,” Marley said firmly, and he chuckled softly.

“You’re right. Stay and have supper with me, Marley?”

She smiled at him. “You’ll get tired of me.”

“Never.”

Grady Mallory came home to find Flori had prepared a romantic dinner for them both, and he smiled gratefully at her. Despite her youth, she had known exactly how to comfort him this last, horrific month. Tonight, she was dressed in a simple pale blue dress that fell to a good three inches above her knees, bare feet, makeup free face, and her dark hair tumbling down her back.

“God, you look beautiful,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. She grinned up at him.

“Thank you, baby. I hope you’re hungry.”

Grady kissed her, savoring the taste of her lips. “Damn right, I am,” he said, his words loaded with meaning. Flori pressed her body against his.

“Funny you should say that...” She hooked a leg around his waist, and he picked her up, her slight body light. “I saw my doctor today. Guess what?”

Grady growled, knowing exactly what she was going to say. “This supper you’ve made … can it be reheated?”

Flori giggled, her face flushing scarlet, her breath hitching in her throat. “You bet it can.” She shrieked with laughter as Grady whisked her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. She kissed him, her eyes alive with desire, with excitement. “I’ve waited so long for this moment,” she whispered, and Grady chuckled.

“Me, too, so no pressure, then …” He kissed her throat and trailed his lips across her collarbone, making her shiver with pleasure. His fingers found the buttons of her dress and slowly, he undressed her, kissing every piece of skin as he exposed it until she was gasping. When his mouth found her sex, Flori moaned as his tongue lashed around her clit, his teeth grazing the soft peachy folds of her labia.

“God … Gray ...”

He grinned up at her. “You’re beautiful, baby...”

He crawled up her body to kiss her mouth as she reached to cup his cock through his jeans.

“I want to taste you,” she whispered and grinning, took her turn to move down the bed. Her small, gentle hands freed his cock from his pants and then her warm, wet mouth was on him, sweeping over the wide crest as it grew and hardened, the tip quivering under her teasing tongue.

As he grew unbearably hard, he lifted her on top of him, his fingers spreading the labia, exposing her wet and ready vagina for him. As he pushed into her for the first time, they both gave long sighs of release, the waiting for this moment making it even sweeter, smiling and gasping as they make love.

Grady ran his hands down over her slender body; the full breasts plump in his hands; the small brown nipples hardening at his touch. The vivid scars from her wounds, from the surgeries, were still bright pink, but he stroked his finger pads gently over them, sliding his thumb into the deep hollow of her navel. Flori was breathless, her thighs tight against him, her skin dewy with sweat.

As their arousal grew, Grady deftly flipped over, sliding her beneath him so he could drive himself ever deeper inside her, her legs clamped around his hips. His hands pinned hers to the bed, and their eyes met and locked. Nothing existed apart from the two of them at this moment, bodies tangled, moving in rhythm.

Grady watched as Flori came, her lovely face flushing pink, her lips parting as the orgasm hit her. God, you are so, so lovely, he thought, and felt his body tense and explode in a hot rush, pumping deep inside her, pleasure making his head whirl.

As they caught their breaths, they stared at each other, kissing, not wanting the connection to fade.

“I am so in love with you, Floriana Morgan,” Grady murmured against her lips, feeling them curl up in a smile.

“You are the love of my life,” she said simply, and Grady grinned.

“Damn straight.” He cupped her face in his palm. “You make everything better, Flori. Everything. Thank you for this last month.”

“I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have—that you did do, in New Orleans. That’s why my heart is so sure about you. I’m so glad I met you, Grady Mallory; I would rather take Gregor’s knife over and over than to have never met you.”

Grady winced. “Don’t say that, God, please, Flori.”

“Sorry.” She looked contrite. “That was a poor comparison. What I mean is, it terrifies me to think that we may never have met.”

Grady kissed her. “I don’t think that was possible—I would have found you somehow.”

Flori laughed. “You think?”

“Absolutely. No doubt.”

She kissed him. “Are you hungry?”

He considered. “Not really. You?

“Me neither.”

Her hand drifted down his body to his cock and he grinned. “Ready to go again?” He rolled on top of her, and she wound her arms around his neck.

“Always with you … always...”

Quilla barely had time to say hello to Jakob before he was stripping her. He’d been at work all day and had come home angry. She knew he was angry by the way he barked a hello then launched himself at her, kissing her fiercely, his mouth so rough she could taste blood. He’d been like this for weeks, angry, brutal, wanting sex, wanting that release, needing it, and Quilla, a little frightened by his machismo, went along with it. After all, she had felt the same thing after Gregor’s attack on her.

Jakob had taken Kit’s death harder than anyone, with the exception of Joel. His guilt, his anger, and grief were palpable in the way he talked and moved. He had the same look in his eyes that he’d had all those months ago, standing on that bridge in Venice, ready to end his life. Quilla was terrified he’d start using again, so when he came home, already revved up, she went along with it, letting him fuck her in any way that he wanted to, to get that anger out. Afterward, he would be calmer, so she figured, if it helped …

He led her over to the wall-to-ceiling windows that looked over the city, the Seattle evening, cloudy. He had dimmed the lights and as he pushed her against the window, the glass cold on her breasts, her belly, he took her from behind, thrusting his diamond-hard cock into her, clamping her hands to the glass with his own. He fucked hard and fast, slamming his cock into her as deep as he could, groaning her name over and over as he buried his face in her hair.

He took her again almost immediately, sweeping her onto the carpet and thrusting in again. His eyes were almost crazed, and Quilla closed her own so she would not feel afraid of him. Later, after they’d showered and eaten a light supper, she curled up against him on the couch. He kissed her forehead.

“Are you okay, baby?” Quilla stroked her husband’s face with her fingertips and smiled when he turned to kiss them.

“I honestly don’t know, sweetheart. I think I’m pulling it together, then, by the end of the day, I’ve been thinking about Kit and Gregor and what he’s done to us all, and then I’m so angry. You are the only thing that helps, Quilla. Darling … I’m sorry if I seem to be … I just need you.”

“You have me,” she whispered. “Forever. Whatever you need, I’m here for.” She pulled his head onto her chest, wanting to soothe him, pressing her lips against his hair. “I love you, husband mine.”

He gave a low chuckle. “Is it weird that I can’t believe it’s only a few months that we’ve been married?”

“I know. This time last year, we didn’t know each other, and now we’re an old married couple.”

“Pipe and slippers.”

She laughed. “Let’s just go to bed, baby; I’ll make you forget everything.”

Later, when Quilla was asleep, Jakob lay awake, fighting his fatigue. He didn’t want to sleep, didn’t want the nightmares that had plagued him for months. They were always the same; Gregor Fisk—or lately, several Gregor Fisks—hurting his family, torturing them, killing them. The worst ones were always about Quilla and when sleep finally overcame him, tonight’s was no different.

They were back on the island, lying on the deck, surrounded by candles, making love, Quilla naked and glorious in the leather harness he loved her in. She was on top of him, smiling down at him as she rode him, looking so, so beautiful that he had tell her over and over how much he loved her. She opened her mouth to answer him …

There was a weird swooshing sound. Quilla gasped and jerked. Jakob, confused, watched in horror as blood started to pour from her navel. Another whoosh. A red wound appeared an inch above the first. Quilla looked confused, scared, her blood, too much blood, gushing from her. Another whoosh—another red dot on her honeyed skin and then he knew. Bullet wounds. Another bullet drilled into her stomach. No no no no …

And then Gregor was there, laughing as he shot her again and again as she jerked and cried out. Jakob couldn’t move, couldn’t help her, and couldn’t shout as he watched Quilla being murdered in front of him. Please, no, stop, he wanted to scream at Gregor. Now he understood the whooshing sound—a silencer screwed onto the muzzle of an impossibly big gun.

Something in his brain told him this isn’t real; this isn’t real, but when Gregor pressed the muzzle against Quilla’s flesh before bending to kiss her, Jakob finally screamed. Gregor emptied the chamber into Quilla’s body then let her flop, at the brink of death, to the ground. Her lovely eyes were staring sightlessly at him, and he screamed her name over and over as Gregor delivered his final blow, a bullet to her heart … .

“Jakob! Jakob!” How was she calling him? She was dead, he knew that and …

“Jakob, wake up; you’re hurting me, Jakob!”

He opened his eyes and, with a start, realized Quilla, very much alive, was struggling underneath him. He had pinned her, wrapping his thickly muscled arms around her body, and was squeezing her so tightly she was struggling to breathe. He let her go immediately, devastated, begging her forgiveness.

Eventually, she calmed him down, holding him gently, stroking his head. She managed to coax the truth about his nightmares out from him, and although she paled at the description of her murder, she told him calmly over and over that it wasn’t real. She made him get in the shower to cool down his overheated body, then made him a drink, scotch, the way he liked it. Wrapped in her robe, she sat with him until he had truly calmed down.

Jakob stroked her face. “I’m sorry I hurt you, baby; you know I would never do that consciously.”

“I do know that, I swear. But I think you should see someone, a therapist. Despite my reservations, it really did help me.”

Jakob smiled. “I know it did, but I’m not sure I’d be so receptive.”

“Why not?”

“Too cynical. Too jaded.”

“Bullshit,” she said with a smile. “If the next thing that comes out of your mouth is ‘too old,' I will beat your ancient ass.”

He laughed, grateful for her trying to lighten the mood. “I will think about it, I swear.”

Quilla nodded. “Good.”

His phone, abandoned on the counter when he’d come in, began to buzz. He accepted the call, checking the time. Three-o-five a.m. He frowned.

“Hey, Dad, what’s up?”

He listened as his dad spoke, his jaw setting grimly. “Yeah. Okay, I’ll meet you there.”

Quilla raised her eyebrows at him as he ended the call and he nodded at her. “Sweetheart, let’s get packing. We’re going to Australia. They’ve got the shooter.”

Nan watched Joel packing, throwing clothes haphazardly into a bag. He didn’t look at her as he relayed to her what his father had told him. “It might be best for you and Hayley to go to the big house while we’re away. There’s more security. Hank will drive you to work and back.”

Nan nodded, her chest tight. “I could come with you – “

“No. I don’t want you dealing with all that. Better you and Hayley are safe. Skandar will be back on Saturday from the tournament.”

Nan was silent for a time, not trusting herself to speak. Joel had been distant and withdrawn since Kit’s murder, the grief written all over his face. Nan felt him slipping away from her daily; they hadn’t made love since before the shooting, and he spent long hours at the construction site for his first sports center. They would eat in silence, Nan having given up asking him about his day.

It was only when they were sitting down together, reading of watching the TV. that she felt any closeness. He would hold her hand for a time, or leave his arm across the back of the couch, so his fingers stroked her hair but after a time, again, when they went to sleep, Nan felt cold and lonely.

Now, he didn’t want her with him in Australia. She got up and went into the kitchen to hide the tears that were threatening. A few escaped as she grabbed a glass and filled it from the tap.

“What’s wrong?”

She turned to find Joel watching her from the doorway. She put down her glass and tried to smile. “Nothing. Can I help you pack?”

“It’s done. Nan ...” he came to take her in his arms. “Please, I don’t mean to be like this. I’m trying to hold it together for my dad, my family, and if I get emotional … I think I might break. I love you, Nan, please just … bear with me.”

She gazed up at him and smoothed the frown lines between his eyes. “I can help you relax,” she whispered and pressed her lips to his. She felt him respond briefly, then pull away.

“I can’t. I’m sorry. Look, I’ll call you when we get to Sydney. Take care of yourself—don’t go anywhere without Hank or Gus.”

And he was gone. She heard the front door close, lock, and she let out a sob. Big mistake. She couldn’t hold back then, and it was five minutes before she could manage to get to her phone and call her sister.

Hayley knew what was wrong immediately. “Hang on in there, sis; I’m on my way.”

Randall Mallory shook hands with the Chief Inspector of Police in the Sydney station. They’d arrived less than an hour ago and were swiftly taken by town car to the place where the shooter was being held.

“His name is Daniel Harland, thirty-two, unemployed.”

“He’s talking?”

“Singing like a damn canary.”

The inspector motioned to a room, and Randall, Jakob, and Joel went in to see two-way glass and a prisoner in the next room. He looked blandly normal. Ran and Jakob exchanged a glance as Joel fixed his eye on the man who had killed his twin brother. Daniel Harland looked relaxed, even amused as two detectives questioned him.

“Obviously, I can’t let you into the room to hear what he has to say but, because it’s you, Mr. Mallory, I’m going to let you listen in. I’m putting my neck out for you here, so ...”

Randall nodded. “Of course. I appreciate it.”

The inspector nodded at Jakob and Joel and flicked a switch. A moment later, they heard the detectives talking.

“So, to go over this again, you’re admitting to shooting and killing Christopher—known as Kit—Mallory on the night of the seventh.”

“Yeah.”

Jakob’s eyebrows shot up. “He’s American.” The inspector nodded.

The questioning continued. “Can you tell us why you murdered Mr. Mallory?”

“I was paid to shoot him and his girlfriend. I got off a shot at the girlfriend, but he managed to get her to safety before I could kill her. I didn’t miss him, as you know.”

“Who hired you to carry out the killings?”

“Gregor Allan Fisk.”

Even Ran couldn’t hold back a gasp at the open way he’d just admitted Gregor was responsible. Even the interviewing detectives looked bemused, and Harland grinned.

“You look surprised, detectives. Mr. Fisk asked me to give you a message –give the Mallory’s a message.”

“And what would that be?”

Harland glanced up at the two-way glass, as if he knew the Mallorys were watching him. “None of them are safe. He’s going to kill every last one of them—their women first. He’s hired contractors to deal with all of them. All of them except one.”

Jakob looked like he knew what Harland was about to say. Ran put a calming hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Which one? And why not?”

Harland smiled nastily. “The eldest son’s woman. The Asian one. Fisk says she’s all his. He’s looking forward to doing her properly this time, he says. I wouldn’t want to be her at the end.”

Jakob looked like he could throw up; Joel banged on the glass angrily, and the detectives looked up.

“Okay, let’s go.” The inspector gave Joel a withering look, which he ignored. Ran’s lips pursed together.

“I think we’ve seen enough,” he said, and Jakob gave him a sharp nod. Ran knew his son would want to get back to Quilla, safe in the hotel with an armed guard, after hearing what Harland would have to say.

The inspector walked them out. Ran thanked him. “But he didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know. Inspector, have your people been looking for Fisk?”

“You can bet we have,” the man nodded. “We’ve had our armed response scouring the city, all airports, train stations and bus stations have been put on watch. If Fisk is here, we’ll find him.”

“That man doesn’t have a clue who he is dealing with,” said Joel when they were back in the town car. “Does he honestly think that they can get Fisk when we haven’t been able to find him? With our resources?”

“Give him a break,” Jakob muttered. “What’s he supposed to say to us? Sorry, mate, we know we can’t catch him, so we’re not going to bother at all?”

Joel’s grim face suddenly broke out into a smile. “What the hell was that accent? Welsh?”

Even Jakob cracked a smile. “Yeah, yeah.”

Ran chuckled. God, it felt good to laugh for once. Ran had felt like he’d been robbed of joy since Kit had died, that he’d never feel that lightness in his soul again. He rubbed his face.

“Well, looks like we’ll need to ramp up security and extend the search.”

“Where to, Mars?” Jakob asked, incredulously. “Dad, we’re looking in every corner of the globe. I think we need to think about changing tack. Draw Gregor out.”

Ran shot his eldest son a look. “And how would we do that, Jakob? The only thing we know for sure is that Gregor wants to kill your wife himself. Are you suggesting we use Quilla as bait?”

“Hell, no. God, Dad, I don’t know, I’m just thinking out loud.” Jakob slumped back into his seat and they drove in silence for a while.

“Quilla wouldn’t hesitate,” Jakob said eventually. “To save the rest of us, she would sacrifice herself, and that’s why this is not even going to be a consideration. Not that I would ever put her in harm’s way. Jesus, I don’t even know why he’s fixated on her.”

Ran smiled softly. “Don’t you?” and Jakob had to look away.

“There’s a difference between desiring someone and wanting to kill them, Dad.” His voice broke, and Ran relented.

“Psychopaths don’t work to the same logic as the rest of us, son. Anyway, this subject is null and void. No bait. No risking anyone’s lives. We do this the right way.”

Joel made a noise then, and when his father and brother looked at him, he shrugged. “I hope by ‘right’ you mean we get the bastard. Because I don’t care if it’s legal or not, I’m going to kill that man. I’m going to rip him limb from limb and enjoy every fucking minute.

Hayley and Nan, now moved to Ran’s mansion, greeted Skandar as he returned from his tournament. He’d been beaten in the second round but, he told them, he couldn’t have cared less. All he wanted was to be at home with his family.

“I offered to fly out to Oz, but Dad said he’d rather I was here with you.”

Hayley hugged him tightly. “So glad you’re here.”

Skandar buried his face in her neck. “God, me, too, baby.” He kissed her, then grinned at Nan. “Hey, sis/step-mom, how are you?”

Nan tried to smile, but Skandar’s merry face just looked too much like Joel’s. Skandar frowned and put his arm around her. “Hey, hey, hey, you okay?”

She couldn’t help the tears then, and Hayley and Skandar held her while she sobbed out her fears about Joel. When she’d calmed down, she looked apologetically at them both.

“Sorry. It’s just been a strain since Kit. I feel so useless, Skandar; your dad, is so remote. I want to help him but ...” Her voice broke again.

Skandar hugged her. “Look, Kit was his twin; he’s bound to feel it even more keenly than the rest of us. Just be there, and forgive him if he gets difficult. I promise he’ll hate himself for treating you like this; he just doesn’t know how to deal with this. He is so in love with you, Nan, I swear to God, he is.”

Nan smiled gratefully at him. “Thank you, Skan. If he doesn’t buck up,” she suddenly grinned, “I might swap father for son.”

“Hey, now,” Hayley piped up in mock outrage, “do I get a say? Besides,” she said in an aside to her sister, “his dong is tiny. You wouldn’t want him ...”

“You are so dumped,” Skandar was laughing now. “And just so you know, Nan, it’s massive.”

Nan was giggling now, enjoying the silliness of her sister and Skandar as they busted each other’s chops, teasing, and play-fighting. God, she wanted that fun back in her life. She immediately felt guilty for thinking that when Kit was dead. She excused herself from the others and went outside to get some air. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Joel.

“Hey, beautiful.”

She almost sighed with relief at the warmth in his voice. “Hi, gorgeous … how did it go?”

“It’s Fisk, but we knew that anyway. Look, Dad, Jakob, and Quilla are flying back, but I’m going to London for a couple of days. Will you be okay?”

“Sure, I’m at the big house with the others … what’s in London?”

“Just someone I have to talk to. My flight’s being called. I’ll talk to you when I get to London. Nan?”

“Yes, baby?”

“I love you, honey.”

She smiled down the phone. “I love you too, big fella. Hurry home to me.”

“I will.”

Bo Kennedy shoved her honey-blonde hair into a bun and lifted Tiger from his bath. “Come on, you big oaf. God, you are a heavy little bugger now, you know?”

“Little bugger,” intoned Tiger, grinning at his mother, knowing it was a ‘bad’ word.

Bo made a face at him. “Don’t say that in front of your Grandma or I’ll tickle you silly.”

“No, Mummy!” He yelled a banshee cry, and she chased him back to his bedroom, making him giggle. She wrapped the towel around him.

“Trust you to run around naked, you little exhibitionist.” She dried him quickly and pulled his pajamas over his head. After she’d tucked him into bed, she blew a raspberry on his forehead then kissed him. “You want a story, punkin?”

He shook his head. “Mummy?”

“Yes, precious?”

“Is Kit in heaven now?”

God, the pain didn’t get any less agonizing. “Yes, sweetheart, he is. Do you know why?”

“A bad man had a gun.”

“He did, and do you know what Kit did?”

“He saved my mummy.”

Bo’s eyes filled with tears as she nodded and she couldn’t speak. Tiger reached up and touched her cheek. “Don’t cry, Mummy. Kit still loves us, even if he isn’t here on Earth anymore.”

The tears spilled over then, but she smiled through them. “Yes, he does, and we love him, don’t we?”

Downstairs, she turned off the main lights, just leaving the light of the open fire crackling in the grate. She curled up on the couch, listening to the silence of the evening. The property had land for miles around which, usually, she was thankful for. Now, though, she wished there were people closer.

You have four bodyguards sleeping in the guest lodge, all armed, all highly trained; how much more company do you want? But it wasn’t her safety she was most concerned with. It was being overcome with the crushing grief. She had canceled the rest of her tour—something she was loath to do—but in this case, vital. But now she wished she could feel that adrenaline. Night after night she would sit here, a bottle of wine, and her iPad, watching the videos she and Kit made during their all-too-brief time together. It was torture, yet every night she would put herself through it. Her shoulder still ached from the bullet wound; she’d hardly felt it when it ripped into her. It had all happened so fast.

Kit’s shout of “get down!”; him shoving her into the car; turning, seeing the bullet smash into his chest. His look of surprise, then of regret as he looked at her, the blood blooming across his chest. Her primal, feral scream as he fell, then scrambling out of the car, not caring if she was shot again, falling onto her lover’s prone body. Holding his head between her hands, begging him to live. There was blood on his mouth. He smiled at her. “I love you, Bo Kennedy. Know that, always ...”

His eyes closing. The finality of it.

Bo grabbed a cushion and screamed into it, howling her sadness, her pain. She was so distraught, she didn’t notice a very awkward bodyguard hovering near the door. She lowered the cushion and started as he cleared his throat.

“God … Simon, sorry.” She flushed, embarrassed. “Just stress relief.”

He nodded, gave her a smile. “I do that all the time.”

She smiled gratefully at his attempt to make her feel better. Sweet guy. “What’s up?”

“There’s a gentleman here to see you; he apologizes for the lateness of the hour.”

“Simon, I’m really not up for—”

“It’s Joel Mallory, Miss Kennedy.”

So many emotions flooded through her—joy, panic, and fear—but she kept her expression neutral. “Okay, then.”

She walked out with Simon to the foyer, bracing herself for the impact of seeing her dead lover’s twin. As she caught sight of him, something inside her broke.

Joel looked up and smiled. “Hey, Bo … remember me? I’m Joel...”

“I remember who you are,” she smiled, her voice cracking, tears dropping down her cheeks. “Of course, I know who you are...”

She threw her arms around him, sobbing, and he gathered her up, hugging her tightly. “It’s so good to see you again,” Joel said, his voice broken and emotional.

Simon excused himself discreetly and Bo, finally releasing her grip on Joel, motioned him into the living room. “I have two bottles of unopened scotch. We’re finishing them tonight.”

Joel chuckled quietly. “That sounds good to me.”

She poured him a drink, not able to tear her eyes from him. “God, I thought I wouldn’t cope with seeing you, of all the family. But in a weird way, it’s helping. Do you smoke, Joel?”

He shook his head. “Not for a while now.”

“Me neither.” She reached into the drinks cabinet and pulled out a sealed packet of Gauloises, waving them joyously. “Terrible for the voice, but the scotch will take care of that. Come out on the patio, mate.”

They sat under the stars and smoked and drank and shared stories of Kit. Bo felt her heart lift, as if Kit were still here, sitting in the empty, rolling his eyes at his brother for making him look ‘uncool.” She said as much to Joel, who laughed. “He would be incensed, the stories I could tell you.”

Just after midnight and Bo sighed. “Thank you for coming, Joel. I needed this.”

“What’s next for you, Bo?”

Bo flexed her injured shoulder unconsciously. “Get back on tour, then into the studio. Work is the key, I think. Make sure Tiger gets through all of this. He really loved Kit.”

Joel looked away from her gaze, and she took his hand. “I cannot even imagine how this must be for you, Joel. I only knew him a few weeks, and I feel torn apart.”

He squeezed her hand. “It’s been …” his shoulders slumped. “I have, to be honest; it’s broken me. I can’t get through a few minutes without remembering he’s gone forever. We didn’t always have the best relationship, but lately it was getting better.”

Bo steeled herself. “So, they have the shooter?

Joel nodded and told her exactly what the man had said. She paled at his words. “Wow. So Kit really did save my life. It’s weird; I’ve had stalkers before, but never someone who wanted to kill me.”

“If it helps, it wasn’t personal. Fisk wants to destroy our family and anyone we love.”

Bo bristled. “Fucker. If someone wants to kill me, it should at least be personal. Jesus.”

“I hear ya.”

A light breeze had started up, and Bo shivered. “Let’s go in. Listen, I have a guest room. Stay the night.”

Joel smiled. “That’s sweet but I can’t—this time, at least. Listen, none of us back in Seattle want to lose touch with you. It’s almost Christmas— bring Tiger, come out and stay with us. Your mom, too. Let us spoil you.”

Bo grinned. “I’ll talk to Mum about it.”

She walked him to the door and hugged him fiercely, not wanting to let go. “I miss him, you know?”

Joel nodded, his eyes sad. “I know.”

When she was alone, she went straight to her bedroom, changing into her T-shirt and shorts and got into bed. All those emotions swirling around her mind hadn’t stopped chattering. She lay on her right side and imagined Kit’s gorgeous golden head on the pillow next to hers. Bad move. So much pain.

“Why did you have to go?” she whispered, and listened for the answer.

It never came.

Quilla and Jakob got back home just after midnight local time. Jakob had fallen into an uneasy sleep on the plane, but Quilla could never sleep when she traveled. Her eyes felt scratchy and sore; her mouth was dry; and she felt unreasonably annoyed--not at anyone in particular, just in general.

Hormones, she thought, and then it struck her. God, not now. She figured out the days since her last period and sighed with relief. It was due in a couple of days. Still, she would snag a couple of pregnancy tests from the drugstore and make sure. After Jakob’s volte-face about kids, she suddenly had doubts herself. She wanted a career first, wanted to make a name for herself in the art world. She wasn’t so naive that she didn’t know the Mallory name would help her, but she actually wanted to do the hard labor herself, instead of just being a figurehead. And children right now would prevent her from giving all of her attention to it.

She had had the idea on the plane ride home; she would talk to Ran and Grady about a new foundation for arts, independent of Ran’s own foundation, and get Flori and Hayley, with their respective art and architecture degrees, involved.

She was so absorbed with the idea; she barely noticed when they got back to the apartment and Jakob put his hands on her waist, pulling her to him. Quilla braced herself for another fucking session … and was surprised when all Jakob did was stroke her face, gazing down at her, his eyes soft. She smiled up at him.

“You okay, baby?”

He nodded but stayed silent, pressing his lips to hers tenderly, his hands cupping her face. His kiss was sweet, passionate, and heady—after a long moment, she had to pull away for air, bemused by the change in him.

He leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry I’ve been so angry, that I’ve been so forceful with you. With us.”

“Ssh,” she said, rubbing her nose against his. “I love you. It’s okay.”

Jakob smiled. “I don’t know where my head has been; something in me said Gregor would never go this far. Now he has … I have nightmares about losing you, Quilla. He got to you so easily last time.”

“Last time, we didn’t have any idea that this was his psychosis, his endgame. Now we do, and we have an army, looking out for us. An army.” She grinned, nodding back to the closed door to the foyer. Their security detail waited outside, ready for any intrusion. Quilla held Jakob’s hand and led him to their bedroom. “Best way to get over jetlag,” she promised him.

They made love slowly, tenderly, this time, taking their time, taking care of the other’s body, and then fell asleep and slept until the middle of the next afternoon. After they’d showered, Jakob went to the office and Quilla, eager to discuss her ideas with Ran and Grady, asked one of her bodyguards to take her to the big house.

Grady was the only one there and he listened with interest to her ideas. He nodded as she explained how she wanted to set up a foundation which would benefit artists without a college degree or access to art classes. “Kind of like Joel’s community sports centers, but for art.”

“I like it. And you want to get Hayley and Flori involved? I think that’s the right way to go. After all, all three of you did get your college degrees, but only after adversity. Would you teach?”

Quilla was surprised. “Do you think I’m qualified?”

“Hell, yes. And if you’re worried, we’ll poach some people from your alma mater.”

His grin was so infectious, she couldn’t help but giggle. “Thanks, Grady; now I’m even more enthused. Is Flori with you? Can I talk to her?”

Grady shook his head. “Afraid not. She’s visiting a college in Vancouver.”

Quilla was surprised. “Moving to Canada?”

“Maybe. At least while her course lasts. It’s just one option we’re thinking about, but look, come over tomorrow night for some food and we’ll talk some more. I know Flori would love to do something with you.”

Quilla flushed with pleasure. “She’s a sweetheart and damn, she can draw.”

Grady nodded. “The two of you put Pa and me to shame.”

“Ha.”

“It’s true. We’re more dabblers; you two are hardcore.”

She was still thinking about his words later; if she was honest, they made her feel so good. That her work was worth something was a real tribute, coming from a man like Grady Mallory. Yes, he was related, but she knew without a doubt that he wasn’t just blowing smoke up her ass, that he meant what he said. She tried to remember when she’d last picked up a pencil or a paintbrush. Too long. Even at work, she’d been mired in paperwork and essays, her PhD studies having taken a backseat. Not any more, she thought, gazing out a sunny Seattle as they drove towards the city.

She leaned forward in the seat and spoke to her guard, Rick. “Hey, could we go to Skandar’s place?”

“Sure thing, Miss Quilla.”

Quilla grinned to herself. Rick was an old-fashioned guy, straight out of Texas. Miss Quilla. He makes me sound like Jessica Fletcher. She pulled out her phone and called Hayley, asking her if she wanted to grab some food and chat.

The reply came back. “God, yes, please, Skandar’s still at training, and I’m starving.”

Hayley was wearing a long plaid shirt and skinny jeans, and her wool hat pulled down over her long blonde hair as she dove into the car next to Quilla and kissed her cheek. “How was Oz? I’m desperate for Skandar to take me to the Open next year, but he says I’ll be a distraction.”

Quilla grinned. Hayley’s natural enthusiasm was catching. “Don’t take no for an answer. It’s beautiful. Where do you want to eat?”

Hayley considered. “I am supposed to be on a detox, so ...”

“Red Mill?”

Hayley groaned. “You are the Devil. Yes, yes, yes.”

Quilla chuckled and asked Rick to take them to the burger joint. “I need fries in my life,” she admitted to Hayley. “PMS-ing hard.”

“Poor you. “

Rick pulled the car out into traffic and headed towards Ballard. The two women chatted happily, catching up with each other. Quilla told Hayley she had something to discuss with her but, teasing her companion, she kept her mouth shut.

Neither of them nor Rick saw the SUV until the last minute. It came at them from the side, speeding to over a hundred kilometers an hour and smashed the front of the Mercedes, flipping it over and over.

Quilla, barely conscious, opened her eyes to see a man with a gun bending down to look into the car. She heard Hayley moan.

“They’re alive.”

“Good. Boss wants the Asian one alive.”

“What about the blonde?”

“Bring her, too. If he doesn’t want her, we’ll kill her and dump her body. Kill the driver.”

In horror, Quilla watched as the man calmly shot Rick through the head. Hayley screamed. Then doors were being opened; there was a flash of a knife as Quilla was cut free from her belt. Then, as she was dragged out of the car, a cloth was forced over her nose and mouth. Breathing in whatever chemical was soaking the cloth; Quilla heard Hayley cry out.

Leave her alone; she tried to scream. Take me, leave her alone … oh God, … help us …

Help us …

Part Eight: Take Me

Now …

Quilla opened her eyes to darkness. A blindfold; she could feel the rough fabric against her skin. Her hands were bound behind her back; she was slumped on a chair, her ankles tied. Her head pounded with pain; her limbs ached from the shock of the accident. She felt strangely calm—she was in no doubt who was behind their abduction: Gregor Fisk. There was a sense of inevitability about it all. Quilla swallowed, her throat dry. “Hayley?”

“I’m here.”

“Are you tied up?”

“Yes, handcuffed to the radiator. You’re on a chair. Are you okay?”

“I think so. Aren’t you blindfolded?”

“No. He … Quilla, he’s tied you up like he wanted to … God ...”

Quilla didn’t need to hear it. She could easily imagine what humiliation Gregor Fisk was going to visit upon her before he killed her. Because he was going to kill her, she knew that, but she was damned if she’d let him hurt Hayley. She lifted her shoulder, bending her head to push the blindfold away from her eyes. She blinked, trying to get used to the light. Hayley, her face tearstained and bloody, sat on the floor across the room.

Quilla looked around … an old house, somewhat derelict. She could see out of the window that they were in an isolated place, but the tree line looked familiar—pines, mountainous. “We’re still in Washington, or at least the Northwest.” Had Gregor been close all this time?

Hayley nodded. “I was conscious in the van, though I pretended to be out. We didn’t travel for more than two hours, and we climbed, I could tell that. Your ear is bleeding.”

Hayley looked terrified, and Quilla tried to smile and reassure her. “It doesn’t hurt.” She looked over herself. Her white dress had been ripped open to expose her underwear, and the ties that bound her crisscrossed over her body were leather straps biting into her flesh. Quilla strained against them, but they were too tight, too strong. She hadn’t noticed at first, but someone had drawn a circle in marker pen on her belly, her navel at the center of it. “What the hell?”

“He said it was for target practice, the sick fuck.” Hayley suddenly retched and vomited. Quilla felt sick herself. Hayley sobbed for a few seconds, then wiped her mouth on the arm of her T-shirt.

“He’s going to kill us, isn’t he?”

“No,” Quilla shook her head. “He is not, Hayley. I will get you out of here, I promise. Jakob and Skandar, they’ll be scouring the world for us. I won’t let you die.”

Hayley was staring at her. “Quilla … I won’t let him hurt you either.”

Quilla swallowed the lump in her throat. “Sweetheart, we’re going to get out of here, I promise.”

The door to the room opened then, and they both started, hearts pounding. Gregor Fisk had the widest smile on his face. Hayley whimpered.

“Well, good morning, beautiful ladies. Thank you for joining me here. Quilla, my love, you’re up, and looking so ravishing too.”

Gregor grabbed Quilla’s hair and pulled her head back, grinding his mouth down on hers. Quilla struggled until she felt cold metal against her belly and she froze.

Hayley screamed, and Gregor laughed. He pressed the muzzle of the gun against Quilla’s skin and winked at Hayley. “Hope you’ve said your goodbyes, girls.”

And he pulled the trigger.

Now …

There were no words to describe how Jakob felt at this moment. Devastated wasn’t strong enough; neither was scared, terrified or angry. There were no words.

Sickened, he turned away from the body of his employee. Rick, the young Texan security guard, could not have prevented his own death, a bullet to the brain, nor could he have protected Quilla from the fate that had befallen her. Gregor had taken her, and Jakob knew in his bones that he would never see her alive again.

The FBI chief drove him back to their field office and numbly, he followed the man into the interview room. He answered his questions in a monotone and for an hour and a half, he went through everything that had happened since he had met Quilla, Gregor’s campaign of violence, his stabbing attacks on Quilla and Flori … Kit’s murder.

The FBI chief, Carter James, finally looked at him sympathetically. “I know it seems like you’re repeating everything ad infinitum, but we never know when the smallest piece of information will be useful. Look, Mr. Mallory, maybe we should go further back, to when you first met Gregor Fisk.”

Jakob raised his eyebrows. “You think that will help?”

Carter James nodded. “Maybe. Like I said, any minor detail.”

There was a knock at the door and a young African-American woman looked around the door. She smiled kindly at Jakob. “Mr. Mallory, your father and brother are here.”

Jakob felt some of the heavy dread lift. “Thank God. Thank you.”

Carter smiled at his partner. “Show them in, would you, Ali? Mr. Mallory, this is my partner, Ali Bell.”

He shook the young agent’s hand and then she left, reappearing a moment later with Ran and Grady. Both his father and his brother looked shocked. Ran hugged Jakob tightly. “This is not your fault, son.”

Jakob almost smiled; his dad knew him so well. “I’ll try not to think that, Pa.” He introduced them to Carter, then filled them in on what had happened. Ran nodded when Jakob told him what Carter suggested.

“Good idea.”

Carter picked up on his tone. “You’ve always had doubts about Fisk?”

Ran hesitated, shooting a look at his son, and then nodded. “Yes.” Carter looked at Grady.

“You?”

Grady shrugged. “I never really knew him, but the few times I met him, he seemed like an arrogant jerk. The trouble with this guy,” he nodded smiling at his brother, “is that he’s fiercely loyal. He never gives up on anyone.”

Carter nodded. “Maybe you both should sit in on this and give any info you can while Jakob goes through their history.”

He looked at Jakob, who nodded. “Good. Look, get comfortable, I’ll get some coffee and sandwiches sent it. The quicker we do this, the more likely we are to be able to find Quilla safe.”

Now …

Skandar Mallory thanked his practice partner and went to shower. He always felt buzzed after a good session and this one, nearly four hours, had been exhilarating. Good, he needed those endorphins coursing through his blood. Since Kit had died, he had managed to be a support to his dad and his uncles but inside, he was dying. He and Kit had clashed yes, but God … The press intrusion was getting ridiculous and at the moment, the only thing keeping him going was the gorgeous blonde waiting for him at home. Damn, he loved Hayley Applebee, and lately, he’d been churning an idea over and over in his mind.

He wanted to marry her. He wanted to take her away, like Jakob and Quilla, and get married on a tropical island and call her his wife, hear her say ‘my husband’ and belong to each other forever. It was crazy—she wasn’t even twenty years old yet, but Skandar knew they would be together forever. Done deal, no doubts. He’d even gone online and sought out some unusual engagement rings for her—he knew she wouldn’t want a huge diamond, more something that spoke to who she was in herself, something unique.

He drove home a little too fast, eager to see Hayley, but when he got there, the house was empty. Swallowing his disappointment, he read her note. Gone out to eat with Quilla. Oil up that fine body and have it ready for me when I get home, slave. Master Hayley. (PS: I love you).

Skandar chuckled. “Doofus.” He threw his sweaty practice clothes in the washer then grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. He flopped onto the couch, flipping through the television channels to find something to watch. After a couple of hours, he got tired and switched it off, not seeing the Breaking News ribbon and the photo of Quilla that flashed briefly before the screen turned black.

Grinning, he wrote Hayley a note. Wake me up when you get in, beautiful. He stuck it to the bedroom door so she wouldn’t miss it and went to bed.

Now …

Hayley screamed, and Quilla let her breath flood out. The gun was empty. Gregor laughed. “Well, that was fun. Just a little warning of what will happen if you try my patience. Dick, Paul? Untie them. Ladies, there is a bathroom through that door. All the windows are nailed shut, are made of hardened glass, and are alarmed. There will be a bullet for each time you try to escape, do you understand? Behave and you,” he gestured dismissively at Hayley – “might get to live. You, my darling Quilla, well, you already know what’s going to happen to you, but the rules still apply. You try anything, the blonde kid dies.”

“Let her go,” Quilla begged him. “You have me; you don’t need her.”

Gregor moaned and kissed her again. “I know I have you, beautiful, and I’m really going to enjoy our time together, but I do need her, mostly to stop you doing anything silly to yourself. You try and kill yourself, try to take that pleasure away from me, then she dies.”

He stood, his eyes not leaving her face. “You’ll be fed well, and looked after, if you comply. I’ll get them to bring a mattress in for you to sleep on. They’re under orders to shoot Blondie the moment you step out of line. Until later.”

The other two men silently untied them, then locked the door after them. Quilla and Hayley clung to each other. Quilla could feel Hayley’s entire body trembling. “It’s okay, honey. The fact that we’re not already dead means there’s hope.”

Hayley scrubbed at her face, wiping blood and tears across her hands. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better, but thank you.”

Quilla sighed, leaning against her friend. She suddenly felt a chill and re-buttoned her dress, spitting on her fingers to try and wipe Gregor’s ‘target’ off her skin before she pulled the material around her. She closed her eyes and drew in a couple of deep breaths, trying to quell the terror. Try to think logically; she told herself calmly. Make a plan—get Hayley out of here. Quilla knew she would do anything—anything—to make that happen.

Even if it meant giving herself to Gregor Fisk in every way.

Then … Twenty-Five Years Previously

“Jakob Mallory?”

Jakob looked up from his blueprints and smiled at the young man in front of him. “Yes?”

The man, dark hair, dark eyes, handsome, polished, held out his hand. “Gregor Fisk. You said to come straight to the site?”

Jakob blinked, then remembered. The dude from his MBA class. “Hey again. Sorry, brain on autopilot. You want a beer?”

Gregor grinned. “Hell, yes. My kind of interview.”

Jakob laughed and snagged a couple of cold ones from his mini-fridge. “Mine, too, although this isn’t an interview, as such. I don’t pretend to be anything than a grad student with an idea. But thanks for responding to the ad; I thought it would be cool to chat; see what your ambitions as far as property are.”

“Build stuff, make a ton of money, love my work,” said Gregor, his easy smile appearing again. He took a long swig of beer. “My family is all about medicine, but I just don’t have that gene. I want to create something physical, build with my bare hands, design something people have never seen before.”

Jakob nodded. “Sounds about right. I’m looking to build boutique buildings at affordable prices—now,” he grinned at the doubtful expression on Gregor’s face, “just listen. There’s a whole bunch of graduates like me and you, and even young professionals, who are crying out for affordable housing but also want something polished. I don’t believe we can’t give them that while keeping costs low.”

Gregor considered. “Okay, so where do I come in?”

“Well, you want to build stuff—that’s a good start,” Jakob laughed, and Gregor joined in. “My family’s going to stump up the starting capital. As a partner, you would be loaned your share—if you want—and then pay my dad back if and when we make a profit.”

Gregor nodded but still looked unsure.

“Look, I haven’t got it all figured out yet. Why don’t we go out for drinks tonight and talk some more?” Jakob looked at his watch. “Say nine o’clock at the Oasis?”

Now …

“So you decided to work together that night?” Carter James asked Jakob now, as they sat in the interview room.

“More or less, maybe a couple of days later. Believe it or not, back then, he was a good guy, always a bit arrogant, but then, so was I at that age. We were young and ambitious, incredibly driven—which is why the company did so well so quickly.”

There was a knock and Ali Bell came in bearing a tray full of coffee and sandwiches and a very grim face. “Press has the story,” she said. “They’re all outside. Also, your brother Joel is here.”

Joel came in, his face drawn, Nan behind him. Joel hugged Jakob tightly. “God, I’m sorry, man. Anything we can do?”

“I’d feel better if Skandar and Hayley were here, safe,” Ran said quietly, and Nan nodded.

Carter got up. “We’ll send a car over for them—has Skandar got security at his house, a physical presence?”

Joel shook his head. “He hates being crowded, but it is like Fort Knox. No one’s getting in there.”

“Still, I agree with Mr. Mallory Sr. Let’s get everyone here.”

Joel nodded and Ali Bell went to arrange the escort. Carter looked at Jakob. “You ready to continue?”

Jakob nodded. “Let’s get this done.”

Now …

Skandar awoke at the sound of someone leaning on his intercom. He stumbled out of bed, glanced at the clock, and stopped, turning to look at the empty bed beside him. Where the hell was Hayley?

Dread started to spiral through his chest, and when he opened the door and saw the police officers waiting, his heart dropped.

“What, what is it?”

“Mr. Skandar Mallory? We’re sorry to disturb you, sir, but we need you to come down to the FBI field office with us.”

Skandar stared at them dumbly. “Why?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Mallory; we can’t tell you that.”

“Am I under arrest for anything?”

“No, sir, not at all.”

Skandar drew in a breath. “Look, my girlfriend is due home soon; I’d rather wait for her. Then I’d be happy to come. I don’t want to leave her here alone at night.”

The officers looked at each other. “Hayley Applebee?”

“Yeah, she’s gone out with a friend, my aunt-in-law, if there is such a thing.”

Another loaded glance. “The aunt’s name?”

“Quilla Chen, or Quilla Mallory, that is … look, what’s going on?”

The expressions on the officers’ faces had gone from professional to concern. “Okay, Mr. Mallory, I’m going to ask you to come with us now. We’ll leave someone here to bring your girlfriend in later. It is important that you come with us now.” 

Then … Twenty Years Previously

“Dude, to our tenth project together and for making Mallory Fisk the biggest property conglomerate in the world. To us, man,” Gregor tapped his champagne flute to Jakob’s and grinned. They were standing in the as-yet unoccupied penthouse of their latest residential building, and even Jakob had to admit, Gregor had outdone himself on this one.

Yeah, it might be a little ways off the vision for cheap, stylish housing that he, Jakob, had, but Jakob wasn’t Randall Mallory’s son for nothing. He had his father’s eye when it came to beautiful aesthetics and this place … damn; Jakob was tempted to buy it for himself. He could afford it now, without even tapping into his trust fund.

“I’m seriously thinking about taking this place.” Gregor’s word mirrored his thoughts and Jakob half smiled but said nothing. “Look at that view.”

Mt. Rainier rose out of the gloomy twilight, and the city was a riot of lights, nightlife, and traffic. Jakob could see over to the islands, the ferries moving slowly across the Bay. He loved this city more than anywhere else in the world, and that was saying something.

“Listen, you want to grab some dinner? Padma said she’d love to see you.”

Padme Khan, Gregor’s stunning girlfriend, was a human rights lawyer. Gregor had been dating her for a year and a half, was crazy about her, and talked about marriage. Padme herself, smart, brilliant and funny, seemed fond of Gregor, her natural reserve making her hard to read. Yes, she was gorgeous and kind … and for the last two months, she had also been Jakob’s lover.

It had been an instant attraction that they fought for over a year until one night; Jakob had been working late at the office when Padme had arrived, looking for Gregor.

“He’s with a client,” Jakob had told her. He offered her a drink, and she accepted. He joined her on the couch in his office, their knees touching as they sipped their scotch. Then she had put her hand on his knee and that had been that. A glorious, delirious, adrenaline-filled fuck later and Jakob was lost. They’d met every couple of days since then—Gregor’s assistant Mandy more than happy to cover for them—Gregor had never treated her, or any of the Mallory Fisk staff, with any respect right from the beginning; the fact that they had any staff was down to Jakob and their loyalty to him. So, Mandy, with more than a little glee, would tell them when it was safe to meet.

Padme, with her large dark eyes, soft pink lips, and killer athlete’s body, was an energetic and uninhibited lover.

Both of them felt guilty, but both of them were addicted to the other. They didn’t talk about the future, or make plans, or say I love you. In fact, Padme was adamant. “I don’t love you; I just want you,” she told him, and Jakob was fine with that.

He agreed to the dinner that evening but didn’t expect Padme to announce she’d had a job offer in London. Gregor, by the look on his face, hadn’t expected it either. Jakob felt sorry for his partner.

“So, you’re taking it?”

Padme nodded. “It’s too good an opportunity to miss. I’m sorry, sweetheart; I had to make the decision quickly.”

“Without me?”

Padme’s smile was distinctly chilly. “Of course. It’s my career.”

Gregor hadn’t argued, but he had been silent for most of the evening. The next day at work, Jakob went to see him in his office. “You okay?”

Gregor smiled, his eyes are distant. “Sure. No big deal. I was thinking of breaking up with her anyway.”

Yeah, right, but Jakob nodded sympathetically. “Good for you. Moving on.”

“Pretty sure she was cheating on me, anyway.”

Uh-oh. “Really.”

Gregor looked at Jakob for a long moment. Then the corner of his mouth hitched up in a smile. “What do I know? Hey, I could use a drink tonight.”

“Sure thing.”

That was the first evening Jakob saw Gregor use cocaine.

Now …

“So even back then, he was using.”

“Recreationally. Not my concern, unless it started to affect the business and actually, he seemed to throw himself even more enthusiastically into the projects we were working on. I struggled to keep up.”

“So you were sleeping with his girlfriend. His motive for revenge? Seems a little pedestrian for how he’s behaving now. Coke psychosis would go some way … but I’m still not convinced there isn’t something else.”

Jakob rubbed his head. “Look, can I take a quick break?”

Carter sat back, tired himself. “Of course. Take ten minutes.” As Jakob got up, another officer came in and handed a note to Carter. “Jakob, wait. Forensics is telling us there was another person in the car with Quilla.”

Jakob looked shocked. “Who?”

“We don’t know; they’re bringing up something they’ve found. Can you wait?”

“Sure.”

Jakob looked at his family, seated around the table with him. “Thank you all for being here. It helps; it really does.”

Nan got up and hugged him. “They’ll find her, Jakob.”

Jakob tightened his arms around the blonde woman. “From your lips, Nan ...”

There was a commotion outside and then Skandar was there, his eyes confused. “What the hell is going on? Why are we all here?”

Joel got up. “You don’t know?”

“Quilla’s been taken, Skandar. Her car was ambushed. Her driver was killed, shot.”

With all the blood draining from his face, Skandar’s legs gave way. “No … God … no …” Joel caught him before he fell, shooting a shocked and confused look at the others. Trembling, Nan stepped closer, put her arm around him.

“Skandar, where’s Hayley?” Her voice broke when Skandar looked her directly in the eye, his pain obvious.

Behind her, a man in a lab coat came in and handed something in a plastic evidence bag to Carter. He held it up. “Anyone recognize this?”

Nan screamed; an agonized howl that tore at everyone’s heart, drawing gasps from the others. Skandar looked up, his eyes heavy and tormented. “It’s Hayley’s hat,” he said in a voice so broken and despairing, it barely seemed human, “She was with Quilla. They took Hayley, too.”

Now …

Hayley had fallen into an awkward slumber, Quilla’s arms around her. Gregor’s men had brought mattresses into the room for them, but they huddled together on one. Late fall had brought cold weather, and the thin blankets they had were inadequate. Quill couldn’t sleep. She guessed it was about two or three in the morning, by the quiet in the room.

She had already checked out anything she might use as a weapon, but Gregor wasn’t a stupid man. The food they were given was all finger food, sandwiches, fruit, stuff that didn’t require even plastic knives and forks. In the bathroom, the toilet had no lid, either on the seat or the cistern. The shower rod was cemented into the wall. Even the soap was just a plain bar, no bottle that could be filled and used to club someone.

How did I get here? A year ago, I was sketching bridges in Venice and now … She couldn’t believe how calm she was in this situation. She could be murdered any minute and …

Stop it. Close your eyes, think of something else.

Their wedding night. They’d flown to the big Island the day after Jakob had proposed, the day after that incredible, erotic night they’d spent on the terrace. Simple vows and that was that. Married. Two hours later, they’d gone back to their island hideaway and celebrated.

She slid the white cotton dress from her shoulders the moment they stepped inside the villa, and let it fall from her body to the tiled floor. She looked back over her shoulder at him and saw him smiling, obviously enjoying the striptease. He stepped forward to kiss her shoulder, while his fingers expertly popped the clasp of her bra. She let that fall, too, and turned to press her breasts against him, her lips seeking his.

“Take me,” she murmured against his mouth and with a growl, he swept her into his arms and carried her out to the terrace. It was evening, and the sunset made her honey skin golden in its light.

Jakob laid her down on the sun lounger and began to kiss her, his lips trailing down her body until his face was buried in her belly. She stroked his hair, turned on by the fact she was naked and he was still fully dressed. She was his, his wife, his love. When he looked up, she was surprised to see tears in his eyes, and he smiled. “God, I love you, Quilla Chen Mallory.”

She grinned. “That’s my name.” Jakob, his eyes full of love, gently pulled her legs apart and then his mouth was on her, kissing and sucking, tasting and teasing, her sex swelling and reddening under his touch. His tongue made her clit harden, and the sensitive nerve endings scream with pleasure, then he plunged it deep into her cunt, licking and tasting and loving. Quilla moaned, her entire body liquefying under his touch, every cell needing more of him.

“Let me suck you,” she pleaded, and grinning, he stood and quickly stripped. She gazed up at his perfect, hard body, the wide shoulders, the firm abs, and his cock, so big, so hard. She stroked it upwards from the root and took the smooth tip between her lips, one hand massaging his sac gently, while her forefinger found that sensitive spot behind his balls. Her mouth, wet and warm, enveloped his cock, drawing on him. His hands were in her hair, stroking her tenderly, letting the fine strands fall through his fingers. Jakob groaned as he neared completion, Quilla looking up at him.

“Come on my skin,” she said, and he nodded. His cock quivered and lengthened, and he shot stream after stream of hot, white semen onto her skin, her breasts, her belly. Quilla arched back, spreading her legs, running her fingers through the substance and massaging it in and down into her sex. “God, Quilla, yes, touch yourself like that ...” Jakob fisted the root of his still hard cock as he watched her masturbate, her long dark hair tumbling down her back, her golden skin oiled with his cum, her cunt glistening with desire. When he couldn’t take anymore, he dropped onto her body and thrust balls deep into her, pressing her legs as far apart as they would go.

Jakob rammed his hips against her, murmuring to her, telling how much he loved her, loved fucking her over and over. Quilla came, one roaring shattering orgasm after another, crying out her love for him. He didn’t let her rest, flipping her onto her stomach and pushing into her ass, wanting to possess her in every way. They fucked long into the night, falling asleep with their bodies tangled just as the sun rose over the island.

Quilla felt sleep come then, just as a tear escaped. Then she was in that semi-conscious state between awake and sleep when the images came to her: Jakob’s face turning from happiness to horror; the pain; her own body jerking and spasming as Gregor stabbed her to death …

She awoke screaming, and it took all of Hayley’s will to calm her down.

Skandar wanted to scream, wanted to howl. If Gregor Fisk walked into this room this very moment. Skandar wouldn’t need a weapon. He’d rip him to pieces with his bare hands.

Hayley. His sweet, young Hayley. He tried to take some comfort that Fisk had taken her, that he hadn’t killed her in the car wreck like he had the driver. He hadn’t needed the FBI agent to tell him why; Gregor would use her as collateral. To bend Quilla to his will. This was hopeful; she was useful, the FBI agent said. But what about when Fisk carried out his promise to kill Quilla? Hayley would have served her purpose, and be of no more use to him. He couldn't help but picture both the women dead, murdered.

Jesus … He would vomit, but after they’d shown them Hayley’s wool cap, he’d lurched to the bathrooms and thrown up and up, his father not knowing who to console first, his son or his girlfriend Nan, Hayley’s sister. She was a wreck. She’d hugged Skandar, no sign of reproach in her eyes.

“We’ll get her back; we will,” she whispered to him urgently.

Skandar knew the fact Hayley would be used against Quilla wasn’t lost on Jakob. In his uncle’s eyes, there was a deep sorrow, a resignation. He thinks they’ll be killed. The thought made Skandar want to howl. He went to his uncle and took him by the shoulders. “Don’t give up hope,” he said to him in a low voice, “don’t. If you do, I do, and I can’t live with that.”

Jakob had nodded stiffly.

The field office was filling up now; it was almost eight a.m. Jakob was back in that room with an exhausted-looking Agent James. Agent Bell had taken the rest of them to the cafeteria for coffee and breakfast, but no one felt like eating. Skandar stared out of the window, oblivious to the press pack on the street below them, aiming their cameras at the heartbroken man. He stared up at the dark gray sky that was threatening snow.

Where are you? Skandar thought, sadness overwhelming him. Where are you, my precious, darling Hayley? Wherever you are, fight to stay alive. Please …

Fight.

He came for Quilla about lunchtime. With Paul leveling a gun at Hayley, Quilla did not put up a fight when Gregor handcuffed her hands behind her back and marched her out of the room. She turned and looked back at Hayley. “I love you,” she said.

Hayley nodded. “I love you.” As the door closed behind her, Hayley shouted, “Please don’t hurt her.”

Quilla choked back a sob, not wanting to give Gregor any satisfaction. It was a relief when she saw both of Gregor’s goons exit and leave Hayley alone. She had seen the one named Paul looking lasciviously at the young woman, and she would die before she let Hayley be assaulted. Gregor led her to a private room, a dining room by the look of it, and pushed her into a chair, releasing her hands. He grabbed her head, forcing her to look at him.

“Christ, you get more beautiful,” he said roughly and kissed her. Quilla gagged and whipped her head away from him, and he laughed.

“Still so feisty. And overdressed.” He yanked her already torn dress open, running a leisurely hand over her breasts, her belly. Quilla squeezed her legs together, but he merely chuckled, gripping her thighs and prising them apart.

Then he walked away, and she sighed in relief. “Quilla, Quilla, Quilla ...” he said, and she gritted her teeth. He pulled a chair up to hers and sat down, studying her. She met his gaze defiantly.

He nodded. “Yeah, I can see why Mallory married you, keeps you in that gilded cage. You’re exquisite.”

Quilla’s eyes narrowed. “And that’s all I am to you, isn’t it? So-called ‘beauty’ and nothing else. Nothing that can’t be cut down with your knife. Maybe that’s your problem, Gregor, not seeing people for who they really are. What gives you the right to take what you want? I’m a human being, not your property, not Jakob’s property, or anyone else’s.”

“That’s where you’re wrong; I do see you. I want to know you, Quilla.”

She laughed mirthlessly. “Before you kill me? Did you want to know me when you stuck a knife in my gut?”

Gregor smiled. “That wasn’t meant to kill you, Quilla, just to send a message.”

“You sent plenty of messages, remember? I have to give you credit for your imagination, Gregor; you certainly thought up some pretty horrific ways to kill me.”

He chuckled. “Would you believe me if I said I was rethinking that idea?”

Quilla was shocked. “Then why are we here? Why did you take me? Hayley?”

“Your pretty little friend was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Then, please,” she softened her tone. “Let her go. Just drop her off and make an anonymous call. Just please, let her go.”

Gregor leaned back in his chair, his eyes roaming all over her body, obviously enjoying her torment. “Well, let me think about it. I’ll tell you what, lovely Quilla, I’ll make you a deal.”

God, she wasn’t going to like this, was she? Quilla swallowed. “What deal?”

He edged closer, cupping her breasts, stroking his thumbs across her bra-covered nipples. “A week. A week in which, Quilla, you will be everything to me that you are to Jakob Mallory. In every way. At the end of the week, if I’m satisfied, I’ll let the blonde go.” He cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. “If I’m not satisfied, I’ll let Paul have her before I kill her. And you, sweet Quilla, will wish you’d never been born.”

His eyes were cold, dark, and almost black with malevolence. Quilla couldn’t help the gasp of fear that escaped her. He smiled at that.

“Beautiful sound. I wonder, will you gasp like that when I’m inside you?”

Kill me now, she thought, please, just end this. But she couldn’t say the words, couldn’t let Hayley suffer because she was afraid. So, she tried to smile. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

God, no, no Jakob, I’m so sorry—but if fucking Gregor Fisk helped keep Hayley—and maybe even herself—then she would be a goddamned porn star for him.

Gregor allowed her to go back to the room now, and Hayley hugged her, crying. “I thought he was going to kill you,” she sobbed. “I had my ear to the door, in case you screamed. I was going to try to kick it down, oh God, oh God ...”

Quilla tightened her arms around her young friend. “It’s okay, baby. I’m all good, I promise. Look, sit down with me for a minute; my legs are shaking.”

Calming down, Hayley did as she asked, but pulled her sweatshirt off and tugged it around Quilla. “I hate seeing you like that—not that you haven’t got a great body—but knowing he wants you on show … it makes me sick.”

God, if you only knew … Quilla thanked her. “At this point, though, I’m past caring. Listen, we may have a way out of here … I just have to keep that psycho happy for a week. I don’t want to give you false hope, but I think he means what he says, so ...”

Hayley narrowed her eyes at Quilla. “What do you mean ‘keep him happy?”’

Quilla had to look away from her gaze. “Don’t worry about it.”

Hayley’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, no,” she said in a whisper. “Oh, no, Quilla, don’t. Please.”

“I don’t have any choice, if I want to keep you alive.” Quilla’s voice broke. “Please, don’t make it harder than it already is.”

Hayley’s tears poured down her cheeks. “Why do I want to blame Jakob for this? If he hadn’t fired Gregor, none of this would be happening.”

Quilla touched her cheek, smiling. “But then Nan wouldn’t have met Joel, and you couldn’t have met Skandar … Grady and Flori, Kit and Bo.”

Hayley choked out, “And Kit wouldn’t be dead.”

Quilla shuddered. “We can’t change what’s happened, Hayley; we have to focus on the future.”

Hayley wrapped her arms around her friend. “I don’t want you to … screw … him.”

“It’s just sex. I have to make it convincing; it might be the only way to get you out of here.”

Hayley stopped. “You mean us.”

“What?”

“You said ‘get you out of here’. You meant both of us, right?”

Quilla nodded. “Of course.”

But they both knew she was lying.

Carter James, running on two hours sleep in the recreation lounge, scarfed down a power bar and chugged two cups of lukewarm overly strong coffee. “Jesus.” He winced at the bitter taste.

“You could always make some more, you know. It’s not out of your skill set.” Ali Bell clapped him on the back. She looked as wrecked as he did. He smiled at her. The day Ali became his partner, he’d found both a loyal, smart, kickass partner and a best friend. Seven years later, and their record in investigating high-profile kidnappings and murders was exemplary. Personally, they had a flirty relationship—Ali had a mouth like a sailor and a wicked sense of humor—but they’d also silently agreed—no peeing in the company pool. It had served them well, through two divorces in three years for Carter and a broken arm from when Ali had taken down a perp three times her size.

“Anything?” Ali sat down opposite him, flicking a packet of sweetener. Carter shook his head. “The Mallorys and their team have done a pretty thorough job; nice to have unlimited resources. The trouble is, all those resources are at Fisk’s fingertips, too.”

“Be honest. You think we’ll find those two girls alive?”

Carter looked at her. “I’d like to think so. The younger girl, Hayley, at least. But Mallory’s wife? Fisk is obsessed with her.” He sat thinking for a while. “Mallory says she’s a smart girl, a grad student. I wonder if she’s thinking of her options.”

“What do you mean?”

“She knows Fisk is obsessed with her—maybe she can play him.”

Ali winced. “God.” She had immediately guessed what he meant. “That poor girl.”

“Yeah.”

Ali sighed. “Look, we’re trying to find out everything we can on Fisk. Since he went off grid when Mallory fired him, he’s left no trail. It’s almost as if he’d been planning to go native. A couple of years ago, there were seven hundred million dollars in his current account. That’s just his current account. Factor in investments, on and off-shore; Jesus, that’s more money than we can imagine. Then, just over a year ago, his US investments were cashed out. His account was cleared out. Carter, this guy’s got his money stuffed in a mattress somewhere. Maybe we should check out Walmarts around the country for anyone who’s been buying shit like the Rapture’s coming.” She grinned but Carter sat up.

“That’s not a bad idea ...”

“Oh, come on, I was kidding.”

“No, think about it. If you’re right, that would be some lead to follow. So far, we got nada. Any theory at this point is worth investigating.”

Ali still looked skeptical but nodded. “Well, okay, I’ll go set up a search of big wholesalers … still seems a bit easy to me.”

Carter grinned, a big cheesy smile at her. “You never heard of Occam’s Razor?”

Ali gave him a death stare. “Graduated Suma from Harvard, top of my class, and you think I don’t? The simplest answer is usually the right one.”

Charlie chuckled. “Which reminds me, I need to talk to his professors at Harvard—you got a contact?”

Jakob couldn’t bear to go home. Not without Quilla, not knowing if she was dead or alive or in horrible torment. I love you so much, baby; please hang on for me … I’ll find you, I swear. He booked into a hotel a few blocks from the FBI field office and called Miles to have some of his clothes brought to his room.

His assistant, Miles, answered on the first ring. “Hey, cutie.”

“Hey, Miles, can you—did you just call me “cutie’?” Jakob was bemused.

Miles laughed. “I did. Do you know why?”

Jakob gave a quick laugh. “No idea ...”

“Quilla. She bet me I wouldn’t call you cutie when you least expected it. So now, she owes me money. That’s how I know she’ll be okay; she owes me money. Plus, that’s the girl who everyone loves, who everyone pulls for, fights for. That girl doesn’t get dead. I know it in my bones.”

Jakob didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but he was tremendously moved. “Miles, remind after this is all over to give you a huge raise in pay. Damn, man; that’s the first time I’ve felt better in hours. Thank you.”

“My pleasure. Now, what can I do for you?”

At five-thirty, Paul came to their room. He threw a plastic bag at Quilla. “Boss says have a shower, put that on. Dinner’s in a half hour. You,” he leered at Hayley. “You can take off whatever you want.”

“Fuck you,” Hayley shot back, and Paul laughed.

“I wish. Maybe once the boss has had his share, I’ll be allowed to show you a good time.”

Quilla stepped in front of Hayley. “Get out. Tell Gregor, I’ll be ready.”

Paul sneered at her but left the room. “Cocksucker,” hissed Hayley, then looked at the bag in Quilla’s hands. “Let’s see.”

Quilla took a deep breath in, stuck her hand in the bag and drew out a handful of white cotton. A dress. Both Quilla and Hayley let out a sigh of relief.

“I so thought that was going to be some sort of S&M gear,” Hayley said, taking the dress from Quilla and shaking it out.

“Me too, and thank God, it isn’t.” Quilla smiled suddenly, “It would have ruined it for life for Jakob and me.”

“You don’t?”

“Of course, we do. Don’t you and Skandar indulge?”

Hayley looked both shocked and amused. “No.”

“Not yet,” teased Quilla. “Ask me for tips.”

Hayley shook her head. “How can you laugh at a time like this?”

Quilla suddenly looked tearful. “Because it’s the only thing I can do, Hays. Please, distract me from what I have to do tonight.”

Hayley threw her arms around her. “You are the bravest person I’ve ever known,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

But Quilla didn’t feel brave; she felt desperate a half-hour later, as Paul led her at gunpoint to Gregor’s dining room. The host himself was waiting, resplendent in a tux, with his collar open, his tie undone. Quilla supposed he thought he looked irresistible—he was anything but that. Her flesh crawling, she waited until Paul left the room before sitting down at the chair Gregor pulled out for her. His fingertips drifted across her bare shoulders, and she shivered.

“This doesn’t have to be unpleasant, Quilla,” he said, bending to kiss her cheek. If she didn’t know that this man in front of her was a killer—was planning to kill her—she would swear that he was genuine. His eyes were soft, his touch gentle. He sat down next to her, took her hand. “You look incredible, darling, and so lovely.”

She forced herself to smile. “The dress is beautiful, thank you.”

He touched her cheek. “You’re welcome.”

They had dinner, but Quilla’s throat was closing up, and she barely touched her food. She dug her nails into her palms, trying not to cry. I can’t do this; I can’t do this …

“Quilla.” Gregor took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Aren’t you hungry?”

She shook her head, and he smiled. “Good. Me neither. Come with me.”

He took her hand and led her into another room … his bedroom. Quilla froze. Gregor had copied Jakob’s bedroom from the apartment. Her bedroom. Gregor was watching her carefully.

“I thought it might relax you,” he said, but his eyes belied his soothing tone. Bastard.

Quilla felt his hand slide down her back, and the zipper on the dress being drawn down. God, this is it. Turn off your feelings; that’s the key.

Gregor’s lips were at her ear. “Convince me, Quilla; remember, this is the difference between a bullet in the head for your blonde friend or not … make it real.”

He drew the dress from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor, walking around her. He touched the scar on her belly from his knife. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know what a work of art you were; I would never have sullied you.”

She wanted to scream. This was unbearable. She decided to get it over and done with. She grabbed his lapels and tugged his jacket off. Gregor laughed, casting his tie aside—in case you try to throttle me with it—and she unbuttoned his shirt. His body, while impressive, left her cold, but when he swept her up onto the bed, she began to tremble. His kiss was gentle.

“This will be much more pleasurable if you relax, Quilla.”

He was already hard; she could feel his cock through his pants, ramrod hard against her thigh. He got up and stripped the rest of his clothes off, then slid her panties down. A tear rolled down her cheek, and he kissed it away. She didn’t want to look at him, but her eyes slid to his cock as he slipped a condom on.

This is really happening, she thought and started to panic. She tried to sit up, covering her breasts, her sex, with her hands but Gregor, much stronger pulled her hands away and pinned them to the bed. His eyes burned into hers as he lay on top of her.

“Put your legs around my waist, Quilla.”

She complied, her thighs weak and trembling, and when he entered her, she was so dry she cried out. Gregor smiled, beginning to thrust.

“Christ, Quilla, no wonder Jakob Mallory’s like a dog on heat … so sweet …” He rammed himself deeper into her, and she gave a sob. “Make it real, Quilla,” he warned. “Or I’ll kill you both tonight. Slowly.”

Afterward, he dressed quickly, throwing her dress at her. “Get dressed. Tomorrow night, you had better learn to act real quick, Quilla. Your body is incredible but next time, I want you engaged. I don’t want to fuck a corpse.”

“You made me a corpse,” she whispered, but he didn’t hear her. She had never felt as low as she did at this moment. Right now, she wanted him to take his knife to her, to use her as target practice, to make sure she was dead, dead, dead, so she didn’t have to feel this pain. She had betrayed Jakob. Even if by the smallest chance they made it out of here alive, nothing would be the same again.

Gregor called Paul and, not looking at her again, told him to take her back to her room.

Hayley was curled up on the mattress, but as soon as she saw the look on Quilla’s face, she scrambled to her feet and caught Quilla as she finally collapsed into her arms and began to sob.

Gregor was gazing at the laptop when Paul came back. He glanced at what his boss was watching and snickered. “You sending that to Mallory?”

Gregor frowned. “No. Not this one. She back in the room?”

“Yeah.”

Gregor considered. “Give them some more blankets, some of that bottled water, some chocolate. Maybe a couple of those paperbacks we found.”

Paul’s eyebrows shot up. “Going soft?”

Gregor gave a snort. “Paul, one day you’ll learn, you get more bees with honey. There’s no harm in them thinking we’re treating them well. They’ll be more receptive.”

“You mean she will be more receptive.”

Gregor went back to the video he was watching, the video of him fucking Jakob Mallory’s wife. “Quite. Maybe if she warms up, we’ll get the video we need to send to Mallory. The one where she looks like she’s enjoying it.”

He grinned up at Paul. “Won’t that just break his little heart?”

Carter handed Jakob a cup of coffee. “Skandar’s on his way? Good.” Jakob filled Carter in on the lack of progress his family’s detectives had made.

Carter reciprocated by telling him his—what Ali had taken to calling—Survivalist Guide to Kidnapping theory. Jakob was surprisingly receptive. “At this point, I’ll take anything,” he said when Carter expressed his surprise. “I’ve learned in business that it’s best to keep an open mind. Anything come of it?”

“Maybe. A couple of Walmarts in the greater Seattle area report large stocks of goods being bought by the same men for the last month or so. Could be nothing; we’re getting the security tapes. Would you take a look, see if you recognize anyone?”

“Definitely.” Jakob suddenly felt his spirits lift. Something palpable he could do, at last.

“How’s Skandar?”

Jakob shook his head. “Beyond terrified. It doesn’t help that the press are all over him, all the time. He’s going to lose it if they corner him.”

“You got someone with him?”

“Joel and Nan, and we’ve hired in some more people, security, and press liaisons. Shit, Carter. I’d say this was an unbelievable situation, but the more I think about it, I should have seen this coming, should have protected her better.”

“You had a team of bodyguards.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

Carter shook his head. “Sometimes it really is out of our hands.”

Jakob was silent for a long time. “Quilla’s a fighter, you know. I keep expecting her to turn up, barefoot and bedraggled on some highway somewhere, with Hayley, having kicked and punched and fought her way out.”

Carter watched him. “That’s a romantic notion, but that could get her killed. I hope she’s not taking risks.”

Jakob was silent. God, come back to me, baby, please …

Carter’s phone rang. “Yeah. Cool, on our way.” He stood and gestured to the door. “The tapes are here; let’s take a look.”

The second night, Quilla gave the performance of her life. She and Hayley had talked all day about how to deal with the impending … “Rape,” Hayley said firmly.

“God, don’t call it that,” Quilla groaned, nausea rising in her throat. “Please.”

“But it is, Quils,” Hayley said, suddenly seeming eons older than her twenty years. “He’s using the threat of death to make you have sex with him. Rape.”

Quilla knew she was right, but it didn’t make her feel any better knowing that technically, her consent was being extorted from her. She had cried pretty much the rest of the night, trying to hide it from Hayley, but her friend had known and had held her tightly. If we ever get out of here, Quilla thought, I’m telling the world how much I love this girl.

“Look, can you make out it’s Jakob you’re having sex with? Close your eyes and think of Mallory?”

Quilla blew out her cheeks. “I don’t want to do that. Because if I ever get to be with Jakob again, I don’t want the association.”

Hayley made a face. “Of course not. Okay, how about someone from your Hall Pass list.”

Quilla looked askance. “My what?”

Hayley rolled her eyes. “The list of celebrities you’re allowed to do it with, and your boyfriend can’t complain.”

Quilla laughed. “Is that right? Have you got a list?”

“Hell, yes. So has Skandar. We locked that shit down the first week we were together.”

Quilla shook her head, still laughing. “So the rules are you can pick so many celebrities that if you were to meet and get the chance to have sex with, you’re allowed?”

“That’s it. So, I’m saying, tonight, use one of yours.”

“I don’t have a list.”

“Everyone has a list. Come on, think of someone.”

Quilla chewed her lip. “Matt Damon?”

“You got the hots for him?”

“Kinda.”

“Not good enough. I know, pick someone you would have hot, dirty sex with but that would be it. You don’t even want to chat with him, just do it against a wall then leave. That’s who you want to picture.”

“Got it. Hang on then, let me think ...”

“Channing Tatum?”

“Eww, no.”

“What, not even as a DF?”

“DF?”

“Dirty Fuck. That’s what they’re called.”

“Man, you’ve really thought this through.” She chuckled. “But you are making me feel a whole lot better.”

“What else have we got to do but talk? One of the Avengers?”

Quilla raised her eyebrows. “I can’t see past Black Widow when I watch that.”

“Oo, little lady loving, nice. Beyoncé’s on my list. No, we need a man. Hey, how about Sebastian Winter?”

“Asia’s ex? Nope, look, I’ll just come up with a composite man in my head. Again with the association thing, I don’t want to be watching … Daniel Craig, and then feeling sick.”

“Good plan. But we are going to discuss this further; I can’t believe you haven’t got a Hall Pass list.”

Hayley’s attempt to lighten the mood had worked and it wasn’t until Paul came to fetch Quilla that the horror set in again.

Again, she was unable to eat but followed Gregor as he led her to the bedroom. It came to her as Gregor was undressing her. She needed to pretend that she was someone else, not pretend this monster in front of her was anything than what he was. As her dress hit the floor, she switched Quilla off.

Gregor kissed her, and she responded, kissing him back. She noted his surprise with satisfaction. I hate you, you scumbag, but you will believe quite the opposite when I’m done.

And she did it; she went through with it, faking every sigh, every moan—not too much, so it was clearly fake—but enough so that Gregor was convinced she was starting to enjoy herself. So absorbed was she in her performance that it was over quickly, and Gregor looked pleased.

“That was much better, my darling,” he kissed her tenderly.

When she got back to the room, she nodded at Hayley, almost imperceptibly. Hayley’s eyes flickered to Gregor and back.

“After a lovely evening, I’m feeling generous. Hayley, dear, is there anything you need?”

Hayley sighed. “Our freedom?”

Gregor smiled. “Funny girl.”

“New underwear,” Quilla said suddenly.” And tampons.”

“Of course. Let Paul know your sizes for the underwear and we’ll arrange it.”

“Pizza. Hot pizza,” Hayley added hopefully.

When Gregor and Paul had gone, Quilla hugged Hayley. “Not so bad tonight.”

“Good. Undies and tampons?”

Quilla grinned. “If you saw an oaf like Paul buying underwear, especially in specific sizes, and tampons, wouldn’t you suspect something weird? He has hick written all over him. I’m hoping some salesgirl will have some smarts about them and maybe say something to someone. It’s a long shot, but you never know.”

Hayley squeezed her arm. “You are a genius. Do you want a bath?”

“God, yes, please.”

“Good, because there’s something I want to show you.”

She led Quilla into the bathroom, twisting the faucets on. When the water was filling the tub, Hayley beckoned Quilla over to the wall near the toilet. She glanced over at the door to make sure no one was coming in, then indicated a tile near the floor. She flicked it with her nail and it popped out.

“I found this earlier,” she said in a low voice. “I’m thinking, we snap it in two, then use the rough edge to …” She made a cutting motion against her neck. “We wait behind the door, then when one of them comes in, jumped on his back and kill him.”

Quilla smiled at Hayley’s excitement. “It’s a good plan, Hays … if we’ve run out of every other option. This is our back up, right?”

Hayley looked a little deflated. “I guess. I just … I hate that you have to do this for us. I want to help.”

“You are helping, so much, you don’t know.”

Hayley looked a little tearful. “I feel so useless.” Quilla hugged her.

“You know what? Sit on this toilet and talk to me while I soak and get that asshole’s stench off of me.”

On the other side of the house, Gregor watched the video of him making love to the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, watched her face as she came, her delicious body undulating under him as he fucked her, saw her kiss him passionately. He smiled.

“This is for Padme, you bastard.”

He opened his email and began to type.

“Carter, dude, we may have something.” Carter sighed as Ali Bell, looking excited, flew into the room.

“Really? Or is this another false trail.”

“Debbie Downer,” Ali snapped at him, then grinned. “Nope. You know the ex-girlfriend; the one Jakob Mallory was shtupping on the side?”

“Yeah?”

“Padme Khan. Got a job in prestigious London law firm and left Seattle—and her two lovers behind.”

“I know this already.”

“Patience. Khan was murdered less than two years later, an apparent street mugging gone wrong. But, here’s the thing, even the London dicks think there was more to it. Overkill, they called it. The perp wanted it to look like a mugging, but the woman was repeatedly stabbed, more than thirty-seven times in the stomach. No street mugger does that.”

Carter was interested now. “Was Fisk ever questioned?”

“Had an alibi. A shady one, but enough for them to drop that line of questioning.”

“So he knew about the affair then?”

“I’d bet my ass on it.”

“Wow, that’s a big bet.” Carter grinned as Ali flipped him the middle finger. “So, do we have a motive?”

“Putting my psychologist’s cap on—hey, I got some psych credits before I switched—I’d say killing his first love sent him over the edge, and he blamed Jakob. To him, Jakob put that knife in his hand. Jakob took away his love. Now he’s going to do the same to him.”

Carter looked bleak. “We’re not getting those girls back alive, are we?”

Ali didn’t answer. Steve, a younger agent, stuck his head around the door. “Sir? We’ve got a hit on an email Mallory was just sent. We think it’s from Fisk.”

Ali looked shocked. “You’re monitoring his emails?”

Carter shot her a look. “Of course, we are. You really think it’s from Fisk?”

Steve nodded. “I don’t think there’s any doubt. You gotta see this.”

Jakob was flipping through the photos he and Quilla had taken of each other since that first meeting in Venice. It was sweet, sweet torture. His email pinged, and he switched over to it, expecting spam or worse, more press intrusion. When the name showed up as unknown, his heart started beating harder. He clicked on it, and his heart dropped.

Love from Quilla … was all it said. A video attachment. Oh, God, no … was this Gregor sending him the video of him killing her? Was he about to witness Quilla’s murder?

Please, God, no …

He hesitated for a long moment, closing his eyes, not wanting, but needing, to know what was on that video … he opened his eyes and clicked play.

“Shit,” Carter hissed and was out of the door before Ali could stop him. He ran the few blocks to Jakob’s hotel and took the elevator to the top floor.

Jakob answered the door, and Carter knew he’d seen the video because he was looking at the face of a heartbroken man …

Part Nine: Taunt Me

Floriana Morgan smiled at Jakob as he came into the kitchen the next morning. “Hey you, can I get you some coffee?”

He looked awful; dark circles under his reddened eyes, his whole body slumped and dragging. He tried to smile at her. “Yes, thanks.”

As she poured his drink, she could feel him watching her, and she blushed a little. Jakob gave her an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry I’m staring. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he said gently. “It's just you remind me of Quilla so much.”

Flori swallowed her own sadness. In the few months she had known Quilla, they had grown very close, and yes, she could see the resemblance. Both them were dark, petite, curvy; both of them obsessed were with art; both of them were madly in love with a Mallory brother. She put a hand on Jakob’s. “We’ll get her back, Jakob.” But she knew that’s not all that was bothering him.

The FBI agent in charge of their case, Carter James, had called Grady the previous evening and told him what had happened. Grady had gone to collect a wrecked Jakob, and when Jakob had retired to the guest room, Grady told Flori what had happened. Flori couldn’t imagine that Quilla had slept with Gregor Fisk voluntarily, the man who had tried to kill both her and Flori, never mind enjoyed it. No, she reasoned, he must be coercing her, under pain of death for her and Hayley. That was the only explanation but now, looking at Jakob, she could guess the turmoil in his mind.

Grady, fresh from the shower, appeared and smiled at them both. “Hey, kiddo.” He kissed her cheek and then clapped his brother on the back. “Hey, dude. Get any sleep?”

The answer was obvious. Grady shot a look at Flori, then sat down next to his brother. “Dude, there’s no way that tape wasn’t … manufactured. Quilla would never cheat on you; that’s the one certain thing in all of this. If she looked like she was enjoying it, she was probably forced to. We all know the disgusting things Gregor threatened to do to her.”

Jakob, hollow-eyed, looked at him. “I should know this; I should be certain. And that’s what I can’t face, that I don’t trust Quilla enough to believe that. And she’s done nothing wrong, nothing. It is my fault that she’s even in this situation.”

Grady sighed. “Padme?”

Jakob nodded. “It all comes down to that. Gregor was always a player, always, I never imagined that he had been so much in love with her that her cheating with me would kick off some deep psychosis in him.” He hesitated. “I never told you this but … Padme was murdered. Stabbed to death in London.”

Flori couldn’t help the gasp of distress and Jakob looked at her in sympathy. “I apologize, Flori. You are as much as victim in this as Quilla or Kit or any of us.”

“Not a victim,” she said quietly, “a survivor.”

Jakob’s smile was kind. “Of course. I’ll drink to that.” He raised his coffee cup. “Look, both of you, thanks for last night but I’ll get out of your hair. I need to regroup, talk to Carter, and see where we go from here.”

When they were alone, Grady sighed and took Flori in his arms. “Have I told you both how proud I am of you and how much I love you?”

She leaned against him. “I know you are. God, Grady, is it wrong that while everyone is so wrecked, all I can think about is how lucky I am to have you?”

“Not at all. Right back at you.”

She tilted her head up for a kiss. “Take me to bed, Grady Mallory. I need you.”

Grady smiled, his eyes soft. “Your wish is my command, beautiful.”

He still smelled of his shower gel, and she breathed him in as they slowly stripped off and tumbled onto the bed, their arms and legs curving around the other, lips against lips.

Flori gazed up at him, and he smiled. “Hey, pretty girl.”

She grinned, then moaned as he bent his head and took her nipple into his mouth, his tongue teasing the nub until it grew hard and ultra-sensitive. Flori reached down to cup his cock, feeling it thicken and grow in her hand, brushing her thumb lightly over the sensitive tip, making his hips jerk, his low groan making her wet.

“I want you inside me,” she whispered, but Grady, grinning, shook his head. “Not yet ...”

She groaned, impatient, as he sucked her other nipple, the nerve endings in her breasts screaming for him. His tongue drifted down to her belly, circling her navel. He kissed each one of the scars there tenderly, before making his way down and burying his face in her sex. As his teeth grazed her clit, Flori gasped, her fingers knotting in his hair. He brought her to a screaming orgasm with his tongue, then before she could catch her breath, his cock, heavy and thick, plunged into her, and Grady, grinning, thrust hard, knowing he had complete domination over her body.

Afterward, she pleaded with him to stay in bed with her instead of going to an auction. “I wouldn’t ask if there were any significant pieces at it,” she said, “but I can’t bear the thought of not spending the day with you.”

“You could always come with me,” he said, but she could tell his heart wasn’t it in. He smiled and kissed her. “So, vegging out day?”

“Yup. Sexy times and vegging out. Is it wrong that I want to do this while Quilla and Hayley are missing?”

“Not at all. What are we supposed to do that we aren’t already doing? We have to keep things as normal as possible—not that sex with you could ever be described as normal.”

They were silent for a while. “Be honest,” Flori said finally, turning onto her side to look at him. “Do you think they’re dead already?”

Grady sighed. “Or they wish they were. God.”

Flori felt tears threatening and instead leaned over and kissed him. “I refuse to believe they’re dead. Positive vibes and all of that.”

He cupped her face with his big hand. “Good idea.”

And they began again where they’d left off.

Quilla wasn’t sleeping. Hayley knew, even though her friend closed her eyes and lay curled next to her, that she lay awake all night, every night. Every time Gregor brought her back to their prison room, Hayley could see the pain in Quilla’s eyes, and it worried her. Something in her friend was dying. Hope. Faith. Self-respect. She would try to hold her, help her grieve for the part of her that was lost, but Quilla would just give her a half smile and turn away. It broke Hayley’s heart.

In the evenings, Gregor would keep Quilla longer and longer, force her to do God knows what—the way he looked at her friend terrified her. Obsession. Psychopathic. Dangerous. Lethal. Gregor Fisk was a man on a knife edge—when he was with Quilla, Hayley would sit alone wondering if this would be the night that he would snap and kill her friend.

Seven days. Seven days without seeing Skandar, touching him, loving him. Seven days where she didn’t know if the next moment would be her last. Hayley was a resilient girl, but this was pure torture, and her nerves were shredded. Last night, Quilla had returned with blood on her dress. She had gone into the shower, and Hayley followed her. There were scratches and cuts on her body. She saw Hayley’s scared face and tried to smile. “Don’t worry; it’s all superficial.”

“Did he have a knife?” Hayley’s voice quivered as Quilla nodded, not meeting her eye. Hayley hated to acknowledge the thought that kept buzzing around her brain; Quilla will not survive this. All it took was for Gregor to lose his temper. Jesus …

Now, in the pale light of the morning, Hayley lay on her back, staring at the cracking paint on the walls, the blankness of the ceiling. They had to figure something out, even if it cost their lives. They had to take control. She rolled onto her side. Quilla was lying next to her, her eyes closed.

“Quills … you awake?”

Quilla opened her eyes and smiled at her. “Hey, buddy.” Just that simple, affectionate greeting made Hayley feel better.

“We need to come up with a plan.”

“I agree. But I’ve been thinking for days, and I can’t think of anything that Gregor won’t kill us for even trying. Hayley, I think we need to accept; both of us won’t make it out of here.”

Hayley gave a sob. “Don’t talk like that.”

“We have to be realistic.”

“You’ve given up.”

Quilla didn’t answer, and Hayley wrapped her arm around her waist. “Don’t do that; I can’t bear it. I know exactly what you mean, and I won’t permit it. You are not sacrificing yourself for me. No way, nuh-uh.”

She leaned her forehead against Quilla’s. “I love you, Quilla; you are my sister as much as Nan is my sister. We may not share DNA, but you are my blood, my family.”

Quilla’s already exhausted eyes filled with tears. “I won’t let him kill you.”

“Do you honestly think you’re not already doing more than humanly possible to prevent that? I’d have a bullet in my head if it weren't for you.” Hayley’s whisper was urgent, but she felt sick. Too many images of Quilla, dead, were crowding her mind. No. No.

Quilla kissed her cheek. “I love you too, rug rat.”

Hayley smiled. “That’s better.” But she didn’t know how much worse it could get.

But, of course, it did.

Ali Bell was concentrating so hard on her computer screen that Carter James grinned. “You watching Magic Mike again?”

He expected her to give him the finger, but instead, her face deadly serious, she beckoned him over. “Take a look at this.”

He came around to sit beside her. “The tapes from the retail stores? We’ve seen these.”

“No, look, these are from a couple of days ago. This dude,” she tapped the screen. “We’ve tracked him using the same retail outlet for a couple of months, buying stuff in bulk, from one of the wholesale stores near Puyallup.”

“So?”

“So, he’s been buying pretty standard stuff for two months but then two days ago, he buys women’s underwear in two different sizes and tampons. The first time he’s bought anything like that. Now, forget that this dude doesn’t look like the most enlightened guy in the world; he’s been doing the grocery run for two months and has never bought any feminine products before. Underwear, two different sizes, and guess what, they match Quilla Mallory and Hayley Applebee’s sizes.”

Carter was interested now. “Anything else? How does he pay?”

Ali looked slightly gleeful. “Cash.”

“Shoot, no way to trace a card.”

She was still smiling. “Cash, Carter. Fifties. Every single time.”

“Fuck.”

“Yep.”

“Christ, Ali, that’s the best lead yet. Right, let’s get people out there now.”

“Already done. We’re sweeping the area.”

Carter let out a long breath. “Alianja Bell, I think I love you.”

Ali grinned. “Tell me something I don’t know. Look, I think we should tell Jakob Mallory to come, see if he can recognize this guy now these are clearer photos.”

Carter wasn’t convinced. “Ali … I don’t want to give Jakob Mallory false hope. If it doesn’t pan and out and this dude is on the level, I think it’ll break Mallory. He’s on the edge.”

Ali looked sympathetic. “Poor guy.” She was quiet for a while. “You know what’s weird? I hope Quilla Mallory was sleeping with Gregor Mallory and enjoying it. Because the alternative is so fucked up, I can’t deal with it.”

“Quite. But we’re not married to her.”

Ali stood. “Look, let’s get out there and see what we can find.”

Jakob went back to his hotel after thanking Grady and Flori, but he couldn’t stay there for long. He packed his stuff and checked out and drove to his dad’s place. Ran Mallory was on the phone when Jakob walked into his study, and Ran waved at him to sit down. Whoever Ran was talking to must be a friend, if Ran’s warm tone and smile told him anything. Jakob waited until his father finished the call. His father greeted him.

“That was Marley; I was just updating her on what the police told us yesterday.”

Jakob’s eyebrows went up. “You’re calling each other?”

“For a couple of months now.” Was he imagining it, or did his dad flush? Wow. Jakob grinned for the first time in days.

“Go for it, Dad. How’s she doing?”

Ran shook his head. “Utterly devastated. She’s considering taking a sabbatical from work, but she says all she’ll do all day is sit by the phone and watch the endless news coverage and drive herself crazy. If any of that actually had any positive effect, I wouldn’t mind, but …” he sighed. “I said I’d go over this afternoon, talk things out.”

Jakob chuckled. “Is that what the kids call it now?”

“Jakob Mallory, I am your father.” But Ran was grinning bashfully.

“Darth Vader did that much better. Anyway, I came over to tell you; I’m going to London. I want to talk to Padme’s parents, see if they can give me any insight to Gregor’s behavior with her before she left him, whether she was scared of him.”

“Haven’t the British police already done that?”

“I need to hear it for myself; they might be more inclined to talk to one of her … friends.”

Ran got up and hugged his son. “If it helps you. Why don’t you see Bo while you’re there?”

“Good idea. Are you still hoping she’ll come for Christmas?”

Ran nodded then laughed softly. “Here we are talking about Christmas...”

Jakob nodded. “Yeah. I have to keep believing we’ll get them back soon.”

Ran’s eyes were kind. “I understand. Be careful in London; those parents have already been through enough.”

The door opened, and Paul, carrying a lunch tray, came in. Quilla and Hayley, sitting against the far wall as instructed, ignored him. But when he closed the door and locked it—from inside—they shared an alarmed glance. Paul set the tray down and waited for them to look at him. Finally, Hayley made a disgusted noise.

“What do you want? Thanks for the shit food, Paulyboy. Now run along to Daddy and kiss his ass.”

Quilla shot Hayley a look; don’t antagonize him. Paul grinned nastily.

“Better watch how you talk to me, Blondie. One word from me and your whore friend gets a knife in her gut.”

Quilla was a second too late grabbing Hayley’s hand. The young woman scrambled to her feet and got in Paul’s face. “You fucking whiny cocksucker,” she spat at him. “Do you think all this makes you a man? Is this what you want from life? Keeping women prisoner and jerking off thinking about them because Daddy won’t let you touch them?”

He cuffed her viciously, sending her flying to the ground. Quilla was up then, throwing herself at the huge man, all her rage, her hurt, coming out. Paul just laughed and threw her against the wall. Quilla’s head crashed against the window, and she was knocked senseless, slumping to the ground. Hayley screamed.

“You’ve killed her, you motherfucker!”

Paul grabbed her, pulling a blade from his pocket. “It’s about time you learned some manners, you little slut.” He pushed her against the wall and yanked her jeans down, using the knife to cut her underwear away. Hayley was struggling, screaming. Quilla, coming around, was immediately on her feet, unsteady and dazed, but she again ran at Paul, using everything she had to get him away from Hayley.

“Get off me you bitch!” She was on his back, digging her fingers into his eyes, trying to gouge them out. Paul roared and backed up, slamming Quilla against the wall but she clung on until finally, he managed to shake her off, dropping her to the floor and crouching over her. Knife drawn.

“No!” Hayley went to help her friend but Paul elbowed her viciously in the stomach, and she crumpled. Paul, one hand pinning Quilla down, pushed up her T-shirt and raised the knife. “Let’s add some more to that nice little stab wound, shall we?”

Quilla closed her eyes and Hayley, sobbing, begged Paul not to kill her friend. Then the door was kicked in and in a daze, Quilla opened her eyes to see Gregor, his face one of rage, a gun in his hand. Paul ignored him and raised the knife … and, roaring, Gregor shot him through the head. Paul dropped instantly, and Quilla kicked his body off of hers and skittered away from it.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Gregor looked wildly around, then pointed the gun at Hayley, who froze. “You. You fucking taunted him, didn’t you? Couldn’t keep your mouth shut? They should have killed you in that car.” He clicked off the safety and Hayley squeezed her eyes shut. Scrambling to her feet, Quilla darted in front of her friend.

“Please,” Quilla said, “Please don’t hurt her. It was my fault, not hers. Please … baby.”

Gregor squinted, his eyes locked on hers. “Give me a good reason, Quilla.”

Hayley whimpered, but Quilla kept her gaze steady. “I’ll make you a deal. Her for me. Let her go and I’ll go with you. Anywhere. I’ll be yours entirely. I’ll divorce Jakob and marry you, if that’s what you want. And if I make you unhappy, well, you can obviously kill me whenever you want; I won’t fight it. Please, Gregor. Let her go.”

Gregor stared at her, and Hayley could see the turmoil in him. God, he’s really thinking about this. But she couldn’t do it, let Quilla throw her life away on this monster. Not for me.

“Quilla, no,” she whispered, but Quilla held her hand up. Quiet. Gregor’s mouth hitched up in a smirk and aimed the gun at her belly.

“And what if I don’t agree? What if I decide you’re not worth it? What I decide I want to put a bullet into you instead?”

Quilla edged forward so that the muzzle of the gun pressed into her. “Then shoot me right now, Gregor. Do it. Because while Hayley is here, while she’s not safe, I’ll never let you touch me again. Choose, right now.”

Hayley felt a chill pass through her. Seconds passed, and it felt like a lifetime. Gregor, his eyes never leaving Quilla’s face, clicked the safety off the gun, and Hayley stopped breathing. Her gaze was riveted to his finger on the trigger.

Then he lowered the gun. “Deal.” Both Hayley and Quilla breathed out and, trembling, Quilla reached around her to take Hayley’s hand.

“How do I know you’ll keep your word?”

Gregor considered for a long moment, his eyes flicking between the two girls. “Hayley’s phone. She’ll video the whole drop, right up until she’s picked up by police. We’ll watch a live feed. How does that sound?”

Quilla nodded. “Good. Thank you.” She squeezed Hayley’s hand.

“Thank you,” Hayley stammered. Gregor gave her a stiff nod, then gazed at Quilla.

“You’re mine now.”

Quilla nodded. “I’m yours.” She glanced at Hayley. “Gregor, would you give Hayley and me a little time alone to say goodbye? Please?”

Gregor looked down at Paul’s body. “Sure. Five minutes. Then Dick will take Hayley to the nearest town, and we’ll leave here, Quilla. We’ll go away and begin our life together.”

After he had left, closing the door behind him, Quilla dragged Hayley into the bathroom and locked the door. She went to the toilet and bent down, grabbing the loose tile. She smashed it and picked up the two biggest, most lethal looking shards. She handed one piece to Hayley, tugging her into an embrace, her lips close to Hayley’s ear. “Use it only if you need to, if anything goes wrong. Tell Jakob I love him, and I’m sorry, but this is the only way.”

Hayley’s eyes were huge, brimming with tears. “What are you going to do?”

“Try to kill Gregor. But it might take me a little while to get him comfortable enough to relax around me. Wherever he takes me, it’ll be remote, but he can’t take me out of the country; Jakob will have the airports and borders on alert. He’ll need sex soon so that it won’t be too far from here, probably still in the state. Just tell Jakob and the police everything and anything. I’ll try to get away, but Hayley, whatever happens, I love you so much, all of you. I would not have swapped anything for this last year with the Mallorys, with you and Nan, and Flori and Asia. Anything.”

Haley started to sob then, and Quilla held her, tears pouring down her face.

“I don’t want to leave you with him,” Hayley gulped, “Please, Quilla ...”

Quilla stepped away from her. “You have to go, Hayley, please, or all of this will have been for nothing. Hide that in your jeans.” She nodded at the tile shard and tucked her own piece into the messy bun at the nape of her neck. She smiled at Hayley’s confused look. “It’s the only part of me where I can hide things from him.”

Hayley looked sick but nodded. “I love you, Quilla.”

“And you, Bubba.”

Gregor banged on the door. “Let’s get going.”

Quilla opened the door, and Gregor held out his hand to her. She took it, glancing back at Hayley as she hesitantly walked out. Dick, the other goon, who they’d barely seen, stood implacable as ever. Quilla saw Hayley look at him nervously.

“Look after her, won’t you, please?” Quilla looked at Dick, trying to read him. He didn’t have that sleazy look that Paul had, and now he nodded to her, meeting her gaze steadily.

“You have my word; she’ll be safe with me.”

Quilla had no choice but to believe him. Hayley grabbed her one last time, and they hugged, simply holding each other.

Quilla watched as Dick led her out, her heart pounding. It was out of her control now. Gregor took her hand. “I promise you could see her delivered to safety,” he said, his voice tender, loving. “I’ll keep that promise. Then we’ll leave here. God, Quilla, you have made me the happiest man in the world.” He cupped her face with his hands, and she saw in his eyes, the complete belief that she was his now. She smiled back at him.

“Our new life together,” she said, and he kissed her. She kissed him back, and a certain sense of satisfaction flooded through her. Whether Gregor Fisk knew it or not, whether he ended up killing her or she killed him, she had won. He believed her. His psychosis, his monumental ego played straight into her hands. He actually believed she cared for him, and that put him at such a disadvantage, she could hardly believe it herself.

Live or die; she had won.

Hayley stared back at the farmhouse until she could no longer see it, then turned to Dick. The big man was driving, his eyes riveted on the road ahead.

“If you’re going to kill me, can I ask you a couple of favors?” Hayley said, not letting him speak. “Make it quick and let my family have my body. If you can avoid the face so they can have an open casket, I’d be grateful, too. A bullet in the heart should do it.”

She was surprised when Dick burst out laughing. He grinned over at her. “Thanks for the tips but I’m not going to kill you, sweetheart. You’re going home to your tennis player.”

Hayley studied him. “You’re not yanking my chain?”

“No, kiddo. I realize you’ve been through hell, and for my part, I’m sorry about that.”

Hayley was astonished. “Then why? Why did you go along with it?”

Dick looked uncomfortable. “Sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to do.”

Suddenly she understood. “That son-of-a-bitch. What’s he got on you?”

Dick sighed. “My brother got into drugs, started dealing. He was Gregor’s dealer for years. Gregor, of course, plays the long game. Every interaction documented—he blackmailed my brother until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He tried to kill Gregor – which of course, Gregor had seen coming. So now my brother’s in debt to him and what does Gregor want? Me.”

Hayley was confused. “With respect, why?”

Dick smiled. “Because I was Black Ops. A trained killer. Gregor only likes to kill women. For anything else, he used me. Assassination, abduction.”

Hayley suddenly felt nervous. “Why are you telling me this? Is this a trick? Are you going to decide you’ve told me too much and off me?”

Dick suddenly pulled the car over and took out his gun. Hayley cringed back. “Oh, my God ...”

“Give me your hand.” Dick opened the chamber and dumped the bullets into her palm. Then he cranked open the window, wiped the gun free of fingerprints, and threw it out onto the dirt road. Starting the car, he grinned at her, reaching over into the back seat. “Gregor would have set up the feed now. Turn your phone on and call the number I’ve programmed. And the conversation we had never happened.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “Why?”

“Because I’ve had enough. I don’t kill women; I don’t kill any innocent person. Fuck Gregor and fuck my brother. When we get to the police station, I’m turning myself and my brother in, telling them everything about Gregor. I just hope we can get to them before he takes Quilla somewhere they’ll never find them.”

Hayley looked at the bullets in her hand. “Should I dump these?”

“A little further along the road. I don’t want some kid finding them and the gun together. Now, I’m going to start driving so ...” He nodded at the phone, but she put her hand on his arm.

“Thank you.”

He smiled. “Turn the phone on, Hayley,” and he pulled the car back onto the road.

Ran Mallory waved at Marley Griffin as he pulled into the parking lot of her college. Jumping out of the car, he embraced her.

“So good to see you, Marley.”

She chuckled. “It’s been all of twenty-four hours since I saw you.”

He shrugged good-naturedly. “I should have said it’s always good to see you. Ready for lunch?”

At his favorite restaurant, he told her about Jakob going to London. “He’s just desperate to do anything. Failing trying to comb the country for her on his own, he feels useless. He’s hoping Padme’s parents will be able to tell him something.”

Marley chewed on her lip, and he noticed a wary look in her eye. Ran sighed. Jakob was Marley’s breaking point; she blamed him for everything and now Ran wished he hadn’t told her about Padme and Jakob’s affair. Thank God, he and Jakob had decided not tell her about the tapes.

“Marley? Every day, the police are getting closer. Carter James just called me; they have a lead out near Puyallup.”

Her eyes lit up, and she suddenly looked hopeful. “Really? That’s great.”

Ran nodded. “They’re scouring the area for any abandoned buildings; anywhere people could be held.”

“How did they come up with that theory?”

Ran shrugged. “He didn’t go into details, but he sounded excited, which, if you’d met him, is unusual. I’m taking that as a good sign.”

Marley touched the back of his hand. “Ran … I can’t imagine what all of this has been like for you, and I want to thank you for being so … supportive. What with Kit and everything, you must be in hell.”

“You make me feel better, so I suppose I'm selfish. Marley, do you realize what a friend, a confidante you’ve become?”

Marley smiled, blushing. “And the same to you, Ran. Really. I know I rub against Jakob’s involvement with my best friend, but not yours. I’m glad Quilla has you as a father figure; she’s never had that before. If she’d never met Jakob … maybe Gregor would have found her anyway and taken her, but then maybe we wouldn’t have your army or the FBI combing the world for her. And I know Jakob loves her. I know that.”

Ran took her hand. “For something different, let’s talk about you. What’s happening with your project?”

Marley told him about her work and Ran listened intently, noting the way her expression got animated when describing things he couldn’t understand in a clear, concise way, the way she got excited when he finally got a concept. He smiled at her.

“You would make an incredible professor,” he said. “What’s your end game?”

“End game?”

“Your goal. Lecturing? Writing a book?”

Marley looked blank. “Um, I hadn’t really thought about either … I just want to carry on the way I am. Science is infinite; there are always new theories to test, new places to go. It’s limitless.”

Ran nodded, and two pink spots appeared high on his cheeks. “And … personally?”

Marley colored, too, but he was gratified that she didn’t look uncomfortable. “Personally … I would say for now,” she emphasized the ‘for now,’ blushing furiously, “I need to concentrate on my work. We have a huge cycle coming up soon, late nights, early mornings, very little sleep, living on day-old pizza. But … after, who knows? I mean,” and her voice wavered, “I’m certainly not interested in anyone … else.”

She was trembling now, and an equally nervous Ran smiled. “Me, either ...”

Marley looked up at him with large eyes. “Ran ...”

He kissed her. Gentle, soft, and quick but so, so sweet, she closed her eyes for a second. Ran leaned his forehead against hers. “The years between us ...”

“Don’t bother me in the slightest,” she whispered and pressed her lips back to his. Ran felt breathless, giddy like a teenager. Everything about this woman drew him in; her intelligence, her refusal to bend to pressure from her peers, her kindness. And, God, she was beautiful …

“Ran ...”

“Sweetheart?”

“I don’t have to be back at work today … our research cycle doesn’t start until next week ...”

“Then ...”

She looked up at him, her dark eyes full of desire. “I don’t want to be distracted when I work, thinking of you and me together ...”

He smiled—then his phone rang. He groaned, but Marley laughed. “That’s what Alanis Morissette would call ‘ironic’, but the rest of us would call a pain in the ass.”

Ran grinned and picked up his phone. “Indeed. Excuse me … hello?”

Marley watched as Ran’s expression changed—more than changed – became something she couldn’t describe … excitement, hope, and joy. “Yes, yes, thank you, we’ll be there right away.”

He ended the call, staring at her in disbelief. “Hayley’s been released. She’s safe—the police are bringing her back to Seattle now.”

“And Quilla?”

“He wouldn’t tell me anything else; just said to get to the field office. Will you come?”

“Of course.”

Together, they drove through the city and got to the field office twenty minutes later. Just as they were about to get out of the car, Marley suddenly stopped him. “Ran … what if Quilla … what if she’s dead?”

Ran stopped and saw her eyes were full of fear, of tears. He kissed her. “We’ll face whatever comes together, and we’ll get through it.”

She nodded, and they got out of the car. Holding hands, they raced into the field office to find out what was going on.

Skandar Mallory paced up and down inside the interview room, Nan Applebee equally as tense. Seated next to Joel, her legs jiggled up and down, and she couldn’t keep her hands still. She’d collapsed when Joel had gotten the phone call from Skandar—she could hear the young man sobbing down the phone, such was his relief. All they knew was Hayley had been freed and was safe and well. No news of Quilla yet.

Now, they waited. Nan looked up and smiled as Ran and Marley joined them, then a few minutes later, Flori and Grady arrived, Flori hugging Nan and sitting beside her.

Skandar kept checking his watch. They had a new agent, Steve Kendrick, sitting with them: Carter and Ali were down, following the trail in Puyallup—made easier now that Hayley was freed near there. Skandar was impressed; their lead had proved to be fruitful. Of course, Hayley had been released before they had found where the women were held, but now she could tell them where to go. He knew no one in this room could stop thinking: where’s Quilla? If she was dead, wouldn’t they have told them? Or would they? God. Joel had told him not to call Jakob yet.

“He’s in London. He might find out something useful and if the worst has happened, well, I want him to be with us when he finds out.”

Skandar didn’t agree but went along with his father’s wishes. All he could think of now was having Hayley back in his arms and when, thirty-seven minutes later, he heard her voice out in the office, every sense left him, and he ran.

Hayley saw him at the same time, and as they slammed into each other, they collapsed to the ground, holding each other, sobbing, kissing, as Nan, hysterical, joined them, the three of them making a human pile in the middle of the FBI field office.

After they’d gathered themselves, Agent Kendrick shook Hayley’s hand. “Good to have you back. We’re going to have the doctor look you over … I know, you said you were fine,” he stopped her interruption, “but it’s a formality for the case. Then you can have a few hours with your family, go shower, eat, and maybe get some sleep. But we are going to need you to help us by answering some questions; I warn you, we go over everything with a fine-tooth comb so be prepared for answering the same questions over and over.”

Hayley nodded. “I don’t care how long it takes, anything to help Quilla.”

When she’d told them what Quilla had done for her, Marley had burst into tears, Nan and Flori looked close to it, and even Joel’s normally implacable face colored.

Skandar shook his head. “I owe her everything,” he kept saying. “Everything.”

They managed to book a suite in a hotel, not wanting to run the gauntlet of the press just yet. After they’d eaten dinner together, the others left them alone, Nan hugging her sister tightly, looking at her as if she still couldn’t believe they’d gotten her back.

When they were alone, Hayley stripped her clothes off and went to the shower. She turned and smiled at a wondering Skandar; his eyes drinking her in. “Get in this shower, Skandar Mallory, and soap me up.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. The moment he put his hands on his beautiful girlfriend, Skandar felt a shift inside him, a release, and he kissed her more passionately than he ever had before, feeling her soft skin under his like it was the first time. Hayley sank into his arms and it wasn’t long until, still soaking from the water, he lifted her up into his arms and took her to bed.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Hayley groaned. “God, yes, this is all I’ve been thinking about for over a week, please, Skandar.” She reached down and stroked his cock, which jerked and trembled under her touch. “God, Skandar, I want you so bad, don’t wait, please ...”

With a growl, he kissed her, hitching her legs around his waist, the tip of his cock nudging at her sex before sliding in all the way. Hayley quivered and moaned, tilting her hips up so she could take him in as far as he could, moving with him as he thrust. Their eyes stayed locked on the other—a reconnection, a new beginning, a love solidified—and they moved, Hayley felt all the tension in her body be replaced with pleasure. She kept her mind focused on him and only him, his gentle eyes, his beautiful smile, his dark blond hair which felt so soft as she ran her fingers through it. The feel of his hard chest against her breasts, his belly against her own, the feel of his hips rocking against her inner thighs – God, blissful, heavenly release.

Her orgasm was less of an explosion, more of a gradual build, until she felt Skandar come, groaning and moaning her name over and over until she felt that utterly pure love come from him then it hit her. The climax was so bittersweet, she lost all sense of control, and she started to sob uncontrollably, hysterically, great wrenching sobs of terror and heartbreak and the utter helplessness she had felt during her abduction.

Skandar understood immediately and gathered her into his arms, swaddling her tightly as she cried out and let go. He said nothing; just let her get it all out, his lips against her temple. Eventually, she calmed herself, her sobs turning to hiccups. Skandar rocked her gently, and she burrowed hard against his chest, lifting her chin, finding his lips with hers.

“Okay, baby?”

She nodded. “I love you so much. I didn’t stop thinking about you the whole time. God, Skandar, it was … indescribable, thinking I’d never see you again. And what he did to Quilla … Jesus ...”

She told him, haltingly, everything that had gone on and Skandar was sickened. “Do you think she’s given up?”

Hayley shook her head. “I don’t know. I hope not; she plans to try and kill Gregor, but I think … if she died trying, she’d be okay with that. I’m scared she’ll be reckless, and he’ll guess what she’s planning and ...” She couldn’t finish, and Skandar tightened his grip on her.

“Listen, precious one. We know Fisk’s weakness is Quilla. As long as she plays along with him, he’ll keep her alive. So keep the faith that she knows what she’s doing. I’ll be forever in her debt for getting you home safely. We’re all going to do everything to repay that debt and get her back alive. I promise you.”

She nodded. “I know. I’ll talk to the FBI in the morning—it might be hours and hours, but I’m willing to do it. Will you be there?”

“I’m not letting you out of my sight, Miss Applebee, and when this is all over, if you’ll say yes, I’m going to marry the heck out of you.”

She giggled. “That sounds like a fine idea, Mr. Mallory. Nan will be outraged I beat her to it. But ask me again, properly, when Quilla is safe. I promise I’ll say yes.”

Skandar’s eyes were full of love, surprise, joy. “You will?”

“Hell, yes! This is it, you and me, for all time.”

Later, when she’d finally fallen asleep, Skandar lay next to her, drinking her face in, gently stroking his hand down the length of her body. She was home. She was safe. She was his.

Now he could only wish the same for his uncle.

Jakob took the news calmly. “Well, at least Hayley’s okay. That’s great news. Quilla’s a smart girl; she’ll find a way to let us know where she is.”

Ran was a little discombobulated by his son’s rather cold response. “Jakob … I don’t think you heard me right. Gregor has Quilla; he’s taken her away somewhere we don’t know.”

“I heard you, Pa. What do you want me to say? I have no panic left; all there is left is hopelessness.”

After the call had ended, Jakob sat in his hotel room. He’d called Padme’s parents, and they’d agreed to see him later. He’d also called Bo Kennedy, and she was delighted to hear from him.

“I ’eard the news, love; that fucker doesn’t give up, does he? Come over later.”

Padme Khan’s parents were polite, but he could tell they were not pleased to see him.

“Padme told you about us, then?” He couldn’t help ask the question and her father, a serious-looking man with rimless spectacles and a full beard, nodded.

“She did. For what it’s worth, she told us that she regretted the affair but not that it was with you. She cared for you deeply, Mr. Mallory.”

“As I did for her. I’m not proud that we had a fling behind Gregor’s back but I can’t change that. I’m so very sorry that she died. Dr. Khan, be straight with me. What were her true feelings for Gregor?”

Padme’s mother muttered something under her breath, then looked at her husband. He nodded.

“Gregor’s intensity concerned her; part of the reason why she moved back to London was that she was beginning to feel afraid of him. He called, of course, after she’d come home, begging her to come back. Then after a while, the calls just stopped. Then, one night, she was coming home on the Tube. It was only a couple of streets from where she lived. She was stabbed to death a few seconds from where she lived. Fisk was questioned, of course, but he had an alibi and after a few months, the investigation was quietly dropped.”

“I’m sorry,” Jakob said softly. “Her murder not being solved, it must be awful.”

“You make the mistake of thinking that if the law has said so, it must be unsolved. We know different,” Padme’s mother held his gaze. “We know who killed our daughter, Mr. Mallory.”

Jakob was at Bo Kennedy’s door by eight-thirty. Despite only meeting her once before, he immediately felt at ease in her company.

“You look like shite,” she said and Jakob, relieved to be with someone without an agenda, laughed.

“I feel like it.”

Bo had made dinner, a divine beef casserole that warmed him to his soul. Two good bottles of red and he was as near to relaxed as he could be with his wife missing. He told Bo everything, and through her gentle questioning, he was finally able to admit his doubts.

“Why would she go through with it?”

“Easy. To stay alive, to keep Hayley alive.”

“Everyone keeps saying that but … she looked like she was enjoying it.”

Bo studied him. “You know what a psycho Gregor is. Come on, Jakob; this is a no-brainer. She was forced to act the part. So what is this? Please tell me it’s not your wounded male ego because I’ll scream.” She was grinning at him, and he laughed softly.

He sighed. “I don’t know. God, this is killing me, Bo, knowing he has her, that he’s doing God knows what to her. And it’s my fault—if I’d acted more responsibly when I was younger ...”

“We could all say that, Jakob. All of us.”

Jakob nodded then looked around the vast living room. “This is a nice place, Bo. Kit loved it here, you know.”

She smiled, a little flush coming onto her cheeks. “I still can’t believe he’s gone, he was just so … present, you know? Even when he was a numpty.”

“Numpty?”

Bo snickered. “An idiot. That’s why I loved him; he was everything, good and bad, his kindness, his massive ego, his ability to piss me off one minute, then make me fall even more in love with him the next. People are flawed, Jakob. Kit, me, you, Quilla. She’s not perfect; she’s a survivor. Do you know how many women are put through this kind of thing every day? It happens to us all in some manner. When Quilla is freed—and I have no doubt she will be—don’t ever let her know you’ve felt like this. She’s been through enough.”

They were high in the Cascades, a small cabin—one room, but luxurious—the snow ten-feet deep outside. The nearest cabin was just across a snow field, but Gregor had already warned her. “Try to contact them and I’ll kill them without a second thought.” Quilla would not risk anyone else’s life.

But every day she thought about killing Gregor. All day, every day. It consumed her and fueled her ‘performance’. For the first few days, he’d held a gun to her while he fucked her, obviously not trusting her after the threat of killing Hayley was removed. But now, she had been so responsive, apparently, that he’d laid the gun aside and caressed her body. She felt dirty, sullied, but she switched her feelings off and smiled prettily at him, even murmuring encouragement.

Gregor had fallen for it all. She drove him crazy with her body, yet still, she had to listen to him fantasizing about killing her. She expected to die every day, whenever Gregor picked up the gun or used a knife. It had shredded the last of her nerves, and now she was close to the edge, struggling to keep it in.

So, killing Gregor was all she thought about.

Carter James and Ali Bell exited the interview room where they had been interviewing Richard Danks, the man who had delivered Hayley Applebee to freedom. Danks had been open and had given them a lot of information … but not the location where Gregor had taken Quilla Mallory. “I would tell you if I knew,” Danks had said, and the agents believed him.

Hayley Applebee had been a star, patient and responsive, and she’d even told them, with feeling, that Danks had been kind to her on the drive to freedom.

“He didn’t have to do that; he could have killed me; he could have done anything. They had all the cards. And he was never abusive like the other guy.”

They’d found Paul Mines’ body in the farmhouse Hayley had identified. With Skandar, she’d agreed to show them where the house was, and had shown no fear entering it with them. To Carter James’ frustration, there was no evidence of Gregor’s plans there either.

They all agreed he could not have taken Quilla far. Their pictures were all over the press; the airports, ports, and all other transport services had been alerted. Danks had told them Gregor was paranoid about being caught; that he’d kill both Quilla and himself before going to prison.

Carter ran a tired hand over his eyes. Ali, wan and pale, shook her head. “This case … man, I don’t think I’ve ever been this ...” She couldn’t finish, but Carter nodded.

“I know.”

Ali looked up at the board containing every scrap of information they’d gleaned and threw her hands up. “What next? We have nothing more, no clue to where they are. We’re not getting Quilla Mallory back alive.”

Carter wanted to argue but he couldn’t form the words because he knew she was right. They’d exhausted every last resource. He didn’t look forward to telling Jakob Mallory that.

Ran put down the phone and sat back, his hands covering his face. The FBI had no leads. Ran had told them he would talk to Jakob, see what they wanted to do next. But he felt drained. He didn’t want to have to tell his oldest son that Quilla was more than likely dead. He couldn’t bear to think the lovely young woman, who had saved Jakob’s life, might be dead. Quilla had become a daughter to him and now …

“Ran?”

Marley entered the study looking for him. She took one look at his face and went to him. She wrapped her arms around him. Since the day they’d declared their feelings, they’d barely been able to spend any time together; tonight they were supposed to have dinner, but Ran had asked Marley to come to the house, rather than go out. Since Hayley’s release, the press had been all over all of them, all the time.

Ran sighed, his face in her hair, his arms around her. “Thank you for coming, darling.”

He looked up, and she stroked his face. “You look exhausted.”

Ran tried to smile. “But better now that you’re here. Look, I have something to tell you.” In halting words, he told her that the FBI were out of ideas. Marley took it calmly at first, then her face crumpled, and she started to cry. They held each other for the longest time before Marley, her face streaked with tears, finally shook her head.

“I knew it was a longshot getting her back, but … goddammit,” she whispered. Ran pressed his lips to her forehead.

“I’m so sorry, Marley.”

She leaned into him. “Ran?”

“Yes, honey?”

“Can we forget dinner? I just want to be held.” She gazed up into his eyes. “Please, Ran, let’s just be together and forget everything else.”

Ran nodded, and they walked to his bedroom Ran was suddenly nervous as he closed the door but Marley, sensing this, pulled her T-shirt over her head and unhooked her bra. Ran watched her as she stripped, her toned athletic body, her firm breasts and flat belly. He wanted to tell her she was beautiful, but something told him that no words were necessary here.

Marley walked to him and kissed him, her little fingers at the buttons on his shirt. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. He hadn’t felt like this in years—since his wife had died, he’d dated off and on, slept with a few women, but had never felt like he did right now. Marley stripped him of his clothes and smiled up at him, stroking his thickening cock against her soft belly, feeling it growing and thickening.

He ran his hands down her body then cupped her breasts, dipping his head to his each one, flick his tongue around her nipple, her little gasp making his cock tighten and swell. They lay gently on the bed and Ran moved his body over hers, and they took their time, exploring the other. Ran knew he had kept himself in good shape, that he had the taut, hard body of someone half his age, but still, he was nervous about what she would think. He shouldn’t have been. Marley caressed and kissed his body before taking the sensitive of his penis into her mouth, the sensation of her tongue driving him crazy, and by the time he pushed into her warm, wet, velvety sex, he was lost in this woman, this brilliant, charming woman.

Afterward, they lay, smiling at each other. Ran stroked her damp cheek, looking into her shining eyes. “I love you, Marley Griffin. I think I’ve loved you since we met. Even with the age gap, I feel I’ve met my soulmate. Will you have me, Marley? Forever, I mean? I know it’s fast, but I don’t want to wait. Marry me.”

Marley smiled at him. “I will, Ran Mallory. I will marry you. You are the best thing to happen to me, and I’m so in love with you. Despite everything that has happened, that is still happening, you are the one bright star, and I cannot wait to be your wife.”

Ran kissed her, overjoyed. “I want us to be married as soon as possible but at the same time, with what’s going on ...”

“Then we should keep it a secret until everything is … settled.” Marley said firmly. “I don’t want to wait. We’ve done enough waiting. If Quilla were here, she’d be dragging us to City Hall right now.”

Ran chuckled. “Yes, she would.” For a moment he hesitated, then he said, “Marley … I know that it seems bleak at the moment and to even hope is so painful, knowing that, in all probability, Quilla is gone. But we shouldn’t forget … Quilla negotiated Hayley’s freedom. She could do the same for herself.”

Marley nodded. “I know. That’s the only thing stopping me from screaming. Quilla’s always been resourceful, but Gregor is pure psychopath.”

“Keep the faith, my love.”

They married two days later at City Hall, Ran making sure that their privacy was respected. Two clerks served as their witnesses, and afterward, Ran and Marley moved what few possessions she had—no more than a carful—to the big house. They had decided to tell the others that she was moving in with him; his sons weren’t surprised—only Jakob seemed a little … what? Marley could not make out the expression in his eyes. It wasn’t until later that it came to her.

“God … it’s because if Quilla dies, I’ll be here as a permanent reminder of her.”

Nothing Ran could say would ease her heart, and the relationship between his wife and his son did not improve.

Quilla slept fitfully; her wrist handcuffed to the bed stand, and it was almost dawn when she felt Gregor lay down beside her and curl his arm around her waist. She hated every time he touched her, no matter how affectionate his caress. He must have sensed her being awake because he gave a low chuckle.

“One day you won’t cringe when I touch you, my love.”

I wouldn’t bet on it. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

“Who is Padme?”

Gregor looked surprised. “How do you know that name?”

“You said it in your sleep last night.”

“What else did I say?”

“All you said was ‘Padme, please’”’

Gregor sighed. “Padme was my first love. She was everything to me, the way you are now. But she betrayed me; she fucked around on me. You can guess who with.”

“Jakob.” A lump sat heavily on her chest.

“Bingo.” Gregor pushed her onto her back and stroked her stomach. “I loved Padme with everything I had and in the end, I took that love back, vowing I would never fall so hard again. And I waited. Waited for Jakob to find ‘the one’.” I knew as soon as I saw you.”

She studied him. “So that’s why you’ve done all of this. Revenge for Padme cheating on you?”

Gregor smiled coldly. “Not just that. Jakob, by betraying me, by driving Padme away from me, made me do something I never thought I was capable of. Jakob took her love, but I took her life. I sobbed as I stabbed her to death; my heart broke.”

Quilla shivered, and Gregor smiled. She shook her head, frowning. “Why didn’t you just kill me that night in the bar? You had me right there; you stuck that knife in my gut then walked away. You could have finished it then, left Flori, left Kit out of it.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” He was angry now, and he got up off the bed and stalked around the room. “I had to have you … entirely, completely before I killed you. I had to make him suffer like I suffered. He made me kill her. He took her and threw her away. Now I get to take you away from him.”

Quilla drew in a deep breath. “So, you are going to kill me then?”

He stopped and stared at her for a long moment. “I don’t know yet, Quilla. Don’t make me do it.”

She almost laughed. That’s all he was, a spoiled little boy who took no responsibility and whined about it. A damn crybaby toddler. It was at that moment that she stopped being afraid of Gregor Fisk and knew what she had to do now. She held her hand to him.

“Come back to bed and show me how much you love me, Gregor.”

For a moment, she thought he’d laugh in her face, but then he took her hand, climbing back on top of her and kissing her. Quilla made sure every part of her performed as she forced a genuine smile onto her face. “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want, Gregor. How could I? I’m yours … just yours ...”

Gregor grinned. “That’s right, beautiful, all mine ...”

And he began to make love to her again. Quilla closed her eyes, mimicking ecstasy, but the whole time, thinking, thinking, thinking …

She knew now she was his weakness, and how she would make him pay. For Hayley. For Flori. For Kit.

And for herself. 

“Holy shit.” Carter read through the report again, looking up at Agent Kendrick. “This is all confirmed?”

Kendrick nodded. “Every word. Gregor Fisk has form. His first girlfriend back in college, Sue-Lin Chang, was murdered, stabbed to death, gutted, practically. Fisk wasn’t even questioned, so powerful was his family.”

“Was?”

“They died in a car wreck, mother, father, and eldest son. Convenient, huh?”

“Wow. Just wow. Anything else.”

“Oh, yes.” Ali came in, looking excited. “Steve asked me to run a check on the first victim. Wealthy Chinese family in Seattle and guess what … they have a private snow cabin in the North Central Cascades up near Mazama.”

Carter was on his feet. “Let’s get everyone together ...”

“Already on it. Let’s go.”

Like everything in life, the moment came unexpectedly. Quilla was almost dropping from exhaustion; the physical strain the constant demands for sex placed on her was shattering. Gregor had made her go on top, riding him, and as she moved, he gazed up at her.

“How come you wear your hair up so often now?”

Quilla smiled. Because I’m hiding something, moron. “Just gets it out of the way.”

“Let it down. I love the way it falls across your tits.”

Quilla winced; she hated the coarseness of the word. “Really, you want it down?” Oh God … here it comes …

Gregor nodded. “Take it down.”

Your choice, asshole. For a moment, she went through her plan. Get him to the point of orgasm, take the sharp edge of the tile … she closed her eyes, increasing her thrust, hearing him moan. She went through her checklist. Clothes near to hand, tire iron to break the door down, grab his gun, put a bullet in his head … run …

It was time. She drove herself on and on, hearing his groan, knowing he was near. “Gregor, grab my hips, help me take you in ...”

Grinning, he did so, his fingers biting into her fleshy hips. She smiled and reached behind her to undo her hair, her fingers closing around the tile shard, feeling for the sharp edge, locking her grasp. Gregor grinned as her hair tumbled down over her breasts.

“Christ, Quilla, you’re so fucking beau ...”

Lightning quick, she slashed across his throat with the tile, using all of her strength. Blood, hot, sticky blood, spurted out and covered them both. Gregor clutched at the wound, his eyes wide, terrified, and furious.

“Fucking bitch!” The curse was gargled out, full of venom.

Quilla tipped herself off him and dove towards her clothes as Gregor rolled off the bed, his hand clamped at his throat. He came for her, grabbing her leg as she went for his gun. The pistol skittered out of reach as Gregor pulled her back to him, his fury all consuming, the adrenaline making him superhuman despite his injury. The tile had obviously not severed a major artery and Quilla cursed herself. Gregor forced her onto her back, his face set in a grim smile.

“I told you not to make me do this, Quilla ...”

He grabbed his knife and she felt the cold steel against her belly.

“Goodbye, beautiful Quilla ...”

Quilla kicked and fought but then … pain. Unimaginable pain.

Gregor drove his knife into her belly mercilessly, over and over, quick, deep stabs and Quilla groaned in agony. No … no … this is not the way this ends. She plunged her thumbs into his eyes, deep, and Gregor screamed, dropping the knife. She kicked him away and scrambled, bleeding heavily, towards the gun. She flicked the safety off just as Gregor, roaring, came at her again.

Quilla didn’t hesitate; she rammed the muzzle against his head and fired. The back of his head exploded, and he collapsed, dead, but she kept firing, emptying the gun into Gregor’s head until, sobbing, she dropped the empty gun. It’s over.

Bent double, desperate to keep the blood inside her, she managed to drag her clothes on, packing a clean shirt against her wounds. The pain was so intense, it was almost unbelievable. The evening had fallen and across the snowfield, she could see lights on in the cabin.

Every movement was agony, but she searched Gregor’s pockets for his keys. The jeep stood outside, but she’d bleed to death before she made it down the mountain. The other people in the cabin across the snowfield were her only hope. Dragging on her T-shirt, her jeans, grabbing a flashlight, she staggered out into the snow. It was deep, the snow, the fresh powder having fallen earlier that day, and each step brought a moan of sheer agony. The shirt covering her wounds was soaked through; her blood started to spatter the pure white snow, and she could feel her body shutting down. She used the flashlight, blinking it urgently at the opposite cabin, praying, hoping against hope, that they would see it.

Help me …

She staggered another few steps, then collapsed into the snow, all her strength leaving her.

I’m sorry, Jakob, my love, my heart, I tried ...

She lay there, her finger still on the flashlight’s on/off switch, flicking it with the last of her strength.

I’m dying …

There was more light, voices, male voices … was it Gregor? Come to finish her off? No, it couldn’t be; he was dead; she’d killed him …

“Sweetheart, can you hear me? God, she’s covered in blood. Let’s get her inside ...”

Hands lifting her, cradling her. “Can you hear me, lovely?”

“She looks familiar.”

Warmth, the cold air had gone, she was inside. Her clothes were being pulled away. “She’s been stabbed. Oh, God, poor kid.”

“I’m calling 911.”

Quilla. My name is Quilla. I don’t want to die. But she couldn’t speak, black spots encroaching on her vision. Lightheaded now.

“I can’t stop this bleeding … Jesus, I think I’ve lost her ...”

No, no, I’m still here …

I’m still here …

I …

Part Ten: Treasure Me

Venice …

Quilla opened her bedroom door a crack and peeked out. Jakob Mallory heard the door open and sat up, looking at her, watching for her reaction. Quilla padded quietly over to the couch, her face splitting with the widest smile he’d ever seen, and from that second, Jakob knew he’d found the one. He wanted to pull her onto the couch with him and kiss her. Instead, he gazed up at her, drinking in every feature, the soft face, still holding onto the last vestiges of puppy fat, the color of her honey skin, the dark green eyes, the long dark hair, messy. That smile.

“You stayed,” she said, and her voice broke a little and Jakob realized how much it meant to her that he had made the decision not to run out into Venetian night and find another fix.

“I did. You were right. I want to be better, Quilla. I want to get straight, be the man who deserves a woman like you risking her life for him.”

She perched on the side of the couch. She smelled of cinnamon and sleep, and he breathed the scent in, his entire body responding to her.

Her big eyes searched his. “Would you like me to help? Like I say, I’ve been through this—well, not me personally, but my mom used to try and come off heroin periodically, so I know the drill. I know you’re not on heroin but ...”

“Cocaine. And yes, please. You’re the only one I trust to get me through this.”

She flushed with pleasure. “Then you’d better grab a shower, because we need to get you some new clothes and some supplies.”

He smiled, wanting desperately to brush that lock of hair that had fallen across her cheek back behind her ear. “I should call the airport; see if my bags were taken off the plane. Otherwise, yes.”

His bags were still at Venice airport so after a good breakfast, they took a cab and retrieved them, Quilla helping to lug them up to her apartment—“Their apartment,” she’d called it absent-mindedly, which made him feel strangely warm inside.

He took her to lunch at Quadri, where they ate langoustine with lemon aioli and drank an entire bottle of wine. Quilla grinned at him. “Enjoy that, because it’s water and juice from now on.”

He loved that she could make light of something so serious—for the love of God, they were talking about addiction— but her attitude was so matter of fact, it gave him hope that he could do this, could drag himself back from the edge. He would do it for himself, but also for her. Her mom … he would get the entire story from her, he decided. She was an unusual woman, this Quilla Chen.

She might have made light of it, but there was no doubt that she knew what she was doing. His body bucked against the withdrawal; he became edgy and tired, desperate for a fix one moment, then raging at himself the next. Quilla did not back down even when he was begging her to unlock the door; at night, she dragged her mattress from the bed and slept in front of the door so he couldn’t pick the lock or bust his way through. There was enough reason still left in him, even at the worst of it, that he knew every minute meant his life got better. Even when, on the fourth night, he awoke screaming from the most gruesome, terrifying nightmares and lashed out, his arms flying everywhere, she launched herself onto him, wrapped her arms around him and held him down, soothing him, calming him until exhausted, he fell asleep in her arms.

When he woke up the day that he’d declared to himself, that they’d made love for the first time, he’d known something was going to happen; his gut instinct told him that this, she and him, them, was inevitable …

Now …

Now, as Jakob sat on the place, crossing the Atlantic on the ten-hour journey back to Seattle, he closed his eyes and tried to capture that feeling. Those feelings … .all of the firsts—the moment his lips touched hers, the first time he’d kissed those gorgeous breasts, felt the hard nipple against his tongue, the taste of her, the moment his cock slid inside her.

Anything, anything to try and forget that once again, she was lying on an operating table, her life hanging in the balance as surgeons tried their hardest to repair the violence that Gregor Fisk had visited upon her—again.

The phone call at the hotel had been the best and worst of his life. His father. They’ve found Quilla … Gregor’s dead … but she’s been stabbed and, son, I’m so sorry, it’s bad. Please come as soon as you can …

He’d been in a cab to the airport moments later; he hadn’t even bothered to pack the few clothes he’d brought with him to London. As the cab weaved its way through heavy London traffic, Jakob called the airline and begged them to put him on the first plane. He’d have to change in San Francisco, but he could be home in fourteen hours.

Now, as the plane flew over the coast of Greenland, Jakob stared out at the view below him, not seeing anything, but imagining he was hearing the doctor’s voice telling she didn’t make it.

No...no … she will; she’s a fighter. He wondered if Grady had called that doctor in New Orleans, the one who had saved Flori. God, so much pain, so much violence … knowing that Gregor was finally dead didn’t help matters. The damage he had wrought would not be easy to repair.

Stop it. Try and think positively. Think about the time in Venice with Quilla, think about …

Venice …

It was evening, and they were walking hand in hand through St Marks, disturbing the pigeons on the palazzo. He couldn’t take his eyes off her; the sultry heat, the low sun, made her honey-skin glow, her lovely dark hair pulled up into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. Her back was bare, her pale pink dress tied as a halter, and he trailed a fingertip down her spine. Quilla shivered, then chuckled. “That feels good.”

He stopped walking and took her in his arms. “You feel good.”

“Cheesy.”

“You bet your sweet ass.”

He kissed her, her soft lips warm against his own. Her little face fit so perfectly in his big hands, she made him feel like a giant of a man, a hero instead of the screw up he really was. She pressed her insane body to his, and he felt his cock jump instantly, swelling and thickening with longing for her. He pressed his lips to her throat. “God, I want to fuck you so bad, right now, Quilla Chen.”

She gave a throaty chuckle. “Well, Mr. Mallory, I do believe you promised me a night on the balcony, and I’m going to take you up on that.”

He grinned. “Then let’s get a water taxi and go home right now ...”

On the balcony of her apartment, there was a streetlight immediately adjacent, so Jakob threw a towel over it, much to Quilla’s amusement. Then slowly, he stripped her, his lips against the skin he revealed. He made her sit on one of the chairs while he went down on her, Quilla gasping quietly as his tongue lashed around her clit. He grinned up at her as he trailed his tongue up her belly and took her nipple into his mouth. She knotted her fingers in his hair and let her head fall back, her eyes close. When his lips found her throat, she murmured, “I want to suck you,” but he just chuckled.

“Not tonight, Miss Chen; tonight is all about you ...”

He stood and peeled his clothes off quickly, his cock heavy, bobbing under the weight of the blood engorging it, ramrod straight against his belly. He fisted the root of it, smiling as he watched her admire him. “You like what you see, beautiful?”

“God, yes.”

“Show me.”

Smiling lazily, she slowly spread her legs, and trailing her hand between her breasts, down her belly, she stroked into her sex, parting the peachy folds to show him how wet she was, how red and swollen she was, for him, only him.

“That is the most fucking beautiful sight on this Earth,” he hissed and suddenly he was pulling her to the floor and plunging his cock deep into her, her legs curling around his waist, her eyes locked with his as they fucked, clawing at the other, both tender and animal, Quilla urging him deeper …

Jakob opened his eyes. There were so many emotions roiling around inside him. He would give anything, every penny he had, every material thing he owned, to turn back time and go back to that day on the balcony. Or the day after, when Quilla had suggested finding an empty gondola after night had fallen and they’d fucked in that, trying not to laugh or moan too loudly, having to hide hurriedly as two Carabinieri passed by, their flashlights sweeping over the line of silent boats.

But so much had happened between then and now. Gregor. If his end game had been to shatter Jakob’s psyche, he’d succeeded. And then there was the fact that Quilla had slept with him. Had been intimate with her would-be killer. Jakob hated himself for thinking it, but he couldn’t deny the torrent of jealousy, of betrayal he felt. He knew, he knew, it wasn’t fair, that she’d done it to save Hayley, to save herself … but he couldn’t get that image of her face on that video tape.

And now she was dying, and he might not get the chance to tell her he loved her, or to hear her tell him that she had hated every minute being with Gregor, that she loved only him, Jakob, that she was sorry …

Sorry? What the hell is wrong with you, man? He swore under his breath. Quilla had nothing to apologize for; she had made a huge sacrifice for the people she loved and what was he? A fucking idiot. He didn’t deserve her.

Many hours later, when he landed in Seattle, he got into a cab, but when the driver ask him where to, he choked on the word ‘Hhospital’ Instead, after taking a deep breath in, he gave him an address across the city. One he hadn’t been to in over a year.

Flori, Nan, Hayley, and Asia looked up as Marley came back, balancing hot coffee on a tray. The Mallory men were with the police, going through everything. Asia’s partner, Dr. Parker Thomas, was indeed the surgeon trying to save Quilla’s life—he’d flown into Seattle at the moment Grady had called Asia.

“You know what’s weird?” Nan said quietly, “We’re back to the beginning. First time I met Joel, we were right here, in this room.”

Marley nodded. “I remember. Quilla had been stabbed by Gregor then, too. What the hell is wrong with this world?”

Hayley, whose quiet devastation was written all over her face, sighed. “I can never tell you how much Quilla did for me in that prison. Even if I described every single minute, I couldn’t tell you.”

Nan started to cry at her sister’s words and gathered her into a hug. Flori wiped her face. “I just hope, somehow, she can fight this last fight.”

“She will,” Marley said gruffly, her voice breaking. Asia put her arm around the woman.

“Look, I’m a great believer in positivity. We need to tell happy stories about Quilla, or about our lives or whatever. Send good energy out into the ether.”

“Good idea,” said Hayley suddenly, then she looked at her sister. “I’m marrying Skandar. Soon.”

Nan grinned. “Really? That’s amazing. Congratulations.”

Hayley looked comically disappointed. “What no ‘you’re too young’ No ‘Are you knocked up?’ Darn it; I was hoping for some drama.”

The others laughed, and Nan shook her head. “No way—although I had better be your Maid of Honor.”

Hayley shook her head, and Nan’s face dropped. Hayley kissed her cheek. “I want you to give me away, Nan. I know it’s a traditionally male role, but fuck the patriarchy. Will you do me the honor of giving me away?”

Nan colored and burst into tears, smiling through them. “Of course … oh God …” She sniffed, trying to stop crying as Hayley rolled her eyes. Nan wiped her nose. “Just to check, though—you’re not knocked up, are you?”

“No, don’t worry.” Hayley smiled but Asia, whose face was scarlet, put her hand up.

“Um … I am.”

They all gaped at her, and she laughed, her face returning to its normal color. “Afraid so. It wasn’t planned. Parker and I both want kids, but we also don’t want to get married yet.”

Flori gave a dramatic gasp. “I am clutching my pearls! This new-fangled way of living … oh, hell, I can’t even be bothered to make fun of you. Congratulations, I’m so happy for you both.” She hugged Asia, who chuckled.

“Thank you, boo.”

Marley went to the window and gazed out into the gloomy light of the evening. She desperately wanted to join in with the women, but she felt distanced from them, even though, technically, she was the only one of them married to a Mallory. It was her best friend on that operating table—again, and she wanted to scream and curse and punch something.

What she couldn’t believe most was that finally, Gregor Fisk was dead. Although they didn’t know exactly what happened, it looked like Quilla had killed him, and that’s what worried Marley as much as the hideous injuries Quilla had received while escaping. Knowing she killed another human being would change Quilla—possibly irretrievably. Marley knew her too well—sweet, sweet Quilla would grieve for the man who abducted, raped, and stabbed her. That she was the wife of Jacob Mallory would only exacerbate and fire up the press stories—Marley could see the headlines now: Killer Quilla.

Christ …

“Marley?” Nan’s voice was soft, and she felt her hand on her back. “This must be even worse for you, I know, but we’re all here for you, sweetheart.”

Marley smiled and turned back to the group, flushing when she realized they were all looking at her. She drew in a deep breath. What the hell? “I married Ran. A few days ago. We also didn’t want to wait,” she smiled shyly at Asia, who beamed.

“I’m so glad, Marley. You make such a wonderful couple.”

The rest of them murmured their assent, and Marley felt a tension leave her. “I love him so very much, and it’s weird, it’s not the mad, crashing love you think you’ll find. It’s just … right and solid and adoring.”

Flori smiled at her. “You’re such an old soul, Marley, or what I mean is, you are mature beyond your years. You’re right; it makes so much sense for you to be with Ran.”

“Thank you, Flori … and what about you? What’s your news?”

Flori smiled. “Nothing new to tell … except I think I love Grady Mallory even more each day. Since we’ve been able to ...” She trailed off, flushing, shooting a look at Grady’s former lover, Asia, but the other woman nodded encouragingly. “Well, since then, it’s just gotten better every day. I have to be honest, I’d been living under fear that Gregor would find me again or do what he did to Bo Kennedy and take Grady away from me. I’m so glad he’s dead.”

“You bet your butt he is.” They all looked up as Grady came back into the room with the others. Skandar immediately pulled Hayley into his arms; Ran slid an arm around his wife’s waist; Joel, planted a kiss on Nan’s forehead.

Grady smoothed Flori’s hair. “And the police just confirmed: Quilla killed him.” He looked at Hayley. “They think she used the tile fragment to slash his throat, but it wasn’t enough to kill him. He went after her, stabbed her, but she managed to grab the gun and shot him. She emptied the gun into his head and then tried to reach help. She collapsed in the snow, but luckily the people from the cabin across the way found her and called it in.”

“Has Parker given you an update?” Asia asked him, her eyes wide.

Grady shook his head. “Not yet.”

Ran cleared his throat. “The police say her injuries were life-threatening. The cold may have slowed her heart down so that she didn’t lose as much blood, but still. It’s touch and go.”

Marley gave a little sob, no longer able to hold it in. Ran wrapped his arms around her and let her cry. Asia glanced at them sympathetically but not knowing what to say.

“Where the hell is Jakob?” Skandar, who had been in shock for days now, and had not let Hayley out of sight for long, glanced at his watch. “His plane got in a couple of hours ago.”

“I’ll call him.” Joel got up and went out into the corridor to use his phone. Nan went with him.”

All them sat in silence for a few minutes. Hayley, exhausted, burrowed into Skandar’s arms, and he pressed his lips to her temple, his own eyes full of sadness and fatigue.

Asia got up as her boyfriend, Parker, came in, still in his scrubs. He looked grim-faced, and Marley felt Ran’s arms tightened around her.

“We’ve managed to stop the bleeding,” Parker said, “but she’s very, very sick. I wish I could give you better news, but it is a waiting game now. The knife nicked her abdominal artery, and it was leaking, but we’ve managed to stabilize it, for now. She just needs time now for her body to do its job and heal.”

“Can we see her?”

“She’s in recovery, and I wouldn’t advise too many of you go in. She might get overwhelmed if she wakes up. For now, I think Jakob … and Marley?”

“Jakob’s not here yet,” Marley said, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.

“I’ll go in with you,” said Hayley quietly. “I need to see her.”

Just before Marley pushed open the door to Quilla’s room, she balked. Hayley looked at her with surprise, then, understanding. She linked her fingers with Marley’s. “Together.” Marley nodded, and they went in.

Quilla was, as expected, surrounded by machinery, wires, and tubes all over her body, the hiss and click of the breathing equipment the only sound in the room. Quilla was paler than pale, her usually honey-colored skin wan and tinged with yellow. There were dark purple bruises on her skin, cuts and welts; her abdomen was heavily bandaged, blood seeping through in some places.

“God.” Marley felt her legs give way, and Hayley hurriedly steered her into a chair. She went to Quilla’s head and stroked the matted hair away from her face.

“I love you,” she whispered and kissed her friend’s forehead. Marley watched the young blonde woman, a growing fondness inside her. Whatever Quilla and Hayley had been through had forged a bond as unbreakable as her own with Quilla.

Quilla, deeply unconscious, was so still, Marley and Hayley could only watch the rise and fall of her chest as the machine breathed for her. They each took a seat either side of her and took one of her small, cold hands in their own.

Marley didn’t know how long they sat there, but she glanced over at Hayley and was appalled to see tears pouring down the younger woman’s face. “Hayley ...”

“I keep watching her chest go up and down and thinking that the next time, it won’t move. That she’ll just go, and we won’t get to say goodbye.”

“Oh, sweetheart ...”

Marley could not think of anything else to say to comfort her friend. She glanced at her watch and wondered again: Where the hell is Jakob?

Joel had not been able to get hold of his brother on the phone, but he’d called the airline. “He definitely got to SeaTac, and he definitely got off the plane.”

None of them knew what to do next. Ran rubbed his hands over his face. “Look, why don’t you all go home? I’ll wait for Jakob and the girls, but there’s obviously not much you can do here.”

Grady nodded. “Asia, why don’t you come back with us?” Flori nodded and took Asia’s hand.

“Yes, do come, you need looking after.”

The men looked confused. “I’ll explain another time.” Asia waved away their questions. “I will, thank you both.”

Joel and Nan followed the others out, but Skandar shook his head. “I’m not leaving Hayley.”

Ran smiled at his grandson. “Well, then, I’m grateful for the company.”

It was another hour before Hayley came to find them. She looked red-eyed and upset. “They’re checking her at the moment, asked us to step out. Marley’s gone to find more coffee.” She smiled at Ran. “You might have to go home without the missus tonight.”

Both Ran and Skandar looked up. Ran, a slight flush on his face, grinned. “She told you?”

“She did, and we’re all very happy for you,” Hayley grinned at Skandar’s surprise, “those of us who know. You have a new step-Nana, Skan.”

Skandar actually smiled for the first time in weeks and congratulated his grandfather, who nodded gratefully. “Well, look, you two should go home and get some rest. I ...”

He stopped as someone knocked and FBI Agent Carter James stepped into the room. “Hey, folks. How’s Quilla?”

Hayley made a face. “Not out of the woods, yet.”

“Sorry to hear that. Ran, could we speak privately for a second?”

Randall followed the agent out into the hallway. He looked grim-faced and awkward. “Ran, there’s no easy way to tell you this … Jakob’s been arrested.”

Ran felt like a sledgehammer had slammed into his chest. “What the hell for?”

Carter blew out his cheeks. “He was trying to buy cocaine. The trouble was, we were in the middle of a sting and Jakob was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Look, the arresting officer knows of your family and the case but says his hands are tied. Jakob’s at the county lockup. He’ll be arraigned in the morning; I’m pretty confident bail will be set.”

“Charges?”

“Probably possession. Look, I’m sorry. I haven’t seen him, but I guess he’s pretty messed up about Quilla, which is why he spiraled down. I’ll let you know where he’s been taken.”

Ran went back into the relative’s room and told Skandar and Hayley what had happened. Skandar cursed and shook his head, furious, but Hayley put her arm around his waist. “Skan … if I was Quilla, what would you feel like right now?”

Skandar’s jaw clenched, a nerve flickering in his cheek. “Yeah, okay,” he muttered eventually. Hayley kissed him. Ran sighed.

“Go home, the both of you, get some sleep. When Agent James comes back, I’ll go see Jakob.”

Quilla slid back into consciousness but didn’t open her eyes for a moment. She could tell the hand holding hers wasn’t Jakob’s—it was too small, but it was familiar. Marley.

She opened her eyes to see a darkened room and her oldest friend, her head laid on the bed, turned towards her, her eyes closed. Quilla tried to smile but the tube in her throat was so bulky, she couldn’t. Her throat was scratchy and a terrible thirst raging inside her.

And the pain … God … the lightheadedness she felt she knew was from morphine, but it wasn’t touching the burning ache in her belly.

She squeezed the hand that held hers, and Marley sat up instantly, blinking her eyes. “Quills?”

Quilla tried to nod her head, and Marley burst into tears, smiling through them. “Oh God, honey … welcome back.”

She tried to hug her but with all the wires and tubes, it was difficult. Quilla couldn’t speak but pointed to her throat. Marley understood. “I’ll go get a nurse, darling, hold on.”

Alone, she listened to the silence being broken by the machines keeping her alive. She tried to move any part of her body, but everything screamed in pain. At least she could move her arms, write things down, like …

Where the hell is Jakob?

Her husband, locked in a cell, had his head in his hands. This is the lowest you’ve ever been, Mallory, he told himself. In a strange way, he was glad he hadn’t had the chance to take the coke—that would have been infinitely worse than this. Still … he felt incredibly guilty—he should be with Quilla right now. How was he going to explain this to her, to his family, when he didn’t have an answer for himself?

“Jakob?”

Carter James looked at him, and Jakob could see the empathy in his eyes. It didn’t help. Jakob got up and went to the door. “How are you doing?”

Jakob shrugged. “Okay. It was a dumb, stupid thing to do.”

Carter nodded, gave him a half smile. “Yeah, it was. Look, your dad’s on his way—no, don’t worry, Quilla’s doing not great, but okay—but your dad wants to see you. You’ll be arraigned in the morning, and I’ll be putting in a report to the judge. Bail should be set, and under the circumstances, I think you’ll be out pretty soon after that. What possessed you?”

Jakob sighed. “Stupidity. Wanting to escape. Not having to face the fact my wife is dying.”

“She’s not dying,” Carter interrupted him. “Quilla is in a bad way, yes, but she’s not dying. Parker Thomas thinks she’ll pull through, although it won’t be easy. But I think deep down you know that … Jakob, this is to do with that video tape, isn’t it?”

Jakob felt a wave of sorrow, of guilt, of hurt flood through his body. “I can’t stop thinking about it; it’s consuming me.”

The door opened behind Carter and Ran walked in, his expression neutral, his eyes tired. Carter shook his hand, and then turned back to Jakob. “Talk to your dad. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Alone, Jakob couldn’t meet his dad’s gaze. “Dad, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Ran hesitated before he spoke. “Jakob, I love you, so this is not going to be easy for me to say. I don’t think I’ve ever been more … ashamed … than I am right now. In you, in myself.”

His words battered and bruised Jakob’s fragile heart, but he nodded. “That’s fair. But the fault is mine, Dad; you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I thought I had brought you up better than to run away from things and be that guy who would rather stick his head in the sand and let other people carry the load. Quilla was stabbed fourteen times, by Gregor, fifteen, if you count the first time. She had to kill him, take another human being’s life, and still, she tried to make her way back to you. She had to turn over her body to him to save Hayley’s life, and she did it. She deserves more than this, Jakob, and if you cannot provide that for her, then let her go. But know this; Quilla is my daughter, and if you turn away from her, then you are no longer welcome in this family. That’s all I have to say. I’ll see you in the morning; I have to get back to my family at the hospital.”

Jakob wanted to scream, wanted to beg him for forgiveness. Ran, always mild-mannered, had never spoken to him, or anyone, like he just had to his eldest son. He watched his father, his hands trembling, grip the door handle to leave.

“Dad ...”

Ran turned back, and he could see the tears in his eyes. Pain ripped through Jakob at the sight. “I’m sorry, Dad.”

“I’m not the one you should be saying that to. When the bail is posted tomorrow, I’ve booked you into rehab. Just a week. You’re not permitted to see or talk to Quilla before that week is completed.”

Jakob was up now, panic starting. “Dad, I didn’t take it. I’m not addicted, please. I have to see her.”

Ran gripped the door handle tighter, closing his eyes, the turmoil inside him obvious. “You should have thought of that when you got off that plane.” Then he was gone, Jakob staring after him.

Parker Thomas, his cornflower blue eyes crinkling as he smiled, stroked Quilla’s head. “Now, I’m going to ask you to give a big cough, then I’ll take the tube out … after three, sweetheart. One … two … three ...”

Quilla coughed, then gagged as Parker pulled the tube out. The nurse with him, Julia, passed her a cup of water. “Don’t gulp it, sweetie, just sips.”

Quilla did as she was told, the water giving blessed relief to her throat. She was still laid back on her pillows, but at least she was halfway to sitting up. It had been a day and a half since she’d woken and according to the smile on Parker’s face, she was doing well. Now that the tube was out, she could suck in lungfuls of air herself and start to feel alive. Marley and Asia were at the other end of the room watching and smiling. At last, Quilla gave them a wave. Marley was smiling through her tears, leaning against Asia for support.

Quilla felt a wave of gratitude come over her and she caught Parker’s arm. “Thank you,” she croaked, her throat still scratchy. He grinned—damn, he was so handsome.

She told Asia that when he and the nurse had gone, and Asia laughed. “You’re not falling for your doctor, are you? That old cliché?”

Quilla smiled, and then looked at Marley, who was wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “Dude, stop that, I’m okay.”

Marley tried to smile. “I’m sorry, honey. I think the floodgates have opened.”

The three women chatted lightly, then Quilla steeled herself. “Okay, you wouldn’t tell me anything about why Jakob wasn’t here, so I need to know, because it’s driving me crazy. Come on.”

She noticed the anger in her own voice and saw they hadn’t missed it, either. “I’m not mad at you,” she said softly. “I don’t know who I’m mad at.”

Asia and Marley shared a long look, then Asia nodded. “Jakob’s in rehab, darling. When he thought you were dying, he flipped out and tried to buy coke. Luckily—if you can call it that—he was arrested before he could actually take the stuff. He’s been bailed, but Ran sent him to rehab for the week. Banned him from coming here.”

Quilla frowned. “I don’t get why … surely the fact that I was back was a good thing, even in the state I was in … I don’t understand. What aren’t you telling me?”

Another loaded glance between her friends. “Quilla … when Hayley was released, she told us everything that you had done, what you had sacrificed for her.”

Panic was starting to build inside Quilla’s chest. “But, surely, Jakob knew I had to do it; I had to sleep with Gregor, or he’d kill both Hayley and me?”

“It’s not just that,” Marley said gently. “Gregor videotaped you having sex.”

Quilla’s stomach dropped. “What?” Barely a whisper.

“Hayley explained that Gregor had made you … act the part. It was one of those times that he taped—and sent to Jakob.”

“Oh no, no, no …” Quilla’s head was in her hands, and Marley shot Asia a concerned look. Asia nodded and slipped from the room to find Parker. Marley got her arms around Quilla.

Her body was trembling violently. “I had to do it. He was going to kill her,” Quilla sobbed. “So I pretended I was somebody else, that it wasn’t me he was raping. And he was raping me, Marley, how can Jakob think I would have slept with that … monster … voluntarily? He was going to shoot Hayley in the head unless I did it. He only let her go because I did such a convincing job. I only escaped him because he’d started to trust me enough to fuck him without being tied down. So, what, Jakob thinks I’m unclean now? How could he?”

Her voice was getting louder, more hysterical, her entire body in motion, and Marley had to fight to keep her from tearing her stitches, hurting herself. Quilla’s eyes were wild—fear, anger, hurt and Marley cursed Jakob Mallory and Gregor Fisk over and over.

Parker came in and took one look at Quilla and muttered an instruction to his assistant. Marley got out of the way as Parker tried to calm Quilla down from her panic attack, his tone steady and soothing. When the assistant came back, Parker took the hypodermic needle from her and slipped it into Quilla’s IV. Her breathing slowly returned to normal and in a few minutes, her eyes closed. After checking her vitals, he beckoned Asia and Marley from the room.

“She can’t get overexcited like that. Her core muscles have been ravaged. Any hysteria risks tearing, which means infection might get in.”

Asia put her hand on her boyfriend’s arm. “Sorry, Parker, but she asked about Jakob.”

“I should have waited to tell her,” Marley fretted, “or fudged the truth.”

Parker sighed. “I think she’ll be okay, but yeah, soften the blows, would you?” He smiled kindly at Marley. “Kiddo, if we keep her calm, she has a chance of a quicker recovery. Whatever bullshit Jakob is dealing with, Quilla’s health is the main concern.”

Marley smiled gratefully, comforted that Parker wasn’t impressed with Jakob either. She felt like she had an ally in the surgeon. “Thanks, Parker. For everything. For keeping her here with us.”

“My pleasure. Look, why don’t you go home, get some rest? I gave her a pretty strong sedative so she’ll be out for a few hours. And you,” he kissed Asia’s cheek, “you go back to Grady’s and look after yourself and Bean.”

“We’re not calling him or her Bean.”

“Yeah, we are.” Parker grinned and waved as he left them. Marley said goodbye to Asia and drove home, acknowledging to herself that she was shattered. She wanted to sit and howl, then sleep for hours and hours.

Ran, not looking much better himself, met her at the door. Marley sank into his arms. “God, take me to bed, please. I need to feel good again.”

He chuckled. “How about a long soak first, candles, a back massage, the whole nine yards?”

Marley smiled up at him. “You really are perfect; you know that?”

In the tub, his hands moved over her body, gripping the tight muscles in her shoulders, his thumbs pressing firmly into the sore flesh. Marley groaned. “That’s so good.”

Ran kissed her neck. “Better?”

She leaned back against his chest. “So much.” She sighed. “Did you speak to Jakob today?”

“I did. He’s doing well, working hard.”

Marley didn’t say anything and Ran pressed his lips to her temple. “Give him a chance, Marley.”

She sighed, turning around to face him. “Ran, I love you, but I think I’ve given that man plenty of chances. Because of him, Quilla has been raped, stabbed, and abducted … been subject to the worst a human can do to another. And now, added to that, she had to kill another human being. Where was Jakob? And when he needed to step up, his pathetic male ego made him run away. Again.”

Ran flinched at her words. “Marley, he’s made mistakes.”

She relented. “I know he’s your son, Ran, and you love him. But even you must see; he’s terrible for Quilla.”

“I think we need to see how Quilla feels.”

Marley looked away from her husband’s gaze. “Yes.”

Ran stroked her face. “Don’t let this come between us, sweetheart. We should be in our blissful honeymoon phase. Speaking of which, when Quilla is recovered, I’m taking you away for an actual honeymoon.”

Marley tried to smile. “Sounds good.”

Ran sighed, and then held out his arms. “Come here, beautiful.” She went into them, and he kissed her. Marley closed her eyes, letting the sensation of his lips against hers consume her. For Ran, she would try to accept Jakob; for Ran and Quilla, she would try.

Seven days. Seven days he had turned up for any and every counseling sessions, group meeting, had helped out in the kitchens … everything, and now, as Jakob waited for his dad to come pick him up, he felt optimistic for the first time in days, hell, months. Ran had called him every evening with updates on Quilla’s condition; still a long way to go, but every day she got stronger. Of course she is, he thought now, his heart full of love. She’s a fighter. She always has been.

He couldn’t wait to see her, take her in his arms, and beg for her forgiveness. He would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her, not that it was possible. God, what had I been thinking? He shook his head now, then looked up as his father came into the room.

Ran nodded, but Jakob could see in his eyes, the pride, the thankfulness that Jakob had done so well here. He hugged his father. “I’m so sorry, Dad.”

Ran embraced his eldest son. “I’m proud of you, son. Let’s go and see Quilla.”

Jakob’s heart was thumping as they rode the elevator to Quilla’s floor. Ran had told him that she was recovering, but he still was nervous about seeing her so hurt, so brutalized. Ran warned him not to get too physical; Quilla’s wounds were still healing, and she was still in a lot of pain.

They walked along the corridor to her room, and as they reached it, Marley came out, shutting the door behind her and blocking it. She glanced at Ran with apologetic eyes, then looked at Jakob, her eyes cold. Jakob’s heartbeat quickened.

“Hi, Marley.”

“Jakob. She doesn’t want to see you. I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry at all. Ran shot her a sharp look.

“Marley? What’s going on?”

Marley’s expression was soft as she looked at her husband. “I’m sorry, Ran, but Quilla doesn’t want to see Jakob.”

“Why?”

“I think you need to ask Jakob that.”

Jakob stared at her in horror. “No … no, please, I need to see her. I need to explain.”

Marley fixed her gaze on him. “Jakob, Quilla does not want to see you. She does not want to talk to you. She doesn’t need you to explain your behavior. It’s pretty clear, and her decision is final.”

Ran sighed. “Come on now, Marley.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” she said to him, “but it’s Quilla’s choice.”

“Bullshit,” Jakob exploded. “It’s not Quilla, it’s you. This is what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? Me out of the picture?”

“This is the result of your actions, Jakob.”

“Quilla! Quilla, please, I need to talk to you!” Jakob was yelling now. He stepped forward and Marley moved, immediately bracing herself against the door jam. For a moment, it looked like Jakob would simply shove her out of the way and everyone froze, Marley and Jakob staring each other down. Then Ran, his face pale, stepped between them.

“Jakob, back off. Marley … is this really Quilla’s final decision?”

She nodded. “It is.”

Ran put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Come on, Jakob. Let’s go.”

Jakob, seething, stared at Marley a beat longer then stalked off. Ran looked at Marley. “Will I see you at home?”

“Of course.” Her face softened. “I’m sorry about this, Ran.”

He kissed her forehead. “It’s okay … do you want me to come pick you up?”

She shook her head. “I’ll get a cab; it’s okay.”

Jakob was pacing around the parking lot when Ran found him. Jakob opened his mouth to speak, but Ran held up a hand. “Before you say something you regret,” he said firmly, “just remember … Marley is my wife, and I love her very much.”

Jakob shook his head. “Dad, she’s never liked me, and if this is her dripping poison into Quilla’s ear ...”

“Stop it,” his father’s voice was sharp. “Quilla had every right not see you, after what you did. Do you not understand that? You made a decision, Jakob, and these are the consequences. That girl has been through enough, and I can’t say I blame her for this. In any way. Marley didn’t say forever, just not yet. Respect that.”

Jakob had no answer for that. His shoulders slumped, and he rubbed a frustrated hand over his head. “I want to go home.”

At the empty apartment, Jakob showered, then poured himself a large drink and sat out on the balcony, even though the night was bitterly cold. He felt he needed the cool air to calm the hot, angry blood that flowed through him. He went through his arguments in his head: Marley had persuaded Quilla to ignore him; Quilla was being unreasonable; Quilla was being petty. But he knew, inside, that none of that was true.

It was him. He needed to step up now and prove to Quilla that he was worthy of her. Jakob stared into the Seattle night, looking over to the Space Needle. The Seattle Center was dressed for Christmas; thousands upon thousands of twinkle lights. He couldn’t imagine Christmas without Quilla in his arms, in their home, in their bed.

He would do anything to get her back … anything. Even if that meant backing off until he could prove to her finally, that he was deserving of her love.

“You’re cheating.”

“Am not.”

“You are. You’re picking from the discarded cards.”

Quilla grinned at Hayley. “Man, you’re a bad loser.”

Hayley gave up and scrambled the cards up. “I’m so bored of this game.”

“Me, too.”

Hayley packed the cards into their box. “So, Parker said you could be discharged soon?”

“He called from New Orleans yesterday and spoke to my doctor. Maybe another couple of weeks, less if I’m lucky. Thank God. My muscles are starting to atrophy. Here, help me up, would you? I need to walk around for a bit.”

Hayley helped Quilla onto the floor, steadying her when she swayed. Quilla had been in the hospital for a month now and had made remarkable progress—at least, physically. Hayley knew her friend was fragile mentally; although Quilla tried to hide her red eyes and the dark shadows under her eyes, Hayley worried that she would break soon. It gave her hope though that Quilla was seeing the psychiatrist again, had requested him herself. Christmas had been the hardest but they’d all come in to see her—separately, so Jakob’s absence wouldn’t be so obvious. Hayley and Skandar had spent most of Christmas Day with their friend, talking wedding plans until Skandar rolled his eyes and pretended to call the whole thing off. “One more mention of fabric and I’m outta here.”

They walked out into the corridor, Hayley supporting her friend as they took their usual route to the elevators and outside—almost outside— January had brought with it deep snow, and so they settled for the long corridor near the big glass window at the front of the hospital.

“So, how’s the wedding planning going? Skandar forced you to finalize a date yet?”

Hayley laughed. “Ha, you jest. Nope, despite teasing Skandar, the only thing I have locked down is that Nan will walk me down the aisle. My next job is to ask my maid of honor if she’ll be so kind to stand up with me. So, will you?”

Quilla gave her a delighted but shocked laugh. “Hell, yes! My God, Hayley, I would never have expected ...” she turned away, but Hayley saw the tears in her eyes and squeezed her. Quilla chuckled, dashing away the tears. “I’m so honored, Hayley, truly but don’t you have friends you’ve known longer than me? I know you do.”

Hayley smiled, shrugging. “They’ll be my bridesmaids. And listen, I talked to them, and they agree with me. It’s the least I could do after what you did ...” She choked up but rallied, forcing a grin onto her face. “There’s no one I’d rather have, Quilla. No one.”

Quilla chuckled. “That means so much, Hays, it really does. So, a double-double meringue for you, then?”

Hayley nodded. “And all of you in salmon taffeta, 80s style.”

They both laughed, Quilla putting her hand on her stomach. “Laughing still hurts, huh?” Hayley said, noticing the gesture.

“Force of habit by now. The pain is definitely manageable.”

They walked some more, then Hayley spoke again. “Quills … have you thought where you’ll go when you leave the hospital?”

Quilla nodded. “Grady and Flori have offered me their guest room for as long as I need to find a place.”

Hayley sighed. “Good, because I had visions of you renting some tiny apartment on your own.”

Quilla smiled gratefully at her young friend. “You are so like your sister, sometimes.”

“Thankfully, neither of us is like our mother, though.,” Hayley rolled her eyes.

“I hear ya.” Quilla sighed. “I’m going to have to find a new job, though, if I want to get an apartment of my own.”

Hayley was confused, and then her heart sank. “So, there’s really no chance of you and Jakob …?” Hayley felt tears threatening. She so wanted the couple to find each other again. “He’s been doing really well, Quills, and he’s respected your wishes about staying away. He’s working on the foundation project with Flori and Grady.”

Quilla was surprised. The foundation had been her and Grady’s brainchild, an arts foundation that would help low-income artists fulfill their dreams of a college degree and mentoring in the art world. She had been talking to Grady about it the day she and Hayley had been abducted.

“Really? It was just a vague idea, last time I was involved.”

“Grady told Jakob about it, and Jakob swung into action. I’ve helped out too, in between classes and coming here.”

Quilla smiled at her gratefully. “Skandar must hate me, stealing so much of your time.”

“Are you kidding me? Skandar hero-worships you – or ‘she-ro’ worships you, ha, ha—I think if we both went full lesbian on each other, he’d cheer us on. He keeps talking about what he can do for you.”

“Just keep being him, and always look after you, love you, treat you like a goddess and we’re good,” Quilla grinned. She drew in a long breath. “Lord, I think I need to go back to bed now.”

Hayley helped her to the elevator and got her settled back in bed. Quilla smiled wryly. “I get puffed walking, but as soon as I get back in this damn bed again, I want out.”

In an hour, Quilla was asleep, and Hayley kissed her forehead and crept silently from the room. Driving home, she thought about Quilla and Jakob, wishing that she could think of a way to bring them back together.

When she got home, she met Skandar, returning from practice, in their driveway. Now that Gregor Fisk was dead, they had been able to shed a few layers of protection, although Skandar had insisted on Hayley’s security guards being in place whenever she went out in public. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was grateful for it, and they were so discreet, she hardly noticed they were there.

Skandar, his skin tawny from playing outside in India over New Year’s, grinned at her. His skin was covered in a fine layer of dewy sweat, his blonde hair sticking up each and every way.

“Wanna help me shower?” He grinned, and she laughed.

“Why, yes, I do.”

In the shower, he kissed her as the cool water ran over their bodies, and she pressed her breasts into his chest. “God, I love you, Skandar Mallory.”

He picked her up and stepped out of the shower, lowering her to the tile. Grinning, Hayley wrapped her legs around his hips, reaching between his thighs to stroke his hardening cock and Skandar spread her labia with his long fingers, the crest of his cock nudging at her entrance as he fingered her clit. With one long thrust, he took her and Hayley moaned with pleasure as his huge cock filled her, the friction on the sensitive nerve endings of her vagina utter, utter bliss. She never wanted this feeling to end, and she looked up at the glorious, wonderful man above her and felt such an overwhelming love for him, which tears sprang from her eyes. Skandar grinned, knowing they were tears of joy, kissed them away, and gathered her to him as they fucked.

Afterward, they ordered take-out and sat on the couch in their robes, idly flicking through the TV channels. “I wish I could think of some way to bring Quills and Jakob back together,” she told him, but Skandar shook his head.

“Not yet, Hays. If it gets to a critical level, then maybe we need a rethink. But at the moment, don’t get in between them. Quilla needs her space, and Jakob is giving it to her. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing just now.”

Hayley wasn’t convinced. “How can it be? They need to be talking this shit out.”

“And maybe they will, but us interfering will not help. Just leave it, boo.”

Marley was working late again. It had been a long week, but now she was looking forward to going home and enjoying a weekend with Ran. She flicked off the lights in the lab she was working in and walked slowly back to her car, half reading some notes she had just completed. When he spoke, she jumped violently.

“Hey, Marley.”

Jakob. “Shit, Jakob, you scared me half to death,” Marley put a hand on her chest, breathing deeply.

“Sorry.” He grinned sheepishly. He was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt and looked healthier than he had for months. “Come to think of it, I shouldn’t really be skulking around a parking lot, but I was trying to get up the courage to talk to you. Sorry if I scared you; I didn’t mean to.”

Marley shot him an annoyed look, then laughed softly. “Don’t worry about it. Look, why don’t we go grab a quick drink and talk. But, Jakob, I warn you, I won’t try and persuade Quilla of anything she’s not ready to do.”

“That’s fair.”

They went to a small bar on 7th. Both of them were driving, so it was soda for Jakob, sparkling water for Marley.

“How’s my pops?” Jakob asked, obviously nervous. Marley smiled to herself.

“He’s great, thank you.”

“You make him happy, you know? I like that.”

Okay … “Jakob, why don’t you just tell me what you need?” Marley took a long sip of water and waited.

Jakob fidgeted nervously. “Obviously, I wanted to talk about Quilla, but don’t worry; I just need your advice.”

Marley nodded. “Go on.”

Jakob sighed. “I love her, and I miss her every day, but I know I messed up. I know what I have to prove.”

“Sometimes, Jakob, people just need some time apart to see things clearly.”

“I know, and believe it or not, this separation has been good for me, too. Cleared my head. Shown me what I want.”

“Which is?”

“Quilla. I want to make a home with her, have kids, dogs, cats, pet snakes, even. I want to work hard at my job; I want Quilla to achieve the success she deserves in her work. I’ll be a stay-at-home dad, if she wants, no problem. Anything.”

Marley studied him. “Why do I feel there’s a ‘but’ coming?”

Jakob grinned sheepishly. “But I don’t know how to prove all that to Quilla. At the moment, it's just words and I wouldn’t blame Quilla for never trusting me again. I didn’t protect her—it was my actions, albeit twenty- odd years ago—that kickstarted Gregor’s psychosis. I cheated with Padme, then left her to Gregor’s mercy.”

“I know all this and yet you’re here, asking for my help.”

“No, not your help, that’s the thing. I know this has to be all me. Your advice would be welcome, though.”

Marley considered for a few moments. “What you don’t want to do is control what Quilla wants to do, or what she does when she leaves the hospital. I know you’ve been working on the Foundation, but don’t take it over. Make sure Quilla knows it’s just being set up for her and that she can change anything she wants within the organization or even not go ahead with it at all.”

Jakob nodded, his eyes looking more alive. “That’s good; that’s good stuff.”

“The important thing is to do the work but don’t take the credit. Just be the investor, which you would have been if Quilla had had the chance to set this up before she was taken. Let Grady or Flori make any public announcements. Be the foundation stone, but be invisible.”

“I got it. Man, thank you, Marley … but there is one thing. I want to make sure people know that it was Quilla’s idea without me going on TV and gushing—she’ll see right through that. Any ideas?”

Marley gave him a smile, her expression soft. “Actually, I do.”

“And you’re sure you feel up to it?”

Quilla smiled down the phone. Parker had called three times to make sure she felt okay to leave the hospital. “Honestly, Parker, I feel good. It’s not like I’ll be running a marathon when I get out of here. Flori has already told me she has box sets and snacks for us both.”

Parker chuckled. “Well, okay, then. Look, Asia and I will be up to Seattle soon to see you all.”

“Can’t wait.”

Grady and Flori were accompanied by a very excited Hayley. She hugged Quilla. “Marley says she’ll be over to see you later, unless you’re feeling too crowded. I said you’d send her a text message.”

At Grady and Flori’s apartment, Flori showed her the guest room. “All new furniture and a flat-screen,” she muttered to Quilla, “I still can’t get used to this ‘money is no object’ thing’”

“Me, too,” Quilla whispered back. “It looks lovely in here, thank you. That bed looks like bliss after that hospital one.”

Grady left the woman and went to work. Flori tucked Quilla onto their couch, and Quilla grinned, enjoying the fuss. Flori dragged over a crate. “Box sets,” she explained, then stuck her head into the crate. “West Wing, Grey’s Anatomy, Grimm, Orange is the New Black, Friends …?”

“Oh, Friends, definitely.”

“Are you sure? You might laugh and...” Flori put her hand on her belly and pulled a face. Quilla grinned.

“Good thinking … but no hospital stuff … Grimm? A lot of fine looking men in that.”

“Perv.”

“Yep.”

They all laughed and Flori put the disc into the Blu-ray player, the familiar theme tune starting.

Sitting, watching TV and chatting, munching on the snacks Flori had provided, Quilla felt relaxed, her family around her. She still got fatigued quickly, but her body felt better, lighter. She couldn’t push herself too hard, but she found she didn’t want to. She wanted this. Chilling out with much loved friends, feeling relaxed, as if she didn’t have to worry about anything. She had locked Jakob away in a corner of her heart until she was ready to deal with him. After a few episodes of the show, she felt her eyes closing.

A few hours later, she opened her eyes to find Hayley gone and Flori moving silently around the room. Quilla sat up stiffly. “God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

Flori grinned. “Don’t worry; Hayley said she’d come back tomorrow, if you want. You’re going to be tired for a while; I was, even after I came home from the hospital.”

She came to sit by Quilla and the two women smiled at each other. “We survived,” Quilla said to her and Flori grinned.

“Yeah, we did. And now that asshole has gone for good, thanks to you. How do you feel about that?”

“About killing Gregor?”

“Yeah. I know Marley’s been worried that it would affect you, maybe even more than what he did to you.”

Quilla shook her head. “Honestly, I thought it would, too, but I can’t feel bad. His knife was in my gut. I kicked him off; I grabbed the gun, and I shot him. If I had to do it again, I would. I don’t spare a moment’s thought for Gregor Fisk.”

Flori nodded. “Good. Good. That’s how I would feel. No one knows unless it’s happened to them, so don’t let anyone guilt you. Gregor made his own bed.”

Quilla hugged her. “Agreed. And now he’s gone, and we can get our lives back.”

Flori held onto her for a long moment. “Quilla? Have you thought about …?”

“Jakob? Of course. I’m just … I haven’t got it straight in my head yet.”

“Maybe you should talk.”

“I’m starting to think that. I just don’t know if I’m ready yet.”

But by the end of the second week, she was ready. Not wanting to reconcile with Jakob over the phone, she asked Grady to set up a dinner for them.

Jakob was waiting for her when she entered the restaurant and for a moment, they just stared at each other.

“Hi,” she said in a gruff voice, her hands trembling badly. Jakob saw her shaking and stepped forward, taking her hands in his. His big dry hands felt so comforting, so familiar, she almost lost her composure and threw herself at him; only her pride and her still-healing body stopped her.

“You look beautiful, sweetheart.” Jakob’s own voice was shaking, and she gave a half smile.

“I feel like we’re on our first date.”

Jakob led her to their table. “Well, if that’s the way this evening’s going to end ...” He grinned wickedly and she laughed, relaxing. She knew he was kidding—her body wasn’t ready for that kind of reunion, even though, when she saw him, a familiar ache started inside her. Desire.

But there was still too much to be sorted out. They ordered and made small talk before Jakob reached over to take her hand.

“How are you, Quilla, really?”

She didn’t pull her hand away. “I’m okay, really. You look … well.”

He smiled. “Am I allowed to say that you look lovelier than ever? That you make me weak?”

Quilla grinned. “Seriously, dude, if you’re trying to get me to put out …”

They both laughed, and then Jakob’s smile faded. “Baby, I want to ask for your forgiveness. I was scared and immature, and I messed up. Big time. I couldn’t handle what Gregor had done to you, and so I freaked out. It was monumentally selfish and hurtful, and I’m so very, very sorry, baby. I love you so much.”

Quilla found her throat closing. “Jakob … I have to say this out loud so, please let me finish.”

He nodded, his eyes wide and scared. She drew in a deep breath. “I did not sleep with Gregor voluntarily. He was going to kill Hayley and me if I didn’t make it look … real. I had no idea he was taping it, that you’d ever see it, so I acted the part—overacted, if you ask me—but he was convinced. I’m not going to apologize for that.”

Jakob nodded. “Nor should you have to, darling. Call it immaturity, call it male ego … it killed me to see that, and when I thought you were going to die, I couldn’t handle being left with that image of you—and him.”

Quilla nodded, looking down. She was knotting her napkin, twisting it around in her fingers. “All I could think of was you. The whole time, I kept reasonably sane by thinking of you and me and us, in our little hideaway in Venice, especially. On the island, when we got married. I built this image up of a fairytale and the crash to reality was hard. I needed time. You hurt me, Jakob, more than anyone I loved ever has. Even my mom. You broke my heart.”

Jakob’s expression was soft, regretful. “I know, sweetheart. What can I do to make it up to you?”

Quilla smiled. “You’re doing it. You gave me the time; you didn’t harass or pressure me. Ran told me you’re going to NA.”

“Every week, without fail. I might not have taken that coke but the thought that I might have scares the crap out of me.”

“Good for you. God, I’ll always remember that first night in Venice. You stayed then, and you’re staying now. This is the way to make it up to me. Be the man I fell in love with so deeply. I’m not ready to give up on us.”

Jakob was quiet for a second, and when he spoke, his eyes were fierce with passion and his voice shook. “I love you so much, Quilla Chen. So goddamned much. Can we start again?”

She smiled at him. “I would like that. Let’s take things slowly, this time. Let’s do the whole dating thing.”

“Whatever you want, baby.” Jakob was beside himself with joy. “I’ll court you good. I’ll court you like a boss.”

She burst out laughing. “Seriously, have you been hanging out with Hayley and Skandar too much? Like a boss? Ow, oww,” she clutched her belly as she giggled and Jakob joined in with her laughter.

“There’s one more thing I have to talk about with you,” he said, and she raised her eyebrows, finally stopping her laughter. She wiped her eyes.

“What’s that?”

“Your foundation.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheaf of papers. “Everything is set up for you. Grady, Flori, and Hayley are all ready to go, so you just have to say the word. Any changes, anything, we’ll change it, but it’s yours, darling.” He handed her the papers and she took them, smoothing them flat to read them.

The Quilla Chen Foundation for the Arts.

Tears pricked her eyes as she read the title and mission statement. “To open the world of art to everyone,” she quoted and looked up at Jakob with shining eyes. “I don’t know what to say … it was just an idea and now … wow.” She shook her head. “Thank you, Jakob, my beloved Jakob, thank you. This is ...” She couldn’t go on, the tears dropping down her cheeks. Jakob got up and moved his chair next to her so he could take her in his arms.

“It’s just the start, Quilla. It’s just the beginning of what we could achieve together.”

He kissed her, his mouth gentle at first, then as she responded, they both forget where they were. Finally breaking away, they gazed at each other for a long moment.

“There is just one change I would like to make,” she said softly, stroking his cheeks with her fingertips. Jakob smiled at her.

“Name it.”

“Could we change the name to The Quilla Chen Mallory Foundation … that is my name after all.”

Jakob grinned delightedly. “Yes, of course, my love, and yes, it is ...”

Epilogue

“Ask her if Asia’s pushing yet. Is she pushing?”

Jakob handed a pacing Quilla his phone. “Hayley says ‘put the psycho on the phone’.”’

Quilla, grinning, took it from him. “What’s happening, you little jerk?”

Hayley laughed. “Would you calm down? She’s not even dilated ten centimeters yet. Oh, ha ha, Skandar just gagged. Every time I say ‘dilated’ … yep, there it is again.” She giggled, and Quilla heard Skandar muttering in the background. She smiled.

“Well, no one expected her to go into labor this soon … are Flori and Grady there?”

“Flori—Grady's acting all ‘man of the 1950’s’about it. It’s for the best. After all, we don’t want Grady getting emotional and telling the baby, ‘Dude, I tapped your mom first’’.”

“Hayley! That’s so gross,” but Quilla giggled, rolling her eyes at Jakob.

“How’s the move going?”

“My slave keeps moaning about how many books I’ve got. I’m just enjoying watching using that fine body lifting my stuff.”

“Oh, that’s right. Tonight’s the night … you get yours; I know what a horny witch you’ve been of late.”

Quilla laughed again. “Why do I put up with you?”

“Because I’m your boo.”

“Oh, that’s it,” and Quilla was still laughing when she ended the call. Jakob, fresh from lugging another one of her book boxes down to the van, appeared, his hair disheveled.

“Why did I marry a woman who reads?” he moaned and then laughed. Quilla skipped over to him and threw her arms around his neck.

“Because you’re not Joey Tribianni,” she said, kissing him.

“You watch too much Friends,” he grinned down at her. Quilla tilted her head back to look at him, her eyes sleepy with desire.

“As much as I’m looking forward to moving into our new … palace,” she grinned, thinking of their new home on Bainbridge Island, “I feel we should say a proper goodbye to this place.”

She pressed her body against his, grinding her hips against his groin. A smile spread across Jakob’s face.

“I think that’s a very, very good idea, sweetheart ...”

Quilla leaped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Just so happens, if Sir would like to put his hands under my skirt …”

Jakob slid his hands under her dress, and his eyes widened as they met bare flesh. “Commando, hey?”

“Just for you. Always for you, my man, my Jakob.” She kissed him tenderly, then looked him in the eyes, “Now … fuck me good. Nail me to the floor, Jakob Mallory ...”

And without another moment’s hesitation, he did just that ...

The End

Dirty Little Virgin Preview

With one question on a BDSM message board, Jade Thomas sparked something inside of me that had never been lit up before.

Our discussion of my world as we talked online woke things up in me I had no idea were lying dormant. My dominant side was calling out to me to take her and make her into what I knew she could be. But she was young, afraid, and had a fragility about her that was daunting.

In no time at all, she had me wanting to get her obstinate ass into my hands. Mold her, shape her into the submissive I wanted her to be. Capture her spirit using sex and pain.

What happened blindsided me and changed me forever …

Pierce Langford answered a question I’d left on the BDSM message board for a club called “The Dungeon of Decorum.”

No matter how hard I tried to keep it all above board, he was determined to reel me into his dark world, a place I was curious about but also afraid of.

Like a persistent hunter, Pierce never let up on me, keeping the pressure up to get what he wanted: me, as his submissive.

My body was on fire for the man from the get go. I yearned to feel his actual touch on my flesh—flesh, he wanted to torment. Pierce Langford wanted to show me his world and all that went with that: pain, pleasure, and there would be no room for love.

Or so he thought …

Jade

Romance has been in my blood since I was only a girl of sixteen. An avid reader of anything in the romance genre, I’m especially keen on the darker side of the romantic spectrum, the side where pain and pleasure meet in an ebbing and flowing stream of both calm and frantic nuances. A place where sin and evil meet with good and innocence, leaving their residue on each.

My curiosities have come all the way to the surface, and they won’t allow me to shove them down any longer. I sit at my computer, searching the vast Internet to find someone who will help me. I need help to understand the reality that is BDSM, something that won’t leave my mind.

The books I’ve read are great, enjoyable, and pleasing. But I think they’re purely fictional, with little to do with the reality of that lifestyle. And I want to know more about it all; the why’s, where’s, and how’s of the whole thing. Why do people do it? Where do they find others who want the same things they do? How do they take society’s sideways glares that let them know everyone knows what they’re doing, and that most think it’s disgusting?

What immoral behavior is has been adjusted since the days of old when women wore nightgowns that covered them from their necks to their feet, and men were covered too. Small slits were made in the front for sexual activity, an activity that was not for pleasure but for procreation and procreation alone.

Masturbation, if one was caught doing such a horrible thing, was more than merely frowned upon. One was punished for it, and harshly, at that. Nowadays when one is punished, per their requests, mind you, they’re deemed immoral. It’s a common belief that if one practices BDSM or any variety of that, then the person must’ve had a bad upbringing or something terrible happened to them. Most people think something sexually abusive occurred.

I have to admit that I have favored that mindset. Recently, for reasons I cannot explain, I’ve had other thoughts about the people who practice the lifestyle. I just can’t imagine why anyone would want to dole out punishment or receive it, as an adult. But deep in the recesses of my heart, I long to understand. The core belief resides in me that not all who seek out this type of attention have been broken in one way or another.

Being an erotic author is my dream, my passion. I simply love to go away in my head to worlds where anything is possible. Worlds where an ordinary woman can meet up with an abnormally handsome, viral, and of course, heavily muscled man. He would be filthy rich and just plain filthy in the bedroom, or any room, really.

The world of erotic romance is where I dwell so often in my mind. Damsels in distress are no longer acceptable heroines. No, today’s heroines are smart, sharp as tacks in the wit department, strong in all ways, and take-no-shit kind of broads. The majority of these fictional women aren’t looking for love; they seem to stumble upon it. And with that little stumble, they find themselves in the arms of a man.

Not any man will do in today’s erotic romances. He must be alpha, clean to his core. In many of these novels, for some reason, our hero loves to hit women. And they love to be hit by him. And that is where my writer’s brain has found a dilemma.

I can see falling for a big, strong, handsome man. Who can’t?

But falling for one who wants to tie you up and beat your ass while you cook his dinner and iron his clothes, well, I can’t see it at all. BDSM makes no sense to me, and I’m striving to make sense of it. For my career!

I was a writer before I was anything else. I told stories before I could read. I looked at scenes and made up why things were going as they were. Making up stories has always been like second nature to me.

Being only one year away from graduating with a Master’s Degree in Creative Arts at Bangor University in North Wales, United Kingdom, I’m dangerously close to the part of life where I will need to make my own living in this world. Soon to be cut off from my father’s dime, I have to focus, and that means I must have some belief in what I’m writing about, or I will never see my dreams come true.

My dreams aren’t huge. I want to see my name on the cover of books. Oh! And best sellers’ lists as well, of course. I don’t want to be a mediocre writer. I want to be one of those authors who goes the distance to get to the meat of the story, somewhat like a reporter, only I want to get creative with my truths. I want to make my characters, and the world they live in, seem realistic while having fantasy-like lives.

And there is little to no reality in normal women finding men with voracious sexual appetites and a penchant for beating them. So, here I am, searching the Internet, hoping no one ever looks at my browser’s history and thinks I’m a woman of ill repute. I am far from that.

At the ripe old age of twenty-three, I haven’t found Mr. Right. And by that, I mean my cherry is still intact. I’m not a prude, though one might think that. I’m just very into my own head a lot of the time. A writer’s thing, my professors tell me. I’ve been told I’m normal, for a writer.

Socially, I am a bit inept. Sure, I talk with ease to others, part of my reporter’s instinct, I suppose. But I share little about myself, preferring to steer people in directions that allow me to learn more about them, rather than talking about myself.

With a click of my mouse, an awkward picture fills my computer screen. A woman deep throating an enormous penis!

Hurrying to get the picture off my screen, I notice the small writing at the bottom of the page. It’s about some auction that’s about to come up. Only after seeing that do I notice that the link I clicked on that took me to this sexual place belongs to BDSM club in Portland, Oregon, in the States.

Several clicks later, I find out this place is a haven for those types of people, and there are many clubs in that city. It’s the number one city in America to find things of this nature. And it seems like the perfect place to begin my search for people who might be helpful enough to be truthful with me and offer me more insight into the dark world that’s shrouded in mystery.

Another click sends me to a picture of a naughty young woman wearing leather clothing and holding her hand to her mouth as she looks surprised. I suppose she never saw the man coming who’s behind her. Hard to believe, as he has a whip in his hand, and it’s aimed for her round and firm ass. Somehow, he’s surprised her with what he’s about to do.

No fear is in her eyes. No tears from pain. Only a surprised look covers her pretty face. The man wears a firm expression on his ruggedly handsome facade. I can hear him now, in my mind, “Gertie, you have this coming to you. You forgot the salt in my soup again.”

I giggle to myself, as that was an actual line in one of the novels I read, recently. Even then I thought it was silly and dimwitted. If a man told me I was about to get whipped with an actual whip because of something so small and easily fixed with the jiggle of a salt shaker, I’d most likely laugh and walk away. He would obviously be an idiot and not worth my attention or time.

My mind is too strong, and so is my will, to ever be involved in any of that stuff. But it’s such a fantasy for many women that it bears investigating. My first novel in the erotic realm should have more than a grain of truth to it. I want some real grit mixing in with the fairy tale of a story I will create. None of that phony crap!

I wonder if I can find a real Dom or Master to ask questions to. I wonder if any of them would even want to take time away from whipping asses to talk to a lowly, vanilla virgin about things she knows little to nothing about.

Doubt clouds my vision as I sit back and gaze at the next thing that’s popped up on my screen. A couple of women, clad in nothing but black panties, stand with their backs to a whip-wielding man who wears a black mask and looks like he’s about to bring down the rain on them both.

“Run, you morons,” I say out loud, as I notice an open door to their right.

Is it humanly possible to stand still and take the pain of a whip when you’re steps away from escape?

Is it possible that, in some people, the need to feel pain is overwhelming, like a drug addict who hates the after effects of a certain drug but can’t stop taking it?

The sharp eyes of the women as they look over their shoulders while holding hands, waiting for the whip to meet one of their bodies, haunt me. How can they be so bright eyed with pain on the way?

If I see a hot burner on the stove, I don’t touch it. If I saw a man running wildly down the street with his belt in his hand, striking out at people, I’d hide. So why do some seek this out?

And what chance do I have of finding even one of the people who practice BDSM who would be willing to help me understand them? And why would they want to?

I’m offering no compensation for their time. I’m offering nothing. I merely want to satisfy my own curiosity, nothing more than that. I want to use what I’m given to make money, as a matter of fact.

No, it’s doubtful that I will be able to find anyone in the BDSM scene to answer my questions. Perhaps I should end this silliness. Maybe I should put this idea to rest and focus on romantic comedy, instead. That would be so much easier, wouldn’t it?

Pierce

Her ass sways as she leaves the room. Strands of leather cover it, and red marks cover the places the straps don’t. After an hour of cuddling my sub for the evening, Tasha, she feels safe enough to leave my company in the private room I rented at The Dungeon of Decorum. She wanted no sex, only punishment. And I gave her what she asked for, like any good Dom would.

Relaxing on the small bed in the room made for torturing the flesh of submissives, I can’t help but recall the first time I came here. It was a mere three years ago, yet it feels like a century.

Bogged down in business, I was burning out fast. Being the new CEO of Waterson Mutual, a business finance company in Portland, Oregon, I was trying to prove my worth to the board, busting my ass far more than I needed to. And it was catching up to me.

Grant Jamison became my friend and eventual hero. Older than me by five years, he took me under his wing and taught me that work is great, but one should always leave time for play.

Grant’s idea of play was very different from what my idea was. I thought he was suggesting playing racquetball with him and the friends he talked about. What he brought me into was far more serious than a ballgame.

In the matter of one month, I was inducted into the brotherhood of the Dominants at a local BDSM club, aptly named The Dungeon of Decorum, a place I now visit often.

Being a Dom comes naturally to me, as if I was born to lead, teach, and rule women. At thirty- five, I’ve been told I should be settling down and finding a woman to marry. I’ve been told I can keep my dark hobby a secret and lead a normal life in every other way, but that sounds boring to me.

Being a part of the club I belong to means I can’t divulge any information about myself or any other members. We’re an eclectic group of men, who happen to all be wealthy. With that in common, we all have to hide our secret lives. After all, who would want a mayor, a banker, or a statesman who’s into such dark things?

I was astonished by the faces I saw upon visiting the club for the first time. Men from all over the U.S. come to the club. Auctions are especially busy, as not only men come from everywhere, but so do the women who are auctioned off.

Personally, I’ve never bought a woman. I’ve never had an ongoing thing with any of the subs. I prefer one-time scenes. I follow up with the women I’ve played with for about a week’s time, then it’s on to other things. Things like other women with other needs, fetishes, and desires.

Studying techniques extensively has earned me the reputation for being one of the best Doms if one is looking for an excellent experience in bondage. My kinks are bondage, suspension, cupping, impact play, and power exchange, all of which I am particularly good at.

More than once, I’ve been called driven— in business, in bed, and in my personal kinks. If it interests me, I dive into it head first and don’t come up until I’m saturated in knowledge.

I’ve had three serious relationships in my life. Two of them ended because of my incessant drive. Janet, in college, said I was too into my studies and not enough into her. So, she dumped me.

Leah, my second girl, lived with me when I first started working in the finance world. I had to devote most of my time to work. I wanted to move up quickly. After a year, she called it quits too, another woman who told me I didn’t spend enough time with her.

Tracy was a gold digger who lured me into what she thought might be a trap. It was the first year I broke the billion-dollar mark on my yearly income. The daughter of a grocery store janitor, Tracy wanted more out of life. I asked her to move into my spanking new mansion with me. I showered her with gifts and tried my best to make time for her.

Tracy was one beautiful woman. Long blonde hair with golden streaks hung to her tiny waist. Bright blue eyes spoke to my heart, telling me I’d found an angel. But she turned out to be a demon instead.

Not wanting to get into having a family at that time, I was an avid condom user. When she came to me with a pregnancy test stick that had a couple of lines in it, she told me she was pregnant. With my child!

I’m no idiot; I know condoms aren’t one hundred percent effective, but she had also told me she was taking a birth control shot. Anyone can imagine how I felt: shocked, as well as disbelieving.

Tracy was furious when I took her to a doctor and stayed with her as she took the pregnancy test at the physician’s office. It came back negative, and I knew then and there that the woman was trying to force me into marriage. I had no choice; I dumped her.

And after her, I’ve had no desire to deal with women for an extended period of time again. I’m not broken. I’m just too busy to want to deal with all that comes with a relationship.

At the club, I can find women who want whatever I do at the time, anything from letting out aggression to cuddling and fulfilling that need. And not one of the women I’ve been with since joining the club has asked anything more from me than I am willing to give. A relief is what it is.

No games are played. In our world, we communicate far more than in the normal world, the world with innuendos, cat and mouse shenanigans, and downright lies to get into relationships that are racked with turmoil.

Women have been taught things by society that go against nature. I never realized that until I found the BDSM world. Things like fighting hard to be above men, a thing that’s insane, have been shoved into their minds.

Women and men are different. We were put here to serve different purposes. There isn’t one of us who is better than the other. And one cannot exist without the other. Society has interfered with the natural order of things. And I, for one, am tired of dealing with women who fight nature.

A sense of calmness took me over soon after beginning this lifestyle. There’s no arguing, no manipulations, no flirting to get into a woman’s panties now. That shit is history. In the club, I can go up to any woman I’d like to, as long as she doesn’t belong to a man who prefers her to be with only him, and I can be frank with her. I can tell her what I’d like to do with and to her, and she’s free to accept it or not.

If she’s into it, then we discuss every last detail about what we want to exchange with one another and plan out our scene. The planning is like foreplay. One gets hot and horny while discussing the details. Keeping our hands to ourselves can be hard as we describe what we want. But I prefer to hold back any physical connection until we get into our scene. It builds anticipation and makes for a better session.

A rap on the darkly stained oak door to the private room takes me out of my thoughts. “Come in.”

Grant pushes the door open. He’s got his arm around a tall, lithe brunette with tons of makeup on. “Hey, Pierce, this one here wants someone to watch us. You game?”

I slide off the bed and pull on my black lounge pants. “Sure. Am I a loud member of the audience or a quiet creeper?”

“Loud,” she tells me as I make my way to them. She strokes my cheek as she peers into my eyes. “My, you are a looker. And that body. Mmmm.”

Taking her hand away from my face, as I don’t allow touch until we’re in the act, I let her know, “If you like what you see, we can talk sometime soon about what you need, baby.”

“I need you,” she whispers, making my groin thump.

“We’ll see how well you take what my friend dishes out before you and I talk about what it is you need.” I step to one side and allow Grant to lead the party to wherever he has planned.

Grant winks at me. “Perhaps you could show me your flogging technique on her if she’s all right with that. I’ve heard you’ve developed it so it’s better than most Doms’.”

The way the woman, wearing only a thin, white, silk robe, looks over her shoulder at me, tells me she’d like that.

“Sure, I can show you.”

“I cannot wait,” she purrs.

A growl fills my throat as I think about how she’s about to feel. “Baby, we’re about to take you to the Amber Zone.”

Jade

The night is long. I toss and turn most of it. Dreams of whips and chains fill the hours, along with men in dark shadows who call out for me to stop running.

Getting out of bed, I rub the sleep from my eyes and make my way to the shower. My flat is small, and I’m tired of looking at the same walls each day. Summer is nearly here, and I want to go on holiday somewhere, get out of my country for a couple of months and see some other place.

The water’s hot, making steam fill the tiny water closet. Steeping into the standup shower, my body jerks as the heated water hits it. “Ow!” I turn down the heat and make the water’s temperature more compatible with my skin.

Memories of the dreams which plagued me bounce around in my head. In them I was different. I was unafraid, yet not allowing myself to be drawn in by the husky, deep voices of the men.

The plum shampoo smells great and helps to wake me up. After a shot of something with caffeine in it, I should be good to go. It’s the weekend, and I have nothing to do but study for my finals. One more week of school, then I’ll be free.

I’m not one of those creatures who freaks out over finals. I know my stuff, as I pay attention in class and have an honest interest in the subject matter. That always helps.

Turning off the water, I step out and towel off. Throwing on a fluffy pink robe, I wrap the towel around my hair in a turban-like fashion and make my way back into my bedroom. A set of sweats will do for my day of studying and chilling out.

After getting dressed, I stroll out to the kitchen to make some coffee and pop a bagel into the toaster. Taking the cream cheese out of the fridge, I notice my laptop sitting on the kitchen counter where I left it last night.

Before I went to bed, I told myself that I’d forget about trying to find anyone to answer my BDSM questions. The realization that no one would waste his time with me settled into my head.

The dreams have sparked my insatiable curiosity once again and I find myself drawn to the silver laptop. I open it and turn it on. It buzzes and whirrs as it comes to life.

My attention is taken away from the device as the toaster pops up my bagel and I set about pouring a cup of coffee and getting my little breakfast ready to eat. Sitting at the table, I take my first bite and look at my laptop again.

“Oh, what the hell.” I get up and grab it, placing it on the tabletop and typing in the search engine I like to use when doing research.

Tapping in a simple ‘BDSM society,’ I sit back and let the engine find something for me to read while I eat half of my bagel and sip the stout black coffee. A directory of sites comes up on the screen, and I tap the first one. A list appears at the top of the page. The title explains they’re things used to play with. The first item is a spreader bar. The picture looks innocuous enough. But the description says the bar can be made of metal or wood, and it’s used to keep the submissive spread open. It can be utilized on either the wrists or the ankles, and it can even be hung from the ceiling.

“Oh, my!”

Why on Earth would anyone willingly be held in that position?

Oh, well. On to the next thing: medical restraints. A set of four small leather belts is used to hold a person to the bed. I have to ask myself: if it’s all so great, why does one have to be bound to the bed?

Next, I see something called a monoglove. The poor girl has her arms behind her back and is wrapped with a leather glove-like thing. She’s helpless to move her arms. Again, I must ask myself, why?

Not only does it look constricting and uncomfortable, it seems silly to me. Does the Dom need to keep his sub’s hands away from him or something?

Moving on, I find a muzzle gag, a penis gag, and a ring gag; they all look more than a bit uncomfortable. I’m left wondering if I would actually choke if the penis gag was put into my mouth and strapped there. I definitely think I would!

A medieval-looking device is next. It’s used to hold a person’s nose, pulling it backward so their head is pulled back and their mouth opens. It’s called a nose hook, and I really have no idea why it would be considered a sexual device. It looks like a thing one would use to get a child to accept medicine when they fight about taking it.

“Oh! I get it now!” A blush heats my cheeks as I think about being forced to open my mouth and having a man’s cock placed into it.

If I were a man, though, I still wouldn’t trust the object to stop my submissive from clamping down on my dick. And if she has to be forced to accept it, then why’s she there in the first place?

I just keep finding more questions to ask!

Plastic wrap is next on the list, and I see that it’s used to wrap up the sub like a mummy. How inexpensive that is, and how odd that anyone thought of that. I can hear the odd couple now: “Honey, can you get the plastic wrap from the kitchen? I think I’ll wrap it around you tonight so I can have my way with you.”

And the daft woman would run off to fetch the item without a thought in her empty head. No, I just don’t get it at all!

Something called a posture collar is next on this insane list. It’s just like the white collars one wears when they have a neck injury. Perhaps it’s used to aid in the protection of the neck when being beaten like an animal. The woman who has it on looks equally as uncomfortable as any person I’ve seen wearing one because they had to.

So, I am left with more questions than I previously had, and my curiosity is banging on my brain to get the answers it requires. But I close the laptop and try to focus on what I really need to be doing, studying for my finals.

The chair I’m sitting in is made of wood and not comfortable in the least, with its rigid back. Studying goes out the window as I close my eyes and imagine being strapped to the chair with leather medical restraints. A wide posture collar wrapped around my neck makes me sit up straight. A spreader bar holds my legs open and a monoglove pins my arms behind my back. Even the fantasy is constricting and awkward. I open my eyes and laugh as I think about letting anyone do such things to me.

And those things aren’t anywhere nearly as horrible as the whips and chains. My mind is right back where it’s been for the past several months: bondage, brutality, and why anyone would allow that to happen to them. What type of beasts want to do that to someone?

In the romance novels, women easily fall in love with their tormentors. Why?

If a man did even half of the things to me that I’ve read about, I think I’d kill him in his sleep and not have an ounce of guilt over it. To fall in love with such a beastly person is a thing I cannot imagine.

With the first sting of the whip, I’d vow to kill the motherfucker. I’m sure I would. A Dom would have to use a muzzle or gag on me, as I’d threaten his very existence as he tortured me. And when he set me free, which he’d have to do eventually, well, he’d be the one running scared. Of that, I am certain.

Perhaps I’d be better suited as the dominator. But then again, I could never bring myself to hit a person. Hurting someone’s feelings is a thing I hate. Actually hurting someone physically isn’t a thing I could do or condone.

So how am I supposed to talk to a person who actively does these things without judging them?

If I ask a question such as, “How does it make you feel to hit a woman?” and get a truthful answer, then what will I do?

If a man were to tell me that he gets joy out of hitting a woman, then I’d detest him. A man who bound a woman, then hit her and took her sexually, well, he’d be a person I couldn’t stand.

So what the hell am I doing? Why am I thinking about trying to talk to someone who I think is evil? What the hell is wrong with me? And what would my family think of me for even contemplating this?

Sitting back, I try to rationalize my thoughts. Like a reporter, I don’t have to agree with anything when I’m trying to get information. I can ask questions, get my answers, and move on from the monster.

It’s not as if I’m going to ask some Dom to take me on and show me what happens in their dark world. I’d never do that!

My hand moves to the laptop and pulls it open. It’s like my will has taken over as I type ‘BDSM Clubs’ into the search engine. My fingers hesitate as I see the first link to a club with an actual website. It’s called “The Dungeon of Decorum”, and I click it.

Looking over the page that opens, I find a message board and type in Is there anyone in this club who’d like to help me learn more about the real world of BDSM?

Now to see if anyone wants to respond …

Pierce

Birds chirp, waking me from a deep sleep. Blinking my eyes to shield them from the bright sunlight that’s pouring through my pale green, sheer- curtained window, I stretch and yawn with the onset of the weekend. With no plans made, I think I’ll make myself a healthy breakfast of oatmeal and wheat toast, then head to the gym. Maybe I’ll just let the day take me wherever it wants to.

Moving to the bathroom, I turn on the shower, letting the steamy water heat the cold tiles. Multiple jets shoot the water out, hitting almost the entire surface of the tiled walls. Padding over to the sink, I brush my teeth, floss, then rinse with mouthwash.

Into the shower I go, pouring an expensive shampoo I found online last week into my palm. It smells like leather and sandalwood, making me feel exceptionally masculine. In no time at all, I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and dry off, then dress in casual clothing. Jeans, a T-shirt, and running shoes will suffice.

Heading downstairs to the kitchen, I find the fridge well-stocked. Edith, my house manager, has made sure I’m ready to cook for myself through the weekend, like I always do. I give the staff every weekend off. I prefer to be alone in my home when I’m off. They come in after I leave for work each weekday and are gone before I come home.

During the week, I take my meals in town. Most of the time, I get home around eight and usually hit the hay pretty early. I’m a faithful subscriber to the idea that early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. So far, it’s worked wonders for me!

After making my breakfast, I take it to the table and open up my laptop to see what’s going on around Portland this weekend. As always, I check the club’s website first to see if any of the subs have posted anything I might be interested in.

The name Jade Thomas is the first thing I see as I scan the message board. I’ve never seen that name on here before. And she’s asked a question.

Is there anyone in this club who’d like to help me learn more about the real world of BDSM?’

“Jade Thomas,” I say out loud. “And what does this young lady want to know, I wonder?”

Without hesitation, I ask my own question, What do you want to know more about our world for?

I begin to eat my oatmeal as I wait to see if she’ll answer me. It takes no time before I see her response. Just curious. And is your real name Dr. Power?

Laughing, I type back, No, we don’t use our real names on this site. But I bet you did, Jade Thomas.

Eating my toast, I watch the screen, eager to see her reply.

That is my real name. What’s your real name? You see, I’m looking for a person who will be honest with me about the goings on in the BDSM scene. If you can’t be honest enough to tell me your name, then I shouldn’t waste any more of your time.

Thinking about the fact that she might be wasting my time, I ask, Where are you from, Jade?

She’s quick to answer, The United Kingdom. If you’re worried about me outing you to society or something like that, you needn’t worry.

“A Brit,” I say to myself. She’s far enough away, I doubt her knowing my real name would hurt a thing. I type in, Pierce Langford.

Thank you, Pierce Langford. First, I’d like to tell you that I’m majoring in creative writing at a university in North Wales. My goal is to become a romance author. I’d like to specialize in the erotic genre. But I need some information about certain topics. Topics like the BDSM scene. I don’t fully understand it. Oh, who am I kidding, I don’t understand it all. Are you by chance a Dom?

I am. Why, you looking for one? I type in.

Purely to ask questions to, nothing more than that. Are you up to answering some questions for me, sir?

Her use of the term sir lets me know she’s a respectful woman. But I should find out how old she is before I give her such information. Before I divulge information that might warp a young mind, I need to know your age and your sexual experience, Jade.

Thoughtful of you, sir. My age is 23, and my sexual experience is limited to masturbation. I am a virgin.

“Holy fuck!”

My mouth’s watering with the thought that she’s a virgin. I wonder what she looks like!

Cool. Not a problem. As long as you’re of age and have an inkling about what kinds of answers you’ll be getting from me, I’m good with answering your questions. So, shoot me one.

An entire minute goes by before anything appears. Is there a private area we can do this, sir?

I think about it for a moment, then decide to give her my personal touch. Do you have a Skype account?

I do. I prefer not to video conference though, if you don’t mine.’

“Hmm, must be an ugly duckling. That’s most likely why she’s still a virgin.”

I type in, Not to worry, I won’t try to video chat with you. My number is 999-987-0099. I’ll be waiting for your message, Jade.

In no time at all, she’s messaged me, and a little ding comes from my phone. I pull it up on my computer to make typing easier and find even her profile picture on the site is nothing but a red rose. I find it funny, as my picture is a black rose with thorns on it.

Hi, Pierce. Do you mind if I call you that? I don’t want to establish a submissive relationship with you and just realized that by calling you sir, I am doing just that.

I chuckle as I write back, You may call me that. So, what’s your first question?

Much too quickly she sends back, Do you like to hit women?

Not happy with the question, I fire back, If this is some hater who wishes to berate me for what I am and enjoy doing, then you can go to hell!

Another quick response comes from her, No! Sorry. Please don’t take any of my questions in an offensive manner. None of them are meant to offend you. All are meant merely to learn about this lifestyle. Nothing more than that. I simply want to know if you took up this practice because you had a fetish about hitting people or women in general.

Letting my anger subside, I give it a minute to settle. She’s just curious. I have to remember she’s young and naïve.

This is not a thing I started because of a need to hit anyone. I was having difficulty at work. I needed an outlet. I was introduced to this world. I joined this club and found that submissives wanted certain things done to them. I took classes and learned how to give them what they asked for. And I became good at it. You see, some people like pain, Jade. Some people crave it. I administer the thing they feel they need. I do it with them in mind. Not for myself.

Three minutes tick by before she sends me another question. Do you have an exclusive relationship with your sub?

I don’t. I never have.

Do you have a commitment phobia? Or anything in your past that caused you to enjoy this lifestyle?

Weighing the question so I can answer truthfully, I finally type, Perhaps I do have a commitment issue. I wouldn’t call it a phobia. And nothing is in my past that’s messed up my mind, contrary to what a lot of people think about us.

How old are you? she asks.

35.

Again, some time goes by before she writes anything else. Then the words appear on the screen. I’d like to be clear on what type of Dom I’m talking to. Are you a heterosexual, Pierce?

I am. Are you?

Yes. I only ask as I want to write M/F romances and spending time talking to a man who likes men would do me no good. Do Doms only dole out punishments? And if not, have you received any?

One can play both ends of the spectrum if they want to. There are no rules stating that once a sub always a sub or once a Dom always a Dom. When I was in training, I was hit by my trainer. That way I would know what it felt like to be hit with the items I was taught to use. But no sub has ever hit me. Nor do I plan on that ever happening. I rule.

The pause she takes is so long, I begin to wonder if she’s decided to stop our interview. Then I see her next question.

Are you the type who wants to rule everything? And if so, why do you not have an exclusive sub?

Her question has me pondering it. Do I want to rule everything? I have no idea. I’ve never done that. The two live-in girlfriends I had certainly needed a firmer hand than I had back then. If I found a woman that I wanted to keep around, I think I’d like to make the rules.

With my answer, I type, Your question is a first for me. I looked deep inside myself and found I would like to rule if I ever found a sub I wanted to keep with me for any length of time. I prefer things certain ways and would train a sub to do things the way I like them done.

Do you feel women are inferior?

Her question nearly knocks the wind out of my sails.

Quickly, I reply, Not at all. You see, most of us in the BDSM world don’t think on those terms. Women and men have their roles to play in life. With the rise of women’s liberation, women have lost more than they’ve gained. Once upon a time, women were the esteemed nurturers of the family, the keepers of the children, the homes, and their husbands. They made sure all things on the home front were taken care of well and were proud of their job. Men went to work and provided money and security, not only in the financial form but also in the protection department. They made and upheld the rules and used different forms of discipline to enforce them.

I give pause to allow my words to sink into her head. With the way things have changed in the last fifty or so years, most women balk at this way of thinking, calling it ancient and useless. I wait to see how Jade will respond.

I’ve never thought about it like that.

A smile moves over my lips. “Good girl.”

Jade

Only a few questions in, and already he has me thinking differently. What he says is true. Women had it much easier before we decided we wanted to be equals in all ways. Not so long ago, women stayed home with the kids. They didn’t have to worry about work or paying bills. That was the man’s job.

Nowadays, mothers and wives go off to work and some have to actually leave their homes for days at a time. That’s left a generation of children who’ve been raised by strangers. People who work at the many daycare facilities that have sprung up all over the industrialized world now are responsible for the caring and nurturing of most babies and children that mothers once took care of all on their own.

Women now depend on their husbands to step up and take care of the children too. All chores are shared, and while that seems fair, I’ve seen a good number of frazzled parents in my time. Both are sleep deprived. Both have the weight of making sure the bills are paid on their backs. And both have the responsibility of finding great jobs and keeping them, no matter how much pressure comes with that.

Men’s minds have also been changed. Most men, back in the day, wouldn’t have their wives working. They’d have been considered deadbeats or losers if they sent their wives to work outside the home. Nowadays, it’s expected. And in a few words, Pierce has brought this home to me. How odd that I never thought of it before.

I can see Pierce’s side. Then again, as a woman with a brain that begs for knowledge and gentle pressure to expand and learn more all the time, I can see why women fought to be let out of the house. I have also seen stay-at-home mothers who resemble zombies and have difficulty putting a sentence together, much less being able to have conversations with other adults.

There are pros and cons either way you decide to live. That’s just a simple fact of life.

My next question is a bit hairy, and I hope I don’t offend the man again as I type, I now understand how you think about the sexes. What I don’t understand is where the domination comes into play. Nor the physical punishments that come along with BDSM. Can you explain this to me?

The physical punishments are accepted or rejected by each submissive. It is she who helps shape the agreements that are made between a Dom and his sub. Another thing you must not be aware of is that submissives hold all the cards. One simple word is all it takes to stop anything. It’s not quite the torturous world people make it out to be. And nothing happens to a sub that they’re against. That would be illegal, wouldn’t it?

I suppose it would. So these agreements are the contracts that bind the sub to the Dom? I ask.

They are, he answers me quickly. But you must keep in mind that even a signed contract that’s been painstakingly worked out between the two parties still doesn’t give the Dom the right to proceed with any punishment or action if the sub doesn’t want it. No matter if she agreed to it in the first place or not. And a good Dom doesn’t want to inflict any pain, or pleasure, for that matter, that his submissive doesn’t want.

I find it hard to believe the man. I mean, he could tell me whatever he wants to. Because what woman wants to be ruled over and beaten? So, I ask, Pierce, what types of women want to be treated this way?

There are women from various walks of life who seek this lifestyle, maybe not all the time, but some of the time. You see, when you get into this world, you find that anything is okay. If you want to live this way all the time, then you can. If you want to dabble, you can do that too. There are no set rules, except those that govern our society. SSC—safe, sane, consensual—was put into use to make sure all who are involved in this type of lifestyle have a level of protection. Clubs keep the members in line too. That’s why it’s always a good idea to join one and only get involved with people who are part of one. There are enforcers who make sure no one is hurt beyond the point they’ve asked to be. If you’re interested in being an onlooker, you can join a local club in your area and let them know what you want. We have voyeurs too. But I must warn you, it’s not easy to watch if you have no idea about what the people truly feel. It looks brutal, after all.

That it does, Pierce. And about that. You said you were hit when you were training to be a Dom. Can you explain why anyone would want that?

While I never got to the state of euphoria, I’ve heard it described as flying. It’s a high that one gets when endorphins swarm the brain. At that point, when you add in sexual stimulation, it’s mind blowing. Some have described it as an out-of-body experience that took them to new levels in their minds and souls. You can see how one would enjoy that and seek it over and over again.

Yet you’ve never done that? I ask, as I have no idea why he’d want to only inflict pain and get nothing out of it.

I’m more of a giver than a taker. Always have been.

You make it sound noble, what you do, I type.

In a way, it is. Can you imagine if you had this itch in the middle of your back and you tried everything to scratch it yourself—rubbing your back on the door frame, trying to find a stick long enough to get to the exact spot you needed it to, but you couldn’t reach it, no matter what you did? Then along came some person who could easily scratch that itch for you, but he didn’t want to inflict any type of pain on you. If you think about it, running one’s sharp fingernails across another person’s flesh sounds painful. Yet it eases the itch, relieving the person of their problem.

“Wow!” I say to myself. “This guy’s kind of deep. I didn’t expect this.”

He goes on, adding, A doctor also causes his patient pain on many occasions in order to treat an ailment. Does anyone consider him immoral?

My mind is swarming with more questions, yet I feel as if he’s winning me over to his way of thinking. So, I ask, When you’re hitting your subs, do you get sexually stimulated? I ask this because a doctor doesn’t get turned on by giving his patient pain. Nor does anyone get turned on by helping someone scratch an itch they can’t reach.

Time goes by, and I think he might be trying to figure out how to word his answer. Finally, the screen lights up.

Jade, you ask exemplary questions. The fact is that I do get turned on by what I do. Feminine screams and moans make my cock hard. But if you’d like to know the truth, your questions have stirred an erection too. You see, the libido is an odd thing. When you’re young, the slightest breeze across your dick can make it go hard. As we get older, other things cause sexual excitement. A soft whisper uttered into an ear, a touch from a beautiful woman, a stimulating conversation between strangers. I bet you’re a remarkable young woman.

He seems to be flirting, which has me nervous for some reason. It’s stupid. The man is thousands of miles away from me. He can’t do a thing to me and here I am, fidgeting in my seat, my nipples beginning to pebble, and heat filling my crotch.

I type, How are you able to seduce me so quickly?

Are you wet for me, Jade?

My heart pounds as I type back, I seem to be.

Run your hand into your panties, Jade.

His simple command has my hand moving without me thinking about it. I feel the heat radiating from my vagina. Then I use my right hand to type, Perhaps you could take your enlarged cock into your hand, Pierce.

It’s already there, he lets me know. Run a finger into that virgin hole of yours. Pump it a few times and say my name as you do that.

My cheeks heat as my pussy goes wet and I do as he’s told me to. This is not me! This isn’t a thing I’ve ever done!

But no one can see me, and no one will ever know I did such a thing. So I pump my finger and say his name out loud, “Pierce, Pierce, Pierce!”

His name rolls off my tongue as my eyes close and I keep going until the sound of another message comes in. I open my eyes to find he’s written, Now use your other hand and pinch the shit out of your nipple and hold it there even though it hurts.

I look at his words and wonder why I’d do such a thing. The fingering feels nice; the pinching won’t. But for some odd reason, I push my shirt up and pull my bra up too, then pinch my nipple with my right hand while I finger myself with the other and let out a shriek. Not of pain, but of something else. Pure bliss. Pure and unadulterated pleasure.

My God. How has he corrupted me already?

Click here to read the complete story

https://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Little-Virgin-Submissives-Secrets-ebook/dp/B0711KG1R5

THE BILLIONAIRE’S WINGS Of THUNDER

An Alpha-Male Billionaire Paranormal Romance Thriller

By Michelle Love

Desire. Secrecy. Dilemma

Eden Fontaine is a man on a mission as he seeks out his betrothed bride whom he’s allowed to live a normal life up until the time he has come to make her his wife and begin their new life as legendary shifters.

Alyssa Devlin is living a normal life in Cloudcroft, New Mexico with her over-protective parents. She’s kept a secret from them. She has a boyfriend and they’re planning on moving away together.

When Eden finds out what’s happened and that she’s fallen in love with another, he speeds up his plans and decides he wants her to fall in love with him and choose him over the other man.

Kyle Stephens is Alyssa’s boyfriend and first true love. He’s not about to let her go and finds her love for him takes him into the paranormal world the three have to move onto.

Twists and turns fill the pages of the full-length novel, ‘The Billionaire’s Wings of Thunder’. Get ready for steaming hot romance, sizzling heated scenes, and a look at an existence where the unreal becomes real.

CHAPTER 1

ALYSSA

My heart beats hard in my chest as Kyle pulls me through the forest of tall pine trees. A large, dark shadow follows us from above the trees. I keep glancing up to see if it’s still there. It seems impossible.

Another clap of thunder fills the surrounding air. How strange. I didn’t see any lightning. There’s no rain and the only wind comes from directly above us.

I can’t remember a time I’ve felt wind blowing from above me. A small patch of flat terrain gives me a chance to look up again without worrying about tripping.

What the hell is that?

Shit, there’s two of them! They’re huge. I’ve never seen any bird so large. I tug at Kyle’s hand, trying to get him to stop.

I want to look at them, not run from them. They can’t be stalking us. They’re just birds.

His eyes are wide and full of fear as he looks back at me, still running. “What are you doing, Ally?”

“Let’s stop. I want to look at them.”

The look I get in return assures me he thinks I’m nuts. He keeps running, then a horrific shrieking sound vibrates down my spine.

I look up and see giant, black wings beating through the light blue sky. Kyle’s speed increases. I’m practically flying behind him. My feet barely touch the ground as he pulls me along.

The thing is, as weird as this might be, I’m not afraid. Kyle is, though, so I’m not going to try to stop him again. I don’t want him to feel like a fraidy cat.

His feet hit the ground with loud thumps as the wings continue to beat above us. The noise the huge wings make is so loud. I can’t help thinking how magnificent they must look.

The gate of our privacy-fenced backyard looms only a few yards ahead of us. As Kyle hits the latch to allow us into my back yard the sound stops.

They’re gone!

We both stop and look up, turning in a full circle. It’s as if nothing was following us at all. The sky is bright blue. Not a single bird flies above us.

Crap, I really wanted to see them. I was hoping I could get a good look as they flew over our yard. This is really disappointing.

Kyle looks back at me as we walk into the yard. “What the fuck?”

My eyes go crazy wide. It’s no secret my parents are the strictest people in the entire world. Make that the universe.

“Kyle! Language!”

He bends his head to speak in my ear. “Sorry, baby. But seriously, what was that?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “I don’t know. But whatever those things were, they’re gone now.”

He tugs at my hand, pulling me further into the yard. “That was weird. Don’t you think it was weird, Ally?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course I think it’s weird, Kyle.”

“Isn’t it strange that when you kissed me the thunder of wings began?”

I laugh. “You kissed me, not the other way around.”

Suddenly I’m halted, his hands on my shoulders, and the twinkle in his sky-blue eyes captivating my attention.

“I asked you to go to Texas with me and gave you a ring, then you kissed me after you said yes. Remember, Ally?”

I nod, making him smile. My parents are not going to be happy, but I’m going to Austin with Kyle after graduation. Only three weeks away. I turn eighteen the day after, so I’ll be legal and they can’t stop me.

Right?

God this is scary. So much scarier than those birds were.

How could they have just vanished? Man, I wanted to see them clearly!

My hand is still in his. That’ll be a problem, as my father’s looking directly at us. He’s frowning.

I’m not supposed to be touching my boyfriend. My parents don’t think he is what he is. They think he’s a friend. A longtime friend, but only that.

When I was thirteen, I had to promise my parents I’d never engage in any relationship until I turned eighteen.

Ludicrous, right?

My dad yells out, clear across the large back lawn, “What’s going on, Alyssa?”

Kyle drops my hand. “Sorry, sir. Something happened in the woods.”

My younger, pain-in-the-butt brother, Scotty, approaches us, a smile on his mischievous face. “You’ve made Daddio mad, Kyle. Not good, dude.”

My mother comes out the back door, carrying a large tray, and Kyle sprints across the lawn to help her. “Please let me get that for you, Mrs. Devlin.” His voice is a mixture of middle America and the south.

His parents are from Texas. They moved here to Cloudcroft, New Mexico because his mother is a real estate agent who got a break in the tourist business our town has. She’s not my biggest fan.

Perhaps my parents’ lack of understanding of teenage romance is the reason. I’m not at all sure why she dislikes me, but she does. One time she even said my best friend, Laura, would be perfect for Kyle.

They live three houses down from each other. I just about had a shit-fit with her words. But Kyle stopped me from acting like a freak in front of his mother and father.

I let him know exactly what I thought about that once we left the confines of his family home.

Kyle’s help with my mother’s burden seems to have helped. My father’s frown has turned into a slight smile. Not an entire one, though.

I jog up next to Kyle. Just to test the waters with my parents. I run my arm around his waist and place a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks for helping my mom, babe.”

My father shoots me a look, but Mom stays cool. I need to get them ready for our news.

Wow. Our news. That sounds weird.

The touch of his lips on my cheek sends chills down my spine, and not for the reason you might think. I know it’s about to explode.

“Hey! What the hell?” Dad yells.

Kyle further surprises me. “Mr. Devlin. We have something to tell you.”

“No, we don’t.” I try to stop my true love from getting himself annihilated.

When Kyle’s sky-blue eyes meet mine, I melt into his side.

Damn, I love this guy!

“Mr. and Mrs. Devlin,” He raises my hand, the one with the ring on it. “Ally is moving with me to Austin after graduation.”

The next things happen in a blur. My father goes for Kyle’s throat. Scotty and Mom blindside Dad, taking him away from my one true love.

“Dad!” I scream as I pull Kyle back from the monster my father has become.

My father is usually a very calm man. He and my brother look a lot alike, with tall, soft brown curls, and light green eyes. This attack upon my boyfriend, while anticipated by myself, was not expected by my sweet Kyle.

“Mr. Devlin,” Kyle says. “Please don’t think I’ve any bad intentions with your daughter. I love her with everything in me. I want to marry her one day. It should be after I’ve made something of myself, which is exactly what I will do.”

My ears are burning. Did he just say he wants to marry me?

I turn to him. “Kyle, you don’t have to explain.”

A pat on my hand from my mother lets me know she has things back under control.

Thank you, God!

“Seems like some things have gone unnoticed by your father and myself. We’ll discuss this new information in private. For now, we need to eat,” she says with the soft comfort her voice always brings.

My mother is from Connecticut, with jet black hair and eyes of blue. She and I stand five foot two. We’re almost identical. I think she’s much prettier than I am, but she says the same of me.

“Thank you, Mom. There’s no need for this,” I say as I take a chair at the table on our patio. Kyle pulls out the chair next to mine, planting himself in it.

Just to piss my father off, I take Kyle’s hand. Kyle looks at me with his eyebrows cocked. “You sure about this, Ally?”

I look at my father directly in his eyes. The horrible part is that he looks right back into mine. “Get used to it, Dad,” I hear myself say.

Shit, am I really doing this?

“I love Kyle. The rest of my life will be with him.”

To my complete amazement, my father smiles at me. “How wonderful, baby. You couldn’t have chosen a better man. Kyle, I expect you to take good care of my daughter.”

Scotty chokes on his cherry cola, and I give him a go-to-hell look. “Sorry, Sis,” comes from his mouth as he dabs at it with a paper napkin.

Unbelievably, my mother starts doling out potato salad as Dad cuts the brisket. We all eat in silence. My spidey senses are on overload.

Something is not right. Things are too calm!

The silence is deafening. I can’t take it anymore. “Mom, there’s a dance on Saturday. Kyle asked me to go. His band’s playing at it.”

Mom jerks her fork, loaded with meat, toward my father who sits next to her. “Don’t ask me, dear.”

Reluctantly, I look at my father. He smiles at me.

Didn’t see that coming.

“Sure, you can. But only for a little while. I want you back by ten. You do remember you have a curfew, right? I mean, you seem to have forgotten our deal about no relationships until you’re eighteen, so I have to ask.”

Kyle answers for me, “Mr. Devlin, I can assure you she’ll be home by her curfew. And just to let you know, we haven’t broken your no-dating rule.”

Kyle looks directly into my father’s eyes. That’s no easy task as my dad is glaring back at him. His words come out much nicer than his look. “Thank you, son. I appreciate your respect on this matter. I’m sure Alyssa has also let you in on the fact that she’s not allowed to have sex yet either.”

My gasp happens before I realize I’ve done it. He’s gone too far!

“Dad! Stop that right now! The dinner table, or patio table, or whatever this is, is no place to talk about such things.” I can feel the heat on my cheeks. I must be scarlet with embarrassment.

My mother gives dad a stern look. “Sorry about that, dears. Seems David needs to relax a bit. Come, help me clean up and take things into the house.”

Kyle jumps up, grabbing his empty plate and mine. “We’ve got this, Mrs. Devlin. You and Mr. Devlin cooked, so we can clean up. Can’t we, Scotty?”

My brother looks up at Kyle with a scowl, his words coated in sarcasm, “I guess so, now that you’ve included me. Thanks a lot, dude.”

Dad glares back at Kyle as Mom drags him into the house. I hate to think of what I’m in for once Kyle leaves, which will be too soon as the sun’s already setting.

Dad said he could stay until dark, which is fast approaching. I need to talk to him alone. “Go play with your idiot box, Scotty. I’ll help Kyle.”

“Thanks, sis,” he says as he runs for the door before Kyle can stop him.

Kyle turns and says, “You should make him help, Ally. He gets away with too much, that kid.”

“It’s almost dark,” I say as I snake my arms over his broad shoulders and up to his neck.

He gets what I mean, bringing his lips to meet mine. His kiss is sweet from the barbeque sauce. The touch of his tongue on my bottom lip beckons me to open up for him. I do, immediately gratified.

Somehow, he’s moved me up against the brick wall. Pressing his body to mine, we meld together as only we can. Down my back, his strong hands travel until they reach the top of my butt.

That’s where he always stops, because I told him to. Never has he touched me more than I allow.

The words he told my father earlier about wanting to marry me one day flow back to the forefront of my mind. I move a bit further. I caress his arms as my hands run down them.

Once I reach his hands, I move them down to my butt. The groan he makes, which makes my mouth vibrate as his kiss deepens, lets me be certain he’s pleased.

The pressure he puts on my bottom makes me feel more heat in my lower regions than I’ve felt before. He lifts me up and my back presses even more against the wall. I wrap my legs around him, finding a large lump at my juncture.

Crap, he’s really big and now I’m scared.

I pull back and place my feet on the ground where they belong. Tangling my hands in his hair, I pull his lips off mine.

Not wanting to let him realize what a big chicken I am, I say, “Hey, babe, it’s getting dark and we’ve got to finish cleaning up. You volunteered, remember?”

The usual sky blue of his eyes has darkened. I suppose it’s lust I see in them.

Oh, how cute! He lusts for me!

With his forehead to mine, I sense his frustration. “What you do to me, Ally,” he says with a slightly sluggish voice.

I wonder if our little make-out session made him feel intoxicated. Surely not!

Quickly, we grab all the plates and take them into the house. I dump them into the sink while he goes out for the rest of the things. As I rinse the dishes before I place them in the dishwasher, I watch him out the window above the sink.

God, he’s good looking. He wants to marry me some day. Wow!

My little diamond, heart-shaped ring sparkles under the light over the sink. My heart skips a beat as he walks up behind me, placing more dishes in the sink.

His breath on my neck makes my knees weak. “I love you, Ally,” he whispers. I close my eyes, not sure if this is real. He’s never told me those words before. Even though he told my father, he’s never told me. “Say something.”

I turn and peek around him to make sure no one can see us, then put my arms around him, burying my head in his wide chest. “I love you too.”

I can’t believe it. I’ve finally told him exactly how I feel about him.

With a tight hug, he sighs. “You’ve made me pretty damn happy today, Al. Accepting my offer to move away with me, telling your folks about us, and now you’ve told me you love me too. It can’t get any better than this.”

When he lets me go, the sensation of losing something comes over me. The way he held me made me feel safe, secure, and wanted.

He wants me! Little old me. Why in the hell would he?

I’ve made him wait for years for my physical attention. I have no idea what other boy would’ve waited for me, but he has.

Why? What’s so special about me?

Not a damn thing. I’m a complete bore. Never able to do anything thanks to my over-protective parents. But that’s nearly over. Only two more weeks.

As I start the dishwasher, I hear Kyle sigh again and turn to find him looking out the window at the now dark night.

“Time for me to go,” he says, scooping me up for one last hug. “Walk me out?” His eyebrows raise.

I never walk him out. My parents would have a fit. “I will,” I say, because I’ve got a lecture coming anyway. I might as well make it worth it.

He holds my hand and tugs at me to follow him into the living room. There are the wardens, sitting in their chairs. Dad watching television and Mom reading a book.

By the cover of it, it seems pretty steamy. The picture of the well-muscled, shirtless man holding his body above what seems to be a white-clad damsel in distress falls to my mother’s lap.

“Goodnight, Kyle,” she says with a smile.

Dad’s eyes go straight to our intertwined hands and a frown covers his handsome face. I hate to make him look like that, but what choice do I have?

“Bye,” he speaks gruffly.

I have no idea of the expression on either of their faces as I follow Kyle out, closing the door behind me. One of them jumped up, because the porch light just turned on.

This also tells me one of them is standing at the window, watching us. I’m in for it anyway, so why not give them a real show?

I wrap my arm around Kyle’s waist and lean into him. His arm snakes around my waist, pulling me in even closer.

“I see you’ve made the decision to make them really pissed. You sure you can handle the fallout?” he asks, placing a kiss on top of my head.

I gaze up at him, seeing that his eyes back to their regular blue color. All the lust has gone from them, I’m sorry to say.

“If you can, I can.” My words are strong, but somewhere in me a bit of weakness bites.

My parents have never had to deal with me doing something against their rules, so I’ve no idea what they have in store for me.

Daunting images of dungeons, whips, and chains fill my head.

Kyle reaches up to open the door of his tall, four-wheel-drive truck. It’s black and shiny, all chromed out with freaking beautiful rims. His grandfather gave it to him for graduating with honors. He’s very proud of him for receiving a full scholarship to UT because of how well he plays football.

My man is a monster on the field!

His hands grab me by the waist as he hoists me up into the driver’s seat. I giggle, as it tickles.

“Scoot over. I’m going to kidnap you,” he says with an evil grin on his precious lips.

“How about we do that right after graduation?”

A frown replaces the grin. “Can’t. You won’t be eighteen until the next day.”

How could I forget that little detail? “Okay, then the day after graduation, on my eighteenth birthday, you can steal me away.”

The front porch light flashes off and on in what I assume is a sign to go back inside. “Looks like the guards are calling me in. My time is up.” I reach out for him to help me back down.

The touch of his hands gripping my waist stirs the warmth back into my lower regions making me really dislike my parents at this moment. I just want to get lost in this young man who stands in front of me.

Lightly, he kisses me. I want more than that, but Kyle is just too damn good to let me.

“I’m not gonna let you get yourself into any more trouble than you’ve got coming to you. You don’t need to tell them everything, Al. Remember, they don’t need to hear every detail of what we’ve done.”

The light flashes again, this time with a yell from my mother. “Alyssa, dear, time to come in.”

I watch Kyle climb into his tall truck. He waves at me as he pulls out of the long, steep drive. Turning back to the house, I see that my mother stands on the porch, waiting for me. I brush past her as I walk back inside.

Her hand on my arm pulls my attention to her frowning face. My father stands. “We need to talk, young lady.”

Great, this should be relatively painful!

CHAPTER 2

EDEN

Stars fill the sky over the pristine, white mansion. Dim light by the swimming pool shines in Linda’s eyes. Though nowhere near as beautiful as my Alyssa’s, they’re still pretty.

The touch of her hand on the back of my neck makes me aware of what she’s about to do. Although not our first kiss, it’s been some time since she’s tutored me.

I’ll be eighteen in three days. I’m going to see my Alyssa, face to face, on my birthday, after all this time.

Plump red lips touch mine. My heart beat increases slightly. Linda’s hair is roughly the same length as my Alyssa’s.

I wrap a long piece around my hand. My arm moves around her waist, pulling her closer to me.

Linda is the same size as Alyssa, part of the reason she’s the one tutoring me. She’s wearing a perfume with just the right mix of sweet and citrus. I must remember to ask her what kind it is. Alyssa would probably like to have some.

I have a picture of my soon-to-be-mate up in my bedroom. Just thinking about it fills my mind with her image. And there it is—the thump in my chest every time I think about her and I together like this.

Alyssa’s deep sapphire eyes, her dark black, silky hair, and those perfect red pouty lips. My heart’s going wild now.

My body and lips press harder against Linda’s. I move us until she no longer moves. Holding her to the wall, I force my tongue past her lips, pulling her hair back so she has to accept it.

Linda twists beneath me, pulling her mouth from mine. “Eden! Stop!”

My head is swimming. Crap! What have I done?

“Linda, it was wrong what I did? I didn’t know.”

Linda moves away from me. She’s a little older than I am by about five or ten years, I guess. Her eyes have tiny wrinkles at the corners. Right now her face is flushed red.

“Eden, you have to be a lot more delicate with your mate. She’s innocent after all. Coming on so strong will frighten her. You don’t want to do that, now do you?”

Linda’s dress is bunched up at her waist from my actions. I reach out to smooth it for her. She steps back and does it herself.

“Sorry, Linda. So, no tongue then?”

She shakes her head. “Absolutely not, Eden. You’re marrying a princess of sorts. No tongue. No pulling of hair. No pushing her up against walls, doors, or any other hard surfaces. She’s to be treated only with gentleness and always with respect. Do you understand me?”

I look away, angry with myself. “I do, but …”

She pulls at my chin to make me look at her, interrupting my words. “But nothing, Eden. Touch her very tenderly. She’s completely innocent. Plus, she knows nothing about you. Believe me, you will be a complete stranger to her. The last thing she’ll want is for you to handle her like that. You’ll scare the hell out of her.” She smiles at me, making me feel admittedly stupid.

“I’m a child, Linda,” I say as I mope about how inexperienced I am.

Her arm runs around my shoulders and she gives me a little squeeze. “No, Eden, you’re no child. Here, let’s try this again. Only this time follow my lead instead of taking off on your own.”

Pulling me to sit on a bench with her, she turns. My hands are placed by her, one on her shoulder and one on her waist. This feels awkward, too much like a dancing position.

“This feels weird, Linda.”

“It’s proper to stay some distance away. Now give me a chaste kiss on my cheek,” she instructs me.

I purse my lips and place them on her cheek. “There you go, Linda. Was that chaste enough?”

Her smile tells me it was. “Now, a simple, nice, non-threatening kiss on my lips, Eden.”

Practicing extreme softness, I press my lips to hers. I have to open my eyes a bit or the visions of my Alyssa will run into my head, making me lose control. When I pull back, I find her smiling at me.

“That was nice. Very nice, with no hint of I want to take you right now to it.”

I drop my arms to my sides. “Is that what it felt like when I kissed you? Like I wanted to take you to my bed?”

I never want to treat my baby Alyssa like that. She’s too special.

Linda touches my arm. “Yes, Eden. What you did to me was very sexual in nature. I know you’re a young man with raging hormones and needs, but Alyssa is too inexperienced to deal with that right away. Maybe she’ll like it later, probably many years from now, but not at first. You think you have it all under control now?”

I nod. With her I do. Once I have my hands on my mate, well, I don’t know for sure.

If just her pictures and thinking about her stir this beast inside of me, what will the real girl do?

My cell phone vibrates in my pants pocket. “My father, Linda. If you’ll excuse me, please,” I say as I walk away from her. “Hello, Papa.”

“You should come inside. Your mother and I need to tell you something about Alyssa.”

“Be right in,” I say, a bit nervous.

What could she have done? What if something’s happened to her?

I rush to Linda. “Sorry, Linda. Practice is over.” I take her by her arm, leading her back to her car. “My parents want to talk to me about something.”

She allows me to lead her away from the pool. “I understand, Eden. It’s probable I’ll not see you until you bring her back here. Good luck and remember all I’ve taught you. Always be a gentleman.”

I open her car door and help her inside. Out of habit, I place a quick kiss on her cheek.

I shut her door and wave goodbye as I walk up to our front door. My stomach is clenched with not knowing right this minute what’s wrong with my Alyssa.

Ginger, one of the maids, opens the door before I get to it. “They’re on the veranda, Mr. Fontaine.”

“Thank you, Ginger,” I say, turning back to her. “And please call me Eden.” She’s new, so she hasn’t figured out how much I detest being called Mr. anything.

The look on my parents’ faces doesn’t do much to please me or settle my nerves. “Please sit down, son,” my father says.

I kiss my mother’s cheek, then do as he asks. “So what’s this you need to tell me?”

My mother rocks back in the large white rocker she’s sitting in. “Seems your mate has some idea she’s going to run off with who seems to be her high school boyfriend.”

My face falls and my heart stops beating as everything inside me turns to liquid.

How? What? Why?

“There’s no way she could have hidden such a thing from David and Toni.”

My father touches my shoulder. “They were completely unaware of anything more than a friendship existing between the two. That was until a little earlier this evening. Alyssa told them of her plans to move to Austin with the boy after graduation. On her birthday, no less.”

“She can’t,” I say, my breath almost lost.

How could she do this to me?

My mother senses my hurt. “Eden, she knows nothing about you and what you two are to each other. This is exactly why I always said this was a bad idea. Letting her live a ‘normal’ life was a bad idea, no matter how much her parents wanted it.”

“I wanted that for her too,” I say. “I decided to let her stay in that life. This is my fault. I always had the right to stop this and have her brought to me. My love for her and her happiness has caused this.” I look at my father. “Please tell me she hasn’t been taken by this guy. Please tell me she still has her innocence.”

“From what she’s told her parents, she’s still a virgin,” my father says.

“Thank Our Creator! If my actions brought sin upon her everlasting soul, I could never forgive myself. So what’s to happen now?”

My mother rocks back and forth. “The same thing as planned. You go to her on your birthday. Her parents will introduce you two and let her in on who and what she truly is. The boyfriend thing will go away after she knows her true path.”

“She was going to leave with him. It must mean she has love for him.” My stomach aches with this knowledge. “I let her fall in love with someone else. Why didn’t you make me bring her here a long time ago?” I ask my father.

The slight grin on his face answers my question. He’s not my master. Only I can make the decisions for myself and Alyssa, a heavy responsibility to bear since I was a mere five years old. The weight has never been such a burden as it is on this day.

“I know, Papa. I’m not blaming you. I just didn’t see this coming. It was supposed to be so easy. She would see me and fall as madly in love with me as I am with her. Now her heart’s been captured by another. I fear finding love for me will prove much harder for her. There’s the fact she must break this young man’s heart. It will hurt her in the process. I think I hate that the most. I’ll have hurt her before I’ve ever been given the chance to show her just how much I never wanted to.”

My expression must be terrible. My mother comes to me, pulling me to stand. She wraps me in a tight hug.

“Don’t worry so much, Eden. It’ll all be fine. As much as I want to say I told you so, I have to believe in fate. This was meant to be for reasons we may never be privy to. All will be as it’s supposed to be. Her parents are on guard now, making sure she doesn’t give herself to this boy. Toni told me she’s taking Alyssa to the doctor in the morning to get checked out, just to give you peace of mind.”

What? Did she say to give me peace of mind?

“Mother, what’ll the doctor do to her?”

“A physical inspection to make sure she’s still intact. You know, take a gander at her in that area.” My mother horrifies me with her words.

“Tell Toni I’ll not allow it. If my Alyssa says she’s not lost her virginity, then she’s to be believed. No one is going to inspect her like a piece of property. She’s far too special for that. Get her father on the phone, Papa. Let him know I’ve said not to do that to her. If they’ve told her what their plan is, I fear she’s scared to death. That’s not what I want. And all at my hands. No, I’ll not have that. Tell David to make sure Alyssa knows she’s not going to be taken to the doctor. I want her to sleep peacefully on this night. Not lacking sleep from fear of what might happen to her tomorrow,” I order, then walk away.

I’ve made a mistake in allowing her to stay away from me. Somehow I’ll fix this. I pray my plans for our dinner on my birthday will help her to see what our life together will be like. Perhaps that will persuade her to let her feelings for the boy go.

Please let it do the trick!

CHAPTER 3

ALYSSA

It’s official, my parents are bat-shit crazy! They interrogated me for more than an hour about what all Kyle and I have done. I didn’t tell them every little thing, but it seems they’re not satisfied with my word of still having my virginity intact.

Mom said I have to let our family doctor check me out to be sure I’m telling them the truth. How horrible will that be?

I’ll never be able to look at Doctor Baker in the eyes again!

My birthday cannot come soon enough. This life is just about over. I’m so out of here. They’ll throw a fit, I’m sure. Thank God Texas is so far away.

A knock at my bedroom door makes me jump. “Who is it?”

“Mom, sweetie.” Her voice sounds angelic.

I’m not buying it.

“I’m asleep,” I say as I dive under the blankets.

“It’ll just take a moment, dear, please,” she says.

Sure it will. Probably wants a sample of my blood or urine to run a pregnancy test.

“The door isn’t locked. Come in.”

Peeking around the side of my door, I swear she looks sorry and somewhat embarrassed. “Alyssa, I didn’t want you to fall asleep without me telling you this.”

I roll my eyes at her. “What now?”

The touch of her hand on my shoulder does little to comfort me as she sits on the bed. “It’s about going to see Doctor Baker in the morning. Your father and I have changed our minds about that. We believe you. You’ve never lied to us prior to this instance. I hope you feel you can be completely truthful with us, sweetie.”

Her eyes droop. She’s sad and so am I. “Mom, I hated to keep that from you guys. I really did. It wouldn’t have been necessary if you would let me do normal things like other young adults get to do.”

The way she’s biting her bottom lip makes me wonder what’s going through her head. “Alyssa, we realize it’s difficult to understand our actions. Teenagers sometimes make really poor decisions. You’re just too special for us to let something bad to happen to you.”

I’m too special?

“Mom, I’m no more special than anyone else. You’ve raised me to make good decisions. The time has come to let me make some of my own. I’m ready to take life head on. The opportunity to leave this small town and all its securities is just what I need to move forward. I love you guys, but you need to let my fly.”

A sparkle flashes in her eyes for reasons I don’t understand. “Frankly, Alyssa, I’m glad to hear you say that. The time has come for some changes. It pleases me, and it will your father as well, to see you’re ready to move forward with your life. Our greatest fear was that change would frighten you.”

I laugh. “I’m so ready for change. You have no idea.”

Her lips brush over my forehead as she gets up, leaving me. “Good night, sweetie. I love you. Always remember that we do all we do because we love you. It’s never to be mean.”

“I love you too, Mom. Tell Dad that for me too. I hate to fight with you guys,” I say as she closes the door.

I do hate to fight with them. Maybe that’s why I took so long to let them in on me and Kyle. I knew it would mean a fight.

When he gave me this ring, though, something clicked inside of me, as if I grew up a little. It became very important to me that my parents know about my relationship.

Now, snuggled down underneath my blanket, replaying the words Kyle said to me when he asked me to move to Texas with him, I try to fall asleep. My mind is moving so fast. In three weeks, all things will change. A month from now my life will not even be recognizable.  

CHAPTER 4

EDEN

I’m driving across the country to get Alyssa. The plan was for me to fly out in our private jet, take her to Maine for dinner after her parents told her of our destiny, then take her back to New Orleans with me.

All her school work is completed. She’s eligible to graduate a couple of weeks early. So that fact, along with the knowledge of her loving another, had me changing the initial plan. I’ll feel better if we can spend a few days together before I take her away from all she’s ever known.

Turning her world upside down is not a thing I want to do, but the time is almost here. Her world will be completely different and only I can help her through the transition.

Which reminds me, I need to call her parents to let them know the change of plans. I hit their number and wait to see which one answers. “Hello,” a feminine voice says.

“Toni, good afternoon.”

“Eden, so nice to hear from you.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow instead of next week. I’ve changed my mind about a few things, like driving up, instead of flying. The jet will come when I call Jeffrey. A few days together with Alyssa before she’s told everything might help her adjust better.”

The hesitation in Toni’s voice is clear. “Eden, it’s okay. You can do everything the same as you planned. She’ll be fine, I assure you.”

It sounds as if she cares more about my wants than Alyssa’s feelings!

“With the addition of a boyfriend who it’s clear she loves, I think it’s best to bring her into this in a gentler manner. Her heart will be broken when she has to give him up. The thought of bringing her pain, then making her come with me is too horrible. I want to win her affection and trust. I want her to choose me over him.”

There’s a pregnant pause before Toni speaks again. “She is yours, Eden. I’ll explain things to her, make her understand. This is our fault for not being more protective. You shouldn’t be dealing with this at all. We can make her understand.”

“Look, I appreciate you taking the responsibility for this situation,” I say. “But this is my fault. Letting you give her the first years of her life to be normal was a mistake. My mother told me to take her when she turned thirteen, but I refused. I wanted her to have a traditional life as much as you did. The hard fact is that leading a typical life means having relationships. Alyssa is completely average in that aspect.”

“Eden, this is not your doing. We had a job to do and we didn’t do it well enough. I can handle her. Don’t let this change anything you’ve planned. You’ve been planning this for years.”

“I have, but SHE is what matters to me. Not my damn plans. Her heart is more important than anything else. I can make her love me on my own. That’s what I want to do before you tell her what she is.”

“Of course, Eden. We’ll do as you ask. So what time can we expect you tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there around six tomorrow evening.”

“We’ll make dinner then. I guess we can say you’re one of our old friend’s sons on his way to Los Angeles to go to college. And you’ll be staying a week with us to visit. How about that, Eden?”

“That should work. So I’ll see you then, Toni. Goodbye.”

Lies! I hate them. To begin our life on them is nothing I ever intended to do. A necessary evil they are, though. I’m almost to Dallas, where I’m staying the night. One night in a lonely hotel room. After that, I’ll never have to be alone again.

All those nights I stayed at home while my classmates went on dates, doing normal things, I played video games alone. Watched movies alone. Laid awake at night, looking at the picture of my mate, and wishing I could call her.

To hear her voice would’ve been enough to get me to sleep. Those lonely days are almost over.

Too bad she’s fallen in love with someone else. Damn, this would have been so much easier. I’ll never understand all the things Our Creator makes us go through.

Not for me to know, I guess. I’ll make her love me. Perhaps the moment she sees me it will all fall into place. Our betrothal before birth was by The Creator, no less. Maybe I’m worried for nothing.

I hope so anyway. 

CHAPTER 5

ALYSSA

English class was a snore today. I’ve finished all my work in every class. No finals for me as I’ve kept my grades up the whole year, leaving me exempt from them. Yet I still must go to every class with nothing to do. So I read books. I’ve read so many books in the last week.

I forgot to go to the library and pick up a new book yesterday. So I grabbed the one Mom’s been reading off her chair this morning—the one with the shirtless guy.

Crap, it is racy. What my mother reads makes me blush. The love scenes are quite graphic. The bell rings and I’m subsequently free to go home.

I let the crowd rush out before me. The kids who ride the bus need to hurry. I have my jeep. I can afford to lag.

On my own today—Scotty has a baseball game to attend—I climb into my bright yellow Jeep. When I turn the key in the ignition nothing happens. Then I see I left the lights on this morning.

Oh great, the battery’s dead!

I’ll go find Kyle in the gym. He can give me a ride home and Dad can come jump my car later. It’s a short walk. I can hear the boys shouting as I open the door.

The smell of the dank gymnasium makes me wrinkle my nose. Kyle’s helping a few junior high kids shoot baskets.

He’s so damn sweet.

“Hey, hero,” I call out to him.

He high fives a kid who just made a basket before he jogs over to me, placing a kiss on my cheek. “You need a hero, doll?”

He’s too precious!

“I do. I left my lights on in the Jeep. It seems I’m a damsel in distress.”

The dance his eyebrows do makes me laugh. “I’ll be your hero, baby,” he says as he picks me up, carrying me out of the gym.

“Kyle, while this is sweet, you can put me down,” I say with a giggle.

“The truck’s right here, baby. Let me do this hero thing right,” he says, smiling that big smile down at me. The memory of the sexed-up love story fills my head as he holds me tight.

He lifts me up into the tall truck. I scoot over so he can climb in beside me. I slide to the passenger seat, simply to have him slide me right back to sit next to him.

“You sit by me, Al. I can’t have you all the way over there,” he says as he hands me the seatbelt.

He’s warm beside me, with a slight sheen of sweat on his face from playing in the gym. I drop my book and purse on the seat next to me and he spies my naughty novel. His eyes widen as he looks at me.

“I know. Don’t make fun of me. I ran out of reading material this morning. It was all I could find,” I explain.

As he pulls onto the road, he says, “Read some of the juicy stuff to me while I drive out to Trixie’s. I need a burger and you need a chocolate milkshake.”

“I’m not reading to you. The words in that book made me blush when I read them. I can’t conceivably say them out loud, Kyle.” I play with the radio like I usually do, finding the station I like instead of the country music he listens to.

A devilish grin forms on his plump lips. “That bad, huh? Now I have to hear some. Come on, baby, make your man happy.” His hand runs down my leg to squeeze my knee, leaving it there.

“Neanderthal, telling me to make my man happy. Welcome to the new age, Kyle. Women don’t do that anymore,” I say as I find a song I like on the radio and turn it up.

“Women’s lib, who needs it? You know you all want men to take care of you. And all of you want to take care of us. Your secret is out. You like making your man happy. I know you do, baby,” Kyle shouts over the loud music.

I do like to make him happy, but I’m not reading those words to him. He’d get too excited and I’d get too embarrassed. Instead, I place a sweet kiss on his cheek. “There, that should keep you happy for the next thirty minutes or so.”

Trixie’s parking lot is full. Kyle pulls to the back where the employees park. His friend Cody works here. We park next to his beat up, old truck.

Kyle unhooks his seatbelt while I unhook mine. Turning swiftly, he has me on my back before I know he’s done it. I laugh as his face is close to mine.

“Kiss me, baby. You know you want to,” he says with a smile.

I do want to, but …

“Kyle, people will see us.”

“Not through these tinted windows, they won’t, Ally. Kiss me.”

Playfulness pushed aside, his eyes get darker blue with that lusty look he’s come to have at times. My hand moves to his neck and I pull his face to mine. The moment our lips touch warmth spreads through me.

The words from the book creep into my head, making me hunger for him to fill me like the shirtless guy did to the damsel. His kiss is hungry as he nips at my bottom lip. My lips ache when he leaves them, trailing kisses and nibbles down my neck.

Crap, that makes me so hot for him. His hand runs over my stomach, up to just beneath my breast. He wants to touch it, but won’t until I allow it.

The tremble of his hand, holding himself back until I say he can, excites the hell out of me. I sit up, but his mouth finds mine again, trying to push me back down. Upright I stay, placing my hands between us.

“No, please, baby, don’t stop,” he murmurs against my lips.

I’m not stopping him, though. Just unbuttoning my shirt, exposing the lacy, dark blue bra I put on this morning. I take his hand in mine, then place it on my breast. He stops the kiss, pulling his head back as he looks at his hand then back at me.

“Wow! You’re letting me do this?”

I nod and bite my bottom lip as he looks at my chest.

“So pretty.” His head drops to kiss the top of the one I put his hand on.

Two kisses later, he moves his hand away, taking me by the waist as he pulls me to him, peppering kisses on top of both of them. I tangle my hands in his curls, holding him to my chest.

A low growl comes from his throat, then I’m on my back again. My legs apart, and he’s in between them, pressing his body onto mine.

The hardness of him pulses against me. As if it’s crucial, his mouth finds mine, thrusting his tongue into my mouth as one of his hands squeezes my breast and the other pulls at my hair. His body grinds against mine.

The bulge grows. A need to feel it in my hands arises. Slipping my hand between us, I touch it through his jeans. Its long, wide, and hard. I move my hand up and down the length of it.

Kyle groans and kisses me even harder. So it must work for him. I want to find out what it feels like to be filled with it, just like the book said.

The woman screamed in ecstasy when the shirtless man filled her. I wonder if I will.

The button to his jeans proves hard to pop open. My struggles with it must have brought what I’m doing to Kyle’s attention, as his kisses soften. His hand grabs mine, tugging it away from the button up to his lips.

I blink up at him. The lusty darkness gone, his eyes are back to sky blue. But he’s smiling.

“You want to stop?” I ask, rather confused.

Isn’t this what all guys want?

“We have to, Ally,” he says as he pulls me up with him. “I got carried away and you did too. We have to wait to do more.”

My hair must be a mess because he’s running his hands through it. His face is so damn close to mine that I could fall back on those kiss-swollen lips of his and make him forget we can’t do more.

“We don’t have to wait,” I say as I lean closer.

The smile he gives me is so damn sweet that it’s apparent in an instant he’s doing this for me. “Yes, we do,” he says, his hands buttoning my shirt back up. Stopping just before he covers my breasts up, he takes one more look. “So beautiful.” He sighs and buttons the last two buttons.

“Kyle, I want to do this,” I protest, taking his hands in mine.

The twinkle in his eyes makes me want to grab him and pull him to me. “Not like this, Al. Not in my truck outside Trixie’s bar and grill. That’s not the memory I want for you to have of our first time. Plus, precautions have to be taken and we’ve taken none. That’s something we need to talk about.”

“What types of precautions?”

The slight smile on his gorgeous face makes me a little peeved. “Birth control, baby.”

My eyes close and I shake my head. I’m so stupid. “I forgot all about that. Kind of dumb of me. Damn romance novel.”

Kyle picks the book up off the floorboard. It must’ve gotten knocked off, along with my purse. “No more of this. I’ll keep it so it can’t tempt you to read it anymore.”

I blush crazy hard. “Come on, Romeo, buy me a chocolate shake,” I say as I push at his chest.

We walk into the dark café from the back entrance. Cody spots us. “Hey, Kyle,” he says.

They do a fist bump as he smiles cunningly at Kyle. “You pulled up twenty minutes ago. Are you two having a lover’s quarrel or something a little more romantic than that?”

Kyle tussles his shaggy brown hair. “Mind your business, boy.” Throwing his arm around my neck, he pulls me close, kissing the side of my head. “Hey, guys, I play the winner,” he says to one of the guys playing pool.

I frown at him as he lifts me to sit on a stool at the bar. “Kyle, I can’t stay away from the house much longer.”

He grins at me and hands me his cell phone. “Give your parents a call. Tell them about your battery and that I’m taking care of it. But we’ll have to drive down to Alamogordo to pick up a new one and won’t be back until later on tonight.”

This will never work, but I take it and make the call. Mom answers, but speedily puts my father on.

“I’ll take care of it, Alyssa.” Dad’s fast to respond. “It’s not Kyle’s responsibility.”

Kyle overhears my father. “I want to do it, Mr. Devlin. I want to show you I’m capable of taking care of your daughter,” he says. Then he takes a big bite of the burger that the plump, red-headed waitress placed in front of him.

“Tell him it won’t be necessary,” Dad says.

“Just let him do it, Dad,” I say, getting a little sick of this back and forth crap.

“No, ma’am. I’ll jump start your jeep, and you’re coming home. I’ll be at the school parking lot in fifteen minutes. Be there!”

I hand the phone back to Kyle with a smirk on my face. “Told you.”

“It was worth a try. I’m done anyway. Come on, let’s go,” he says as he lifts me off the bar stool. I grab my shake, taking it with me. A guy at the pool table gives him a gesture, seemingly asking, what’s up. “I’ll be back later, dude. My girl needs my help.”

His girl! How cute that sounds.

With his muscled arm thrown around my shoulders, Kyle pulls me close to his side. The sun as we walk out practically blinds me. It was dark in there.

Up in his truck again, I sit next to him, my head on his shoulder, holding his hand in my lap as he takes me back to the school. Daddy’s already there with the hood up on the jeep and the cables connected to my battery and his.

As he looks up at the truck and sees us so close, he frowns and looks away. How I wish he would just let me grow up without all the theatrics. There should be no reason my loving Kyle should affect him. Yet it does.

Kyle pulls up on the other side of my jeep. He jumps out and helps me down. My body grazes his as he places me on the ground. He gives me a wink and I give him a smile. Before he lets me go, he reaches in, grabbing the romance novel.

“I’ll read some tonight, then give you a call and we can discuss it,” he says, making me blush.

Dad yells, “If you can drag yourself away from him for a minute, Ally, I need you to try to start the jeep.”

Ducking my head so he won’t see my pink cheeks, I sit in my jeep. It starts right up. Dad closes the hood, cables in his hand. “Get going, girl. I’ll be right behind you.”

Kyle moves promptly to my door. “Bye, baby. I’ll call you in a little while,” he says, just before he drops a kiss on my lips. I freeze with this.

My father’s glare could melt ice. Hastily, he retreats to his truck, not saying a word.

“Bye. I’ll talk to you later, Kyle. Thanks for the shake,” I say, before I pull away with my father right behind me.

I’m not even out of the car fully when Dad pulls up next to me. He’s out of his truck and clutching me by my arm, dragging me into the house. “Did you do that on purpose? Did you leave your lights on so you could go on a date with him?”

Mom looks up at us from her place on the sofa, yet another romance novel in her hands. This one has a man with long black hair riding a horse towards a red-headed damsel in distress.

So many damsels with problems in the old days.

My mother’s voice shrill, she asks, “What’s happened, David?”

Shaking me as he talks, he says, “This one here went out with Kyle. On a date!”

I wiggle against his grip, trying to get him to let me go, but he hangs on.

“Dad, that was no date. He was going to bring me home. We just stopped and got something to eat and drink, then we were coming straight back, unless you were going to let us go get a battery in Alamogordo.”

Finally, he lets my arm go. Crap, that hurt. I hope he didn’t leave a bruise.

I look it over as my mother comes to my side. She looks at the place on my arm he was holding so tight. It’s red, but I don’t think I’ll bruise.

I swear she looks worried.

“David, you didn’t need to handle her so roughly. You could’ve left marks on her. Then what would you have done?”

My father runs his hand over his face. “I don’t know. I didn’t think about that. The only thought in my mind was about her going against our rules, yet again. This has to stop, Alyssa. You’ve never done this. You’ve always followed the rules we’ve set. It’s so close and now you decide to go hog wild.”

“Hog wild!” I shout. “Wow! I mean, come on! I’m not an out-of-control teenager. The melodramatics need to come to a halt.” I move away from my mother’s hold on me, looking back at my father. I swear he looks more afraid than mad. “What are you so afraid of?”

My parents sit down on the sofa together. Dad holds Mom’s hand. Neither answer me for the longest amount of time.

My mother finally says, “Tomorrow we’ll have a visitor. He’s the son of one of our dear friends. He’ll be staying with us for a week. It’s just that we want none of our family problems to leak out in front of him. It would be an embarrassment to us if you had signs of physical abuse on you.”

How insane!

“Okay. I’m not hurt. I’m okay, you guys. You’ve never hurt me in my entire life. Yeah, Dad was a little rough, but he’s never been before. Who are these people who make you feel like our family has to be so perfect?”

Dad runs his hands through his hair. Again, I sense he’s nervous. “People we used to hang out with a lot before you were born. Very nice people. It’s not about them. It’s about us. This thing with you suddenly going against us has us confused. I suppose we’re coming off strange because this is so strange to us. We love you, Alyssa. Your happiness means everything to us. When I saw you all hugged up next to Kyle, I lost it.”

“If you want me to be happy, then stop this stuff about Kyle. I love him. I’m going to live with him, and God willing, one day I’ll marry him.” My words seem to make them pale even more. “Why are you taking this so hard? Kyle’s a great guy. You’ve always adored him.”

Dad clenches his fist. “We thought he was your friend. We love the kid as your friend. In time, you’ll come to see why we have our rules, Alyssa. Please don’t do this again until after you turn eighteen. Don’t run off alone with him. We want to trust you. Honestly, we do. But if you do this again, we’ll have no choice but to take your car away and give you a ride to and from school ourselves.”

Take my car away because of forty-five minutes with Kyle? Wow, this is passed bat-shit crazy!

“Fine, I’ll give you no reason to do that. I’ll be eighteen soon enough and get the hell out of here. I wish you could accept me as an adult. Who I want to have a relationship with is my business and mine alone. As long as he’s a good guy, that’s all that should matter to you. Kyle’s the best and you two know it. I’ll be in my room, but just so you know, I feel like I don’t even know who you guys are anymore.”

My legs are heavy as lead as I walk up the stairs to my room. I fall on my bed in utter exhaustion.

How can my parents be so hard? Kyle is so sweet and faithful. I know they see that in him. What is their problem?

My birthday can’t get here soon enough.

CHAPTER 6

EDEN

My heart’s beating hard in my chest. I’ll see her today. My mate will finally be with me. Not entirely. I must take it slow, but at least I’ll be able to touch her and hear her voice.

What she must sound like in person?

I’ve listened to her voice in the background a few times, over phone calls to her parents. The last time was five years ago. I’m sure it’ll sound different since she’s matured.

They told her I’m coming, but a different version of me.

What will she think of me? Will she look at me with interest or indifference? Is she going to be sweet to me or ignore me because of her other love interest? How will she smell? Will her hair be up or down? Will I be able to keep my hands off her?

The drive has been exceptional for me. The time to think and clear my mind of all the negatives which stab at my brain, has been awesome. Top down on the jag, I cruise down the highway, merely hours from seeing my Alyssa.

In school, she waits for class to be over. She’ll go home and soon I’ll be there with her. Together at last. How hard it’ll be not to blurt out everything to her.

My love for her will see me through and help me stay strong. I don’t want to overwhelm her. Tough though it will be, I’ll go slowly with her. Take the time for her to get to know me.

Funny how I never envisioned how a girl in this day and age would take to having to marry a man she barely knows. Our unique condition will help her to understand better than if we were normal humans.

She’ll need me once she changes, and I’ll need her. We have to be as one once that happens.

The time to change is so close. I’ve waited forever for it. This time together was supposed to be about me helping Alyssa get used to the idea of the change and what’s expected from us.

Instead, I have to take the time to get her over another man before I let her in on our condition.

How much does she love him, I wonder? How hard will she hang on to him?

Is it possible for her to find love for me while healing a broken heart?

CHAPTER 7

ALYSSA

The night passed and Kyle never called. I’m not sure why. He’s never done that before. Scotty jumps out of the jeep as I pull into the school’s parking lot.

Laura smiles at me as she waits on the steps. “Hey, Ally.”

“Good morning, Laura. Did you see Kyle before you came to school?”

“Not even one car was at his house this morning, and I was up at six. It looks like they all went somewhere.”

Now I’m starting to worry. “He was supposed to call me last night and never did. I know he was going to hang out at Trixie’s and play pool. Do you know if he came home after that?”

The door opens and Kyle’s best friend, Cody, comes out. His arms come around both of our shoulders. “Hello, ladies. So who can I walk to class this morning?”

We both shrug him off us. “Neither, stud,” Laura says with a laugh. “We’re walking together to our first class.”

“You heard from Kyle?” I ask him.

He walks away from us. Looking back to answer me, he says, “Not since last night.”

Kyle’s whole family is gone. This is not good.

***

The day went by like molasses, but I’m finally out of my last class. I drive straight to Kyle’s house. I’m pushing my luck with my parents, but I need to see if anyone went back to his house. Almost to his house, I can see the empty driveway.

Crap! What could’ve happened? Why is his whole family gone?

It has to be bad or he would’ve called.

Wait, my cell phone is at home, since my freaky parents don’t allow me to take it to school. Maybe he did call or send me a text.

Time to haul ass home.

***

Mom’s messing around in the kitchen when I walk in. “Mom, where’s my cell?”

“Hello to you too, Ally. It’s on the nightstand next to my side of the bed. Why?”

I’m halfway up the stairs as I call back to her, “Kyle might’ve called.” Grabbing the phone, I unplug the charger.

Please let there be a call from him. The blank screen deflates me.

No calls or texts!

Why would he not tell me at least a little about what’s going on? Is it him who has the family all gone? Maybe he was in an accident. What if he can’t talk?

His mother would never call me if he was. Why does she dislike me so much?

My head needs to be cleared. I’m going to take a run. That always helps. I’m sure he’s fine.

He has to be fine!

After changing into shorts and running shoes, I run down the stairs. “Going for a run, Mom.”

“Don’t forget we have company coming, Alyssa,” my mother calls out after me. “Don’t be too long. He should be here soon.”

The door closed behind me. I stretch before I take off. My parents have company coming, not me.

What do I care about some kid of their old friends?

My boyfriend and his family are missing. Down the steep drive I go, but then I stop. I should send Kyle a text. I grab my cell and tap out a quick one.

-Missed you at school today. Anything wrong?-

Okay, now that I’ve done all I can do to let him know I care about him and his whereabouts, I can run. The road in front of me has a few small hills. No flat roads around here.

Where could he be?

I shake my head to clear it. My heart’s pounding with worry. I’ve got to calm down.

He’s fine!

But what if he’s not? What if he had a wreck? What if he’s in a coma? Or worse? What if he’s dead?

The loud sound of a horn makes me stop and look up. Something passes so close to me, the wind from it knocks me back.

I’m falling!

Oh, God! I’m falling!

CHAPTER 8

EDEN

There it is. My mate’s house!

This is where she’s grown up. So very different from where I did. So quaint, this tall, two-story, tan, brick home is. The whole town of Cloudcroft is quaint, like something out of a book.

What must her life have been like?

Playing in the pretty park in the snowy winters. I can see her dressed in a white jacket, laughing as she watches her younger brother slide down the slopes.

Picnics must have been aplenty there in the summer. Perhaps she fished in the ponds which dot the area.

How will she take to the humid air in New Orleans? Will she hate it there?

The driveway is steep as I pull in. The mountain is gorgeous, as is the thick forest. So very different from the flat, swampy lands of Louisiana where I’ll be taking her to.

Will she ever come to love it as I do?

I wonder how she’ll take to living in a mansion.

The sound of my engine must have alerted Toni to my arrival. She’s waving as she comes out the green front door. “Eden, I’m so happy to see you.”

“Where is she?” I ask. Patience and politeness, it seems, have momentarily left me. “Sorry, how rude of me. How are you, Toni?”

Toni leans in my window. “That’s okay. I’m sure your nerves are on edge. She went for a run down the street. She usually runs just to the edge of town, then turns back. Why don’t you drive down and surprise her? I told her that you were just about to get here. Your gorgeous car is bound to get her attention, along with your devastatingly handsome face, I might add.”

Flattery. Yeah, it still gets to me. Pink has to be staining my cheeks.

“Do you think she’ll get in the car with me?”

How wonderful it will be if she sees me and instantly knows we have a connection, pre-destined to be one.

She pinches my cheeks like she’s done every time she sees me. “I’m not one hundred percent sure, but you can drive slowly next to her as she runs if she won’t. Kind of romantic, right?”

I assume some think that might be romantic. To me, it should be love at first sight. Complete trust right from the beginning would be nice.

A sudden knot forms in my stomach as I realize I’m minutes from seeing my mate, my Alyssa. “I’ll find her. This road here, right?”

A nod of her head sends me on my way. After all this time, I’m within walking distance of her. My hands are shaking on the steering wheel. Sweat forms on my brow.

A quick glance in the rear-view mirror shows glistening beads on my forehead. I reach for a handkerchief in the small compartment between the seats, dabbing at the droplets as I roll over one small hill after another. A small form moves on the road ahead of me.

Her long black hair is pulled up in a high ponytail and it swishes with every step. Narrow shoulders swing back and forth as she moves down the street.

I haven’t seen her face and already I know she’s beautiful. Her body sways elegantly with every movement she makes. She’s mesmerizing.

It’s her. My mate!

Everything is going in slow motion. I swear I can see every hair as it moves back and forth. The small ripples of sweat which trail down her thighs shine brightly in the evening sun.

As crazy as this might sound, I can smell her from here, with my windows and top down on my car. A mixture of vanilla and cinnamon, some lavender, and her own distinct light, musky scent.

What will she taste like?

The pounding in my chest almost deafens me. I must control myself or I’ll surely frighten her with my passion for her. She’ll think me a letch, or worse yet, a stalker.

Taking in a deep breath, I slow my car to a near stop, rolling only a bit. A dark shadow falls over me and I look up. Two giant black birds fly over my head. Both shriek at the same time. I have to cover my ears it’s so loud. They fly straight to my mate.

They are magnificent!

As my eyes follow their path just above my head another loud noise fills the air. A loud honking sound. Then I see where the birds are going and they’re nearly to her.

There’s a truck! No! No! Please, don’t let it hit her!

CHAPTER 9

ALYSSA

It’s dark. Something’s beeping. Who is that I hear talking?

A smooth, velvety voice asks somebody, “Will she be all right?”

A woman’s voice answers, “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She should wake up anytime now. There was no bleeding on her brain, just a slight concussion.”

Warmth fills me as someone touches my hand. “Alyssa, please wake up for me,” the same velvet voice says. That voice is beyond beautiful. French, perhaps, with a hint of something else. “Alyssa, baby, please wake up for me.”

Baby?

I have to see. To open my eyes proves harder than it should. What’s happened?

Lips brush my ear. The velvet voice says, “Je t’aime, Alyssa.” The hand on mine squeezes.

What the hell does that mean?

What language is that? Why didn’t I take something other than Spanish classes?

I must see who’s doing this. He’s too close. His mouth near enough to whisper in my ear is way to close. Okay, three, two, one. My eyes blink open.

Damn, everything’s blurry.

A tall shape hovers over me.

“There are those beautiful blue eyes. Keep them open for me, Alyssa,” the velvet voice speaks again.

In an attempt to rub my eyes, I pull a hand up, finding it hard, as there’s something attached to it. “What?”

My voice sounds terrible.

Something is held to my mouth and it touches my lips. A straw, maybe. I pop it into my mouth and pull on it. Water, thank you, God. I’m so thirsty.

The dark shape in front of me asks, “Is that better, baby?”

I nod, blinking more. Everything focuses. Dark brown hair is cropped close at the sides of his head and long on top. It’s gorgeous. His eyes are the color of emeralds. Dark, lush lashes surround them, making them even more beautiful. A perfect nose set between high cheek bones leads me to his full lips, the color of caramel. I wonder if they taste like that too.

Oh, what’s wrong with me?

“Who are you?” I ask as I gaze over his entire body, which is exquisite.

He’s dressed like a freaking fashion model. A white shirt underneath a black jacket, with slacks to match. I’m no fashion guru, but if I checked the label, I bet it would have the word Armani on it.

He has more muscles than I’ve ever seen in real life before.

What’s wrong with me? I’m with Kyle. It’s not right to look at this guy in this way.

He holds my hand in his as he sits on the bed next to me.

He’s my doctor, that’s who he is. Yeah, he has to be a doctor.

“I’m Eden Fontaine, Alyssa.”

“My name, how do you know it?”

His hand leaves mine to reach into his pocket. He holds up my cell phone, placing it on the table next to the bed.

“I saw what happened to you. I was coming down the road behind you when I saw you almost get hit by a truck. You fell backwards and knocked yourself out. Don’t worry. I called your parents and told them I was taking you to the hospital.”

My parents!

“Where are they?” I ask, trying to sit up, but he pushes my shoulders, making me lie back.

“You can’t move fast like that, Alyssa. You have a concussion. It’s not the worst thing which could’ve happened to you, but it’s still something that will slow you down for a little while. Didn’t your parents tell you my name?”

Huh?

“Why? I mean, how? What?”

The puzzled expression he gives me confuses me even further. “They told you about me, right?”

I shake my head, only once, though, because that really hurt. “Why would they?”

The frown on his totally handsome face is a sinful thing to see. Only happy expressions should show on that face. “I’m the son of their old friends.”

He’s the kid who’s staying the week with us? Damn, damn, damn!

He does not look like a kid. Not at all. He looks like a grown-ass man. A hot as hell grown-ass man.

“Oh, that guy. They said you were coming today, but they never told me your name. Sorry. I went and knocked myself out. I’m okay now. Can you tell the doctor to come in and let me go home?”

The shaking of his head makes the longer hair on top bounce a bit. It’s beautiful. Damn, I have to stop looking at him. He’s just so damn perfect. His muscles are bulky under the fabric that hides them from me. Mom could have mentioned that little fact to me.

I hope Kyle won’t be threatened by this guy. I mean, he’s completely hot, but my heart belongs to my Kyle.

“You have to stay the night. They want to keep you under observation for twenty-four hours before they’ll let you go home,” he informs me.

Crap!

“Are my parents on their way here?”

“They told me to stay with you.” His words take the air out of my lungs.

What the hell?

“Do you mean until they get here?”

My stomach clenches as he runs his fingers lightly along my collar bone to my shoulder. “The blue bruise on your shoulder must hurt. I hate to see that on your perfect ivory skin.” His voice sounds far away as he gazes at my shoulder.

Perfect ivory what? Damn it! This guy is something else.

“Umm, Mr. Fontaine, about my parents.”

The jerk of his head as he looks back at me shows me the frown he’s wearing. “No, Mr. Fontaine, Alyssa. Call me Eden, I insist. About your parents, I’ve told you. They told me to stay with you. I’ll be with you until the doctor releases you.”

He’ll be staying here? All night long? With me?

I want my mommy!

“That’s hard to believe. I need to call my mother. Can you hand me the phone?”

My cell phone is picked up and placed back in his pocket as he says, “I had to turn it off. No cell phones allowed in here. I promise they’re completely aware of everything. They’ll be at home, waiting for you tomorrow.”

This has to be some kind of joke, or a misunderstanding, or a completely fucked up situation. “My parents are incredibly over-protective. There’s no way they’d want a man spending the night with me anywhere.”

Back by my side, he sits on the bed, brushing my hair back. “They trust me, as should you, Alyssa.”

The way he talks is so formal. Normally, I’d think him stuffy and slightly arrogant. Somehow he pulls it off.

He has an untamed look to him, though he speaks as if he’s been very well educated and refined. “Where’d you come from, Eden?”

The way his lips turn up into a smile makes my heart rate increase, something we both observe as the beeps of the machine speed up.

How embarrassing!

“New Orleans.”

“So that’s the accent, then?” It’s a mix of southern and French and its smooth and deep. Sexier than should be legal!

My hair seems to fascinate him. His fingers twirl it. And though I should stop him, I don’t want to.

“Some of it. My father’s French and he grew up there. When he met my mother, who’s from New Orleans, he moved to the United States. I’ve spent most summers in France. We have a home in Paris. We speak entirely in French when we’re there. Do you speak any other language?”

Why does he peer so intensely into my eyes?

“No,” I answer.

Cupping the back of my neck, as if he’s about to pull me up and kiss me, he says, “We must remedy that.”

I can’t let him do that, so I frown. “I’m not sure what you mean by that. My parents may not have let you in on the fact I have a boyfriend. It’s serious. I’m moving to Texas with him in about two weeks.”

Something flashes in those deep green eyes as he moves his hand away from me.

Was that anger?

“They’ve told me.” His words are soft, unlike the look his eyes had for a split second. “By the way, where is he?”

I wish I knew.

“Busy, I guess.” My heart thumps hard against my chest. This is also brought to his attention as the machine’s beeps stagger a bit before they return to normal.

Damn, I’m glad we don’t have to wear one of these things in our daily lives. Nothing would be left to the imagination.

The hand he runs over my cheek makes my stomach clench and my heart race.

Damn machine!

“Alyssa, if you were mine, je ne ferais jamais vous laisser seul. It’s a fact that he hasn’t contacted you since yesterday. Is it not?”

How is he aware of that? I’ve told no one but Laura.

I pull his hand away from my cheek. It’s very distracting. “First thing, what did you say to me? The use of English is probably a much better idea if you’d like me to be able to hold a conversation with you. Although it sounds gorgeous, for all I know, you’ve just told me I look fat in this awful hospital gown. Next thing, how do you know how long it’s been since I talked to Kyle?”

Standing abruptly, he turns away. “So that’s his name.”

What the hell is it with this guy? He’s awfully dramatic. Is this how all the people from New Orleans act?

“Yes, that’s my boyfriend’s name. So how about answering my questions?”

Turning back to me, his eyes burn into mine. “What I said was that I would never leave you alone. The other thing you asked was told to me by the girl who came to see you while you were still unconscious. She said you must’ve been distracted by your boyfriend’s disappearance since you hadn’t talked to him since yesterday. I think she told me her name was Lauren. Your mother told her you were here.”

“Laura, her name’s Laura. Is she still here?”

“She had to leave. It got late,” he says as he takes a seat on my bed again. “It’s after midnight. You were out for a long time. I was very worried.”

Really? I don’t see how.

“Why? I mean, you don’t know me?”

“Must you know a person to worry about their health?” His question makes me feel like an ass for asking him such a thing.

In an attempt to be more cordial, I say, “Sorry. I’m crabby, I guess. You’re so nice and must be very compassionate. It’s rude of me to ask you such questions. So what has you visiting our tiny town?”

Hesitant, he finally answers. “I’m on my way to Los Angeles and thought it would be nice to take some time here to visit your family. Our parents were very close. I’m curious about the people my parents care so much for.”

The way his eyes move slowly around the room makes him appear distracted. “What are you going to Los Angeles for?”

My voice gets his attention and he looks back at me. Trailing his fingers lightly over my arm, leaving it tingling, he says, “Just business. Nothing worth talking about.”

I should make him stop touching me. Yet the words refuse to come out. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. It’s as if electricity flows between us in a way I could’ve never imagined.

Is it weird to feel like you know someone you’ve just met?

CHAPTER 10

EDEN

Beautiful even in her sleep, my eyes refuse to leave her face. No sleep will find me on this night as I can at long last gaze upon her.

The pictures I have of her do her no justice. Her voice is even more delightful than I imagined it would be. It’s the slightest bit high, while smooth as silk and completely intoxicating. She is perfection.

I resist the urge to touch her. I don’t want to wake her. How I’ll be able to keep my hands off her, I don’t know. She clings to the idea of her love for that boy, yet I know she can sense our connection.

The air between us fills with sparks of electricity. I’ve never had this sensation. She has to sense it as well. Even as she sleeps, she holds fast to my hand. I want to brush my lips to hers so much it fills me with a tension I knew nothing of before her. It’s as if nothing existed until now.

How I was before, being only half of a whole. Now that I can breathe the same air she does I’m beginning to feel more myself. Odd to not have ever noticed it before. It’s certain once she falls in love with me, I’ll be a whole being for the first time in my life.

How do I get her to fall in love with me?

I have no idea how to do that. At the very least, I’m glad that boy hasn’t shown up here. Toni should’ve never told that girl of Alyssa’s accident. Now he could find out and show up.

Everything would’ve been different if I had just kept Alyssa with me. I suppose it’s useless to be mad at myself for past mistakes, but it boils in my brain.

My mother warned me and I blew her off. So smart, I thought I was. Now I look back and see that as extreme vanity.

Since I can remember, I pictured the moment Alyssa first saw me. She would love me, no matter what or how many years passed. That didn’t happen. She didn’t know me at all.

While my heart skipped several beats when her eyes opened, hers did not. I know this because of the heart monitor she’s hooked up to. It sped up a couple of times when I touched her, though. It’s obvious she’s already feeling something for me, if only physical for now. I can deal with that.

How will she take the news of her condition?

The small amount of conversation we’ve had leaves me to believe she thinks herself completely normal. Though she is far from it.

What does she see when she looks in the mirror? How does she not see her beauty is extraordinary? How could that boy have not told her as much?

That boy! How I’d like to send him from this Earth! He must’ve treated her like an ordinary girl, wanting to take her to Texas. And for what?

Was she to play his mistress while he goes to college, leaving her home to cook and clean? He would have taken her innocence without the sanctity of marriage, leaving her soul at the discretion of Our Creator. Then who knows what would’ve become of her immortal soul.

Though it’s no one’s fault but my own, I’d still like to see his face at the end of my fist, if only a time or two. A bloodied lip, perhaps, or a crooked nose, making him appear unattractive. Alyssa would hate me, though. No amount of self-indulgence would be worth that.

Her head stirs, turning towards me. Small blinks and then there they are—her gorgeous sapphire eyes. “Hi,” I say in a whisper.

Her lips curve into a sleepy smile.

She’s smiling at me, glad to see me still here, I hope.

“You’re awake.” Her voice is scratchy. I grab the cup of water and place the straw to her bottom lip. Holding my breath, I steady my hand, which threatens to tremble with the need to touch those lips. Readily, she takes a drink.

“I’m not tired, Alyssa. Glad you slept, though.”

The corners of her eyes wrinkle as she frowns. “You should’ve gone back to the house and slept.”

As if I could ever leave her side!

“I’m fine,” I say. “I wanted to be here for you. Hospitals can be a scary place when you’re all alone. I would hate for you to be afraid for even a second.”

Though beautiful in sleep, she is devastating when she’s awake.

She moves a bit, trying to sit up, and winces. “The pain meds are wearing off. My head hurts so badly.”

“I’ll press the button and get someone to get you some more. I’m not going to have you in pain.”

The smile on her face as I press the button shows I’m making progress with her. “Thank you.” Her words fall on my ears soft and sweet.

I can’t take it anymore. I have to touch her. Almost without any will at all, my hand travels the distance to her cheek. Soft beneath my hand, I stroke it. How badly I want to kiss her and make the pain go away.

“If I could take it all away I would.” My words flow out before I realize it.

With a softness in her eyes, she says, “You’re so kind. Why are you so nice to me? You should be home, sleeping, but you’re here with me. Why?”

Because you’re the love of my life. My mate for eternity.

Instead of that, I say, “This is where I want to be, Alyssa. Here, with you. I don’t wish to be anywhere else.”

Her brow furrows. “I need you to remember I have a boyfriend, Eden.” Her words punch me and a nurse walks in, getting between us as she inserts a needle into Alyssa’s IV. I could use a shot of that to numb this pain.

The nurse turns to me. “This will knock her out again for a few hours. You should get some rest, Mr. Fontaine. I can bring in a roll away bed for you.”

I wave her off. “I’ll sleep once I get her back home.”

Alyssa giggles, making me turn to look back at her. “I feel funny,” she says with another giggle, which I find myself captivated by.

“It’s the morphine,” the nurse says. “Alyssa, you can let your fiancé lie down with you if you want.”

The nurse’s use of the word fiancé has me worried Alyssa will let out my little white lie to the hospital staff. So I hurry the nurse out the door as Alyssa has a fit of the giggles once more.

“Thanks. I’ll do it if I get tired,” I tell the nurse.

Back at her side, I see tears streaming down her cheeks as she laughs. “She thought you were my fiancé. How funny is that, Eden? She thinks I should let you lie in this bed with me! Ha, how crazy?”

Okay, it’s not so crazy she has to laugh so hard tears flow out of her eyes!

I pull the blanket up and tuck her in snugly. “Okay, it’s not that funny, Alyssa.”

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she stifles the laughter. While captivating, it’s a bit annoying she can find so much humor in us being engaged.

“It’s just the thought of you and me together like that. Well, come on. You’re so classy and well-mannered and drop-dead gorgeous. And I’m, well, I’m none of those things,” she says, and it breaks my heart she doesn’t realize how wonderful she is.

She is all of those things and more.

My fingers trail along her delicate collar bone. I’d like to trail kisses there instead, but I settle for this. Her reaction is clear as the heart monitor beeps faster. I do affect her, even with a good dose of morphine in her system.

“You are beyond gorgeous, Alyssa. Never have my eyes laid upon a woman as perfect as you are.”

A dreamy look comes over her. “You sound like the romance novel I read the other day. The hero who saved the damsel in distress. You sound like him. You’re my hero, aren’t you?”

I lean close to her, my lips touch her ear, and I say, “I’d like to be. If you would let me. All you have to do is ask and I’ll be yours.”

The sound of her steady breathing makes me look at her. Her eyes are closed and she’s fast asleep.

I wonder if she heard me.

CHAPTER 11

ALYSSA

Weight upon my stomach beckons me to find out what’s causing the pressure. Dark brown waves highlighted with strands of gold fill my eyes. A squeeze of my hand finds it in the one’s whose head lies on me.

His name? What was his name?

Damn this bump on my head. It hurts and leaves me stupid. What time can it be? When can I leave this place?

Why is he still here?

Oh yeah, how could I’ve forgotten? He’s staying with us for a week. He’s my parents’ friends’ son. And he’s lying on my stomach for reasons I can’t understand.

Why didn’t he go home and sleep?

The warmth of his breath goes right through the thin sheet and hospital gown between us. The dark waves of his hair are mesmerizing. I must touch them, but I’ll surely wake him if I do. I can’t stop myself. Gently, I plow my fingers into the thickness, finding it the softest thing I’ve ever felt.

He moaned! Oh, crap!

Pulling my hand back, I feign sleep. The weight is gone from my stomach. He’s sat back up. The sound of his footsteps as he walks across the floor, then the sound of the door closing, lets me know it’s safe to open my eyes. And he’s gone.

Why does that make my stomach hurt?

What must I look like? At least the bed moves up on its own with the push of a button. I barely have to move at all to sit up. I pull the table over and open it to find a hairbrush and a mirror, among a few other things.

My reflection surprises me. My hair’s been combed out and my face is shiny, as if it’s been washed. How hard was I sleeping?

I also find a small bottle of mouthwash. I swish some around in my mouth and spit it in the empty cup on the nightstand. That is so much better.

God, I’m starving. Why didn’t they ever bring me anything to eat?

The door opens and in he walks.

Why does he have to be so damn handsome? Eden! That’s his name—Eden Fontaine!

His smile lights up the entire room. “Hey, sleepy head,” he says with that crazy hot accent.

He has a tray in his hands. I hope it’s for me. “What did you bring?”

He places it on the table in front of me. “I asked your doctor if you could eat now and he said yes. When he showed me what the cafeteria was planning on feeding you, I said not to give you that disgusting mess. So I went down myself and picked out a few things that looked a bit better.”

He pulls the lid off, exposing brightly colored strawberries which sit on top of some yummy-looking oatmeal. I smile up at him. I love oatmeal. “Did Mom tell you about my oatmeal fetish?”

The shake of his head surprises me. “I thought this looked good and healthy. I’m a bit of an oatmeal lover myself. Seems we have something in common.”

“I see,” I say. We must be on the same wavelength or something. “I hope you ate too.”

Trailing his hand up my arm, he watches it until it reaches my shoulder, then his eyes land on mine. “I did,” he says. “I had to make sure it was good enough for you to eat before I brought it to you.”

Wow! How fucking thoughtful this guy is. Never have I met someone like him. Too bad I already have someone. Which reminds me—where is my beloved anyway?

“It was extremely thoughtful of you to do this for me. You’re the best, Eden,” I say, hoping to let him know he’s a great guy, but we can only be friends.

I hope Kyle likes him and we can all hang out this week.

He pushes the button on the bed, bringing me up to a better sitting position. His other hand is running through my hair, pushing it from my face. The fact he touches me so much may put Kyle off. I’ll have to talk to Eden about it before the two meet.

“You eat while I find something to watch on the television,” he says, taking a seat in the chair next to my bed.

“What time is it? Maybe Teen Mom is on. I hate the show so much I love it, you know what I mean?”

He chuckles. It’s soft and flows effortlessly through the air. “I do not know what you mean at all. But if my princess wants to watch trash TV, who am I to stop her.”

He called me his princess. Man, we have to get this straight, and quickly. “Eden, maybe you shouldn’t call me things like princess and baby. I hope we can all be friends. I’d like you to hang out with me and my boyfriend and our friends this week. But if you talk to me like that and touch me like you’ve been doing, it won’t work out.”

The look on his face makes me sorry I said anything. “I’m sorry if I’m offending you, Alyssa. If you want me to stop touching you, I will. If you don’t like how I talk to you, I’ll modify it. But please only ask me to do those things if it’s you who’s uncomfortable with them, not anyone else.”

Okay, what the hell does that mean?

“It’s not that I don’t like it. I mean, hell, who doesn’t like being called sweet names? My boyfriend, though, he might get uncomfortable, and that would make me feel badly. You understand, don’t you, Eden?” I take a bite of my oatmeal to find it tastes heavenly, with just the right amount of sweetness. “Mmm, really great oatmeal. Thank you so much.”

The cock of his eyebrow draws my attention as he reaches for my hand, sending chills through me.

Why does his touch do this to me?

“He’s not here right now, Alyssa. It’s only you and I, so can I still touch you and talk to you how I want to?” His deep green eyes twinkle at me.

Sure, he can do anything he wants. Kyle’s not here after all. I blink to clear the dreamy gaze I must surely have off my face. “I guess so.”

What have I done? Is this a type of cheating? Am I a damn cheater?

When his lips touch the hand he has in his, I almost faint. My head is so light it’s as if I could fly. “Thank you, Alyssa, my sweet princess,” he says, low and sexy.

Crap, crap, crap! I am a cheater because I am loving this way too much.

“Eden, you’re too much. Stop teasing me,” I say with a giggle, because he has to be messing with me.

Eden moves to sit on the bed in front of me. The remote sits on the chair, so no television right now, I guess. He picks up the spoon I’ve laid in the bowl. Dipping it in the oatmeal, he brings it to my lips.

“Less talking and more eating, please. You need to get your strength back,” he says as he places the spoon between my lips, which readily open for him.

Traitorous lips!

Who knew being fed oatmeal could cause a fire to grow in your lower regions? But it can.

Bite after bite, he feeds me, stopping to hold the cup of water with the straw in it for me to drink from in between bites. The bowl is empty before I know it. He dabs at my mouth with a paper napkin.

Leaning his head down, his lips touch my ear as his words flow warmly over it. “I’m not teasing you, Alyssa.” My damn tattletale machine beeps like crazy as my entire body blushes.

This is bad!

CHAPTER 12

EDEN

This is pure torture, having to wait in this small waiting room while the doctor and nurse hurt my poor mate. If we were married, I could’ve stayed while they took all the tubes out of her body.

Her eyes held fear as they explained how they must remove the horrible catheter. Then they sent me out like I’m nothing.

The squeak of the door to her room draws my attention. Yes, there they go, done bothering my sweet princess. I hurry to her with the bag of clothes her mother brought. Pushing the door open, I see her pale face.

“Are you okay?”

Her face is pale as she answers, “Not really, but everything had to come out of me and it was not pleasant in the least. I feel a bit sick to my stomach, but I’ll be fine.”

Rubbing her shoulder, I run my hand down her arm, stopping where the IV has left a bruise on her hand. I gently rub my thumb over it. “My poor Alyssa,” I say, as my eyes go to hers. “You’ll be better soon. This will all be behind us.”

Her plump red lips lift to one side. “Us?”

“You, I mean,” I say, finding the slip up amusing. I laugh, which makes her smile.

Maybe she likes my laugh as much as I like hers.

“What’s in the bag, Romeo?” she asks as she reaches for it.

I hand it over. “Your mother brought them early this morning. She found us both asleep and left them with the charge nurse. Its clothes for you to put on so we can go home.”

Her expression becomes riddled with confusion. “Mom came and didn’t wake me up! How crazy is that? I mean, I’m aware you don’t know my parents, but that’s insane. Why in the hell do they trust you so damn much?”

With a shrug of my shoulders, I say, “Couldn’t tell you. Now get dressed while I sign whatever it is they need me to, and come out when you’re ready. Then we can get on the road.”

Leaving her with the bag, I walk away, but turn back to her, gripping her chin in my hand. “The little black box is from me, though. You should put it on too. I’m dying to see how it looks on you.” Then I leave the room, slightly giddy with the knowledge thatshe must have thought I was about to kiss her, because she leaned in a bit with parted lips.

I lean against the wall next to her hospital room door. She’s taking a while. It must be hard for her to dress herself. I would go help her, but I doubt she’d let me. She might have let me kiss her before I left the room, though. That’s a step in the right direction.

When the door opens, she takes a weak step forward. She holds onto the handle like it’s holding her up. “Wow, I’m dizzy and weak. This is crazy.”

I wrap my arm around her waist, making her lean against my side. “Let me help you, Alyssa,” I command as I look her over to be sure she’s really okay to leave.

She looks fine, just weak. And there’s the necklace I gave her, hanging just below her collar bone. I hold the small silver bird with sapphires for its eyes between my fingers. “Do you like it?”

“I do, thank you. It’s really beautiful. You didn’t have to do that, though,” she says as she looks up at me, making my heart break for her. Such a tiny thing, and hurt. It’s almost unbearable.

“I wanted to. Now let’s get you home,” I say as I smile down at her, then brush a stray piece of hair from her face.

A nurse comes to us with a wheelchair. “Mr. Fontaine, you go get your car and meet me at the entrance. I’ll take her down in the wheelchair. It’s hospital policy, sir.”

I place her in the chair, although I’m reluctant to walk away from her. Then I hurry out to get my car.

The sight of her in the wheelchair makes my stomach churn. I never want to see that again. Except maybe when she’s carrying our babies in her arms.

As I wait at the entrance for her, a tall, black truck barrels into the parking lot.

What must his emergency be?

I watch him jump from the entirely-too-tall vehicle and run at break-neck speed into the hospital.

I hope no one’s died!

As my eyes follow the poor distraught guy, I see the elevator doors open, and there’s my Alyssa, with her nurse pushing her out. I get out of the car to help her in.

As I walk around, opening the passenger side door I hear a man’s voice shout, “Ally!”

I turn to find the tall blonde man who rushed in picking my mate up from the wheelchair. My blood is boiling, and in an instant I’ve made it to them.

Running my arm around her waist, I pull her from him. “Alyssa!” I growl.

“Eden, this is Kyle. My Kyle. The one I told you about. Kyle, this is Eden, a friend of my parents’, in a way,” she says.

Her body leans into mine, only because she hasn’t the strength to hold it up on her own.

The nurse clears her throat. “Please sit her back down in the chair. I must wheel her all the way out to the car. It’s hospital policy.” I place her back down in the chair and send a harsh glance at the boy.

“I’m taking her home,” he says.

Like hell, he is!

I follow the nurse and say, “My car is right there. She’s going with me.”

He walks next to Alyssa as he speaks to her. “Tell him, Ally. Tell him you want to go with me.”

The pain medication has her a bit loopy. She looks ahead at my car, a faint smile on her lips. “Hmm. I’m sorry, Kyle. Do you see that badass ride? Is that a jaguar?”

Kyle looks up at the car. “Yeah, but, Al, tell him you’re coming with me.”

Stopping at my car, the nurse gives me a look that tells me to take this elsewhere. Which I plan to do, but the jackass just took my mate’s hand in his, lifting her up. And now he’s hugging her, whispering something in her ear.

She’s mine!

I want to yell it at the top of my lungs. Instead, I wrap my arm around her and pry her away from him. “Her father knows I’m taking her home. He wouldn’t be pleased if I allowed her to go with anyone else,” I say as I open the door and help her into my car. “I suggest you take it up with him if you’d like to see her once she’s home.” I strap her seat belt, then stand back up, facing the boy.

“See you at home, Kyle.” Alyssa smiles and waves. Before I turn and close the door, I hear her say, “This car smells magnificent. Is this real leather?”

I move around the car as the boy gives me an extremely confused look. “Who the hell are you, dude?” he asks.

I don’t bother to answer him. Once in the car, I drive away. Alyssa watches him through the rear-view mirror.

“That went poorly,” she says. “Why did you snatch me away from him? I told you who he was. I know dad wanted me to ride home with you. It wasn’t like I was going to go with him. A minute or two to explain things to him would’ve been nice.”

Pure anger flows through my veins. I grip the steering wheel. “Alyssa, have you no anger towards him? His lack of communication made you so distracted you nearly got yourself killed.”

Alyssa’s head leans on the leather headrest. She turns her head to look at me. “It isn’t his fault I let myself get into such a tizzy over not hearing from him for a while. Not even a whole day had passed, and I was all upset like a crazy person. Don’t be mad at him.”

“Well, I am. If you were mine, I’d never go somewhere without letting you know,” I say. “If it was important, I would want you with me. He left you alone and neglected to call or leave a damned text message. That’s inexcusable in my book.”

Her arms cross over her chest, a clear sign she’s not happy with me right now. “Well, I’m not yours. I’m his. So you’ll have to get over it if you want to be my friend, Eden. Kyle and I are a package deal.”

I have to put this anger away. It’s pushing her from me. Her words are like stones being thrown at my head. The idea of telling her who she really is does battle with the idea of bringing her around to that reality slowly. She’s in no condition to receive the information.

Much calmer now, I reach over, dragging my knuckles across her cheek. “I’m sorry, Alyssa. I don’t know what got into me. I want us to get along. Anything to make my princess happy.” I smile over at her. Her arms uncross and she lays her head back.

“Good,” she says, closing her eyes. “This is the softest leather I’ve ever felt. Does the top come down?”

Good, she’s loving my car. I knew she would. “It does, but I’m not dropping the top today. Once you’re better, I’ll take you for a ride with the top down.”

Blinking back visions of her sitting in the passenger side, her silky hair flowing around her gorgeous face, I’m hard in places I’m supposed to be steering clear of with her for now.

The thump in my chest is back. I look at her in the bright sunlight. She’s here with me. It’s reality, not a dream. Her hand looks so inviting lying in her lap. I take it in mine, stroking her knuckles with my thumb. It does little to ease the tightness in my pants, but I don’t mind.

Without opening her eyes, she says, “When Kyle comes over, none of this, okay?”

When Kyle comes over. That’ll be never!

“Agreed, baby.”

CHAPTER 13

ALYSSA

After all the theatrics, Kyle hasn’t even shown up. Mom refuses to give me my cell because I need to be resting. It’s Saturday night, and I was supposed to get to go watch his band play for a while, but now I can’t.

With no cell, I can’t even call him to let him know I won’t be there. He’ll be crushed, I guess.

My bedroom serves as my new prison, albeit a nice one. But still I’m held against my will. Mom helped me bathe, which was embarrassing. I couldn’t do it myself, though. And I overheard her tell Eden the strangest thing. She asked him if she should help me, as if it was up to him.

What they have going on is mind numbing, and my mind is already a bit on the bad side anyway. Thanks to the magic pills they sent home with me, I have no pain, but man, am I out of it.

Eden either carries me or holds me so tight to his side that I’m almost a part of him. Which ain’t so bad. Except I’m not proud of myself for liking it.

I hear footsteps in the hallway. “Hey!” I shout, wanting some company.

Scotty pops open my door, sticking his head in. “Hey, sis, what’s up?”

“I’m bored and lonely.”

“Cool. I’ll get my Xbox and you can play games with me. That ought to un-bore you,” he says, taking off before I can tell him I’d rather be covered in chocolate and left on an ant hill.

Mom must have seen him coming back up the stairs with his idiot box. “Where are you going with that? You know you’re not allowed to have that thing in your room. You’ll never sleep if we allow it.”

“Mom, chill, I’m taking to Al’s. She’s bored and lonely. She told me to.”

“Take that thing right back downstairs. She can’t have that kind of noise in her condition. It was nice of you to offer. I’ll tell her I sent you away.”

I mouth a silent thank you to God for the intervention. My door opens and Mom comes in with a smile on her face. “Well, don’t you look lovely, all propped up in bed with your precious unicorn PJs on.”

Yes, she’s dressed me in pajamas from seventh grade. She must’ve found them in the back of my drawer. The fact that they fit isn’t even plausible. I think she picked them for me just to make me look twelve in front of Eden.

Plus, she put my hair in a braid after she washed it. Some braces and I’d look like a nerdy sixth grader at a sleepover. “Yeah Mom, I look like a million bucks. Can I please call Kyle and let him know I won’t be there tonight?”

Her hands go to her hips and her head lolls to one side. “Now, dear, he knows you have a concussion. I’m sure he doesn’t expect you to be there.”

“Probably not, but I’d like to talk to him anyway. He and Eden had a little thing at the hospital and I want him to know it’s all cool.”

“Do you realize what time it is, sweetie?”

It’s dark, but I’ve no idea of the time. “Why?”

Crossing the room, she grabs the remote to my television. “Because it’s nearly nine. I’m sure he’s already playing,” she says as she hands it to me.

She’s right, damn it!

“I’m still bored and lonely, Mom. Come watch a movie with me,” I plead.

“No can do, sweetie. Your father and I have a hot date in the backyard. There’s a meteor shower tonight. I’ll send Eden up, He’ll be happy to watch a movie with you,” she says, then flounces out the door.

She’s sending Eden into my bedroom now? What in the hell is going on?

Flipping on the TV, I search the guide for a movie. I’ve woken up in the twilight zone, or perhaps aliens have invaded and my parents are now pod people. Not sure which, but something isn’t right.

A slight rap on the frame of my bedroom door brings my attention to it. There he stands, waiting for me to allow him in. He’s showered and changed into loose-fitting, black pajama bottoms, a white T-shirt, and bare feet. My gaze rests on them.

Yep, just like I thought. His feet are perfect, just like everything else on him.

Eden’s velvet voice draws my attention back to his gorgeous face. “So are you going to invite me in, Alyssa? Your mother has informed me of your boredom. I’m here for your amusement, princess.”

With open arms, I say, “Please enter my prison, Eden.”

His chuckle is cute as he moves fluidly across the room, taking a seat on the bed, facing me. In an instant, his knuckles drag across my cheek, making my breath catch in my throat.

Why does his touch do this to me?

“How do you feel, baby?”

Princess and baby in a matter of seconds. He knows how to say the sweet words. My smile is a product of them. “The same. Light headed and groggy.”

His hand creeps up my arm, settling at the back of my neck. He pulls me forward, touching his lips to my forehead.

God, his lips are soft!

Moving his hands to my shoulders, with gentle pressure he eases me back to lay my head on the pile of pillows my mother has placed on my bed.

“If your head is light you shouldn’t be sitting up,” he tells me.

The emerald color of his eyes is the most beautiful color I’ve ever seen. Or is it my drug induced state which makes me see them this way?

“Your eyes are gorgeous.”

OMG! Did I just say that out loud?

His velvet voice is but a whisper. “They are nothing compared to yours, precious.”

Now I can add precious to the list of endearments this guy has in his vocabulary of loving words. Perhaps he’s a ladies’ man.

His charm may have worked magic on my parents, but I’m savvier than they are. It will not work on me.

“Stop messing with me, Eden.” I bat at his arms, which I find have been placed on either side of me, his face too close to mine.

A sigh from him gives me enough information to know he wants to kiss me. I can’t let that happen. In slow motion, he pulls himself out of my personal space.

“Do you have to accuse me of messing with you? I’m merely stating a fact. Your beauty is beyond compare. You should know that.”

“Ha! What a line, Eden. Tell me do all the girls fall into your bed with that one?”

The pained expression on his face makes me regret my words. “No one has ever fallen into my bed, Alyssa. I am made for one person and one person only.”

No way! I’m not buying that. “Please lover-boy! Tell me more of your lines. They are priceless. And just who is this one person you’re made for? Do tell.”

In haste, he moves off my bed. The bottle of pain pills sits on my nightstand. He opens it taking out one of them.

Holding out the pill and a bottle of water, he looks at me with what appears like hurt in his eyes and says, “Your mother told me to make sure you take this. So please do that for her.”

His face is blank, making me feel like an ass. I take what he’s offered and swallow the pill down. I’ve never talked to someone so meanly.

Why did I just do that?

“Eden, I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I never talk to people like that. You get so close to me sometimes that I think you’re about to kiss me. Some things I can’t allow. I am taken. You need to remember that,” I say and find he’s placed his hand over his stomach.

He seems as if he’s in physical pain. Why would that be?

His expression softens as he takes a seat in a chair which has been placed next to my bed. A chair which has never been there before.

“I remember, Alyssa. You belong to that boy. The one who plays with his band tonight instead of sitting with you and making sure you have everything you want. The one who is probably singing to some other girl while you lay in this bed with an aching head and body, because he left town with no mention of it to you.”

Taking the remote to the television from the side of my bed, he presses a button on it, choosing a movie. The Notebook springs up on the screen.

Incensed, I sit up and say, “How dare you, Eden! You don’t know him at all! He’s the best guy in this whole world. He has waited for me since we were ten years old. No one else has turned his head, not once in almost eight years. How it hasn’t happened, since I’ve been kept under lock and key with a plethora of over-the-top rules and regulations is a mystery to me. But he hasn’t, and he’s had every opportunity to find someone else. I will not let you or anyone else speak negatively about him.”

Rising, he places his hands on my shoulders easing me back again. “Sorry, I upset you. That was not my intention. I shall keep my thoughts to myself. If it helps you to know, I was not trying to kiss you. I would never do that to you. Just rest, Let the pill do its job and watch this movie with me. It’s one of my favorites.”

Tucking me in tightly before he takes a seat in the chair again, his eyes fall on the television screen. I feel shut out. My rant has made him tire of me.

We’ll never be friends if I keep jumping to conclusions. For some reason, I would hate it if we couldn’t become friends.

It’s a mystery to me why that is, but I want him in my life. Even though we’ve just met, I would miss him.

The silence surrounds us for an hour as we watch the movie. It comes to my attention most men don’t care for romantic tear jerkers, like the movie we’re watching.

As a matter of fact, most men wouldn’t be so attentive to a girl they’ve just met. He dresses like a fashion model and his hair is always immaculate.

My parents trust him to spend time alone with me. Hell, he even told me he would never kiss me. That’s it! He’s gay!

The click of the television breaks my train of thought. Eden rises, coming to my side, making sure I’m comfortable.

“What a sweet way to pass on to the next world. Don’t you think?”

Oh, the movie. He wants to talk about the movie. Yeah, straight guys never want to talk about a sappy love story.

“I suppose it would be the best way to go,” I say. “If you were all in love like they were.”

Turning off the lamp next to my bed, Eden kisses his fingers, then places them on my cheek. I find it a sweet thing to do.

“One day, may that kind of love find you, princess.” He retreats to the bedroom door.

“Goodnight, Eden,” I say as he closes the door behind him.

I can’t see his face in the dark, but I bet he’s smiling. “See you in the morning, baby.”

Too bad he’s not into girls. He’s a rare find. Laura might’ve liked him. If I wasn’t already spoken for, I’m sure I’d like him.

He’d be hard to say no to, though. Crap, he’s hot. Such a shame for all the eligible girls in the world.

CHAPTER 14

EDEN

Alone in the kitchen, I make a plate of scrambled eggs and toast for my mate. I’ve sent Toni and David out to buy some things for her. I’m making dinner for her this evening.

Our chef taught me how to prepare a lobster dinner for her. It’s her favorite and should help me win her over. After all, what female doesn’t like a man who can cook, and her favorite meal, no less?

Last night she gave me such a tongue lashing over how I spoke of that boy. I have to be careful what I say about him. She’s fiercely protective of him.

Her love for him must be strong and it makes me incredibly imbalanced. I struggle between sorrow for her soon to be broken heart and anger at myself for letting this happen to her.

Scotty is off at school and we’re alone this morning. As alone as we can be with the invisible boyfriend ever hovering at her side.

How long will it take her not to hear from him before she gets mad about it?

Taking the tray of food up the stairs, I tap at her bedroom door. “Come in,” her sweet voice answers.

She sits up as I enter her bedroom. She looks radiant and seems to be making a swift recovery, as her color is much better. She couldn’t get any more beautiful, and yet she does.

“I made you breakfast, princess. Your parents took Scotty to school, then they had to run some errands. You look as if you’re feeling better.”

Placing the tray over her lap, I catch the smell of lavender as she shakes out her hair. “I must look a mess, but I do feel much better. Please excuse my appearance, Eden.”

If this is a mess, I’m one lucky man.

“You look as beautiful as you always do, baby. You eat while I run you a warm bath. You can bathe after breakfast. Should I find you something to wear?”

Her eyes dance as she looks at me. “Why not? I should think you could pick me out a much better outfit than I could ever hope to come up with.”

My taste in clothes has not been lost on her. How fun it’s going to be to introduce her to all the latest designers.

Linda already has her closet at home and on the jet, filled with beautiful things. She’s going to be so surprised.

“Good. I’ll make you look great.”

Shaking a fork full of eggs my way, she says, “I’m sure you will. I trust your judgment, Eden. Thank you for doing all this. These eggs are cooked just right. As a good cook and fashion coordinator, plus easy on the eyes, you’ll make someone a very happy man.”

What did she just say? I’ll make someone a happy ‘MAN?’

No way, not her too. “Oh yeah, princess? Do you really think so?”

Stuffing eggs into one of the pieces of toast, she looks at me. “Of course, I do. And I want you to know I’m cool with your lifestyle choice. No judgments here, guy.”

My lifestyle choice! How could she think such a thing?

I feel the need to get away from her and regroup. “Let me get the bath water going,” I say. “You’re nearly done with your breakfast.”

Making her bath, I find her shampoo and take a quick whiff of it. How badly I want to bury my face in her lovely locks.

Shit! She’s come in and caught me smelling her shampoo.

“You can use it too if you like it, Eden.”

She goes to brush her teeth, her pajama bottoms hanging askew on her narrow hips. The back of her hair is a bit messy, yet still gorgeous.

She wipes her mouth after she rinses out the toothpaste and peers at her reflection in the mirror. I think it’s time to let her know without a doubt that I am not gay.

Moving in behind her I put my hands at her waist and straighten her PJ bottoms. Her eyes catch mine in the mirror.

She smiles at me. “Thanks, Eden.”

A platonic gesture, she considers it. I need to step it up. I wrap my arms around her, laying my chin on her shoulder as I look at her in the mirror.

“Beautiful, even in the morning after a tragic accident. Do you ever look bad?” I ask.

Her hand strokes my cheek. “I do right now, you tease. You, on the other hand, look devastating, you handsome devil.”

She still thinks I’m gay. I turn her in my arms, holding her tightly against me as I look down at her. She smiles innocently up at me, placing her hands on my shoulders. Well, at least she feels free to touch me and let me hold her since she thinks I’m not into her.

“Your bath is ready, cupcake.”

“Thank you. That’s so sweet of you.” Her sentence is punctuated by a sweet kiss on my cheek.

Okay, I can’t take any more of this. Not releasing my hold on her, I steadily walk back towards the bath.

She giggles as I move her with me, making me crazy for her. A quick turn and I have the wall behind her. Before she can figure out what I’m doing, I press her body against the wall and run one of my hands to grab a section of her hair. Pulling it back, I press my lips to hers.

The angle of her head makes her lips part and I thrust my tongue into her mouth. Her breath sucks in as she gasps at my sudden intrusion.

I’ve waited forever to feel her like this. Heat radiates all over my body and already I grow hard with a need for her.

Though I don’t want this kiss to end, it has to. I soften my kiss, then pull my lips off hers. Her cheeks are pink, eyes wide, and mouth slightly open.

“Did that feel gay, Alyssa?”

“No, no it did not,” she says, nearly breathless.

I let her go and walk out of the bathroom, closing the door behind me. The wall holds me up as I fall back on it.

My knees went weak when our lips touched, but I managed to hold it together. How fortunate for me she’s mine and I can kiss her for the rest of my life.

Now that I’ve tasted her, I will have to fight myself even harder to give her the time to come to me.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done that after all. Shit! I hope I didn’t push her away.

She’s probably in there right now thinking of herself as a cheater. I’ve probably made her hate herself.

This was a mistake. I’m not even supposed to touch her like that. It’s exactly what Linda told me not to do, but I did it anyway.

Damn, do I ever do what people tell me to?

I think too highly of myself. The tutoring was to temper my lusty ways. I’ve frightened her. I know I have. Her eyes were wide and full of fear.

Or was that something else I saw?

Hell, I didn’t even wait to see what she thought about it. I took off like I’m some cocky male on the prowl.

How could I do that to her?

She’s too special to be treated like that. I had wanted her to ask me to kiss her, not take it as if I’m a thief.

Thumbing through her closet, I find very little which is appropriate for such a special creature. Plain, plain, plain.

How could I have let her live like this?

Like she’s a normal, middle-class girl, when she’s so far from that. My hand lands on a royal blue sundress. It’s inexpensive, but still pretty. She can wear this if she’ll still wear what I pick out.

She may send me away, or try to anyway. She can’t really do that, but she can say it and I’ll have to give her some time.

Damn it, I’m a fool!

Dropping the dress on the bed along with the silver sandals I found, I give a longing look at the closed bathroom door. How I wish I could take back what I’ve done.

A note!

I’ll leave her a note to help her not be furious with me. Then I’ll wait for her to come to me.

Damn, I pray this works.

CHAPTER 15

ALYSSA

What the hell was that?

Soaking in the bath Eden made for me, I’m still tingling from his kiss.

How could I have ever thought he was gay?

He surprised me by holding me against the wall and kissing me. I’d never have allowed that if I hadn’t been so free with him, physically. I thought he was gay. Why wouldn’t it be okay for him to touch me?

Well, he was really holding me, now that I look back at it. I hate to admit this, but that short kiss made me feel something I’ve never felt with Kyle. Maybe it’s a mistake to think Kyle’s the one for me.

No! Don’t even think like that!

Kyle is sweet and charming and honest. Something I guess I’m not.

Oh, I am a cheater. A horrible person. Should I tell him about the kiss?

No, definitely not. It would only hurt him. But how can I look him in the eye and lie?

Even if it isn’t a spoken lie, but an omission of a small fact, it’s still a lie. I go under water. Maybe I could drown myself in this tub and never have to face him or Eden again.

I pop back up as the air runs out of my lungs. Death is too good for me. I’m an intolerable human being. I have to face this thing with Eden, whatever it is.

I cannot let my relationship with Kyle go just because a hot guy showed up on my doorstep and seems to want me.

No matter what Eden says, I know he’s a ladies’ man. He’s too slick not to be. So focused on me, like a wolf on its prey. I will not fall for it.

I get out of the tub and dry off, wrapping my hair in the towel. Pulling on my robe, I cross my fingers Eden is not waiting in my room for me.

He does know I have to get dressed. As I open the door I don’t see him anywhere.

Thank God.

He’s laid out a dress and sandals for me to wear.

Should I wear this?

After all, if he’s so hot for me, wearing something he’s picked out may not be a good idea. No, I better go a lot plainer than this. A T-shirt and jeans with an old pair of sneakers. My hair in a simple ponytail. No make-up and no perfume.

Should I put on deodorant?

That’s a stupid question. Of course I should. I’m not an animal!

What’s this?

A letter fell from the bed when I picked up the dress. Christ, he’s left me a letter.

Shit! I hope he hasn’t left!

Alyssa,

I fear I may have over-stepped your boundaries. I am truly sorry. The thought of you believing I wasn’t one hundred percent heterosexual was too much for me. That is no excuse for taking you like I did. I’m well aware of your love for another and it was wrong of me to put you in the position I have.

You’re a wonderful person. Please don’t think otherwise. I did that to you against your will, and I swear to you it will never happen like that again.

I beg your forgiveness. You’ve become very special to me. If you shut me out because of my bad behavior it would hurt me to the core. I’ll be in the guest room waiting for you if you can accept my apology and give our friendship another chance.

Yours forever,

Eden

How sweet he is. How can I be mad?

I assume he had to prove he wasn’t gay somehow. I jumped to a conclusion and I had to pay the price, I suppose.

It wasn’t a bad price to pay. Kyle doesn’t need to know about it. Just a silly thing which sometimes happens between friends, right?

Yeah, who am I kidding?

I guess I’ll wear the dress he picked out. I don’t want him to feel any worse than he already does.

Perhaps he isn’t the ladies’ man I assume he is either. I guess he could be genuine. His high class and culture are different. That’s all it is.

I’ve never known someone like him before. I’m sure all wealthy jet-setters are very much like him.

After getting myself dressed and fixing my hair, I’m finally ready to face him. At the guest bedroom door, I knock. “Eden, are you in there?”

The door opens and his sheepish smile greets me. “You came.”

I take his hand and pull him out of the room and into the hallway. “Of course I came. Your letter was very sweet. I forgive you, Eden. I understand why you did it and I apologize for being so presumptuous. It was wrong of me.”

He leaves a quick kiss on my cheek. “Thank you, Alyssa. I would hate it if you were mad at me. Plus, your mother called me and asked me to take you to a doctor’s appointment she made for you with Doctor Baker.”

Crap!

“Do you know why?”

His arm goes around my waist as he holds me tightly to his side and walks down the stairs. “The doctor at the hospital said you needed to follow up with your own doctor. Don’t you remember that?”

“Oh, yeah.” Thank God it’s just that. The last time I was supposed to go see Doctor Baker it was for a female inspection, and I’m not down for that.

Helping me into his bad-to-the-bone Jaguar, Eden moves across me to fasten the seatbelt. “I can do this, you know,” I say as his cheek brushes past my lips. He’s so close.

He pauses in front of me, so damn close I can feel his warm breath on my face. “Sorry. I suppose it’s odd to you, but I feel the need to keep you protected, princess.”

The door shuts before I can reply. Not that I need to. I mean, what do you say to that? You surely don’t tell him to stop.

He slides into the driver’s seat and I’m sorry I looked over because he’s even more appealing as he sits behind the wheel of this bad ass car.

He opens a compartment and puts on a pair of sunglasses with the word Ray-Ban on them. They look expensive and he looks even hotter.

Shit! Why do I have to be taken?

The touch of his hand on mine takes my attention away from his face, which apparently I’ve been gazing at without realizing it.

“Open the glove compartment. There’s a gift for you in it,” he directs me.

“Another gift, Eden. Why would you do that?” I ask as I open the compartment and spy a black box with a pink ribbon around it. I open it up to find a pair of sunglasses, also with the word Ray-Ban on them.

“Oh my God, you really shouldn’t have. These must be expensive. I can’t take them.”

Reaching over me, Eden pulls them from the box and places them on my face. “You can take them, princess. I have more than enough money. And they look good on you,” he says as he flips the visor down, revealing a lighted mirror. “See for yourself.”

Wow! I look like a million dollars.

“Okay, I’ll accept them. It would be a damn shame to let these things go to waste. Thank you, Eden.”

He gives my cheek another quick peck. “You're welcome, Alyssa. Now you can decide if we leave the top up or put it down.”

Although I know it will bring us lots of attention, something I don’t much care for, I answer, “Down. Definitely down.” A push of a button and the sky opens up to us. “Can I mess with your radio, Eden?”

With a gesture to the screen, he says, “Mess away, baby doll.”

As he pulls out of our driveway, I find some hard rock and look to see if he approves. Kyle hates it. His head bobs a bit, so it’s a hit. Finally, someone who likes it.

“So, you like the hard stuff?”

Taking my hand in his, he lifts it to his lips, placing a kiss on top. “I listen to everything. But I must confess to the hard sounds of this music being my favorite.”

“Mine too,” I say, wondering what else we have in common.

As we drop off a particularly steep hill, I feel as if we’re flying. My stomach drops and my head goes light. “Oh!”

Eden’s head snaps as he decelerates. “I’m sorry, Alyssa. I went too fast. I have to be more careful.”

I laugh. “Don’t be sorry. That was fun, like a roller coaster.”

Shaking his head, he says, “I need to be careful with you. Speed is one of my downfalls, but I shouldn’t put you in danger because of it.”

“That wasn’t very dangerous, Eden. Come on, lighten up. I’m not a china doll,” I say as I roll my eyes.

Lifting our clasped hands, he lands another kiss on mine. “No, you are no China doll. You are much more precious than that, my princess.”

Several people walking down the main street in town openly gawk at us as we drive by them. “Okay, now the top down thing is embarrassing. Do you see how they stare at us?”

Eden shrugs his broad shoulders. “So let them. The car is beautiful and should be looked at, as should you.”

“I doubt they’re looking at me. It’s you they stare at, Mr. Too Good Looking,” I say with a giggle.

He mumbles something about hating being called mister, and somehow he’s found my doctor’s office without me telling him where it was.

“Here we are,” he says.

“I see that. And just how did you know where it was?”

Turning, he pulls his shades down slightly so I can see his eyes. “GPS, sweetheart.”

I’m dumb!

“Oh, yeah, I guess this thing would have that.”

I go for the door handle, but he stops me. “Uh uh, let me.”

He gets out of the car and moves quickly to my side, opening the door. I go for my seat belt and somehow he’s managed to come across me and beat me to it.

Crap! Does he think I can’t do anything on my own?

On my feet, he has me wrapped in his tight grip with his arm around my waist. I say, “I can probably walk on my own now. I really do feel much better.”

“I don’t want to take the chance of you getting dizzy and falling. Just let me do this for you, princess,” he says as he places another kiss on my cheek.

How can you say no to that?

The receptionist looks up at us as we walk in. To my surprise, she comes to the door. “Come on back, Ms. Devlin.”

“Wow! Never have I been seen so fast,” I mutter.

With her eyes on Eden as we pass, she says, “You must be Mr. Fontaine.”

What the hell?

“Please, call me Eden,” he says as he glances at her.

She takes us to a room, gesturing for us to go in. “Doctor Baker will be right with you. It’s so nice to meet you, Eden,” she says before she finally pays me—the patient after all—a little attention. “Ms. Devlin, I do hope you’re feeling better.”

“Much,” I say as she turns and leaves.

Yeah, she really gave a shit. Eden picks me up by my waist, sitting me on the exam table.

“I could have gotten up here on my own.”

His finger touches the end of my nose and he grins. “I know you could, but why not let me help you?”

“Hey, how did the receptionist know your name?”

Standing in front of me, he plays with a piece of my hair. “Your mother told them, I suppose.”

Doctor Baker does a quick knock before he enters the small examination room. “How’s Miss Alyssa doing today?”

Eden turns away to shake his hand. “Good afternoon, Doctor Baker.”

“Mr. Fontaine, how nice to meet you,” the doctor says with a huge smile.

Damn, what’s with this guy and his super charm?

Eden moves from in front of me as the doctor turns his attention to me. “Let me take a look at the bump on the back of your head, Alyssa,” he says as he moves to my side and touches the still tender area.

“Ouch!”

Eden has my hand in his before I know he’s done it. “Did he hurt you?”

The doctor looks at Eden with wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.”

Eden’s eyes narrow as he looks back at the doctor. “See that you are.”

What in God’s name!

“Eden!” I reprimand him, then turn to look at my doctor. “I’m sorry, Doctor Baker. It barely hurt at all. I’m fine. It’s a little tender. Perhaps the word ‘ouch’ was a bit much for how it felt when you touched the bump.”

“Please, don’t apologize to me, Alyssa. I should be careful not to hurt you. Now let me listen to your heart,” he says as he places the stethoscope on my chest.

Eden leans in close to me as he watches the doctor’s hand very near to my left breast. Doctor Baker moves the stethoscope a bit closer to my breast and Eden clears his throat.

My doctor steps back, removing it from my chest and placing it on my back. “Take a deep breath for me, please, Alyssa,” he says. and I do as he’s asked as I watch Eden bird dog my physician.

What is wrong with him?

“Everything sounds good. The MRI results were sent to me this morning and they look good. No damage done,” Doctor Baker informs me.

“That’s good to hear,” Eden says with a sigh.

“So I can go back to school tomorrow then?” I ask.

Incredibly, instead of looking at me, my doctor looks at Eden. “You’ve been the one with her the most. What do you think?” he asks Eden.

“It’s better for her not to attend. There’re only a couple more weeks of school anyway. She’s done with her actual school work. Write the excuse for the remainder of the school year,” Eden orders.

“Wait one minute,” I interrupt the dictator. “First, how do you know anything about my schoolwork? Second, I feel fine and maybe I want to go back to school.”

The doctor gets out a pen and begins writing on a pad of paper. “No, Alyssa, Mr. Fontaine is right. If there’s no academic reason for you to go back to school, I see no reason to risk your health. If you were to get dizzy for even a second and fall again, I would be held responsible for your injuries. You wouldn’t want me to get into trouble, now would you?” he asks me with a smile.

“Of course not, but I feel fine and you said I’m okay.”

Eden places his hand on my chin and he pulls me to look at him. He’s so damn close to me. “Alyssa, do as the doctor says. You don’t want to get him in any trouble.”

This is insane!

“I suppose I have no choice in the matter,” I say as I concede defeat.

Eden smiles at me. “Where your health is concerned, listen to your doctor, princess.”

Damn, damn, damn! What the hell is this?

The doctor turns back to us. “I’ll call the school and tell them her situation. Once I fax this excuse over, there will be nothing else you need to do. Take good care of her for us,” my doctor since I’ve been born tells Eden, leaving me dumbfounded.

They shake hands again. “I will. Her health is excellent, thanks to you. Great job, Byron,” Eden says, making my mouth drop open.

Did he call him by his first name?

The doctor exits the small room with a wave to me. “Goodbye, Alyssa. See you soon.”

“Eden, how the fuck did you know his first name?”

His expression is one of disgust. Putting his finger to my lips in a gesture for me not to speak, he says, “Alyssa, my princess, please do not allow that language to pass through those precious lips again. It’s beneath you to speak filth.”

If I wasn’t embarrassed by his reaction to my use of profanity, I would yell some other nasty things at him. “Okay, sorry. I’ll re-phrase that. How do you know his first name? I don’t even know it.”

“Your mother told it to me,” he says as he lifts me off the exam table, running his strong arm around my waist and taking me out of the small room. “Now tell me where you would like to go and have lunch.”

“I’m not allowed to go out anywhere with the male species until I turn eighteen, Eden, sorry.”

At the car, he opens my door and as soon as I sit down he reaches across me to fasten my seatbelt. Pulling the sunglasses I had propped up on the top of my head, he puts them back on my face, then puts his back on. His movie star look is complete.

“I’ll call your father and get his approval,” he says, closing my door and walking around to get in.

“Good luck with that,” I say, pulling down the visor to check my reflection.

Before Eden can get in the car, a tall, leggy, blonde woman walks up to him. Her skirt short and her hand extended, she says, “Hi, I’m Lacey Patterson. I’m a realtor here and noticed your exceptional vehicle. I’ve never seen it around town before, nor yourself. Are you new?”

What the hell is this woman doing?

Eden shakes her hand. “I’m just visiting for a while.”

She leaves her hand in his after the shake. “I’d love to show you some of the homes I have. This is a great town to buy investment property in. We have a great many people who vacation here.”

Eden looks down at how she’s refusing to let his hand go. “Not interested in making any purchase here. I’m just down, visiting the in-laws.”

“I’m ready, Eden,” I snap, making her turn her attention to me. For Christ sakes, there is no way she could miss seeing me sitting right here. The top’s down, for the love of all that’s holy.

Finally, she releases his hand. “Sorry, I’ll leave you two alone.”

Her ass wiggles back and forth under her too-tight skirt as she sashays away from Eden.

What a whore!

Eden slides into his seat and starts the car up. “Thanks for the save, princess,” he says as he takes my hand, placing a kiss on top.

I grin and say, “Not a problem there, hubby. Visiting the in-laws, you say?”

“You caught that, huh? Must have been listening in pretty hard. I do believe I see a bit of jealousy in your gorgeous sapphire eyes.”

“Jealousy, ha! I was saving you from the old hag,” I say and turn to look away.

The people on the sidewalk actually point at us as we drive by them. What a bunch of nosy people we have in this town. It’s as if they’ve never seen a convertible in their lives.

A ringing noise brings my attention back to the radio as my father’s voice fills the speakers that seem to be everywhere in this magnificent machine.

“Hi, Eden. What can I do for you?” my father asks.

“I would like to take Alyssa to lunch and she’s informed me she’s not allowed to go anywhere with male individuals. Would you like to assure her of your approval?”

“I suppose you have me on the car phone?” he asks.

“I do.”

“Okay, then. Alyssa, it’s fine for you to go anywhere you want with Eden. We trust him implicitly. Have a good time, honey. We’ll see you when you get back home. Doctor Baker called and told us about your appointment. Looks like it all went well.”

“Who are you?” I ask in amazement. “Where are my real parents?”

A laugh is the only answer I receive as it dies away and the hard beat of a rock song fills the speakers. “So where would you like to eat, my lady?” Eden asks.

Not sure how to take any of this, I let it all go. Perhaps my parents have a deeper friendship with Eden’s parents than I realized. Yeah, that has to be it. I am hungry, so why not eat while we’re out?

“I’d like a burger, and Trixie’s has the best in town. It’s just up this road a bit.”

Placing his hand on the headrest of my seat, he looks over at me. The wind is moving the longer top of his dark hair around just enough to make him look like he’s doing a photoshoot for some men’s magazine.

He’s a sight to behold and I am an awful person who cheats on her devoted boyfriend.

“Trixie’s it is, baby.”

I have to look away, out into the small town we drive through. I watch the people walk down the sidewalk. My small town looks somewhat different from inside of this perfect machine with this perfect guy driving me through it.

It’s almost as if I’m not a part of it at all. The people I see look at us as if we are some sight to behold. None seem to recognize that it’s just little ol’ me riding in the passenger seat.

The car slows as Eden prepares to turn into the parking lot. “You sure about this place, Alyssa?”

Taking notice of the three motorcycles in the parking lot and only a couple of cars, I say, “Don’t worry, Eden. It’s nearly three in the afternoon. Not a prime time for most people to eat. The food’s good, I promise.”

“Should I put the top back up? I mean, will the car be safe out here? This place looks rough,” he says with hesitation.

I laugh. “Leave the top down. It’ll be fine. This place isn’t as bad as it seems. Come on now. I’m famished.”

Before he gets out, he hits the button on my seatbelt, releasing it. “Let me get your door for you.”

“I can get out on my own,” I protest and reach for the handle.

He grabs my hand and pulls it back up to his lips, touching it gently with them. “Princess, let me open your door, please. It’s not right for a lady to get out of the car unattended by her male driver.”

“Fine,” I say.

He slips out of his side and comes around. His gait as he moves in front of the car is smooth and refined. One of his hands moves through his hair, making it lay in the most perfect of ways.

As he opens my door and takes my hand to help me out, a sudden flash fills my head. It’s the large birds which flew over Kyle and me in the forest.

Yet, I can see them clearly above me, so close I could touch them if this was real. I feel Eden’s arm around my waist and I lean into his side for support, feeling weak-kneed.

“You okay?” he asks.

Shaking my head to clear the vision, I nod. “A weird, light-headed thing just happened. Maybe the doctor was right not to send me back to school. I would’ve fallen if I was on my own. Thanks for being here, Eden.”

Pulling my sunglasses off and placing them on the top of my head, his eyes search mine as if confirming I’m okay. “You sure you’re fine?”

I nod and he begins walking into the café, holding me tightly against his side. He’s so sweet and kind and compassionate.

Too bad I belong to another.

CHAPTER 16

EDEN

Placing my sunglasses on top of my head, I open the door for Alyssa to enter the dark bar. She calls it a café, but it’s a bar, and a dingy, smelly one at that.

I sweep the interior to find some bikers at a pool table and an elderly couple in one of the booths, drinking beer. They hold hands across the table and I find it cute, yet misplaced in this rat hole.

The large redhead behind the bar looks us over as she moves to follow us. I find us a booth and slide my mate in, sitting next to her.

The waitresses’ gravelly voice, from what has to be years of smoking, grates on my ears. She tosses a menu to Alyssa and hands one to me, then says, “Well, hello there. I’ve never seen you around here before. Are you new to Cloudcroft?”

“Just visiting. Can you give us a minute?” I ask as I see her look over at my mate and narrow her eyes.

“Ain’t you that Kyle boy’s girlfriend?”

Alyssa’s cheeks glow pink. “I am. This is my parents’ old friends’ son, Eden. I’m showing him around town.”

“Cozy. So you want the usual chocolate milkshake?” she asks, letting me know my mate and that boy attend this nasty establishment quite often.

How he could take her to this type of place is unsettling. Behind her parents’ backs, she’s come here with him.

What else has she done with that boy?

“You should try the double meat, double cheese burger. It’s delicious. Kyle always gets that,” she says as she innocently looks up at me after stabbing my heart by saying that boy’s name and suggesting I would like anything he does.

The exception being her, of course.

“What are you having?”

“The regular burger and fries. Dairy doesn’t agree with me. The milkshakes I get are made with almond milk instead of regular cow’s milk. They don’t carry any cheeses I can eat,” she says as she places the menu that had been tossed at her at the edge of the table.

If we were anywhere else except her hometown, I would have barked at the waitress for her inexcusable behavior. “I’ll get whatever you get,” I say.

The waitress’ hand lands on my shoulder and I jerk my head around to look at it. Her red nail polish is dull and chipped and she smells like cigarettes. How could she possibly think she has a chance in hell with me?

“Sugar, you want a beer, or something maybe a little stronger with your burger and fries?”

“I’m eighteen, ma’am,” I say as I look up at her to find her yellow teeth flashing beneath her red-stained, thin lips.

Perhaps the only thing thin on the woman, except her ultra-thin eyebrows.

Her finger goes to her lips as she says, “Shh, I won’t tell on you, handsome.”

“No, thank you, ma’am. Just the burgers, all the way with mustard, the fries, and her shake made with almond milk. I’ll have a bottle of water, please.”

She pats my shoulder. “We have curly fries, baby. Would you enjoy some of my curly fries?”

Are you kidding me!

“No, ma’am. The regular fries will do us just fine, I assure you.”

Her hand slides down my shoulder along my arm, leaving me with an itch to bathe. “I’ll be right back with your drinks then, cutie pie.”

I turn to see Alyssa watching the waitress walk away. “Wow!” she says with a shake of her head. “I never knew we had so many skanky women in this small town. Eden, you bring out the beast in females. You must get that kind of stuff all the time. You handle them so well. If a man did that to me, I’d probably slap him.”

I drag my knuckles across her firm cheek. “If a man did that to you, I’d punch him.”

Her giggle tickles at my ears. I love it!

“Neanderthal,” she says as she gently punches my arm. “I can’t believe she was willing to give you alcohol. Tell me what other things women have offered you for a moment of your attention.”

“You don’t really want to know that, Alyssa. Just like I don’t want to know why in the world you would frequent such an establishment as this,” I say as I scan the dirty bar.

The lights flicker over a pool table as the bikers swill from large glasses of dark, frothy topped beers. Their protruding bellies are a testament to their devotion to the fattening spirit.

Her smile dazzles me as she leans in a bit closer. “Watch how you talk about this place. Those bikers call this place home and anyone who speaks ill of their home usually finds themselves sprawled out in the parking lot with boot prints on their asses. Oops, sorry. Don’t want to offend your delicate senses by cursing. I meant to say bottoms.”

Placing my hand behind her neck, I pull her to me, leaning my head to speak in her ear. “It is not my delicate senses I worry about. It’s your honor I wish to protect by reprimanding your use of vulgar obscenities. With a mouth so beautiful, it’s a crime to let disgusting words flow out of it.” I leave a kiss on her cheek to soften my correction.

The glow of pink on her cheeks shows me she’s taken in what I’ve said and I’m pleased to see it. “How you speak is so … what is the word I’m looking for? Eloquent. Far beyond your years, Eden. I’ve never thought about the words I use making me seem dishonorable. You’re right, though.”

I’m right! That’s a step in the right direction. She’s beginning to trust me.

The cigarette smell is back and I turn to find the waitress back with our orders. She tosses my mates’ basket with her burger and fries in it and a fry falls on the table. I quickly pick the fry up and hold it near her face, which is much too close to mine as she leans over me to throw food at my princess.

“If you weren’t tossing things at this young lady, you might be able to keep the food where it belongs. See that you stop, or your tip will reflect my disapproval.”

Her eyes widen and she pulls her ample body up. “Sorry, sir. It won’t happen again. I promise,” she says, then her eyes dart to Alyssa. “Sorry, Ally. I didn’t mean to do that.”

Alyssa blinks back at her. “It’s okay. No big deal.”

No big deal! Really! So she feels it’s just fine to have someone treat her disrespectfully.

That is what he made her feel like when they came here. A common girl who is treated with no respect at all is what he’s made her.

“Mmmm, take a bite, Eden. It’s really good,” Alyssa says with a moan.

Not one bit mad. Wow!

“Okay, then, here it goes.” I lift the grease-laden mess to my mouth and take a hearty bite. I’m immediately sorry I took such a large bite of the foul tasting—dare I call it a burger?

Her face lights up. “See, it’s good, right?”

I swallow the horrible stuff, then wipe the grease from my lips. “No, it’s not. It’s quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever tasted,” I say as I take the cap off my bottle of water and try my best to get the nasty taste and greasy film out of my mouth.

What I would give for a toothbrush right now!

Alyssa laughs and takes another bite. I so badly want to take this burger—if you can call it that. I doubt there’s any real meat to the thing—and toss it in the trash.

She swallows and wipes her mouth. “You have to be joking. These are the best burgers in town. Come on, try another bite, Eden.”

“If you truly believe that, then we must educate that pallet of yours,” I say, then tweak her cute little nose.

She scrunches it up, making her even more adorable. “And just how might you go about doing that?”

Another bite she takes, making my stomach hurt at the sight. Only the best foods should pass through that delicious mouth.

“I’ll take you to the finest restaurants this planet has to offer.”

A smirk forms on her sweet lips and I wish I could kiss it off.

“Only if I agree to that, and I am quite taken, if you will recall. A friendship is one thing and traveling around to eat is quite another. Kyle will not cotton to the idea of me and you traipsing all over just so my pallet can be refined.”

There it is again, the stab in my heart every time she says his name.

“What that boy doesn’t know won’t hurt him, princess. I have a jet. Let me take you to one tonight. I know the perfect place to start your education.”

With a gleam in her eye, her smirk turns into a full-blown smile. “You have a jet?”

She’s interested now. I might be able to talk her into it.

“I do. We could be there in about an hour. What do you say?”

“Dad would never allow it,” she says, but she’s still smiling.

She’s finished the awful burger and drained her glass, so I guess she’s done eating. “Let’s get out of here and go ask him,” I say as I stand and pull her to come with me. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I hold her close.

“He’ll never agree to that, Eden. But you can ask, I suppose.”

A beam of dust-filled light comes in as the door opens. A gangly boy with a light brown mop of messy hair walks in. He turns back and gives a thumbs up, then closes the door. The boy heads straight to us, his eyes on my mate.

“Sup, girl?” he drawls.

“Hey, Cody,” Alyssa says, as she wiggles in my grasp a bit. “This is, Eden. Our parents are friends and he’s visiting for the week.”

His eyebrows go up and he gestures to the hold I have on her. “And just what is this about, Al?”

“Didn’t you hear about my accident?”

He frowns and answers, “Yeah, and you don’t look like you got hit by no truck.”

She giggles. “That’s because I didn’t, silly. I stopped, then fell and hit my head. I get dizzy pretty easily, so Eden has been kind enough to help me get around, or I’d be stuck in bed.”

“Convenient, isn’t it?” His eyes move over my entire body, sizing me up.

I perceive him as no threat. He doesn’t ruffle my feathers even a tiny bit.

“We were just on our way out,” I say as I propel my mate forward, away from him.

He stands in place and watches us leave. I drop a hundred in front of the red-head and proceed to the door. I can feel his eyes burning a hole in my back.

“Don’t you want your change?” the waitress calls out.

I lift my arm and wag my finger as I gesture a no back to her.

“Have fun, Al,” I hear the boy say as I open the door.

The light is bright and I’m blinded for a second. Pulling the shades from my head, I put them in place. Alyssa does the same thing.

“The light is killing me,” she mutters.

Looking back up, I see a tall black truck parked right next to my jag. The tall blonde guy from the hospital is leaning up against the hood of my car. His arms are crossed and he wears a very pissed off expression.

Fantastic. An interaction with the boy who’s treated my mate like a common girl for years.

This should be good!

CHAPTER 17

ALYSSA

I struggle to get away from Eden’s tight grip. Kyle already looks pissed. This won’t help matters. “Eden, let me go. He’s mad enough,” I hiss.

“I’m not letting you go, Alyssa. So stop wiggling,” he says with a harshness I’ve yet to hear from him.

“What the fuck is this shit, Ally?” Kyle asks as he gestures to the hold Eden has on me. “All hugged up on him, and are those matching sunglasses? Well, how fucking cute are the two of you? Tell me when the fuck you broke up with me, Alyssa. And when does this guy leave your house? His car’s there all through the night.”

Eden smirks. “Stalk much?”

“Don’t, Eden. I haven’t broken up with you, Kyle,” I say as I strain my brain to come up with the words to say to calm him down before he takes a swing at Eden. “I have a concussion. I get dizzy out of nowhere. Eden has been kind enough to brace me so I can walk instead of being cooped up in my bed all the time.”

His arms are crossed and the expression on his face tells me those words softened his demeanor none.

“I’ve had a couple of concussions playing football, Al. No one had to hold me up for days on end. Let’s just say someone did carry me around—a hot nurse, maybe—would that have gone over for you, Ally?”

Obviously he doesn’t get it. “Okay, I see you’re jealous. There’s nothing to be jealous about. Come out to the house later and we can all get to know each other. I’m sure we can all become friends,” I say, then he drops his arms to his side and a glint of a tear threatens to fall, breaking my heart.

“Come to me, Ally. I just need to hold you, then I’ll believe everything can be all right.” His arms open up for me to go into them and I want to.

I look up at Eden. “Let me go.”

His eyes are impossible to see through the dark glasses, but by the small wrinkle of his forehead, I assume he’s frowning. “I’d rather not.”

Kyle flies off the hood of the car. Grabbing Eden’s shoulder, he pulls back his fist. “No! Kyle, don’t!” I scream as his fist moves through the air towards Eden’s face.

Eden doesn’t even take a step back. His free hand catches Kyle’s fist as though it was a baseball which had been tossed to him. “Not going to happen, guy,” Eden says with an eerie calmness.

Kyle’s eyes widen in disbelief. “What the fuck? Who the fuck are you? Why are your hands on my girlfriend?”

Eden lets Kyle’s fist go and takes a couple of steps back, taking me with him. “Your language is disgusting and I’m afraid it’s rubbed off on Alyssa. A gentleman doesn’t use such words in the company of someone as precious as she is. This bar is also no place to take her to. I’m quite sure you’re not a person she needs in her life. You’ll only bring her down.”

My mouth drops open with what he’s told my sweet Kyle. I jerk myself from his tight grip and stand next to Kyle.

“Eden, how dare you! It’s not your place to speak to him like that. I will not have it,” I shout, then take Kyle’s hand and lead him to the side of his truck. “I’m sorry he said those things to you. He’s extremely upper class and sees things differently than we do.”

Kyle backs me up against his truck, pressing his body to mine as he hugs me. Lightly, he kisses my cheek.

“Kiss me, Ally. Show him what I am to you. He needs to know. He’s trying to steal you away from me. Can’t you see that?”

“He can’t do that. I’m solidly with you. Have faith in our relationship and how I feel about you. I love you, Kyle.”

“Kiss me, then, and show him.”

His eyes beg me, but something in me feels it’s wrong. Eden needn’t see us together like that to know my heart is Kyle’s.

“Come to my house later, Kyle. It’s not right to kiss you here in this parking lot where everyone can see our business. You’ve never asked me to do this before. You need to trust me.” My heart beats hard against his chest.

His mouth moves closer to mine even though I’ve told him no. “Don’t be mad at me, Ally,” he says just before his lips land on mine.

A hand grips my shoulder and I’m yanked away from Kyle. Carrying me away by my waist, Eden places me in the car without opening the door.

“Eden!” I yell as he buckles my seatbelt. I see Kyle moving up fast behind him. “Kyle! No!”

My eyes must be deceiving me because Eden’s feet don’t seem to move, or they move so fast I can’t see them.

He has Kyle pinned to the side of his truck, his hands on Kyle’s shoulders as he says, “This stops now. She said no and she will not be disrespected. Talk to her father if you wish to see her. Although I doubt he’ll allow that once I let him in on how your influence has affected her. If you care for her at all, you’ll leave her alone. She’s far too special for what you have in mind for her. By the way, how is it you think so little of her that you’d take her to your bed with no vow between you?”

Kyle struggles to move, but can’t seem to. “You’re ancient, dude. Our personal relationship is none of your business. She’ll be of legal age to consent to a physical relationship in mere weeks, and you can bet she’ll consent to whatever I ask her to. She loves me, dude. Get over it.”

I can’t take this anymore. “Eden, let him go! I’ll talk to him later.”

Eden looks back at me, his jaw clenched. “As you wish, Alyssa.”

He does like I’ve asked and my heart throbs in my chest as Kyle looks like a fallen man. Finding himself unable to get out of Eden’s hold must have made him feel weak. I’ll have to let Eden know he can never handle Kyle like that again.

I offer a small smile to Kyle, who looks back at me with a dejected expression on his poor face.

“Please let me in when I come over, Ally. We have to fix this. I’ve been over every day and your father won’t let me in. I’ve called and left messages and texts. They’re stopping you from seeing or even talking to me.”

Eden slides into his seat and starts the car, peeling away.

I call out to Kyle, “I didn’t know, Kyle. Come tonight.”

As I turn back around, I find tears falling like rain down my cheeks.

“Eden, why would my parents do that? Kyle’s not what you think. He’s a good guy. The cussing is just words. Everyone uses them. He’s never done anything to me I haven’t allowed.”

Eden hands me a handkerchief. “He kissed you when you told him not to. How many other things has he done with no one to witness?”

“Is it you behind my parent’s actions? Do you have some hold over them? They’re aliens to me since your arrival,” I say as the tears dry up and an anger the likes of which I’ve never felt before wells up inside me. “I find it odd that you came here with at least two gifts for me. You had no idea about me, having never met me. Are you someone who’s stalked me online or something? There’s a chance you’re blackmailing my parents to get to me. Is that what’s happening here?”

Eden reaches for my hand and I draw it back. “Alyssa, princess, don’t think like that about me. I’m no crazy stalker. I have no hold over your parents. I’ve come to care for you since we’ve met. It is true that I would like to have something more than a friendship with you. That boy is not right for you. You’re making a mistake in thinking he is. Your life with him would be a string of trailer parks and hardships.”

“You’re a snob, Eden. A heartless snob. I’m afraid I can no longer be your friend. Once we get home, I want you to leave me alone. I want nothing else to do with you during your stay or ever again. Whatever is going on is stopping now. I’ll have no more of it, or you,” I say, clenching my fists so hard my fingernails dig into my palms.

Pulling to the side of the road, Eden takes me by the shoulder, making me turn towards him, but I look away. “Alyssa, please listen to me,” he begs, but I won’t look at him. He takes my chin and pulls my sunglasses off. “Look at me, Alyssa.” I meet his eyes and make sure he sees the anger in them. “Good. I can’t stand the thought of not being in your life. Please reconsider.”

“Fuck you!”

He flinches and I’m glad to see it. “Alyssa, please. You’re too good for this behavior. I’ll do anything you want if you don’t shut me out. Life is not worth living without you in it. Can you understand me? Would you not miss me at all?”

“Eden, I’ve never felt better or worse since I’ve met you. You’ve made me happy, and when you kissed me I honestly had to question if Kyle was the one for me. That kiss felt like we were one and the same. A sense of being whole enveloped me. But this side of you is too much to take. Judging others is not something I do or allow in my life. You speak of Kyle as if he were a piece of trash to be tossed away with no remorse. That boy, as you continue to call the love of my life, is a fine man and he will make something of his life. Truth be told, I’d live wherever he wanted. I love him that much.”

The hold he has on my chin softens and his knuckles graze my cheek. “That kiss made me feel that way too, Alyssa? I suppose the way I’m beginning to feel about you has me being something I’m not. Perhaps jealousy is why I’ve said the awful things about that boy—sorry—about Kyle. I’m no snob, and I don’t really think he’ll live in trailer parks.”

“So you felt it too?” I ask as I pull his sunglasses away from his face so I can see his eyes. He nods and I confess, “I’ve never felt that with Kyle.”

Intensity covers his face. “So we should try it again and see what we feel, shouldn’t we?”

“It isn’t right, Eden. I’m still with him. I would never want him to do this to me.” My heart aches with the struggle I’m having.

“You owe it to yourself to be sure, Alyssa. If he’s not the right one for you, it would be a sinful existence to go on with your plans when you can have a better life with someone else. A better connection with someone else might be possible.”

The constant current of electricity as his hand touches the top of mine cannot be denied. I bite at my bottom lip as I look at our hands on my lap.

Why does it do this to me?

I look up at him and ask, “What does your hand feel like right now?”

Leaning into me, his voice is but a whisper. “A current flows between your hand and mine. It’s happened every single time I’ve touched you.”

He’s right!

“Have you felt this with anyone else?”

Slowly, he shakes his head as his eyes look deeper into mine.

Damn it, this is too intense!

“Eden, I know what will happen if I let you kiss me, and it breaks my heart because I’ll have to break his and I do love him.”

The glisten in his eyes tells me much. “I know you do.”

A tremble runs through him and I feel it in my core.

How can that be?

“Take me home. I’m not ready for this.”

His eyes drop and he turns back to the steering wheel. “As you wish, Alyssa.”

He parks next to my jeep and I sit, waiting for him to do his thing. My door opens and he sets me free from my seatbelt, then takes my hand. The current of electricity is there as if on cue.

This can’t be normal, but it doesn’t mean love either. What I have for Kyle is love, real love. So this must be lust.

Eden is beyond hot, rich, and classy. So very worldly and so different from anyone I’ve ever known. He’s like a movie star come to life and he wants me. Of course I feel something for him, but my heart belongs to Kyle.

His arm goes around my waist and my whole body tingles as he pulls me close to his side. I want to cling to him forever, and if I lost this I know I’d miss it.

Why the hell is that?

CHAPTER 18

EDEN

Alyssa has confessed to feeling something for me. I’m so close to her deciding to be with me of her own accord. It will make things so much easier on her once she learns the truth about us and what we are.

The vibration between us is apparent to her as well. Her allegiance to that boy stops her from testing the waters further with me. I have an idea, though, and it has my plans for this evening changing.

Instead of cooking lobster for her, I want to show her how our lives will be. I’ve made reservations at a five-star restaurant in Maine.

It’s a far cry from the bar where we went to at lunch. This will show her how she should’ve always been treated like the princess she truly is.

After protesting about my invitation to fly away and have dinner with me, her mother talked her into going. I’m not allowed to call this a date or even kiss her, but I hope my actions and the serene setting will change her mind about that.

Dressed to impress, I wait for her in the living room. Toni comes in and clears her throat. She’s helped Alyssa get ready and given her one of the dresses I brought for her, though she’s told her they had purchased it and planned to give it to her as a graduation gift.

Shyly, Alyssa steps from behind the wall which has kept her from my view. Involuntarily, my heart and breath stop.

How can she be even more beautiful than before?

Soft tendrils fall from a loose pile of curls artfully placed atop her perfect head. A gold band glimmers, separating her long bangs from the many curls.

The addition of makeup enhances her natural beauty. The black eyeliner makes the sapphire color of her eyes entrancing. Her lips, like cherries, beg me to kiss them and I pray she changes her mind about kissing me.

The long white dress, held at the waist by a gold belt, is made of several layers of gossamer and it appears to float around her. The neckline of the haltered top plummets in the middle, accenting her perfectly-formed breasts.

A frown covers her face. “I knew it, Mom. It’s over the top. Way too much. I’ll go change.”

“What? No! It’s perfect, as are you, Alyssa.” My heart finally beats again and I find my voice.

Her perfect brows draw together. “But you didn’t say one word. I know it’s too much, Eden.”

I give her a grin. “I was speechless, princess. You are beyond anything I’ve ever laid my eyes on.” Moving to her side, I place her hand in the crook of my arm. “Forgive me for being so taken in by your beauty that I failed to breathe or let my heart beat.”

Strolling away with her in tow, I cast a glance back to see Toni and David. “Don’t wait up. She’s safe with me,” I tell them.

In unison they say, “Goodnight.”

Alyssa looks back at them with a puzzled expression. “Aliens. It has to be aliens who’ve taken them over. Goodnight Mom and Dad, if that’s who you really are.”

Their smiles follow us out the door as I escort my mate to the car.

***

The jet is a shiny, black gorgeous piece of machinery. Its beauty is not lost on Alyssa. “Holy crap, Eden. Is that yours?”

I lead her up the stairs. “Do you see the emblem there?” I gesture to the fiery Phoenix on the jet’s tail. “This belongs to the organization our families are a part of: The Phoenix Foundation.”

Her head swivels as her eyes show confusion. “My parents are part of some group and they’ve never bothered to mention it to me. Do I even know them at all?”

As we step onto the jet, Lana, a woman in her late forties with tight red curls, smiles at us. “Hello, Eden. This must be Alyssa,” she says, extending her hand to Alyssa who takes it in a shake. “My name is Lana and I’ll be your stewardess.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lana. I suppose you fly Mr. Jet-Setter around a lot,” Alyssa says.

With my hand on the small of her back, I direct her to our seats. Alyssa looks back at Lana and says, “Tell me, is he always this attentive to the young ladies he takes out.”

A peal of laughter comes from the woman’s mouth. “Oh my! No! He’s never had another young lady in here. You’re the first, Alyssa.”

The look on Alyssa’s face is priceless. With her wide eyes and her mouth in the shape of an ‘O’, I have to laugh. “Did you honestly think I was a ladies’ man?”

The nod of her perfect little head tells me she did.

The pilot comes in from the cockpit and gives us a wave. “Hello again, Eden. And this lovely young thing must be Alyssa,” he says and Alyssa gives him a nod. “I’m your pilot, Jeffery. Have you flown before?”

“Once. It was a big plane, though. We went to Disney World in it. This is much better.”

Jeffery smiles at her. “Well, let’s get this show on the road. I hear you two have a big date in Bath, Maine.”

The word date makes Alyssa frown at me. I smile back and whisper in her ear, “I can’t help that this looks like a date to the untrained eye, princess. It’s okay. You and I know what it really is, right?”

“I suppose,” she says with a slight tremor to her voice.

I must’ve left that information out when I called Jeffery earlier. People at the restaurant will think it too.

I can’t control the world, now can I?

Lana gives us a smile before retreating with Jeffery to the cockpit. The engine starts and Alyssa looks nervously out the window as the sun sets. I take her hand in mine and place a kiss on it. “Are you nervous?”

“I’ve been nervous, Eden. Now my butterflies have transformed into pterodactyls.”

The jet rolls forward and her eyes widen. “Just sit back and hold my hand as tightly as you need to. We’ll be up in the air in no time and it’ll be smooth flying. I’m sure you’ll love it,” I say, and she leans her head back against the seat and closes her eyes.

How will she feel when she can fly on her own?

Her hand holds mine in a death grip. I watch her closely as she breathes in deep breaths. We level off and her eyes open. “That wasn’t so bad,” she says. Lightening her grip on me, she smiles embarrassedly. “Oh, sorry! I just about squeezed your hand off, huh?”

Touching her bare shoulder with the tip of my finger, I trail it down her arm. “That’s what it’s there for, precious. Yours to use as you need to.”

The cherry red of her lips is proving quite impossible to resist. When I draw my eyes up, away from them, I spot her eyeing mine. Her tongue darts out to lick hers. Perhaps she wants to taste mine as well.

Please let her change her mind about the no kissing rule.

Lana pops out of the cockpit. “I’ll bring you two something to drink. Eden likes this little alcohol-free cocktail I make,” she says, then pops into the small galley door.

Alyssa giggles, and I almost grab her and kiss her, it stirs me so. “She’s adorable, Eden,” she says.

“She’s the sweetest. Jeffery and Lana also belong to the organization our parents do. I have to confess something to you.”

The tension in her body is obvious. “No! Please, no confessions.”

I laugh. “It’s nothing bad, princess. It’s just I can’t take my eyes off you. You’re gorgeous. I’ll be the envy of every man this evening.”

The fluttering of her eyelashes beats her blushing cheeks as she swats playfully at my arm. “Eden! You big flatterer. Look at your own reflection, Mr. Fashion Model. The women will all swoon as you pass their tables, silverware will drop from feminine hands, and conversations will be halted.”

She finds me as enticing as I do her. This is working. Soon she’ll choose me on her own, without being made to marry me. She’ll want to.

Please, let her want to marry me.

“You seem deep in thought, Eden. Let’s not read too much into this. Our outer appearances may be looking fine this evening, but it’s what’s on the inside which counts. Don’t you agree?”

“I agree with you, wholeheartedly, princess. I find you beautiful inside and out. Your good nature and kind spirit are as beautiful as your plump red lips and sapphire eyes. I could go on and on about all which is appealing about you.” She’s told me she thinks what we feel is lust, so it’s imperative I show her I love her thoroughly, not just physically.

“I must confess you have a few beautiful characteristics as well. Your hatred for Kyle is about all I can find wrong with you,” she says, and it makes me feel terrible that she thinks I hate anyone.

Pulling both her hands to my chest, I lean forward. “Alyssa, please know I have no hate for him. The feelings I have for him are from insecurity in myself. I have to admit to you that it is jealousy which I feel. The moment I laid my eyes on you, I felt something stir in me.”

A smirk forms on her precious lips. “Yeah, that was probably just your male hormones, Eden. I was lying on the ground, probably a pool of blood forming around my head, and you felt something for the poor girl laid out on the pavement. Most guys would.”

She isn’t taking me seriously. Remembering something from the hospital, I trail my fingers lightly over her collar bone. “I doubt my hormones and your accident are all to blame for my reaction to you. If I recall, you reacted to my touch much in the same way.”

Lana pops back out of the galley with our drinks in her hands. “Oops! Hope I didn’t interrupt you two lovebirds.”

Alyssa rolls her eyes. “It’s not a date, Lana. Sorry for the confusion. I happen to have a boyfriend. Eden is just being kind enough to show me how great a fancy jet ride and a meal at a five-star restaurant can be, since he’s filthy rich. I made him take me to a café this afternoon and he wants to show me how much of a dive it is since I keep singing its praises. That’s all. Don’t read anything more than that into it. We’re friends, that’s all.”

Lana hands my mate her glass of dark red liquid with a knowing smile on her face. She’s not the best poker player I’m going to guess, as she looks as if she’s about to blurt out what and who Alyssa really is.

“I see. My mistake,” Lana says to Alyssa. “It’s just that the two of you have a glow about you I’ve seen few couples have. Finding someone who can make your inner self spark so much that the outer self glows with the intensity is rare. One with such a gift would seldom think of a relationship with another, I would think. So do tell about this boyfriend, then, because he must be something extremely special if he outshines what you and Eden have going on.”

Though Alyssa has held Lana’s gaze as she spoke, she drops her head, perhaps in embarrassment. She says, “So you mean to tell me it’s obvious? I can’t hide it?”

Lana hands me my drink and lifts Alyssa’s face up by her chin, making her look at her. “Nor can he, child. I’m sure this high school boyfriend is fantastic, but the man who sits next to you brings something out in you, and you in him. I should say, if it was me, I’d give this thing you two have a better chance. It’s rare and shouldn’t be taken for granted.” Lana takes her hand away and stands up, retreating back to the galley, pausing long enough to look back over her shoulder. “But that’s just me, sweetheart. You have to do as your heart tells you to.”

We sit in silence for a minute or two as Alyssa stares out the window into the dark night. I pray what Lana has said is not making the wheels in her head spin out of control. I guess I should’ve stopped Lana from speaking her mind, but it needed to be said, I think.

I sip my drink, then place my hand on her shoulder. “I’d love to be able to hear your thoughts. Would you like to share them with me?” I ask.

“It’s going to kill him, Eden.” Her voice quivers and my heart breaks for her.

This is all my fault.

I toss the rest of the small drink down my throat, then rise and leave it, as well as hers, on the small table by the galley. Her eyes have not moved from the window. Tiny tears wait to fall. I drop to my knees in front of her and take her hands in mine, laying them on her lap. “Please look at me, princess.”

Her breath pulls in deep as she turns her head to look down at me. “There is nothing you can say that can make this better. I need more time, Eden.”

That is the one thing we don’t have and it kills me. “Should I leave you alone?”

Her eyes glisten as the tears threaten further. “I fear it would kill me if you did. Even as you said the words, my heart felt as if a sharp dagger had been plunged into it. I’m a mess with a boyfriend. You should want none of what I have to offer, which is nothing but a lot of drama.”

The fact she thinks she has nothing to offer makes me furious at myself. I did this to her.

“You have much to offer, Alyssa. Stop talking down about yourself. It’s beneath you. You’re special and will do amazing things with your life. You were not born to be ordinary. Not one day of your life should have been spent that way. Set him free, and he’ll begin to heal and so will you.”

One tear rolls down her pink cheek. I quickly brush it away with my thumb. “I can’t do that, Eden. I just can’t hurt him like that.”

The softness in her heart, which she was born with to fulfill her destiny, has taken in that boy and I doubt it will ever release him. The capacity to hurt people is not something she was built with, nor was I.

It’s obvious our protectors will have to deal with this situation, and now I fear for the boy.

Sitting back down in the seat beside her, I put my arm around her and gently push her to lie her head on my shoulder.

“This is not how I want this evening to move forward. Put this out of your head and let us have an enjoyable evening out.”

One of her silky black tendrils tickles my nose and I sneeze.

With a small giggle, she lifts her head and looks at me. “Deal! Show me your world, Mr. Fontaine. I’m eager to see how the other half lives. Show me all I’ve been missing. I hope the chef can beat the lobster I get at the Lobster Shack. It’s pretty dang great and it’ll be hard to beat.”

A turn in her attitude has taken place. Although cheery, I know she’s repressing emotions and thoughts, which is never good.

I’ll go along, though. Once our protectors deal with Kyle, she’ll have no choice but to move on. She’ll need me more than ever then. 

CHAPTER19

ALYSSA

This place is beyond anything I imagined. The instant we arrived, we were seated in the most elegant, small, private dining room. The waiter placed a napkin on my lap and later tied a bib around my neck so I would get no lobster juices on the gorgeous dress my parents gave me.

Eden shines like an angel across the table from me. He was right. This is so much better than Trixie’s or the Lobster Shack.

The stewardess on the private jet, an adorable woman with a warmth about her which makes her easy to like, said something disturbing about us. She said we glowed.

If that’s true, which I pretty much think it is, then Kyle will see it as well. Though I’m trying my hardest not to, I’m falling hard for Eden.

The lifestyle he leads is so different from mine that I don’t understand how we’ll work out anyway. Yet I find myself thinking maybe we could.

This place is something I could get used to. The food is another thing which would make me happy.

The man who sits across from me, making me laugh like I never have in my life, would definitely make my life more enjoyable.

My high society skills are sorely lacking. Instead of embarrassing me about my shortcomings by telling me how I need to do every little thing, he’s made light of my inexperience.

I just about slapped the waiter when he leaned over me, placing a linen napkin on my lap and smoothing it out in what I thought was an attempt to cop a feel. Eden joked with the waiter about it, leaving my dignity intact.

Carelessly, he pops a mint into his mouth. His luscious caramel-colored lips open to accept the dainty pink thing. A flick of his tongue as it runs quickly over his bottom lip makes me bite at mine.

“So, better than the burger at Trixie’s?” he asks.

I blink and look from his lips to his eyes. His gorgeous emerald eyes. “Uh, yeah,” I mumble like an idiot.

What he does to me is insane.

He rises and comes to my side, holding his hand out to me. “I would be very pleased if you would come and dance with me, princess.”

Since the bib has been removed and the napkin is long gone, I suppose I can spare him a dance. “If it would please you, then by all means, yes.”

My hand tingles in his as he leads me to a dance floor with several other couples dancing on it.

His arm wraps around me as he pulls me close to him. Our eyes meet for a second before I lay my head on his chest.

He moves me about and somehow my feet follow as if we’ve danced together forever, which we haven’t. Our bodies seem perfectly fitted together.

He’s taller than I am, but just the right amount of taller. The top of my head comes to his broad shoulders, making my head fit perfectly against his chest. The music is soft enough for me to hear the soft beat of his heart.

After this night, I have to make a choice between Kyle and Eden. I don’t want to string either along any longer. I feel it’s cruel and can no longer take giving them pain.

My choice seems clear. I know this. Yet my heart refuses to let Kyle go. It tells me I love him more.

A warmth fills my ear as Eden’s velvet voice speaks softly. “You dance like an angel.”

My heart speeds up. That’s what happens to me all the time with Eden. My heart either drops a beat or speeds up. Sometimes it aches, and when he asked me if he should leave me alone, I felt a sharp, stabbing sensation.

Every time we touch, it seems electricity flows between us. For Christ’s sake, he just looks at me and heat rushes through me, straight to my lower regions.

This thing we have is too intense. Like most things of that nature, I fear it will burn out just as quickly as it came on, leaving me destroyed. I would have destroyed Kyle for no reason.

The music ends and Eden still holds me. I pick up my head and smile at him. “Thank you, Eden. You certainly know how to show a girl a good time.”

Running a finger along his jaw line down to his chin, my body threatens to betray my very own rule of no kissing on this little outing I’ve allowed him to take me on.

“Alyssa, you’re the only girl I wish to show a good time.” His finger mimics my motions and my jaw clenches to stay in control.

If I allow a kiss, I’ll never be able to do what I have to. The life he leads is beyond fantastic, but I’m ordinary, no matter how Eden sees me.

I fear he looks at me through rose-colored glasses. I could never rise to his standards. Even if I managed to do it, I could never keep it up.

Normal has always been my life. It’s much too late to change that now. I’d never fit into his world.

“This has been fun and a great adventure, but I think it’s time to go back home, don’t you?” I ask.

“I could hold you like this forever, but if you’re ready to go, we will. As always, princess, your wish is my command.”

The hour is late and I’m exhausted. As we sit on the jet’s seats, I lean my head on Eden’s shoulder.

Once we level off, he kisses the top of my head and says, “Come, precious, you can lie down on the bed.”

He leads me to a door at the back of the small cabin and opens it, revealing a large bed with a dark red bedspread and plush pillows.

“Eden, this is beautiful.” I plop onto the soft bed. It’s heavenly and I kick off my shoes and lie back.

Eden stands, watching me as he smiles. This will be our last outing together and our last night together. It should be more than what I’ve allowed it to be. This thing we have should go out with a bang. I pat the bed next to me.

“You want me to lie down with you?” he asks with raised eyebrows.

I nod as I bite my lip in anticipation of what my body will do when he makes his next move. In slow motion, he kicks off his shoes, takes off his jacket, and tosses it on a chair. His hand runs through his hair. The dim light casts dark shadows over his tanned face.

My heart stops as he climbs onto the bed on his hands and knees and says, “Alyssa, I know you said no kissing and I respect your wishes. I only want you to know I’m exercising the most self-control I’ve ever had to because of my deep respect for you.”

Why does he respect me so much? And why do I want him to ignore my rule, hold me down, and take me like he owns me?

The way his body hovers over mine a bit is leaving me breathless. My entire body prickles with anticipation, need, want, and desire. I can’t deny it anymore.

“Eden, will you kiss me and end this torture I’m putting us both through.”

Emerald eyes twinkle back at me and small wrinkles form at the corners as he smiles. “As you wish, princess.”

Pushing my hair from my face, our eyes search the others’ for what seems like an eternity. This kiss hasn’t happened and I’m already breathing hard, and so is he.

Slowly, he inches his face closer to mine and our eyes close. Warm breath fills my slightly open mouth as his lips nearly touch mine. I suck it in, tasting him and what might possibly be his soul.

Sweet Jesus, this is intense and our lips have yet to meet!

Pulling in a breath, he sucks mine out and groans as he does. My body shakes as I run my tongue around my mouth finding the sweetness he left there.

It’s everywhere, behind my front teeth, around my molars, and down my throat. The smell of flowers fills my nostrils as blood rushes to my lower regions, setting them on fire. He hasn’t even kissed me and I’m ready to pull my clothes off and give myself to him.

His hand strokes my cheek as his lips touch mine very gently. Stars fill my head. Some galaxy, dark, yet full of light, pulses in my mind.

A sound comes from me without my realizing it—a tiny shriek. Eden moans and deepens his kiss, filling my mouth with his sweetness and prompting me to arch my body up to his.

I run my arms around him and pull his body to mine. Our tongues intertwine as we taste each other and explore the deep recesses.

I want more!

My hands run up his well-muscled back to find his feather-soft hair. I press his mouth harder to mine as I entangle my fingers in his thick, dark locks.

Heat fills me and I want to know if this is affecting him in a similar way. Moving my leg between his, I press it to him, finding him rock hard, long, wide, and on fire.

Another one of his breaths flows through my mouth and into me. It’s the most unreal thing I’ve ever felt, as if we’re one and the same.

Freeing one of my hands from his luscious waves, I let it travel over his back and down to his waist where it makes the way south, snaking around to touch the hard, throbbing object between his legs.

My reaction to the excitement and want makes me take in a breath, his sweet taste renewing itself as if it’s an entity of its own.

He pulls his mouth from mine and sits up. My hand is still on his ample package and he looks at it. His voice is rough and raspy. “That’s what you do to me on the outside. Tell me you feel what we do to each other on the inside.”

I find mine just as raspy as I answer, “Yes, I do. Eden, I want to feel you inside me. I know this is sudden and too fast, but I crave it. I need it. Please.”

He crashes down on me as he straddles my body, his tongue tracing a path from my collar bone up my neck, making my body rack with the desire which takes my mind away from anything that isn’t Eden.

His tongue flicks my earlobe and my insides quiver. Hot, wet breath fills me.

“Tell me how you feel about me, princess. How important am I to you?”

“You’re everything to me, Eden,” I say as I run my hands over his back and butt. “Please show my how you feel about me.”

Trailing kisses back to my neck, he lifts his body up and looks into my eyes. “Alyssa, do you love me?”

I blink up at him. Do I?

“I think I do, Eden.”

“I know I love you, Alyssa. I need more than an, ‘I think,’ if we are to do more.”

“Kiss me again. I want to be sure.”

Achingly slowly, he brings his face back to mine. I draw in my breath and he blows his into my mouth. I suck it into my lungs, sending my heart into a frenzy of super-fast beats.

My body twists as my lips have to have his. He gives them to me and I nip at his bottom lip as he consumes me. I grind myself against his erection and a moan rattles his chest.

His forehead presses to mine as he pulls his mouth away, but leaves it so our lips still brush one another’s. “Do you know now, Alyssa?”

My body aches to be one with his. Sensations I’ve never felt flow through me, and I’m acutely aware I will never have this with Kyle or anyone else. This has to be love, because I will surely die if I ever lose this. If I ever lose him.

“I love you, Eden.” The words barely leave my lips before he’s back in my mouth. His hand squeezes my breast and I cry out with the pleasure of it.

His lips leave mine and I feel almost abandoned by his action until he connects his mouth to me again at the breast he’s unleashed beneath his hand. Then I feel one with him again, though I need more.

An animal hunger for him tears through me, so I grind against him again in a reminder of what I want from him. What I need from him.

I push my hand between us to unleash the thing which is causing his slacks to nearly burst. He lifts up to allow me access to the button and zipper.

My hand moves inside of his tight boxer briefs to find satiny-smooth skin over the hardest thing I’ve ever felt in my life. The smooth over the hard is other-worldly and my whole hand strokes it, finding a bulbous end which has leaked a bit.

I run my finger over the tip and Eden groans against my breast, which he suckles at in between mind-blowing bites that threaten to make me burst inside.

My hand now wet with his juices, I want to know what it tastes like. As I bring it to my lips, he stops and looks at me, watching me place my fingers in my mouth.

I should be embarrassed that he’s caught me doing this, but I’m not. With his rapt attention, I can almost read his mind. Will I like it? I swear he’s thinking that.

The moan I make comes through no will of my own. He tastes like honey and cream and I want more. I’ve closed my eyes with my reaction to the deliciousness of him. When I open them, he’s there, waiting for me to remove my fingers from my mouth.

“May I taste your sweet innocence, princess?”

My God, he wants to taste me down there. Should I say yes?

My eyes brighten with the thought of what he’s about to do. “You may,” I say as I trace his lips with one of the fingers I’ve released from my mouth.

Sheer delight travels over his face as his lips find mine for a moment, then trail down my chest to his destination. My heartbeats shake my body as I wait for the touch of his lips in an area which has gone untouched.

“I love you, Alyssa,” he says, before his head disappears beneath my dress.

Although already very hot in that area, I can feel his hot breath on me. My body tenses for its reaction to his touch.

His lips touch me gently, kissing my inner thigh. He trails kisses to the center, then I feel it. His lips touch me there and a streak of white hot heat travels over my body.

My hands clench the bedding as I almost fall apart. He makes an mmmm sound, which vibrates something down there and I nearly burst.

He’s kissing me there and it feels even better than when he kissed my mouth. Flicks of his tongue against something that is hardening on me drives my body insane and I can’t think anymore.

“Eden! Eden! Don’t stop, God, don’t stop!”

His hands move to grip my bottom, pulling me to him as he kisses, sucks and nips at me in a most pleasurable way, which makes no sense at all. Something begins to quiver in my core and my body shakes, my legs tremble, and my heart pounds. Then I shatter into pieces.

Was that an orgasm? Shit, that felt incredible!

Moisture leaks from me, and then he’s there, lapping at it, his tongue going into me. Inside of me, his tongue fills the space I craved him to be in and I’m almost whole, close to complete. I never felt incomplete until he came along.

I’m tired all of a sudden, like beyond tired, and content. Eden kisses down one leg as he moves from under my dress. His hair hangs in damp strands around his smiling face as he stands up, looking down at me.

“Can we both agree on something, baby?”

I nod my head yes, because I will agree to anything the man says for the rest of my life. He lies his body next to mine, using one hand to hold his head up, one of his fingers makes spirals on my chest.

“We belong to each other now. No one else. I am yours and you are mine.”

He is mine!

I cannot believe he even wants to be mine. He has class, money, and looks. Crap, he’s lacking not one thing, and he wants to be mine.

“I’d love that. I love you, Eden. I do.”

The light hits his eyes just right and they sparkle. “I love you too, Alyssa. I only have one more thing to say to you, then we must clean ourselves up and be presentable, as I’m sure we’re going to land soon.” All humor leaves his eyes, leaving them as serious as I’ve ever seen. “I do not believe in real intercourse until after marriage. With that said …” he turns over and grabs a black box from a drawer in the nightstand. Pulling me up to a sitting position, he kneels on one knee in front of me.

My mouth drops open and I am speechless. More than that, I’m mindless. I cannot accept what he’s about to ask of me. I look around the room for an escape, but there is none.

“Alyssa Shaylee Devlin, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

“How do you know my middle name?”

His face makes me laugh as he pulls it back in confusion. “Alyssa, please. I’m being serious here, baby.”

“You are?” I ask. “You can’t possibly be. We don’t even know each other. This is our second kiss. Well, a bit more than a kiss, but you know what I mean.”

Still kneeling, he cocks his head to the side and opens the box. An enormous diamond ring appears, yet he doesn’t even gesture to it.

“So, making love is not a thing you care to do anytime soon, then?”

“I’d like to. I’d do it right now if you would,” I answer.

“Your immortal soul means nothing to you?” he asks, and I can’t believe he’s serious.

“Really, Eden? I mean, I declared my love to you. There are some who don’t even do that much before they hit the sheets together.”

As he leans on my knees, the ring on my thigh takes my attention for a second before he speaks. “Alyssa, just as the vulgar language was overlooked by you as something everyone does, this has been as well. You should not give yourself to someone completely until you have made vows to each other. Feelings are involved and in many cases offspring, um, I mean, children. You wouldn’t want to do such a thing with no commitment. It’s reckless in more than one way. Not to mention, one day you will not live here. You’ll face Our Creator and then what?”

“Our Creator? You mean God? He doesn’t care if we get a paper from the courthouse or not,” I say, and my eyes can’t seem to stop catching how the diamond in that ring sparkles.

His delightful laugh perks my ears and takes my attention to his mouth. His delicious mouth, which I wouldn’t mind taking another taste of if he would just let me.

“I care nothing about the paper either. I do care about making a promise to Our Creator, though. I’m afraid I won’t be able to complete the act until we have. I love and respect you way too much.”

My mouth moves before my mind does. “How long until we can marry?”

His eyes sparkle. “Does that mean yes?”

“How long?” I look him squarely in the eyes.

“As soon as possible,” he answers.

I look into his eyes, making sure he’s serious. “I’ll be eighteen in a little over a week. We can go to Las Vegas and get it done.”

A frown covers his very gorgeous face and I don’t like it. I want to see that face only with happy expressions.

“I want a priest to do it, Alyssa. I have to insist. It’s not about the paper, which we will have too. It’s about a priest and a ceremony and our families witnessing it. It can still be on your eighteenth birthday. Please understand. I’ll talk more with you about it as we stay together throughout our engagement.”

Our engagement! That ring is gorgeous and so is he. Inside and out, he is, and he makes me feel like no one else could ever do.

“Yes! I will marry you, Eden.”

I can’t believe it!

His hands shake as he takes the ring from the box. I hold out my left hand and then I see it. The little heart-shaped diamond ring Kyle gave me.

Eden sees it too and frowns. “You’ll need to take that off, Alyssa.”

What am I doing? This will kill Kyle.

I search Eden’s eyes and find the spark I always feel with him. With a heaviness in my heart, I pull Kyle’s ring from my finger and place it on a finger on my right hand.

Eden smiles as he places his ring on my finger, which fits perfectly. That’s crazy, but no more crazy than what I’m doing now.

“Eden, my parents are going to freak out.”

Rising, he pulls me up with him and hugs me tightly. So tightly, I can feel his body trembling. Surprisingly, mine isn’t. Maybe I’m in shock or something. Maybe I died a little while ago and this is heaven. It seems a lot like heaven.

“You have made me very happy, Alyssa, my princess,” Eden tells me as he gently sways our bodies back and forth.

I hold my hand out as he hugs me, looking at the giant diamond he gave me, and it hits me like a brick wall.

I have to break up with Kyle.

CHAPTER 20

KYLE

Alyssa asked me to come over, but she still isn’t answering her phone or the messages I’ve left so many of in the last few days. As I pull into her driveway, I see that the damn jag is gone.

It’s late—nearly four in the morning. That girlfriend-stealing jackass must’ve left. She should be in her bedroom fast asleep, as should the rest of her family.

I back out of the drive and park along the side of the road, keeping my truck hidden from their view, should anyone wake up for some reason. Closing the truck door as quietly as I can, I walk up the steep driveway. They have a key hidden in a fake rock near the front door. I find it and let myself inside.

Not even one light is on downstairs, so I move through the living room and up the stairs with no problem. I reach her bedroom door and try the handle. It’s unlocked and I enter, closing the door behind me.

It’s too dark to be able to see if she’s in her bed. As I get to the side of the bed and press my hands to where her head should be, I find an empty pillow.

“Where the hell is she?” I accidentally murmur out loud.

The guest room is one door over. I assume that’s where the prick has been sleeping. His car’s gone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s gone.

God help me if they’re in there together! I have to see, though.

Moving out of her bedroom, I make my way along the wall to the door next to hers. I try the doorknob and find it locked.

“Shit!”

Crap, I said that out loud!

Why would the door be locked? I pull my wallet out and take out my bank card, snaking it between the door frame and the lock and gaining access to the bedroom. Again, I find it pitch black. I listen for the sound of breathing, but I hear nothing. I find the bed and feel around. No one is there either.

While thankful for not finding the love of my life in that prick’s bed, I’m still afraid of where I will find her.

I use the flashlight on my phone to see if the jerk’s things are still here. I hope he’s gone and this craziness will stop. I look around and find a leather bag sitting on a chair. It looks empty.

I open the closet and find his clothes, all very expensive. I have to fight the urge to take them out and toss them out the window. Ally would kill me, though, so I keep my temper in check.

Maybe she and this guy went for a drive. How very romantic.

I want to kill him!

I move out of the room and go back into Ally’s. I’ll wait for her to return home. Surely she’ll be back soon. Then she and I can talk.

At the very least, it will give me the closure I need if she’s breaking up with me. I just have to know. She owes me that much.

I sit on her bed and hold her pillow. It smells like her. Her hair always smells like lavender with a hint of vanilla. I miss her like I never knew was possible.

How is it she doesn’t miss me?

We made plans. How could she not speak to me when we’ll be leaving together in just over a week from now? Why would she do this to me?

She and I never fight. We get along better than any other couple I know. I know she cares for me and she knows I care for her.

The only downfall is how her parents act about her having a relationship. They seem fine with what’s going on with their friends’ son, though.

Why is he so well accepted by them?

He’s obviously from a wealthy home. Mr. and Mrs. Devlin never seemed to be the type of people who could be bought. Who knows, though?

I can’t say I really know them well enough to make that judgement. They’ve kept me at arm’s length. Scotty might be able to help me get to Ally.

He’s always been in my back pocket. The kid looks up to me. But he might be looking up to the rich guy now.

And what the hell with how strong that jackass is?

I mean, he stopped my punch like it was easy to do. Then he held me against my truck and I was powerless to move. I have no idea how he did that.

A light comes to life outside. Something moved near the motion detector, making it light up. She may be back.

I look out the window in time to see a giant black shadow fly by the window. I step back. I couldn’t have seen what I thought.

A loud clap of thunder makes me jump, as it sounds like it was just outside. The sheer curtains on her windows allow me to see one huge black thing move in front of the second-story window, followed by another.

A horrendous shriek fills the air, making the window panes rattle. I cover my ears as another shriek rings out. Then the bedroom light comes on and I’m thrown down on the bed, hands held behind my back.

“What the hell are you doing in my daughter’s bedroom?” Mr. Devlin shouts at me.

“Sir, it’s not what it looks like. I just need to talk to her, sir, please.”

A knee is in my back, holding me down. “I’ll call the police,” Mrs. Devlin says.

What? No!

“Please, don’t do that. I’ll leave. I can see now this was a bad idea. I’m sorry.”

Mr. Devlin ties my hands behind my back with something I assume is a shoe string. “No such luck, boy. The police will deal with you. I’ll prosecute you to the fullest. For all I know you’re here to rape and possibly kidnap my daughter.”

This man cannot be serious!

“Mr. Devlin, you know better than that. I would never hurt your daughter. Please, sir, let me up and I’ll leave.”

He doesn’t answer me. My heart is about to explode. How can he think this is okay?

“Ally will be furious, Mr. Devlin. Please let me up,” I say, trying to get him to think about his daughter’s anger.

At least, I hope she gets mad at him. Crap, for all I know she might not be mad at him at all. She might be furious with me. She’d be right too. I should never have done this.

The sound of sirens makes me flinch. They really called them. I can’t believe this is happening.

“We’ll take him from here, Mr. Devlin.” I hear a male officer say.

I’m jerked up as cold steel cuffs are slapped around my wrists. The shoestring is cut off and my body is pushed up against the wall. Another officer enters the room and begins reading me my rights as the officer who holds me to the wall searches me all over.

My face burns with embarrassment. I have fucked up. My scholarships will be revoked and my future is no more, all because I snuck into my girlfriend’s house.

I overhear the officer who read my rights talking to the Devlins. “What was he doing in here?”

Mr. Devlin answers, “I think he may have had plans to kidnap her.”

What?

“No!” I yell.

The officer pushes me up against the wall so hard my lip must have busted. It throbs like hell. “Keep your mouth shut!” he yells.

I turn my head to look back at the officer. “I wasn’t going to do anything to her. I only wanted to talk, that’s all,” I say, though now I sound odd because of my busted lip.

In return, I’m smacked back up against the wall again and now my cheek stings. “I said to keep your mouth shut!”

I guess I should not say anything else. My face can’t take any more, and I remember hearing something about not talking to the police until you have a lawyer.

I’m shoved away from the wall and into the hallway. Mrs. Devlin hangs her head, refusing to look at me. Mr. Devlin glares at me, making me feel terrible for breaking into his home.

“I’m sorry,” I say, only to be pushed to move quickly down the stairs.

Both officers have me, one on each side as Ally’s father opens the front door. A light blinds me as the jackass’ car pulls into the drive. The passenger door flies open and Ally runs towards us.

She looks like a goddess in a white, flowing dress, her hair in curls which fly behind her as she runs the fastest I’ve ever seen.

“No!” she screams.

The officers pull me back and stand in front of me as my Ally thumps one of them on his chest. “Let him go! Let him go right now!” she shouts.

I’ve never seen her so mad. Her relentless poking of the cop in the chest pauses as he grabs her wrist, and then the jackass intervenes. “Release her now. And tell us what’s going on,” his royal assholeness says as he moves in behind my Ally, placing a protective arm around her waist.

The cop releases her hand and my Ally’s new protector takes it in his and looks at it.

“I’m okay,” she tells him as they exchange glances.

Mr. Devlin speaks up from behind us. “Take him away officers. I’ll deal with her.”

Ally looks up at the jerk holding her. “Eden, please make them let him go. I won’t allow this to happen.”

The guy looks at Mr. Devlin. “I want him released.”

“Don’t you want to know what we caught him doing?” Mr. Devlin asks.

The guy looks at Ally.

“No,” she says. “I know he’d never do anything so bad it should come to this. I have faith in him and I want him released and any charges my father has made dropped.”

The guy looks at her for a second. “As you wish, princess.” He turns his eyes to her father. “Drop the charges.”

And I’m in the twilight zone, because this whole thing just can’t be happening. As one of the officers unlocks my handcuffs, I watch the guy holding my girlfriend lift her left hand and bring it to his lips.

My heart stops beating as the porch light hits the large rock on her finger, making it glow like a torch, killing me.

“Ally,” I say, but all the words I know are lost and my mind is beyond numb.

Ally looks at the guy who has his mouth on her hand. “I need to talk to him, Eden.”

He nods and lets her go. I stand still as a statue as she comes to me, taking my hand, and leading me back into the house.

Her father sighs as we walk past him and says, “This is a bad idea, Ally. This should be dealt with tomorrow.”

Ally spins around and her anger is obvious. “You have stopped me from talking to him since the accident. It’s driven him to do things he’d never have done. I will talk to him tonight.” She turns back to glare at the officers. “As for the two of you, count yourselves lucky that I didn’t go ape-shit on you for what you did to his face. I’m sure it was uncalled for and we will be speaking to your captain about it.”

Wow! She is not the same girl I remember. What has happened to her?

Leading me to the dining room, she closes the door behind us and I can’t help but to hug her tight to me. “Thank you, Ally.”

Holding her feels so right. Her hair falls against my face and the silkiness sends chills down my spine. A gentle push from her tells me this is over. I let her go and it’s killing me.

“Kyle, we have to talk.”

I put my forehead on hers. “I saw it, Al. I saw the ring.”

Tears fall off her cheeks, hitting the hard wood floor between us. Mine soon join hers as we stand, foreheads together, holding hands in silence.

“This wasn’t planned. I don’t expect you to understand, because it’s something I don’t understand myself. I do love you, Kyle.” Sobs rack her body as she falls apart, taking me with her.

My arms wrap around her and she wraps hers around me. We cry for all that’s lost, all which will never be.

My heart hurts in a way I never imagined. A permanent pain that only time will heal, but I know it will always ache a little for what I’ve lost.

“Do you really love him, Al?”

She nods her head, I suppose she’s still unable to talk as she still shakes against me as she cries. Somehow that knowledge makes this easier.

“It took you eight years before you could tell me you loved me. You’ve only known him for a few days and you already know. That must mean something. Did he tell you he loves you too?”

She nods against my chest again and her body shudders as she sobs again. I have to relieve her of the guilt I can tell is tormenting her.

I kiss the top of her head, and as hard as it is, I set her free. “It was never meant to be, Ally. I’ll have love in my heart for you forever, but you have to go on the path your life is supposed to take. My path is not the one for you. I’ll be okay. I’ll miss you, but I’ll make a life for myself. Don’t worry about me.”

“Oh, Kyle.” Her embrace tightens as she lets loose another round of tears.

Mine have dried up with the realization that my hanging on to her is hurting her. Somehow, being strong for her helps me to take this in a better way.

I want to dry her tears, so I sit down on one of the dining room chairs and hold her on my lap. Luckily, the table is pre-set. I take a linen napkin and dab at her streaming eyes.

Her eyeliner, which had looked so pretty, now runs down her reddened cheeks. At least I can see that she really did love me, because no one would cry these many tears over someone they merely liked a lot.

“Oh my goodness, Al. You would not believe how much makeup has run off those pretty eyes. A river of black runs down your cheeks. Let me clean you up.”

I dab and wipe as she looks sadly at me. “I’m really sorry,” she says as her voice catches in her throat. She’s trying very hard to stop crying.

I smile at her. “Don’t be sorry, sweetie. It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. How much makeup did you put on? This stuff is everywhere. I don’t remember you wearing so much, but you had enough of this goop on to cover three girl’s faces,” I tell her with a chuckle.

She hits at my chest. “Don’t tease me, Kyle.”

I tweak her little nose. “Who’s teasing? There’s a lot of run-off and it’s threatening your pretty little white dress,” I say as I wipe some more black trails from her neck and a little ways down her chest. “Wow, Al, this is the lowest cut thing I’ve ever seen you wear. And, baby, you are wearing the hell out of it. I almost passed out when I saw your gorgeous self jump out of that car.”

Her tears have stopped and her eyes twinkle a little. She grabs another napkin and holds it over her cleavage, which is exceptional. “You rogue. I’ll wipe this area.”

I laugh and she giggles, making me feel better. Although I’m a long way from being okay with this, I won’t hurt her by dragging it out. I’ll suffer in silence and wait for the pain to pass.

God, I hope it passes.

CHAPTER 21

EDEN

“I’m sorry she’s putting you through this, Eden,” Alyssa’s father tells me.

My eyes follow my mate as she leads her soon to be ex-boyfriend out of the living room. “Don’t be. She’s going to break up with him. I can be patient while she does that.”

Her mother, Toni, laughs. “You sure about that?”

I turn to look at her and smile, then I look at David. “I asked her to marry me and she said yes.”

Toni’s jaw drops and David comes to shake my hand. “You pulled it off. I wasn’t sure you could in time for the change. I couldn’t be happier. This will go so much easier for her now. I’m so sorry about making this harder than it had to be. I can’t apologize enough,” her father says as he pumps my hand up and down and pats my back.

“Let him go, David. I want to give him a hug,” Toni says. He moves back and she grabs me up. “I’m so happy, Eden.”

I allow her to hug me until she’s content, then I pull away from her and sit down. “Now we need to figure out when we should tell her who and what she really is. I have what I wanted—her to agree to marry me on her own. Now she has to be told and I could use your advice on that,”

David walks over to me and places his hand on my shoulder. “The time is near. It needs to be soon. I admit she’s progressing a lot better than I anticipated, but that news will be shocking.”

I rub the back of my neck in frustration. Again, through my fault, she will suffer when she hears the truth. Fear and anxiety as well as disbelief will assault her emotions.

Who takes the news of turning into a giant bird well?

Toni gets up from the chair she’d taken. “It’s been too long. I’ll go get Alyssa and send Kyle on his way,” she says.

“No, leave her alone to do what she has to. I trust her and didn’t expect her to be able to do this quickly,” I tell her. “She needs time to give them both proper closure. I’ll not have loose ends, and it takes time to tie them up. She really does love him. It may be hard for you to understand, but I do. She and I are built a bit differently. Love and compassion for others are so strong it makes us put our lives on the line to help people. She let him in her heart and he will dwell there forever. He’ll forget her in the near future, but she’ll never forget him.”

Toni crosses the room, sitting next to me. “I’m sorry we did this to her and you. We will surely pay the price when our time comes.”

I frown at her and take her hand. “Toni, you will not have to pay for anything. It’s okay. We got past it, didn’t we? If anything, it proves she loves me even more, in turn making me love her even more. You see, having her choose me is so much better than her being made to marry me. It’s a small price to pay for her happiness.”

Toni and David raise their brows. “I guess you’re right, Eden,” Toni says with a smile. “I’m glad she has you. A better partner there’s never been. I was a fool to think Our Creator wasn’t directly involved. Even the faithful have times of doubt.”

“It’s late and you two should go to bed,” I tell them. “I’ll wait here for Alyssa to finish her business with the boy. I’d like privacy with her once she’s done. She’ll be hurting and I want to be the one to help her through this. If she knows she can trust me with something this delicate it will give her greater faith in me, making us stronger.”

They agree and leave me alone. My mate is in the next room with another male. While I should be jealous and mad, I’m not.

The sound of the door to the dining room opening turns my attention to the light which flows into the dark hallway. My mate follows the boy as he leads her into the living room.

His eyes are swollen, his lip busted, and a scratch is on his cheek, but he doesn’t seem sad, which is good. He nods his head at me as he passes in front of me.

Alyssa reaches out and touches my leg with the hand that isn’t holding his. “I’m walking Kyle out and I’ll be right back, Eden.”

Kyle stops and turns back. I rise and meet his eyes as he says, “Ally’s told me about you and what you two are doing,” he says to me. “You must care more for her than I can imagine, asking her to marry you before you take her virginity. While I have to say it fills me with a sickness I’ve never known that you will be the one to feel her that way, there could not be a better man to lose her to. Promise me you’ll always treat her with the same respect and tenderness she tells me you do now.”

I look him squarely in the eye, trying my best to convey my compassion for him. “I promise you I will. I love her with all I have in me. I will never dishonor her. Thank you for taking this the way you are. You’re a compassionate individual and I can see why Alyssa cares for you so much.” I offer him my hand and he takes it as we shake a solid shake, which leaves me feeling good.

I smile at Alyssa. “I’ll be waiting here for you, princess.”

“Thank you, Eden. I’ll be right back,” she says as she lets him lead her out the front door, closing the door behind them.

I keep waiting for the jealousy to rear up in me, but it never comes. It’s a relief, as I’ve never had such negative emotions and I dislike how the ugly emotion made me act. With great patience, I wait for my mate to return.

She sniffles as she comes back in. Her make-up gone, she looks young and fragile.

“It’ll get better with time, he told me. I gave him his ring back. It was really hard, Eden,” she says as she falls into my arms.

I wish I could help her!

I hug her tightly and rock her back and forth. “Do you want to talk about it or go to sleep?” I ask.

Her small face, her cheeks red from all the tears, looks up at me. “Could you sleep with me? I’m tired, but I’d like you to hold me. I feel like I’ve lost so much and having you next to me, holding me, would remind me why I let it all go. I’m not sorry I did, but I am feeling the loss.”

My arm goes under her legs, lifting her. I carry her up the stairs as she lays her head against my chest. If I could take this all away, I would. I’d do it all differently if I’d known she’d be this hurt.

I place her on the bed. “If you’re sure about this, I’ll go change and be right back.”

Her hand lingers in mine. “I’m sure, Eden. I need you.”

She needs me!

I hate it’s because she’s in pain, but I love to hear it.

“I’ll be right back, princess.”

I change into some pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, then trod back down the hall to my mate’s bedroom door and do a quick tap before I enter.

“Come in,” her sweet and very tired voice calls out to me.

I open the door to find her cuddled up on the bed, lying next to the wall. She’s left room for me and pats the bed, reminding me of what she did a few hours ago and how that turned out. I’ll have to exercise great restraint with her.

“How do you feel?” I ask as I slide in next to her.

She takes my hand and holds it to her cheek. “Terrible and wonderful at the same time.”

I stroke her hair back from her freshly washed face. “I’m sorry it’s this way. I truly am, Alyssa.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.” Her hand touches my chest, sending electric currents through it.

I close my eyes with the intense sense of the current as it flows out of my heart and through my veins, carrying guilt over the knowledge this is my fault.

If I would’ve done as my mother suggested and taken her when she was thirteen, this would never have happened. I open my eyes to find her looking at me.

“I love you, Alyssa.”

A frown draws her brows together. “Why do I feel you have something to tell me?”

My eyes widen in surprise. Can it be true? Is the time to change close enough for her to start reading my thoughts?

“I don’t know why you think that, princess. It’s late and we’re beyond exhausted. Why don’t you put your back to me and let me hold you?” Her frown isn’t going away, so I kiss her cheek. “We can talk when we wake up.”

“I suppose,” she says as she turns over and scoots back to me.

I wrap my arm around her and pull her into me. Thank The Creator I’m so tired, or I would never be able to hold her like this without great difficulty.

The touch of her silky hair on my cheek is enough to drive me crazy. This night I will have the sweetest of dreams as I can finally hold my mate as I’ve only dreamt of. 

CHAPTER 22

ALYSSA

Something heavy lies on my leg as I open my eyes. A hard lump in my back is unfamiliar.

All I see is the wall, and sunshine fills my bedroom. As I move my hand in front of my eyes to shield them, a flash of light nearly blinds me. After blinking a couple of times, I can see the giant ring on my finger.

It’s as if I had a wild night of drinking because I’ve done the craziest things I’ve ever done. I had a very naughty make-out session with Eden and then said yes when he asked me to marry him.

We came home and Kyle was in handcuffs and I made the police let him go, then I broke up with him. It nearly killed me to do it, but he took it a lot better than I thought he would.

Maybe he wasn’t so in love with me after all.

And I just remembered that I asked Eden to sleep with me.

God! Who am I?

Did I get taken over by the pod people like my mother and father have?

My life has turned upside down. Am I really going to go through with marrying Eden?

The total number of days I’ve known him is seven. In a mere five days I’ll be eighteen, and that’s when he wants to get married.

What a birthday present that will be!

No, I’m going crazy. I can’t go through with it. Not so soon anyway. I’ll have to push the date back so we can get to know each other better. Although he said we can’t have sex until I marry him, I bet I can get him to change his mind.

The rock-hard lump in the small of my back lets me know I might be able to change his mind right now if I play my cards right. The even breaths I hear coming from him near my ear tell me he’s still asleep. I move ever so slowly back and forth, stroking him with my back.

A growl comes from his throat, so I turn my body to face his.

Even as he sleeps he’s beautiful beyond anyone I’ve ever seen, and he’s mine. I place a kiss on his cheek as I wrap myself around him, making sure to let his long, thick, hard lump stroke my inner thigh.

His eyes open and a sleepy smile crosses his lips. “Mornin’ princess.”

I kiss his stubbly cheek again as I rub my chest against his. “Good morning, Mr. Way Too Handsome In The Morning To Be Real.”

He makes a soft chuckle. “That one was a bit long, was it not?”

I grind against him. “Speaking of things which are long.”

His arms wrap around me, pulling me tighter into him. “Do I have myself a temptress?”

He places a gentle kiss on my neck sending a chill through me. “Maybe,” I say as I lay my lips on his neck to see if I can produce a similar effect in him.

A low groan from him answers my unasked question. In a quick motion, he has me flat on my back as he moves his body over mine. His bulge grinds against me, only his pajama bottoms and my panties separating us from actually touching.

He stops moving and looks into my eyes. “Tell me the words I long to hear.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and pull his mouth almost to mine. I think he may be about to give in. “I love you, Eden.”

I can feel his smile on my lips. “I love you too, Alyssa, my princess.”

His lips touch mine, sending a surge of warmth through me. His tongue moves into my mouth, slicking past mine.

One of his hands tangles up in my hair and he pulls it, making my head move. His mouth leaves mine to nip at my exposed neck and I think I might pass out from the desire which has built up in me so quickly.

The shaft of his long erection strokes the sensitive area he found on me last night. I’m nearly bursting as I rise up to meet his hard, throbbing bulge. He rakes it over me as if we’re actually making love, but we aren’t.

The heat inside me is overwhelming. I’m sweating and so is he. My hands run through his hair and I pull at it. My legs are trembling and my breath is coming in gasps.

A hard bite on my neck sends me over the edge and I almost scream as I come undone inside. I wrap my legs around him as he stops moving. The pulse of his erection matches the pulse in me.

How does he know how to do the things he does?

Soft kisses drift over my neck and breasts before he brings his lips back to mine, which are still quivering. They’re so soft and tender, though he’s still rock hard. He maintains his composure as he looks at me.

“Did I take care of your needs, princess?”

I blush at his words. “You did, but what about yours?”

“Mine have to wait,” he says, then brushes a piece of my hair back before he rolls off me, leaving me lonely.

His back is to me as he sits up, then gets up and walks across the bedroom to the door. “Are you leaving?” I ask.

He turns back to look at me. “I think it’s about time we got out of bed. I’m going to take a shower and get dressed, then I’m taking you to meet my parents.”

What?

“God, no, Eden. I’m not ready for that!”

He flashes a smile at me. “Get ready, princess.”

He’s out the door before I can attempt an argument. His parents will hate me!

They’ll think me a gold digger. No one gets married this quickly. The sound of a car pulling into the drive gets my attention and I look out the window. It’s my best friend, Laura. I haven’t spoken to her since the day I had my accident. Man, she’s going to freak on me.

She’s taking the stairs two at a time. Her footsteps are loud, and dare I say, angry?

My door flies open and there she is.

Oh yeah, she’s angry!

“Alyssa Shaylee Devlin, how could you?” Her long blonde hair is put up into a high ponytail, just like she used to wear it when we were kids. It swings back and forth as she moves quickly to me.

“I can’t believe Kyle told you. I wanted to do that,” I say as I hold up the hand with the to-die-for engagement ring on it.

Laura’s big, blue eyes widen as she looks at the ring. “Christ, Ally, it’s true. I thought he was messing with me, but it’s true,” she says, then turns her eyes to me. “I can’t let you do this. It’s insane, and I can’t believe your parents are going along with this. What’s happened to you and your entire family?”

I pat the bed for Laura to sit next to me. “Take a seat and I’ll tell you everything. Once you’ve heard my story, I hope you understand. You do remember the totally hot guy from the hospital, right?”

Hesitantly, she sits on the bed and holds my hand. She’s in shock. I guess I would be too if she was doing this.

“Yeah, he was exceptional, but this is too sudden, even for a guy like him,” she says.

“In a normal situation, I would be waiting to marry him. This situation is not normal. The way we make each other feel is not normal. It’s like electricity flows through us when we touch. Hell, sometimes when we just look at each other we can feel it.”

She squeezes my hand. “Ally, that’s lust. You can’t love this guy yet, and he can’t love you. This is a mistake. How long will your engagement be?”

My eyes look away. I know what her reaction will be. “Not long. We’re getting married on my birthday.”

She stands up and throws her arms in the air. “No! No, Ally! This is crazy. I tell you what we need to do. Kyle and I are loading your ass up in his truck and taking you to his grandfather’s house in Texas. They won’t find you there and we can de-brainwash you. You have to have been brainwashed, don’t you see that?”

Hearing her tell me how crazy this is makes me realize just how insane it really is.

“Maybe I’ve been living in a fantasy land. You might be right, but if I couldn’t see Eden, if I couldn’t touch him, I think I might die. Even now, I miss him, and he’s just down the hall.”

Laura sits on the bed and takes my hands. “Don’t you see how unhealthy that is? You are way too wrapped up in him. It’s not normal.”

“It isn’t normal. Not one bit. I do know this, Laura. Maybe I should leave with you and see how I feel about him after a day or so apart,” I say. My stomach clenches at the thought.

Laura jumps into action, running to my closet to grab some clothes. “So, he’s here, but your parents and Scotty are gone. Let’s get the hell out of here before he leaves his room.”

I scramble out of bed and run to the bathroom. “I need a shower.”

“No! You can take one at my house before we leave,” Laura orders. “We need to hurry and get you out of here.”

I grab a fresh pair of underwear, a pair of shorts, and a shirt from my drawer, then go into the bathroom to change. My reflection in the mirror shows pink cheeks where the stubble from Eden’s overnight beard growth rubbed them as he kissed me a while ago. On my neck is a bit of red where he bit me, making me come undone.

I run my hand over it and swear I can still feel his teeth as they clamped down on me. The electric current is back, though he’s not anywhere near me.

My hands flow over my neck, down the front of my body, and stop at where he’s kissed me and stroked me until I orgasmed. The first two of my life and Laura wants me to run away from him. I can’t.

I dress, put my hair in a ponytail, and go out to let my best friend know that, crazy or not, I can’t leave him. She has a bag packed and is sitting on my bed, looking at her phone, texting someone.

“Hey, Laura, I’ve been thinking, and I can’t go.”

She looks up at me. “You can go. You need to go. This is not mentally healthy for you, Ally. Let me and Kyle take care of you for a little while. If you still think you love him, then we’ll understand. We’ll bring you back if after a few days you still want him.”

A few days away from Eden sounds like hell to me. “No, I won’t go. I love him. I know you don’t understand how this can happen so fast, but it has. I love you for trying so hard to help me, but I don’t need any help. Maybe if you see us together you’d understand.”

As if on cue, he walks in my bedroom door. A smile on his face, he looks at me, then quickly over at Laura. He smiles at her and walks to her. “Nice to see you again, Laura.”

He holds out his hand and she places hers in his. He takes it, lifts it to his lips, and leaves a kiss on top of it.

A smile covers her face and she looks directly into his eyes and says, “Oh, aren’t you smooth.”

He lets her hand go and looks over at me. “Is something wrong?” he asks.

“She thinks I’m crazy,” I answer.

With a low chuckle, he says, “Does she now?”

Laura crosses her arms over her chest. “I do, and I blame you for it. What have you done to my best friend? This whole family has gone berserk since you came to visit. I think it best if Ally got away from you and her parents for a few days. She needs to get her head back on straight, and the influence of all of you won’t help her accomplish that.”

Eden moves to me, putting his arm around my waist. “Her head is on straight for the first time in years. Isn’t that right, baby?”

I look up at him and smile. “I think so. I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life.”

Laura looks at me like I’m nuts. “Ally, just come away with me for a few days. I promise I’ll bring you back as soon as you want.”

Eden looks at me. “Is that something you want to do? Because you can, if you want. I’ll never hold you back from anything, princess.”

My eyes search his and I know in an instant that I don’t want to leave him and run away for even a minute. “It’s not what I want,” I say, and hear Laura huff.

She throws her arms up and says, “God! Go ruin your young lives. Get married way too young, end up divorced with three kids by the time you’re twenty-five, and then come crying to me that you wrecked your life over lust.”

Eden kisses the top of my head. “Is that all we have, Alyssa?”

I shake my head. “It’s love, Laura. Believe it or not, that’s what it is.”

Laura’s eyes are shiny with unshed tears and I find it disturbing. I go to her and hold out my arms to hug her. She comes into them and I feel her shaking.

“Why are you so afraid, Laura?” I ask.

“Because I’m losing you, Ally. You’re leaving us all behind for this guy. Since the day of your accident, I’ve felt your absence. No phone calls or texts. Nothing. You’ve been so wrapped up in him. There are other people who care about you. Kyle, me, and even Cody have been missing you. Now you’re getting married and I’m assuming you’ll move away. You’ll forget about us and go live some fantasy life.”

Crap! Now she has me crying.

“I won’t forget about you. I promise, Laura. We’ll be friends forever. Eden and I haven’t even talked about where we’ll live. No matter where it is, though, you can come visit me and I’ll come visit you. You’ll see, it won’t be as bad as you think.”

“What are your plans for today, Laura,” Eden asks.

I let her go and grab a couple of tissues from my nightstand. I hand her one while I dab at my tears with the other. She looks at me for a few seconds before she looks at Eden.

“Since I’m not taking Ally anywhere, my plans are nothing.”

“I wonder if you might like to join us for the weekend,” Eden says. “I’m taking Alyssa to New Orleans to meet my parents. Her family is coming, so you might want to come along too. I’d like to get to know you, and I’m sure seeing where I’ll be taking Alyssa to live will give you some comfort.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Laura says as she looks at me.

“Would it be an imposition, Eden?” I ask.

He laughs. “There are thirty-three bedrooms, so I don’t think you’ll be any imposition.”

“Thirty-three!” Laura and I say in awe.

“I guess I never thought about you living in a mansion, but of course you do,” I say.

“What do you think, Ally?” she asks.

I hug her, and whisper in her ear, “Go get your things packed. You’re coming with me.”

She giggles and I let her go. On her way out of the bedroom, she stops in front of Eden. Her arms wrap around him in a hug. “Thank you, Eden. You can’t know how much this means to me,” she says, then leaves the room.

My heart swells with love for him as I saunter over to him and throw my arms around his neck. “You are amazing. Do you know that?”

He touches his forehead to mine. “She loves you and you love her. I’m not trying to take anyone from you, princess. I only want you to add me in.”

Damn it, he’s sweet!

Will he always be this way? Will my life with him always be like a fantasy, almost too good to be true? 

CHAPTER 23

KYLE

“What do you mean you’re going with them?” I ask Laura as I sit on her bed and watch her pack.

“Eden invited me and I said yes. He has a mansion and I’d like to see where Ally will be living,” Laura answers.

“So he’s taking her to meet the parents. I can’t believe Al’s marrying him on her birthday. Do you know she and I were supposed to leave for Texas on her birthday? What is it with that girl and losing her virginity on that day? I mean, come hell or high water, she’s getting laid on her birthday.”

“Kyle! You shouldn’t talk about her like that. You know how over-protective her parents have been. She’s about to burst, I’m sure. Add that hot guy to the equation and she’s most likely having hot flashes waiting to get a taste of him.” Laura says.

“I can’t believe you’re talking like that right in front of me,” I say as I hold her by her shoulders, making her stop packing for a minute to realize who it is she’s talking to. “So are you into this guy now too?”

A blush covers her cheeks. “Me! Oh, he’s Ally’s, Kyle. Don’t be silly.”

Suddenly, I’m pissed. “Laura, I’m trying to make this look like it’s easy for me to hand her over to that guy, but it isn’t. It’s killing me. If I thought you were falling for him too, it might send me over the edge.”

Laura looks me in the eyes. Hers are a light blue, very similar to mine. Her hair is a lighter blonde than mine, long and shiny. She has it up in a ponytail and I have the sudden urge to pull it down so I can watch it fall across her shoulders.

“Kyle, what do you mean by that?” her voice is but a whisper.

“I mean, I don’t want you to go with them. Stay here with me,” I say, and can’t believe what I’m doing.

Slowly, she blinks as she takes in what I’m saying. “Kyle, why would you say that?”

“I may have lost Ally, but I don’t want to lose you.”

Her plump, pink lips quiver. “We’re just friends, right?”

Are we? Isn’t that all we ever were?

I remember a time when I was fifteen and I wanted both Laura and Ally. I couldn’t make up my mind. I kissed Ally first and Cody made me believe I could never get away with kissing Laura too, to find out which one I liked best. He told me they’d both end up hating me.

Ally is moving on, leaving me behind, and Laura, too, really, no matter if she’s letting her go for a weekend to the palace or whatever Prince Steals Your Girlfriend lives in. We will all be left behind while Ally becomes the princess that dude always tells her she is.

I lick my lips as I look from hers to her eyes. “Are we?” I ask.

Her eyes dart to my lips. “I’m Ally’s best friend. I can’t be anything more than your friend.”

I swallow hard. What am I doing? Am I really making a move on my barely ex-girlfriend’s best friend?

I’m sitting on her bed and she’s standing in front of me. I slide my hands down her shoulders to her waist and pull her in between my legs.

“She’s left me. Set me free. Truth be told, Laura, I don’t want to be free. I want to be tied to someone. I don’t like loose ends. I like them attached to someone. If I may confess something to you, I want you to know that when I was fifteen, I wasn’t sure which one of you two I liked the most.” I pause so she can breathe, because she seems to have stopped. I pull her in a little closer. “It was Ally who I kissed first. Cody made me believe if I ever tried to kiss you, so I could find out which one of you I really liked, I would lose you both.”

Her hand caresses my cheek and I melt into it. It feels so good. “I had a crush on you that I hadn’t told Ally about. When she told me you kissed her, I just about smacked her. I wanted you, but I kept my mouth shut.”

She wanted me too! I knew it!

“Here I am, Laura. I’m free and so are you.”

“She’ll be hurt,” Laura says, and for a second, my heart hurts in a new way. It’s been hurting since Ally’s accident, then she broke up with me and it hurt even worse. This pain is different. It’s a hurt which promises to heal all that’s wrong.

I take her chin in my hand, gently pulling her to me. “She’ll be gone.”

Her lips touch mine and I am gone. I’ve wanted to do this for so many years and it seems she has to. Without letting our lips part, I stand and pick her up, turning around. I lay her on the bed.

I press my tongue to her lips and she parts them for me. She tastes like strawberries and suddenly I crave them. Our tongues dance together as my heartbeats increase.

Why does this feel so right?

I pull my mouth from hers and she opens her eyes. They’re wide with what looks like fear. She probably thinks I feel guilty and want to stop, but she’s wrong.

“Tell me you want this, Laura. Tell me you’ll be mine.”

Her breaths are ragged and her voice is quiet. “Is that what you really want, Kyle?”

Is it? I think it is, but how can I be sure? Am I using her as a rebound?

Without knowing for sure, I answer, “It is. Say you’ll be mine, Laura.”

Her brows furrow with worry and she bites at her bottom lip. I kiss her again to make her decide. As I plunge my tongue into her mouth again, I pull out the rubber band holding her hair in a ponytail.

I groan as I run my hand through her long, silky hair. It smells like flowers, so different from Ally’s.

The thought of Ally makes me stop my kiss. I look down at Laura and have to consider her feelings.

Am I only doing this to hurt Ally?

Laura’s eyes are soft and a smile forms on her pink lips as she says, “I’ll be yours, Kyle.”

My heart stops beating. She’ll be mine, but can I truly be hers with Ally still so much in my head and my heart?

Her hands tangle in my hair and pull me back to her. This time she kisses me. Her tongue darts into my mouth. Something about how she’s kissing me, like she’s letting herself go, makes me want her more than I have.

How far will she let me go?

My hand creeps slowly to her breast and cups it. She puts her hand over mine and moves it with mine, showing me how she likes to be touched. It spurs me on to try more.

I sit up, straddling her, and smile down at her as I lift my T-shirt over my head. Her shirt has buttons, so I unbutton them slowly as I watch her to be sure she wants this. The look of pure lust on her face tells me she does.

I know she’s not a virgin, but I am, and she knows it. Her hands run over my abs. They’re pretty decent, if I do say so myself. As are her breasts, which I’d like to see bare.

I lean down and reach behind her to unfasten her bra To my surprise, she lets me. I pull it off, revealing a pair of large, pert breasts any man would be proud to touch.

“May I?” I ask before I devour them.

“Please do.”

I pull one of the erect nipples into my mouth as I cup the other one with my hand. Never having gotten this far before, my erection is at full attention. I don’t know how I’ll be able to stop, but she seems like she’s fine with that, so I forge ahead.

Her hands flow over my back, which now has a thin sheen of sweat covering it. Her breasts are so perfect, I can’t believe I never noticed them completely before this. She tastes like heaven and I wonder what else she’ll let me do.

I move my mouth from her breast to kiss a trail down to the top of her shorts. I look up at her to be sure she’s okay with this and her smile assures me she is.

I pop the button on them and unzip them. Pulling at the sides, she shimmies to help me get her out of them, leaving me looking at blue silk panties.

“How about these? Can they go too?” I ask.

Her nod gives the approval and I’m very happy with the answer.

Dear God, I’m finally going to get laid!

I stand to kick off my shoes and drop my jeans and underwear. I take a long look at her completely naked body, which she has not an ounce of embarrassment about.

Not that there’s any need for it. She’s built like a brick house. Curves in all the right places and flat in the areas she should be. A perfect body she’s hidden all these years.

“Christ, you’re beautiful, Laura.”

“I can say the same about you, Kyle,” she says as she motions to my male member, which is giving her a standing ovation.

I’ve forgotten I’m standing buck naked in front of a girl for the first time in my life. Suddenly I feel shy, and I’m pretty damn sure I’m blushing. Lying next to her, I kiss her again, trying to forget my embarrassment.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask.

She wets her lips and gives me a nod. Her eyes are dark and her lips red and a bit swollen from our kissing. I can’t believe I’m doing this. As I move my body over hers, she spreads her legs for me to settle into. I can feel the heat radiating from her.

“Now,” she says, “I’m more than ready for you.”

My God! Am I really going to do this? Am I going to lose my virginity to Ally’s best friend? Could I back out now?

“Are you sure?” I ask one more time.

Laura’s hands grab my ass and she pushes me into her. “Fuck me, Kyle. Fuck me now,” she growls.

What have I gotten myself into?

The moment I’m all the way in, I lose all train of thought. It feels so fucking good. I pull out all the way and thrust back in. Her breath pushes out with the force.

“Too hard?” I stop and ask.

“No! Jesus, Kyle, just keep going until you can’t anymore!” Laura shouts as she grabs my ass and pushes me into her even deeper.

The sensation takes me over and I do what she says, pushing in and pulling out as her hands run over my back and up into my hair. She pulls my face down to kiss her, and I do, but find I can’t concentrate on the thrusting, so I pull my head back.

She runs her hands over her breasts and down to her clit. I watch from my raised position, bobbing my dick in and out of her. Her finger touches something at the top and she rubs it as she moans.

“I’m about to come, Kyle. Come with me.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Watch my finger and fuck me harder,” she says as she licks her other fingers, then moves the one she’d been using to stroke herself to allow the newly wetted finger to flow over her now very swollen and very red pearl-shaped bud.

I stroke faster and harder while watching her touch herself. Then I feel her tighten around my dick as she moans and pushes her body up to meet mine.

It’s so tight and squeezes so hard that I explode into her. All strength gone, I practically fall on top of her. Her arms go around me as my dick pulses inside her and her vagina makes small squeezes around it, making more fluid flow from it.

So this is what all the fuss is about. Yeah, I can see why now!

And then there’s Ally’s sweet face in my damn brain and I know I’ve just sealed my fate with her. She’ll never get over this.

What have I done?

CHAPTER 24

LAURA

What have I done?

Kyle naps beside me as I lie here filled with guilt and shame. I just took his virginity and not in a very nice way.

It’s been a few months since I’ve had sex. I guess I was a little hornier than I realized, because I talked like a real slut. It’s not how Kyle should’ve been introduced to sex.

He’s sweet and caring and I know he was loving with Ally. But I took him like he was just another guy. I ruined his first time. It should have been with her, not me.

And now he’s here with me and says he wants us to be together. I’m going to look like a real ass at school. Everyone will gossip. ‘Would you look at her? Ally’s barely broken up with him and Laura swoops in and picks him up. What a whore,’ they’ll all say. And I have to agree.

What’s wrong with me? And how am I going to tell Ally?

I have to call her and tell her I’m not going to New Orleans with them. She’ll ask why and I’ll say, ‘Beause Kyle and I are together now. I fucked his brains out and he doesn’t want me to leave.’

Yeah, that’ll go over real well!

Great, my cell’s ringing and I bet it’s her. I slide off the bed, still naked as the day I was born, and find my phone in the pocket of the shorts Kyle pulled off me only an hour or so ago.

Christ, I’m awful!

The screen shows me it’s her and I physically flinch. Kyle raises his head and looks at me.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” he asks.

I nod and answer. “Hi, Ally.”

“Where are you? We’re ready to go. You’re taking forever,” she says.

Kyle mouths, tell her.

I shake my head vigorously.

“Yeah, about that. You see, my parents went out of town and they want me to stay and watch the house. I can’t go,” I say, and it’s not a complete lie since my parents are gone for the weekend.

Kyle tugs at me to sit down. I do, and then he fucks me over. “Tell her,” he says out loud.

“Is that Kyle?” Ally asks.

Goddamn it!

“Kyle? Um, yeah, it’s him.”

Her voice sounds tense. “What’s he doing at your house? You are at your house, aren’t you?”

I run my hand over my face. “Yeah, I’m at my house. He came over to see how our talk went.”

“Tell her the truth, Laura,” Kyle says, loudly enough for Ally to hear.

I shoot him a look which pleads with him to shut up.

“Tell me the truth about what, Laura? Do you not want to go with us? Because I’ll understand if you don’t. I won’t be mad at you. There’s no reason to lie about it to me. I love you. I’ll understand anything.”

Bet she won’t.

“Kyle wants me to stay here with him,” I blurt.

“Oh!” her voice sounds sharp.

“Tell her why, Laura,” Kyle says loudly.

I shoot the finger at him and he takes the phone from me. “Hey, Al, how’s it going?” he asks.

“Kyle, um, it’s going well. How come you don’t want Laura to go with me to New Orleans? And when did you start to care about anything Laura did?” Ally asks.

“I’ve always cared about her. She’s been a part of my life for as long as you have, Al,” he says.

I shake my head at him, trying to get him to stop, but instead he leans over and kisses my cheek, mouthing, It’s okay.

“I see. Well, anyway, let me talk to her again,” Ally says.

“I will, but first I have to tell you something. I don’t want you finding out from anyone else, and the rumors will be flying before the day is out because I’m taking Laura to the movies tonight. I’m sure your phone will be blowing up with the news, and I don’t want you to be caught off guard,” he says.

Okay, he just told her that. She’ll be okay with that.

“Oh. Well that’s nice of you to do for her. You’re a good friend, Kyle,” she says. Her voice sounds relieved.

“I think you misunderstood me, Al. We’re together now. As a matter of fact, I just lost my virginity to her about a half-hour ago,” he says.

I’m about to throw up.

“What?” Ally asks. Her voice sounds as sick as I feel.

“Why did you tell her that?” I shout at Kyle, running to the bathroom as tears stream down my face.

He just used me to hurt her!

I climb into the shower to rid myself of any of him. His smell is suddenly everywhere on me.

I hate him!

He was my friend. How could he do this to me?

I’ve ruined my friendship with Ally, all so he could get even with her. How could I be so stupid as to think he liked me?

Can she ever forgive me? Can I ever forgive myself?

The bathroom door opens and the shower curtain is pulled back. Kyle steps in and puts his arms around me. He kisses the top of my head as I cry into his chest.

“Laura, I’m sorry if I hurt you. I just didn’t want her to find out from anyone else. I want that out in the open, so we can move on with what we have.”

I look up at him, certain that my make-up looks like hell. “What do we have, Kyle?”

“We have each other, Laura. I meant it when I asked you to be mine. I’d never have made love to you, then just left you. I’m not that guy,” he says, then kisses me.

How sweet!

I guess I’ve never known someone to be so honest and open. I suppose it is better Ally know it all from the very beginning.

My back is up against the slippery wall as Kyle searches my mouth with his tongue. His dick is hard already and I grow wet and hot with the knowledge that he likes me and is unashamed to show it, not only to me, but to everyone, including Ally.

His hands flow over my body, exploring every inch of it, the water helping his hands slide. Hungrier his kiss grows, and I find myself wanting to feel him inside me again.

I pull my mouth from his and nip at his neck Moving my mouth to his ear, I whisper, “Take me again, Kyle.”

“Laura, you’re a pleasant surprise in so many ways,” he says as he puts his hand on the back of my neck, pulling my mouth to his.

Pressing my back against the tiled wall, I lift my legs to wrap them around him as he slips into me as if our bodies were made for each other. His groan vibrates my mouth as he finds pleasure at the sensation. Moving back and forth, he strokes slowly at first. He seems to be afraid he’s hurting me, which he is not.

I pull my mouth away from his. “Turn me around, take me from behind.”

“Really?” His eyes are wide as if surprised.

I smile. “Yeah, really. It’s not so unusual.”

Placing my feet on the floor. I turn in his arms and place my palms on the tiled wall. I bend over, my butt against his erection.

He fumbles with it for a moment before he finds where it needs to go, then he slides in and I let out a moan with the pleasurable sensation. The way he fills me up completely is intoxicating.

His hands on my back, he proceeds to rock his body back and forth, thrusting too slowly into me. “Harder, Kyle.”

He does as I ask and moves quicker and pushes harder, making me push harder against the wall. His hard cock beats at my ass as he finally gets into it, lets his mind go, and just fucks like he was meant to. For only his second time at this, he’s getting good pretty fast.

My insides start to contract. I yell, “Slap my ass hard, Kyle!”

He stops. “Are you serious?”

Damn!

“Keep moving. Don’t stop. I’m almost there. And yes, I’m serious. Slap my ass until I tell you to stop.”

He starts again, taking my impending orgasm a bit further away. It takes him several strokes before his hand finally slaps me, but it’s too light.

“Harder, Kyle, slap my ass harder. Pretend I did something bad and hit it like you're punishing me for it.”

One solid slap smacks me, sending pain radiating through me and a pulse to my clit. “Again,” I yell.

Another solid slap pushes me almost to the edge. “Again.”

The third slap does it and I climax hard. The way my vagina clenches around his huge cock makes him come immediately and he yells with it.

“Oh my God, Laura. Fuck, son of a bitch, this feels so fucking good!”

Hardly able to breathe, I press back into him until we both stop throbbing. Finally, I feel his dick soften some and pull away from him. As I turn, he presses up against me and kisses me.

Moving his mouth from mine, he says, “While fucking you is fun. The next time I want you to let me make love to you. I want to do this all weekend if you’ll let me.”

“You want to make love to me?” I ask.

“I do,” he says, then kisses me gently. “Now let me wash your hair and rub soap all over your body, then you can do me.”

As his hands rub shampoo through my hair I can’t help thinking about how different he is from any other sexual partner I’ve had. The truth is I never felt more than a physical connection with any of them.

There’ve been a few—five to be exact. No committed relationships transpired from any of them. No one bothered to wash my hair afterwards. They all pretty much left or sent me on my way after the deed was done.

“Make me a promise, Laura,” Kyle says as he rinses my hair.

“Maybe,” I say.

His lips touch my neck. “No, not maybe. Make me a promise.”

“Well, when you put it that way, I guess I have to don’t I?”

He rubs conditioner through my hair, massaging my scalp. “Promise me you’ll never let anyone, other than myself, have you,” he says, then puts soap on his hands and rubs my shoulders.

“So, I am assuming you want us to be exclusive?”

“Very exclusive,” he answers. “Do you think you can do that?”

“An exclusive relationship, huh? You know I’ve never had one of those, Kyle.”

“I’m aware of that. And from your advanced knowledge of sex, I’d say you’ve been at the shit end of more than one asshole’s dick. I’m not judging you, so don’t think that. It’s just that I think you’ve short changed yourself where love is concerned. You’re a great girl, and you deserve to be loved,” he says, then turns me to look at him as he runs his soapy hands over my chest. “Put the antics of the other guys out of your head and let’s find that love together. I don’t want to be a puppet whose strings you pull to mimic other lovers.”

“I see. How embarrassing. I guess I was doing that. I’m sorry, Kyle.”

He takes my chin in his hand, lifting my face to look him in the eye. “Don’t apologize to me. I don’t even want you to. I just want to find our own way, you know?”

My God, how sweet and amazing he is. Ally was a fool to let him go. I know one thing for sure—I’ll never hand him back over to her. It’s her loss and my gain.

I hope she can forgive me.

CHAPTER 25

ALYSSA

My heart’s been ripped out and stomped on!

I suppose I had it coming, but I never knew it was going to feel this terrible. My Kyle has given himself to my best friend and I can’t take the pain.

While it’s selfish of me, I find myself unable to let it go.

Eden has pressed me about what has me so quiet, but the words won’t come for me to tell him. He’d never understand anyway. No one would.

It was supposed to be me who was Kyle’s first and he was to be mine. With Eden’s arrival, everything has changed. My world is upside down and I feel as if I’m falling away from the planet.

My heart is exposed and raw with the pain of Kyle’s words, As a matter of fact I just lost my virginity to her about a half-hour ago.

I cannot believe he told me in such a callous way. No meanness was in his tone, but also no emotion at all. Just stating a fact. He is no longer hung up on me and has shoved his penis into my best friend just to prove it.

How could she do this to me?

Laura has been my best friend since kindergarten. Never would I have imagined her stabbing me in the back like this. There’s not a mean bone in her body.

She’s slept with quite a few guys, though, and I do know sex is just a thing to her. I can’t imagine how that must have gone over with my Kyle. My sweet and almost innocent Kyle.

How awful was it for him?

My mind is full of the ways they did it. I’ve talked to Laura a lot about her sexual escapades. She’s done it about nine ways to Sunday.

Her father left her mother when she was ten and it messed her up. She feels it’s perfectly acceptable to have sex with a guy you have no relationship with.

Is that the path she’s leading my Kyle down?

I’ve never judged her for her behavior. But now she’s done it to Kyle, and I have to do something. I can’t let him go down that road with her. It’s not in his nature to be a sexual deviant. He’ll fall in love with her, because that’s who he is.

No matter what Laura thinks, he won’t walk away like the other bad boys she’s slept with. He’s a good guy, and he’ll stay around and fall for her.

When she tires of having him in her bed she’ll move on like she always has, leaving him hurt. I can’t let that happen to him. He’s too special.

But how can I stop it?

I look down at my hand as it’s clasped tightly with Eden’s. We’re on the jet with my family, heading to New Orleans to meet his parents. I’m nervous about it because there’s no way they’ll like me.

A sick-to-my-stomach feeling from Kyle’s news, with a topping of nerves, is about the most horrible I’ve ever felt. I need no more terrible news on this day. I doubt I could take it, feeling as if I might puke any minute.

Eden sighs and I look up to find him watching me. “Princess, please tell me what she said to upset you so much.”

“It wasn’t her who told me. I doubt she was ever going to tell me. I doubt that I really know her at all,” I say and look out the window into the dark night sky.

Eden rises and pulls me up with him. My parents and Scotty sleep in their seats. I follow him as he leads me to the bedroom.

Oh hell, what is he about to do now?

He sits me on the bed, then sits next to me. His arm wraps around my shoulder and I lean my head on his.

“Alyssa, I’d like you to be in a pleasant mood when you meet my parents. And you are in anything but that. Please talk to me. I’m assuming Kyle said the thing which has you so upset.”

“Yeah.”

He rubs my shoulder. “That’s a start. Keep going,” he says then places a kiss on top of my head.

“Kyle let Laura take his virginity and they’re together now.” The numbness in my soul allows me to say the words with no emotion to them.

Eden squeezes me. “That is hard news. I wonder why he felt you needed to know that. It seems quite petty and not at all like someone who claims to love you.”

“It’s not like him. I’ve turned him into someone he never was. Now Laura will finish the job of turning him into a man he was never supposed to become. She’ll show him sex is nothing but an act and love is not real.”

Eden takes my chin, making me look at him. “Alyssa, you don’t know that. They may find happiness together. She must not be all bad or you wouldn’t have been her friend.”

“What kind of friend does that?”

His finger strokes my cheek as he says, “Perhaps she’s had a crush on Kyle. She’d never have let you know. Once he was set free, she took the chance and he was ready to go for it. If you truly love them, you’ll let this go. You’ve moved on, haven’t you?”

Have I?

I search his eyes to find that thing in him which makes me feel whole. It’s there, but such pain fills me that it’s hard to find the electric sensation I always get with Eden. It’s dampened and I don’t know if it’ll come back. Without Kyle, something is missing.

“I’m an ass,” I admit.

“You are not. Don’t think like that.” Eden strokes my hair.

“I want to have my cake and eat it too. I’m an awful person. I have you, and you are beyond wonderful, yet I want him too,” I say, then turn my head away from him. “Dealing with the knowledge that I can’t have you both, I was content with breaking away from him. Then he goes, finds another, and gives himself to her, and something in me breaks. You deserve better than me, Eden.”

He kneels in front of me, taking my hands in his. “Look at me, princess.”

I do as he asks, but see no use in it. I’m not over Kyle and I cannot marry him until I am, if that ever happens.

“Eden, we have to postpone the wedding until I deal with this.”

“Alyssa, this is all my fault. I’ve kept you in the dark for too long. I can’t cause you any more pain by not telling you the truth about yourself,” he pauses and searches my eyes. “You and he were never meant to be. You and I were born to be together. I allowed you to live the first part of your life as a normal girl, but you are no ordinary girl.”

Did he just say he allowed me to live normally? What in the hell?

“Please explain, Eden. Are you talking metaphorically? Like, we were made for each other, that kind of thing?”

He shakes his head, leaving me very confused. “We are not what we seem to be, and in a matter of days, we will be more. You and I were chosen before birth to become something bigger and better than mere mortals, Alyssa.”

“Eden, you’re scaring me. Talk of mortals and such is kind of serial killer talk. Please tell me I’m not in love with a crazy killer,” I say, then laugh nervously.

“Have you ever heard the legends of the thunderbirds?”

“The American Indian stories about large birds they’d see before storms?” I ask.

“Yes, those birds. Only the truth is a bit more complicated than their stories,” Eden says. “You see, the Phoenixes are a couple who shape shift into the giant birds to help save people who get into situations which could cost them their lives. But it isn’t their time to go yet, so The Creator sends the Phoenixes in to intervene. We’ll be giving them the chance to survive if they follow us or we’re able to get them to safety. There are a number of ways we help.”

“Did you say, ‘we,’ because I can’t shape shift into anything. You may have the wrong girl, Eden. I’m ordinary to the core. Never have shape shifted and it’s pretty doubtful I ever will. Best turn the jet around and take me right back to Cloudcroft,” I say as I pull my hands from his, because as beautiful as he is, he’s certifiable.

CHAPTER 26

EDEN

Alyssa has locked herself in the lavatory. She thinks I’m insane. Now I have the great task of making her believe me.

I knock yet again on the door. “Alyssa, please, precious, come out.”

“Leave me alone. I want to go home. Tell Jeffery to turn the jet around. I’m sorry you’re unstable, but I can’t be involved with you any longer.”

I guess I have to go get her mother. I feel awful for waking Toni up, but someone has to get Alyssa out of there. I pat Toni’s shoulder. Her eyes open.

“Toni, I’ve told Alyssa the news and she’s not taking it well. She thinks I’m crazy and she’s locked herself in the lavatory.”

She sits up and straightens her skirt. “I’ll go talk to her. What did you tell her?”

“You know, that we’re going to shape shift into the Phoenixes and we were born to be together.”

She rises and goes to the bedroom. I follow along behind her. She taps the door and says, “Sweetie, it’s Mom.”

Alyssa opens the door a crack, then sees me and closes it. “Tell him to leave and I’ll come out and talk to you, Mom.”

Toni looks at me and I leave.

Damn!

I go back into the cabin and sit in my seat.

I can’t believe she really thinks I’m crazy!

I’ve made a mess of this whole situation. How Our Creator picked me for this position is beyond me. It’s obvious I’m no good at it. Alyssa isn’t going to go into this as easily as I imagined.

I wait for nearly an hour before Toni comes back in. She takes the seat next to mine. “I told her everything,” she tells me. “She’s a bit shocked and not responding very much. Maybe the other couple can help. I think it’s best if we leave her alone until it comes time to land. Meanwhile, I’m going to ask Jeffery if he can call the other couple and get them to join us at your home. If she sees them and what they can do, I hope it’ll become real to her.”

Toni gets up and goes to the cockpit. My stomach hurts at what I’ve done. My mate has had the worst day ever. That boy messed her head up with his awful news, which was completely unnecessary.

She was nervous about meeting my parents, then I go and tell her she’s going to shift into a giant bird.

Of course she thinks I’m crazy. Who wouldn’t?

Toni returns after a little while and gives me the thumbs up, so I guess we’re going to meet the current Phoenix couple. I never thought this day would come. It’s not usual, from what I’ve been told.

Jeffery’s voice comes over the speaker, letting us know to put on our seat belts. I buckle mine and look over my shoulder for Alyssa. The bedroom door opens and she steps out, but she takes the seat in the very back, alone. She wants nothing to do with me.

Toni reaches from the seat behind me and pats my shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Eden. Don’t worry.”

I hang my head, which is heavy with the knowledge I’ve messed up. It’s obvious I have, since the other couple has agreed to come prove to Alyssa what we are. I blew it.

The jet lands and Jeffery tells us we can leave. Alyssa unbuckles herself and grabs her mother’s hand. “Wait for me, Mom,” I hear her say.

She’s being careful to keep her parents between us. I wait and let them all get off the plane before me. My heart the heaviest it’s ever been, I wonder if it will cease to beat in a moment.

The limo is waiting for us. Alyssa and her family are already seated in it as I climb in. Alyssa is snuggly sitting between her parents and refuses to even look my way. We travel the distance to my home in complete silence, until the mansion looms ahead.

Scotty gives a whistle as we pull up to the large, ornate gates. “Would you look at that? Wow, Ally, you’re too lucky.”

I watch Alyssa, but her eyes never leave her lap. Her hands bunch the fabric of her dress. I see an unfamiliar car as we approach the front of the house. It must be the other couple’s.

I slide out first and wait for her family to get out. I tap at Alyssa’s shoulder as she quickly grabs her mother’s hand. “Alyssa, please do me the honor of allowing me to escort you inside,” I say with a pleading tone.

Alyssa doesn’t look at me, but Toni takes her chin, lifting it to make her look at her. “Alyssa, you should let him. This will all make sense very shortly, and I know you’ll feel terrible about depriving Eden from introducing everyone to you.”

“But I don’t want to. I don’t trust him, or any of you, to tell the truth. I feel like a lamb being led to the slaughter,” my mate says.

I notice my ring is gone from her finger. I take her hand and her eyes fly to mine. “Where’s the ring, Alyssa?”

She opens her other hand and shows me she has it. “Please put it on, princess. Like your mother said, you will understand all we’ve told you very shortly.”

“I don’t want to,” she says.

David steps close to her. His voice gruff, he says, “You were not brought up this way. No matter how unbelievable this is, it is the truth. Now put this little pouty crap away and put the ring on. Let Eden take you in and introduce you. Smile and be polite, or so help me, Alyssa Shaylee Devlin.”

Alyssa looks at her father with wide eyes and I can no longer allow him to speak to her that way. I step between them and take Alyssa by the waist, pulling her close to my side. I take the ring from her and place it on her finger, then turn my attention to her father.

“David, I beg of you to remember who she belongs to and how protective I am of her. Please don’t rile my anger. I fear I would not be able to control it.”

David backs away as Alyssa looks at me in surprise. “Eden, don’t talk to my father like that.”

“Princess, I apologize. Let’s just go inside where this will all be explained and you’ll have proof of what we’ve told you to be the truth,” I say as I move her with me up the stairs to the front entrance.

The door opens as we approach. The head butler, Niles, greets us with a stoic expression. He’s not big on smiles, or emotions of any kind. “Good evening, Master Fontaine,” he says.

I smile at him and gesture to Alyssa who allows me to hold her by the waist, yet still remains distant. “This is my Alyssa, Niles.”

Niles makes an attempt to smile and it turns out a bit creepy. He bows low and says, “A pleasure to meet you, Mistress Devlin.”

“The pleasure is mine, sir,” Alyssa says, and I find I could not be more pleased with how gracious she is, even though she thinks us all insane.

“Your parents and their guests are in the main salon. Please follow me and I will announce you,” Niles says.

Toni, David, and Scotty have caught up with us, and we follow Niles out of the foyer and down a short hallway into the main room. A monster sized chandelier hangs high above the marble floor. Double sets of spiraling staircases lead up to the east and west wing suites where all thirty-six bedrooms have private lavatories.

Toni and David have been here many times, so they’re not struck by the beauty of the house, but Scotty is wide-eyed and captivated.

“Dang it, you’re lucky, Ally,” he says as he looks over the grand room.

To my disappointment, Alyssa looks straight ahead. I squeeze her a little, and speak quietly in her ear, “Do you like it, princess?”

Her voice is flat and emotionless as she answers, “Of course. Who wouldn’t?”

Nothing is going as I thought it would.

We arrive at our destination to find my parents sitting on a scarlet-colored, chenille cover sofa and a silver haired couple sitting across from them on a matching one. They all rise as we enter the room.

Niles begins the introductions, “Master and Mademoiselle Fontaine, and Master and Misses Covington, I am pleased to introduce you to Master Eden Fontaine and Mistress Alyssa Devlin.”

I take my mate and lead her first to my mother, who wears a giant smile. “Alyssa, this is my mother, Sierra,” I say.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Fontaine,” Alyssa says.

My mother holds her arms out for a hug and I let my hold on my mate go, praying Alyssa will accept my mother’s gesture. Thankfully, she moves forward and hugs her.

“We’ve waited so long for you, daughter. Please call me Sierra until the wedding, then call me mother. Nothing would please me more.”

Alyssa is released and I’m pleased to see a slight smile on her gorgeous face. “Thank you, Sierra. You seem very sweet. I love your French accent. It’s even richer than Eden’s. It’s very charming.”

My father is itching to get his introduction. He doesn’t wait for me, but jumps right in as he reaches out to Alyssa and says, “I’m papa to you from now on, sweet princess Alyssa.”

He takes her into his arms and hugs her, rocking her back and forth while murmuring something to her I can’t hear. When he releases her, she’s really smiling.

“My, you are something else. I bet you keep your wife on her toes, such a charming man you are, and your French accent makes you all the more interesting,” Alyssa bats her eyelashes at my father.

How adorable she is and my parents already love her. My father turns our attention to the other couple. “Please let me introduce you to the Covingtons. They’re from London. This is Grace,” he says.

I reach out and take the silver-haired, still quite beautiful woman’s hand, placing a kiss on it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She giggles a little. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am to meet you, Eden,” she tells me with a British accent.

I release her hand and Alyssa reaches out to shake the woman’s hand. Grace looks at my mate and smiles. “Could I please have a hug, Alyssa?”

Alyssa nods, allowing the old woman to hug her. The woman whispers something to my mate and Alyssa giggles. Grace joins her, giggling too.

As odd as it may sound, they have very similar laughs. Grace lets Alyssa out of the hug, but keeps one arm around her shoulders.

She turns her to face her husband. “This is Rodney, my mate,” Grace says.

I extend my hand to him and he takes it in a firm handshake, much too strong for a man of his advanced age. “It’s so good to meet you,” I say.

He claps me on the back and grins. He too has a British accent as he says, “Good to meet you too, son.”

Our attention turns to Alyssa as she says, “Is it true?” to him.

The room which has been filled with hushed whispers as Toni, David, and Scotty have been greeted by my parents, falls silent.

Rodney nods his head at Alyssa and answers her question, “It is, Alyssa. We are about to show you your future.”

Grace takes Alyssa’s hand in hers, then tells her, “Place your hand in my mates as you hold mine. All your doubts will be gone in an instant and the truth will reside within you.”

I take a step back as Rodney reaches out to my mate. Alyssa takes his hand and her eyes close as Grace and Rodney look into each other’s eyes.

A few seconds later, Alyssa opens her eyes. They’re wide and twinkling. She pulls her hands away from the couple as she looks back and forth between them.

“Oh my! Oh my!” Alyssa says as she brings her hands to her mouth and shakes her head. “It’s unbelievable, yet I know it to be true. Thank you!”

She hugs Grace, then Rodney, “Thank you both so much,” she says, then turns to me.

Her eyes look even more blue somehow, without an ounce of sadness or doubt to them. She moves slowly to me, then takes both of my hands in hers.

“I am yours and you are mine,” she says with a determined tone. “We are something not of this world and we will be together for eternity. I could not be happier with who Our Creator has chosen for me.”

Finally, we’re on the same page and my heart races with excitement. “So now you know how I feel,” I say.

She nods and hugs me as she whispers to me, “I’m so sorry I ever doubted you. It will never happen again, Eden. I love you.”

As my body feels as if it’s on fire, I have to wonder if it’s possible to love someone so much it physically hurts. And just how long will this pain last?

CHAPTER 27

ALYSSA

Grace and Rodney hold my brother’s hands in theirs and show him the truth. I couldn’t have him left in the dark. He might be a pain in the rear, but he’s my pain in the rear and I love him.

The look of complete cluelessness he had when everyone in the room knew something he didn’t left me sad for him. I had to ask the current Phoenix couple to enlighten him.

Mom gave me her version of the news when we were on the plane. Can’t say I really believed her.

Here’s how that little conversation not every girl gets to have with her mother went:

“I would like for you to lie back, Alyssa. I think it’s best if I tell you all this, like I used to tell you bedtime stories. Remember how I did that when you were a little girl?” Mom asks me.

“Yes,” I say weakly, sniffling. I lay back on my pillows. Mom covers me up, tucking me in.

“Once upon a time, there was an ancient secret society which tended to a couple of extraordinary creatures. These creatures were sent to them from God. The creatures helped to warn humans of disasters before they happened, as to give those who heeded their warnings a chance to survive.

Almost every culture has stories about these creatures, from the ancient Egyptians to the American Indians.

These creatures are human, but they can also take on the form of large birds. There are only two of these birds at a time. Once one pair is done with their jobs and too old to go on anymore, a new pair is formed.

Now, not just anyone can be these creatures. They’re chosen before they’re even born. The two who are chosen are mates for life, from birth until death. There is no other way.

Your father and I are members of the society which takes care of these God-given creatures. When I was pregnant with you, we were summoned to a gathering. All the pregnant couples in this group came together. The high priest, Galchobar, was there for what reason we did not know.

He walked through the mass of people, touching each woman’s stomach. After he had done so with all the pregnant women he went up to the altar, first calling out the man’s name, Lyle Fontaine, then the woman’s name, Sierra Fontaine.

They walked up to the altar with him. He beckoned us to say the chant of unity. Then he stopped us and spoke another man’s name. This time he said David Devlin, then he said Antonia Devlin, and we walked to the altar. The same process was repeated.

It was our unborn children who were chosen to be the next pair. Your names were given to us at that time. Yours, of course, was Alyssa, which means ‘princess’ in Greek. The Fontaine’s were given the name Eden, which means full of fire.

After conferring with the Fontaines, we made an agreement you would be raised in a very normal environment, as long as we kept you chaste.

It was your father’s and my intent to give you at least a few years of normal before you had to begin an extraordinary life. Not a bad life, by any means. It will be fantastic, Alyssa,” my mother tells me in a soft and comforting voice.

I open my eyes, not really believing the story she just told to me. “Mom, are you on acid?” I ask her.

“What? Oh, heavens no, silly girl,” she admonishes me.

I sit up very slowly, then turn and look her in the eye. “Mom, are you telling me that me and the gorgeous stranger are some kind of flying people? That we are destined to be together or some shit like that?” I ask.

“Alyssa, I will not have you talking like that. You’re about to step into a very important role. Now, Eden has been groomed for his role his entire life. We sheltered you, a fact that now I don’t think was fair to you, but it’s done, nevertheless. Now we have to get you to grasp onto your immediate future and all that it entails,” she tells me.

“So, where is Kyle in all this?” I ask.

“Sorry, sweetie, Kyle is nowhere in this,” she says.

“Mom, you let me be his best friend since I was ten years old, and now, oh sorry, that’s over. Ummm … not so easy to do, okay?” I gripe.

“I realize that now, but it changes nothing,” she says.

“Yeah, it does. He has feelings too, Mom. What about him? This will kill him, if he even believes me. Who is going to believe me Mom? This is ridiculous. When are you going to tell me I’m on some kind of morbid TV show where parents prank their kids with really mean pranks?”

“You can’t tell anyone about this, Alyssa. They won’t understand,” she tells me.

“Well, you got that right, Mom. Like, who would understand that a couple of babies were summoned up from hell, or wherever, to rule the skies as giant birds?” I ask.

“Stop that right now, Alyssa. You are not from hell. Far from it. You come from all which is good. The things you will do are for the good of mankind and there is not one thing evil about it,” she tells me sternly.

“Unless you count the part where you make a couple of kids spend the rest of their life together. Whether they want to or not. I mean, can’t I be this creature and still be with who I want to?” I ask.

Oh, boy, that sounds dumb. Am I beginning to believe this crap? Yeah, I’m going to turn into a big bird, squawk. Mom has lost it, I thought.

Needless to say, it was all true.

Grace and Rodney let Scotty’s hands go and we all wait for his reaction. As his eyes open, I see new depth to them. “No way!” he says. He looks at me. “No way! You’re going to be a giant bird, sis.”

Everyone in the room laughs at his reaction. He looks around at all of us. “I can’t believe you kept this a secret from us, Mom and Dad,” he says, then comes and gives me a hug, much to my surprise. “I’m really sorry about all those jokes I played on you, Ally. Please forgive me. I’d never have done those things to you if I’d known what you are.”

My mother and Eden’s share an, “Awww, how sweet.”

I hug my brother, then ruffle his hair. “I forgive you, Bubba. It’s what little brothers do, after all.”

He gives me a smile and says, “Thanks, Al. You’re the best.”

The butler announces dinner is being served in the formal dining room and Eden takes me by the waist. We follow the old man through a myriad of halls and rooms until we reach a spectacular dining room. It’s even more beautiful than the five-star restaurant Eden took me to.

Now this is the life!

Eden pulls out a chair for me at the enormous table. I sit and he takes the place next to me. The other Phoenix couple sits across from us. It’s odd, but I have no questions to ask them, because they’ve told me everything in short clips of visions in my mind.

When they held my hands, I saw things so quickly it’s not humanly possible to process the information. Yet I did. Here I was thinking this whole time that I was plain old Alyssa Devlin, ordinary girl. I thought my destiny was to become Kyle Boyd’s wife and mother of his children. Nothing more than that.

Wow! I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Apparently, these creatures have existed for thousands and thousands of years. The couple who sits across from us doesn’t look it, but they’re one hundred and fifty years old, and they don’t look like they’re kicking the bucket anytime soon. They appear to be in excellent health. Both are still attractive, with few wrinkles and silky, shiny silver hair.

Grace has green eyes. In her younger years, they were a brilliant almost teal color. The years have faded them some, but not a lot. Rodney had chocolate brown eyes when he was young. His have faded a bit too, but they still radiate compassion. That’s what I feel the most in them is a compassion for others.

I know it dwells in myself, as well as in Eden. It will enhance once we’re able to change. So many things will enhance. They couldn’t show me the future, only the past. What our gifts will be is unknown, as each pair has different ones. But it’s the overwhelming compassion for all creatures which drive the Phoenixes.

An odd fact they shared was about birth control and how it doesn’t work on us. They’ve had five children in their marriage of one hundred and thirty two years. We’ll have children when Our Creator wants us to.

That’s another thing they gave me—faith. I believe without a shadow of doubt in Our Creator. Never have I had such a strong belief.

The only thing which bothers me about all of this is the knowledge that Kyle will never leave my heart. I made a place for him there and he will always reside within me.

My place is with Eden and he has a much larger place in me. He’s in my heart and soul, so much different than the small piece of my heart Kyle’s in. But he is a part of me, and I don’t know how the future will be with him always in my life.

He will be a part of it, though, and Eden, as well as Laura or anyone else who gets involved with Kyle, will have to deal with it the best they can. It’s out of my hands.

A maid fills all the stemmed glasses with a white wine and I look down the table at my parents. Scotty is on the same thought as he says, “Hey, Dad, am I allowed to drink wine?”

“If it’s placed in front of you, it’s yours, son,” my father answers.

Scotty does a funny thing with his eyebrows and says, “Man, life sure has changed, hasn’t it?”

We all find ourselves laughing. Eden’s hand comes to rest on my thigh and I look at him. It’s almost as if I can see right into his soul. I’m so nearly there. I send a thought out to him, shouting it loudly in my head to see if he can see it. ‘Tell me you love me.’ I send it out to him over and over as I look into his emerald eyes.

His knuckles graze my cheek and his caramel lips move as he whispers, “I do love you, Princess.”

Wow!

Grace and Rodney giggle at us, making my attention turn to them. “Did you see that?” I ask.

Rodney answers, “We heard it.”

OMG! They heard it!

‘Taste the wine,’ suddenly fills my head and I reach out to take the glass, taking a sip and finding it sweet and delicious. ‘Do you like it?’ runs through my mind. I turn to look at Eden and smile.

“I do,” I say, and he rewards me with a kiss on my cheek.

“This is fun,” he says as he raises his eyebrows.

Rodney gives Eden a wink, and says, “Just you wait until your wedding night. To be able to communicate with thought will prove quite stimulating to you both.”

I blush and look away, thinking about how men are always thinking about sex.

Grace surprises me as she speaks, “They all do, Alyssa. You’ll see soon enough when you can hear everyone’s thoughts.”

I giggle at the knowledge the couple across from us can hear everything we think. Eden looks at me. “This is so much better now that you know everything about us.”

I kiss his cheek. “It is.”

After dinner, we gather outside in the spacious back yard, if you can call it a yard. It’s roughly the size of a football field and a large and glorious swimming pool is lit up in the middle of it. The sound of the waterfall which flows into it makes a comforting sound in the night.

The Phoenix couple is about to give us a demonstration of their abilities, which will soon be ours. “All you have to do to transform is picture yourself as the bird. You’ll look just like we do, but you’ll keep your distinct eye color,” Rodney tells us.

Grace smiles and says, “You may wish to cover your ears. The boom is quite loud.”

I look at Eden and cover my ears, as does he and the rest of our family. Grace looks up and Rodney looks down, then two simultaneous claps of thunder shake us as they become two giant blackbirds and fly straight up into the air.

I uncover my ears to peer into the night sky. Their dark bodies disappear. A loud shriek makes me throw my hands back over my ears.

We all turn around to face the direction it came from to find them coming in low and landing just in front of us. They stand still and let us touch them.

I’m amazed by them and the fact I’ll soon be one. Their feathers shimmer in the patio lights. So black their feathers are, that they sometimes appear blue.

Gorgeous!

A small squawk comes from Grace, her head nods, and I know she wants us to step back. Both birds close their eyes for about two seconds and they’re back to people again.

“To return to your human form, you simply see yourself as that, and presto, you’re back,” Grace says.

Scotty gawks at them and says, “If I hadn’t seen it, I’d never believe it. I wish I could tell my friends, but they’d call me a liar.”

Rodney looks at him. “You can never tell anyone. You can only talk about our kind with members of The Phoenix Foundation. They’re our protectors and benefactors. It’s them who bought our homes and cars and pay for everything for us.”

“Homes?” I ask.

Grace puts her arm around me as she walks with me. “We have homes all over the world, Alyssa. We’ve taken the home in England for our children and their families to keep after our time as Phoenixes is over and your time begins. Other than that one property, the rest will belong to you and Eden.”

“I can’t believe it. Tell me, Grace, is it a dangerous life we’ll lead?” I ask.

“At times, yes. But we have a superior homeostasis,” Grace says. “Once, I got knocked out of the sky from a great height by an airplane. I fell all the way to the ground, broke several bones, and suffered from bleeding on the brain. I transformed into my human self once I went unconscious. Rodney was fine and he got an ambulance, saying I’d fallen from a helicopter we were riding in that was not nearly as far up as I really was.”

I look at her with sadness. “Oh, that’s terrible.”

“It all turned out fine. Thanks to our ability to heal faster than normal humans, I was better in a week. Thankfully, we have doctors all over the world who are part of our protectors and he was able to help me,” she says, then gives me a squeeze. “The doctor who cared for you after your little accident is one of them, as is your Doctor Baker, or Byron, as we like to call him. Did you know it was me who stopped you from running into the path of that truck?”

“I didn’t know that,” I say, “But I have flash backs of the two of you being there, though I saw nothing at the time.”

“I caught you up by your shoulders and flew up a bit with you. The fright must have made you pass out, and when I placed you on the ground you fell a bit harder then I meant for you to,” she says with a frown. “I’m sorry for that, Alyssa. I didn’t mean to. You see, that’s why it’s time to let you guys take over. We aren’t as strong as we used to be.”

I pat her hand and say, “You’ve done enough in your time, I’m sure. We’ll take over and make you proud, I promise.”

“I know you will, dear. In a matter of days, the adventure which will be your long life will begin. I’m happy to have met you and Eden. The Phoenix legacy is safe with you two,” she says with a hug.

I cannot believe it. I’m a legacy!

CHAPTER 28

EDEN

Never could I have imagined how complete I could feel. Alyssa has been enlightened and we are finally as we were meant to be.

I’m truly sorry I kept this from us both for so long. So much pain we’ve both suffered for no real reason. And now Kyle is attached to my mate forever.

Wish I’d seen that coming!

We’re on the jet headed back to Cloudcroft for Alyssa’s graduation. My parents came too. They’re enthralled with Alyssa, never having had a daughter of their own to bestow dainty gifts on and chat with.

I am not a chatter.

Instead of sitting with my mate, I’m playing video games with Scotty. He and I need to bond, Alyssa told me. He’s a nice kid and he’s kicking my ass at this game that I’ve been playing for years.

Alyssa sends me little thoughts now and again, telling me she loves me and wants me. I send them back, along with how I’m going to devour her tomorrow after we’re married.

She chats away with my mother, and I find it funny to send her a mental picture of me kissing her between her naked breasts as she tangles her hands in my hair. She turns back and gives me a wicked look. I wiggle my finger for her to come to me. Excusing herself from my mother’s company, she does as I’ve asked.

“Come, sit, and play with me,” I say.

She sits on my lap and takes the controller from my hands. Scotty looks over at us for a second and rolls his eyes. “Lovebirds, yuk!”

I run my hand through my mate’s long, silky curls. I graze her shoulder with my lips and find myself beginning to get uncomfortable in my slacks. ‘Control yourself, Romeo,’ Alyssa’s voice tells me in my head.

‘Take me to the bedroom,’ I think back to her.

She returns with, ‘There is no way in hell I’m going to do that with a plane full of people.’

I send, ‘They won’t care.’

She puts the controller down, giving me hope. Then she turns on my lap. “You’re being very naughty, Mr. Porno Thinker,” she whispers in my ear.

Porno! Really!

I stroke her cheek as I look into her spectacular blue eyes. They’re different now, so open and really seeing me. “After we’re married tomorrow, I’m going to keep you in bed for at least a week,” I whisper back.

She trails her finger around my jaw. “Glad to hear that.”

In an instant, she sends me an image that makes me blush, it’s so naughty. “Alyssa!” I hiss at her. “That’s just too much to take. You have to stop, you temptress.”

“As you wish, sir,” she says with a wicked smile.

“Go back and chat with mother. Take your mind off such things. You’re killing me,” I say, sending her away with a small slap to her perfect ass.

The change in her is exciting. No fear, no doubt, no inhibition. She’s real for the first time in her life. She’s letting her true self out, and it’s beyond beautiful.

We land and make our way back to the Devlin’s home. I’m staying in Alyssa’s bedroom with her so my parents can have the guest room. This will make it so much harder than it has been to keep our virginity intact, especially as my mate seems to tempt me on a nearly continual basis.

Even now as she unpacks some of the clothes from her room at the mansion and hangs them next to the plain clothes she’s worn her whole life, she sends me images of us.

Then she stops and looks at me, her mind blank to me. “I need to go talk to them before I see them tonight,” she says.

“Do you want me to come with you?” I ask.

“No. I need to do this on my own. I’m no longer hurt by their actions. I know why, and I need to let them know I’m fine with it. I’ll be back in a little while,” she says.

She picks up the keys to her jeep and I place my hand on hers. Reaching in my pocket, I give her the keys to my car. “Take the jag, princess. Retire that old jeep.”

Her eyes light up. “Really, Eden? You’ll let me drive it? And all alone? OMG!”

I laugh at her over-the-top enthusiasm. “What’s mine is yours, mate.”

She leaves a quick kiss on my cheek, then she’s gone. I hear her take two stairs at a time as she flies out of the house. Out the window, I watch her walk around the jag, trailing her finger over its curves.

She gets in, puts the top down and reaches into the glove compartment for her sunglasses. Once she has them on, she looks like a model from a magazine. Perfect in every way.

Now that’s how my princess is supposed to look. Confident, happy, and out of this world.

‘Thank you, Eden. I love you,’ she sends to me before she disappears down the driveway.

I wander down to help Toni and my mother decorate a cake for Alyssa’s graduation. Our fathers are going over some plans for the wedding at the mansion tomorrow. I overheard them discussing security. They seemed a bit intense and I want none of that.

After all the intense emotions I’ve had to endure since meeting my mate face to face, I’m ready for some relaxed time. Decorating a graduation cake for my princess sounds like just what I need.

“Hey, Toni. Mother. Is there room for one more decorator on this cake?” I ask as I enter the kitchen.

“Of course there is,” Toni says as she hands me some little, white, candy pearls. “Place those around the edge, darling.”

I open the container and begin pushing the candy into the icing. A bit gets on my finger and I bring it to my lips, licking it off. “Go wash that hand, son,” mother says.

“Aw, I shouldn’t have done that,” I whine as I go to the sink and wash my hands.

“Where’d Ally go?” Toni asks.

“To see Kyle and Laura,” I answer.

Both our mothers look at me as if I’m crazy. “And you allowed that?” my mother asks.

“Yes,” I say as I resume the task of placing the candy pearls on the cake. “She needs closure with them.”

“Best to put them behind her. Her future is far from them anyway,” Toni says as she dollops icing on a pedestal, creating a pink rose. “Again, Eden, you will never know how sorry we are for letting her and Kyle get close. At least that’s over.”

I give a chuckle. “It will never be over. They were more than close. They had real love for each other. He’s a permanent part of her now. Once we change, it will be even more cemented into her soft heart.”

My mother stops her icing piping and looks at me. “What are you talking about? That girl is completely enamored with you. There’s no room in her heart for another man.”

“But there is and he’s there. He’s never going away. I’m okay with it. I have to be. It’s a part of her and I have accepted it,” I say as I push another pearl onto the side of the cake.

Toni places the rose on the cake, then pats my back. “Ally told you this, Eden?”

I shake my head. “She doesn’t have to. I can see inside her mind now, since she’s been enlightened. I have the majority of her heart and all of her soul. He only has a small piece of her heart.”

Mother dabs at the cake with a knife to remove a messy line of piping. “Perhaps you're wrong, son. Perhaps you’re seeing something which is not there. I can’t see her having love for anyone but you. You two glow with the connection you have. There’s just no room for anyone else.”

“I’m not wrong and its fine. I can deal with it. I can also see she will never hurt me. Whatever their relationship is will not threaten ours,” I say as I place the last pearl on the side of the cake. “There, how does that look?”

Toni peers at my handy work. “Perfect. Is there nothing you can’t do, Eden?”

I laugh. “You know what I cannot manage to accomplish?”

“No,” she says.

“To beat your son at a video game,” I say, and she laughs.

The day marches on and Alyssa is not back yet. It’s been several hours. Though I’m not worried yet, I will soon be if she doesn’t return. I’ve sent out thoughts to her, but I suppose we’re too far away from each other to hear them. I hope that gets better after we change.

The home phone rings and David answers it. “Hello, Devlin residence. Ally, where are you?” he asks. “No, ma’am. Come home, we’re all going together," he says. “I think that’s a bad idea,” he says, then turns towards me, holding the phone out. “She wants to talk to you.”

I take the phone. “Alyssa?”

“Hey, Eden. I want to go with my friends to get our gowns on for the graduation. We’re hanging out, talking about our pasts and our futures, and I want to go talk to the rest of my class too. I’m going to miss them, you know,” she says.

“Of course, princess. You do that. Have fun and we’ll be there for the graduation. I’m glad you made peace with them, Alyssa. I’ll see you when it’s over,” I say.

“Okay, I love you, Eden.”

“I love you too, Alyssa,” I say, then hang the phone up.

Her father stares at me. “You didn’t have to let her do that. You know you can make her come home and go with us,” he says.

I look into David’s eyes, because I know he’s raised her under strict conditions for my sake. I can’t blame him for being so over-protective, but I do need him to see the difference in being protective and being unreasonable.

“David, I fear you have never found the line between protection and unreasonable fears about her. She’s safe and with friends she trusts. This is an important day for her to share with those whom she’s grown up with. We have to allow her the space to have outside relationships and interests.”

“You know, I heard Kyle’s voice in the background, Eden. She’s with him,” David says.

“I know exactly who she’s with. We have no secrets between us. It’s impossible. She’s grown up with him and Laura and a lot more people she’d like to spend time with before it’s all over. Only I can stop her and I won’t,” I say as I pat him on the back. “Now, let’s get on that pit you have in the backyard. I’m dying to taste this barbecue your family raves about. Our Creator only knows how many people your daughter will invite back here to her graduation party.”

He lets out a laugh, then says, “You are something else, son. So secure. I wish I could feel like you do.”

I wish he could too. I wish everyone could.

CHAPTER 29

KYLE

Holy Shit! Would you look at her?

I’m outside my house, in the driveway, washing my truck, and Ally just passed by, driving that guy’s jag. The top’s down and her hair blows around her slightly. She looks so gorgeous I think I forgot to breathe.

Pulling the car into Laura’s driveway, three houses down from mine, she finds no cars there. Laura had to run to Alamogordo to get a dress for graduation and she won’t be home for a couple of hours.

Ally pulls back out and I’m sure she’ll pass right back by me, ignoring me.

I have to admit, I was a complete jackass.

She most likely hates me and I don’t blame her. My head has been messed up about what she’s done to me, but she didn’t deserve what I said to her. What Laura and I did was no one’s business but our own. I know now that I did it out of spite.

To my surprise, Ally rolls up and stops, waving me over. She calls out, “Wanna go for a ride, Kyle?”

I saunter up to her and lean on the door. “Why, so you can go drop me off a cliff?”

The touch of her finger as she tweaks my nose sends warmth right through me. I take her hand and hold it to my cheek.

My God, how I’ve missed her!

She smiles at me and my insides melt. “I’m not going to drop you off anything, Kyle. Come on, let’s go to Trixie’s and get something to drink. I’m buying.”

Though hesitant about this, I decide to go with her. There’s something very different about her. A certain look in her eyes.

Sure, I’m still afraid she wants to get even with me. Maybe she’s going to poison my drink to try to give me the runs so I can’t go to graduation, but I find her very intriguing, so I’ll risk it.

“Okay, Al, I’ll go with you,” I say and let her hand go. I walk around the car to the passenger seat and slide in. “Damn, this is the softest leather I’ve ever felt.”

She looks over at me as she slides her Ray-Bans back on. “I know, right?”

My God, she’s gorgeous! How did I never see her in this way?

She takes off, making me lean all the way back into the seat with the force. “This thing has a lot of get up and go, girl. You sure you can handle it?” I ask. I think I want to tell her I’m sorry for telling her about me and Laura like I did.

She laughs and something in my heart pinches. I find I’ve missed hearing it. “I made it this far so I think I can handle it. So, tell me, Kyle.”

I look at her and wait for her to finish her obviously unfinished sentence, but she doesn’t. “Do you want to finish what you want me to tell you, Al?”

Giving me a quick glance, she looks back at the road. “I was finished. I want you to tell me.”

My hair must be messed up because she runs her hand through it, then leaves her hand on the headrest next to my head. I can smell the lavender scent lingering on her skin.

“I’m sorry, Ally. I should never have told you what I did. I know I can’t take the words or the hurt back, but if I could, I would.”

Her knuckles graze my face lightly as she smiles at me. “I forgive you, Kyle. So you really care for Laura. I can see it. She has issues with men, you know. You may get hurt.”

She can see it? I didn’t realize I was wearing an, ‘I’m falling for Laura,’ expression!

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take. She’s great, Ally. You know that already. I knew a version of Laura, the person she is in front of others. I’m getting to know the real Laura, the one with insecurities about love and faithfulness,” I say as we drive down main street and people openly point at us as if we’re from somewhere else. “This car gets a lot of attention. Do you see how people point and stare?”

“The car is beautiful and should be appreciated. I’m sure the handsome young man in the passenger seat is also a bit intriguing to people as well,” she says with a wicked grin on her angelic face.

What has happened to her? She seems almost like a different person. So confident, and she was anything but that.

I have to laugh. “Who are you, girl?”

“Still just me, Kyle. Anyway, I wanted you to know I’m cool with you both. I’m not mad. I was at first, but not anymore. Now that I know you didn’t use her to hurt me, I feel even better about you two.”

Damn! She’s taking this a lot better than I thought she would. Maybe she didn’t really love me after all.

She pulls into the parking lot of Trixie’s and parks, then looks over at me, and runs her hand through my hair. “I still love you, Kyle. I always will. My heart will hold you in it forever. I must have you in my life in some capacity. You and whoever comes along with you will always have a place in my life, no matter what.”

Pushing a curl off her face, I fight the urge to kiss her. “Ally, what do you mean?”

She pulls her sunglasses off and places them on top of her head. “I mean, I never want us to stop being friends. Just because we can’t be together in a romantic way doesn’t mean we can’t be close.”

“Does your guy know you’re with me?”

“Of course he does,” she says as she opens her door to get out. “You should text Laura to meet us here. We can all hang out like we used to.”

Only this time Laura will be on my arm! Awkward!

I get out of the car and follow Ally. “I don’t know about that, Al. Don’t you think it’ll be awkward?”

She looks over her shoulder at me. “I know you do, but we need to get past that. Tell her to come, Kyle, please.”

I walk a little more quickly to get to the door before she does, opening it for her to go through first. I resist the urge to drape my arm around her like I’ve done for what seems like forever.

“Let’s get a booth,” she says as she moves fluidly through the dark bar.

Ally slides in and I take the seat across from her. Sitting next to her would be too hard. “There’s something different about you, Al. I can’t pinpoint it yet, but there’s definitely something.”

Bonnie comes to take our order and she’s wearing a smile as she looks back and forth between Ally and me. “Well looky here, if it ain’t the perfect couple back together,” she says.

Ally reaches across the table and takes my hand as she looks up at the red-headed waitress. “Not like that we’re not. But nothing can ever break us apart, completely. Isn’t that right, Kyle?”

Intertwining our fingers, I smile at her. “Guess not.”

Bonnie looks confused and I have to say I am too. “Okay then, what can I get you guys?”

“The usual will be fine,” Alyssa says, then smiles a little. “And bring Kyle a beer. He’ll need to take the edge off. It won’t be easy on him once Laura joins us.”

“Sure thing, Ally,” Bonnie says then leaves the table.

My jaw drops. “How the hell did you get her to do that?”

Ally giggles and leans in to whisper. “Eden and I came here a few days ago. She was all flirty with him and offered him one, even though he told her he was only eighteen, but she said she wouldn’t tell.”

“So, Prince Valiant drinks beer?”

“No! He turned it down of course. You know if you can put all the jealousy behind you, we can all be friends. It would mean a lot to me if you could,” she says as she wiggles her fingers, which are tangled with mine.

Can I really do that? I’m fine with her now, but to see her with him, I just don’t know.

“I’m not over you,” I say as I lean in, our faces so close we could kiss. The sweet smell of citrus and flowers wells up around her. “Is that a new perfume I smell?”

Ally pulls back a little. “I would love to have my cake and eat it too, but I can’t, nor can you.”

“Rhyming now, Al?”

“I guess. I know you want to kiss me, but those days are over. We need to make a new and very different relationship,” she says as she sits back, unjoining our hands. “I suppose the physical contact needs to stop as well, since it gives you a problem.”

Problem? It’s no problem. I love it.

“So do I,” she mumbles.

“What did you say, Al?” I ask, because I’ve just realized she has commented on several of my thoughts. We were close, but never so close we could finish each other’s sentences or know what the other was thinking.

She averts her eyes as the waitress comes back with her chocolate shake and my beer.

Christ! I can’t believe she really brought me one!

Placing a bowl of chips and salsa between us, Bonnie says, “This is on the house. A graduation present from me.”

“Thank you. How nice of you,” Ally says as she looks Bonnie right in the eye.

Another thing so different about her. She was chronically shy. Suddenly that’s gone.

“Thanks, Bonnie,” I add.

Ally pops a dipped chip in her mouth and I do the same. “You have to come see me in New Orleans. We have a chef who cooks like he came straight from heaven,” she says.

“Oh, yeah? So tell me about your new home, Al,” I sa,y but I’m not sure if I’m ready to know.

“There’s better things to talk about. Like the small graduation party my family’s throwing at our house tonight. Wanna come?” she asks.

“He’s going to be there, isn’t he?”

She nods and eats another chip.

Can I do this? Can I put jealousy out of my min, and do this?

I take my cell out and text Laura. (Meet me at Trixie’s when you get back to town. I have a surprise for you.)

“You finally asking Laura to join us?” Al asks.

“Yeah. If she says she’ll go to your party, then I will too.” A smile breaks across Ally’s face and it makes me so damn happy in an instant. “Damn girl, I missed that smile. It’s crazy how much I missed it.”

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed seeing your face every day, Kyle. I can’t give you up completely. Try to look at me in a new way. I’m someone you’ve grown up with. Can’t you look at me like you look at any of the other girls in our class?” she asks, then places the straw in between her red, plump lips, unaware of how beautiful she is.

I lean in and pull the straw from her mouth. “Can you look at me like you look at all the rest of the boys in our class, Ally?” I ask, then pull the tall glass of chocolate liquid to my mouth as she still holds it in her hand. Placing the straw between my lips, I take a sip.

Her eyes go to my lips and she licks hers. “Guess not.” Her eyes travel back to mine and she says, “We have a lot to work through, don’t we?”

That we do!

CHAPTER 30

ALYSSA

How can it be possible to love two completely different people at once and to know it will be this way forever?

What was Our Creator thinking to let this happen?

I sit across from Kyle and Laura at Trixie’s café. They hold hands and every so often share a private whisper and giggle with each other. Cody has joined us and he sits next to me. Never have I felt more comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.

I’ve known these people for as long as I can remember. They’re my closest friends, yet they seem almost like strangers as I sit and watch my Kyle look at and touch my best friend.

“How ya doing, Al?” Cody whispers in my ear as Kyle and Laura whisper to each other about something they’re leaving us out of.

I pat Cody’s knee under the table. “I’m fine.” I whisper back, but I’m not fine.

Who could be fine knowing they can never have someone they love the way they want to? Who can be fine watching the one they love fall in love with another?

Kyle is falling for Laura. I can read his thoughts as well as I can read Eden’s. When Laura had not joined us yet he thought little of her. But what he did think about her was nice.

I could see he’s really coming to care for her. Then, when she walked in, he lit up like a Christmas tree and he thought about how sexy and hot she looked in her new green dress. He thought about how perky her boobs were and how he wanted to suck them later on tonight.

Yeah, it made me sick too!

As she hesitantly came towards us, he worried about her and how she was feeling seeing me and him together. When she and I hugged, he felt relief. When she hugged him, he got a boner.

It was gross!

It’s obvious to me, at least for now, that their relationship is highly sexual, something I assume is natural in some relationships. I worry for them both though, as I know Laura.

I can’t read her yet. Perhaps after I change I’ll be able to. For now, it’s just Eden and Kyle, I assume because they each have a solid place in my heart.

Bonnie brings us a round of beers as a graduation gift, something my parents would have never tolerated.

After being enlightened about what I really am, I trust my own judgement. One beer will not hurt me. I’m not even all human.

I could smoke if I wanted to and it would never hurt me or give me cancer. I don’t like the smell though, so I doubt I’ll ever even pick one up.

Cancer will never be a battle I’ll have to fight. Sickness of any kind will not take me from this world. Very few things can kill this body. One of the oddest things I was shown by Grace and Rodney was that milk in large amounts can kill us.

How crazy, right?

I suppose that’s why my parents always told me I was lactose intolerant. I never remember drinking milk and having a reaction to it. It seems odd now, though, as we had milk in the house. Scotty drinks it, as do mom and dad.

Kyle reaches across the table and takes my hand, which I’ve absentmindedly been tracing patterns on the table with. “Ally, Laura said we can go to your party after graduation.”

I look up at him, then over to Laura, who’s smiling. “Good! I’m glad you decided to join me,” I say, then turn to Cody. “You’re invited too, Cody.”

Cody slips his arm around my shoulders. “You gonna be my date, Al?”

I laugh. “No, but you can bring one. If you can find one.”

Kyle still has my hand in his. He threads his fingers through mine. Both of us are on the inside part of the booth. Our hands, up against the wall, are in plain view, but it still feels secretive to me. Something like that is never good.

I pull my hand away and Kyle looks over at me with a frown. “You and I have more to discuss later, Ally.”

I nod and look away. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with. The knowledge that Kyle will always be in my life does battle with the knowledge that he and I will never be anything more than friends.

I look at Laura and try hard to get into her mind to see how she feels about him. She may be my best friend, but if she hurts him it will destroy our friendship forever.

Kyle looks at Laura and says, “Ally invited me to visit her in New Orleans. Maybe this summer you and I can go together.”

Laura smiles enthusiastically at me. “Can we, Ally? That would be great.”

“Of course you can. Anytime you want. You come too, if you want to, Cody. There’s an enormous game room and swimming pool. All sorts of things.”

Cody still has his arm around my shoulders and he gives them a squeeze. “Does your man have a hot sister I can borrow while I’m there?”

“You hound!” I say as I slap his thigh, “He’s an only child, but New Orleans is a big town. Even you should be able to find someone who can put up with your antics, Cody.”

“Hell, yeah, we can all drive down in my truck. It’ll be a blast,” Kyle says, then kisses Laura on the side of the head, just like he used to do to me.

I take in a deep breath to steady my increased heartbeats, then say, “If you want to, I could send our jet to bring you. The drive is very far.”

Cody gasps. “You have a jet?”

“We do,” I answer. “Get along with Eden and you can come visit us often.”

Cody laughs. “Hell, me and Eden will get along just fine. I like the guy already.”

“He really is very sweet,” Laura says, then looks up at Kyle. “I know you’ll like him if you give him a chance.”

He takes in a deep breath and sighs as he looks at her. “I’ll get along with him. I can swallow my pride for Ally’s sake.”

For my sake? How can I do this to him?

Suddenly I feel selfish. He just thought about how hard it will be to see us together and do nothing about it. Just how I’m feeling right now about how he has his arm around Laura’s neck, holding her to his chest.

I hate it!

Light fills the dark café for a second as a police officer strolls through the door. The mugs of beer sit in front of each one of us.

Cody panics and drinks his until it’s gone. I see the officer watching him. “Stay cool,” I whisper.

“Way to go, numb-nuts,” Kyle hisses at Cody. “Could you possibly draw any more attention to the fact?”

Cody hiccups once. “At least he can’t find any proof I’ve had any beer. My glass is empty.”

Laura rolls her eyes and Kyle kicks him under the table. The officer is one of the ones who hurt Kyle the night he came to my house.

Suddenly I’m furious. He’s walking over to us and I push at Cody. “Let me out. I have something to say to the prick.”

Cody stands up as Kyle says, “No, dude! Don’t let her out!”

It’s too late. I’m in the cop’s face before he can make it all the way to the table. “Nice to see you again, sir,” I say, although it’s not.

He looks surprised. “I know you, don’t I?”

“You should remember me. How is it you’re still wearing that uniform?” I ask.

The frown he forms makes his already saggy jowls drop even lower. “I got three days’ suspension because of you.”

Kyle is at my side without me realizing he’s gotten up, I’m glaring so hard at the officer.

“Ally, let it go,” he says, his hand around my waist. He tries to pull me back with him.

He still has a spot on his lip where the man busted it as he threw him up against my bedroom wall. I can see the whole scene in my head as it replays in Kyle’s mind.

“You threw him around like a rag doll, you jerk. How’d you like to be handled in such a manner?” I growl at him, furious at what I saw.

“Look here, girl,” the officer says.

I interrupt him as I step forward another step, despite Kyle’s efforts to move me backward.

“Don’t you ‘girl’ me, Officer Koenig. I’ll be keeping an eye on you. You seem to feel it’s just fine to toss innocent people about. I’ll make sure you know what it feels like. You need to learn how to treat people. That uniform is not meant to make you feel superior to others. The badge you wear is but a token to let others know you should be respected. Guess what, Koenig, you have to give respect to get it. You disrespected my friend. I want you to apologize to him now.”

I motion to Kyle, who I see has turned one shade paler than his usual tan color. “Ally, what the hell are you doing?”

The officer stands in front of us defiantly. I level my eyes on his, then he turns and walks away. Turning his head back, he says, “I don’t apologize.”

TRIP!

Just like that, the man finds himself face first on the floor. He scrambles to his feet and turns to see us all smiling.

He walks faster towards the door, then shouts back, “Watch yourselves. I saw you drinking.”

I shout, “Apologize!”

He shoots the finger at me as he reaches for the door.

DOOR OPEN!

The door opens as if a gust of wind blew it, knocking the cop down. As he sits up, I see his lip has been busted. Bonnie runs to help him up, dabbing at the blood with a dirty bar rag.

Yeah, I think he’s had enough.

Kyle looks down at me with a giggle to his words, “Looks like he’s had a series of unfortunate events.”

“Karma’s a bitch,” I say.

CHAPTER 31

LAURA

Ally’s backyard looks beautiful. The stars fill the night sky, lending light to the dim surroundings. Ally and Eden almost glow with happiness. I can’t believe they’ll be married by this time tomorrow. I can’t believe I won’t be a part of it.

Graduation went well. We all cried when Tammy gave her Valedictorian speech.

Damn sappy girl!

Ally and Eden are leaving Eden’s mother and appear to be coming towards me. Kyle is making a plate. He loves how Ally’s dad makes a brisket. I love her mother’s apple pie.

Ally takes the chair next to mine and Eden sits across from me. It comes to my attention that once Kyle sits down, it’ll be the first time he and Eden will have been anywhere near civil to each other.

The touch of Ally’s hand on mine draws my attention to her. “Laura, I know this is sudden, but I have something I want to ask you before Kyle comes back.”

“Okay.”

“Our wedding tomorrow will be a bit different. Lots of people you and even I won’t know will be there. But Eden’s family, and apparently my parents, know them. They’ve told me there’s not to be bridesmaids or groomsmen, but I want you there. I know you won’t want to go alone, so you can bring Kyle or whoever you want,” Ally says, then looks back at Kyle who’s still filling his plate. “I’d like him there, but if he can’t be I’ll understand.”

Brushing back a long black curl from her face, I say, “I would love to, Ally. I think it would be a good thing for him to go. To see you move on.” I lean in to whisper to her, so Eden doesn’t hear. “He still loves you, you know.”

She nods and whispers back, “He is falling in love with you, you know.”

My eyes must’ve gone wide in surprise, because I haven’t felt like that at all. “Ally, you’re silly.”

Her hand strokes my cheek as she looks into my eyes. Something is so different about her. “Let him love you, Laura. You deserve it. He’s good. You can believe what he tells you. He’s not like your father. Let yourself love him. It’ll all be fine. He won’t hurt you like the others have. Please don’t hurt him.”

“I’m afraid,” I admit to her and myself.

“I know you are, but you don’t have to be. He’s meant for you. I know he is. Trust in him, Laura.”

Kyle sits on the other side of me. “Mmmm, Ally, your dad has outdone himself. I brought you a piece of her mom’s apple pie, sweetie,” he says as he pushes a small plate to me.

Damn, he’s sweet!

Ally gives me a smile and pats my hand under the table. I smile at Kyle. “Thank you, babe.”

Kyle looks over at Eden and asks, “You don’t like barbecue, Eden?”

“I helped David all afternoon with the meat. I was his official taste tester. Needless to say, I’m stuffed. It is good, isn’t it?” Eden answers.

That didn’t go badly at all. Maybe they can get along.

“Is Cody coming?” Ally asks Kyle.

A fork full of meat just went into his mouth so he can’t speak, so I answer for him. “He felt like a fifth wheel, so he went to the crazy party at Lou’s house. Kyle really should help him find a girlfriend.”

Kyle swallows finally and says, “No, Kyle shouldn’t. Cody is my friend, but he’s a bit of a bad boy. I know you girls don’t know this, but he goes down to Alamogordo almost every weekend and hooks up with random girls.”

Alyssa gasps. “You never told me that, Kyle.”

“Al, did you think I told you everything about his personal life? You certainly didn’t share secrets about this one here,” he says as he points at me with his steak knife.

I shoot him a look to let him know to shut up, but it does no good. “You could have let me in on some things, Ally. She could’ve used my advice at the very least. A couple of those guys needed a serious ass kicking,” he says and stuffs another bite of meat into his mouth.

Thank God he loves to eat more than talk. I thought he was about to talk about my bedroom experience right in front of Eden.

Alyssa blushes for some odd reason and turns her head. She’s acting so different.

Eden drums his fingers on the table. “Alyssa has told me she’s invited you two to our home this summer. I’d love for you to come. There’s so much to do in New Orleans,” he says, and I see Ally smile at him like he just gave us our own mansion.

“I wouldn’t miss the chance to get to see where Ally’s living. We’ll visit. I’ve promised her,” Kyle says, then shoves a forkful of beans in his mouth.

Eden’s eyes droop ever so slightly before he looks away. He’s trying so hard to accept whatever it is Kyle and Ally have. I have to say, he’s a special guy to even want Ally with her baggage.

I suppose I’m special too, accepting Kyle with his.

Kyle takes his last bite and drinks down a bottle of water, then turns his attention to Eden. “Dude, did Ally tell you what she did to the cop in Trixie’s earlier today?”

Eden’s eyes lock with Ally’s for a moment, then he looks back at Kyle. “She did. It was a bit reckless, don’t you think?” he asks Kyle.

Kyle makes a weird huffing sound. “More than a bit. I just about tore out of the booth, pushing past poor Laura to get to Ally before he did something horrible to her,” Kyle says, then wags his finger towards Ally. “He could have taken you to jail, young lady.”

Ally rolls her eyes. “That joke of an officer couldn’t have taken me to jail. He still needs to apologize to you. I’ll see him around again, I hope,” she says, and Eden shoots her another look.

Eden turns his attention back to Kyle. “I’m glad you were there to make sure she didn’t get herself in too deep. She said she had a very good time with all of you,” he says, then leans up, placing his elbows on the table and lacing his long fingers together. He looks at me. “I want you to know I’m not taking her from any of you. She’s free to visit and have visitors. I only wish to be a part of her life, not her entire world. There’s room for all of us.”

I see why she loves him. He’s perfect!

Kyle touches my leg, then I feel him squeeze my knee as he says, “I’m not going to sit here and act like I don’t believe you took her from me, because you did. What I do want to say is, I think it was meant to be. I have to admit Ally glows like I’ve never seen her do before. It’s because of you that she has a confidence about herself she never had before. It’s because of you that she has a gleam in her eye she never had before.”

Ally turns pink. “Cut it out. You’re making me blush.”

Kyle smiles. “I will not cut it out. I also want to say thank you to Eden. Without your intervention into our relationship, I would have never known how wonderful this girl right next to me is,” he says, and his arm wraps around my shoulders. “She is more exceptional than I ever realized. So thank you, Eden, for allowing me the freedom to find that out about her.”

Eden smiles and looks right into Kyle’s eyes. “I’m very happy to hear you say those things, Kyle. Laura is a wonderful girl and I do believe she’s needed you for some time. Perhaps nearly as much as Alyssa and I have needed each other. In the spirit of maintaining a long-lasting friendship with you both, I’d like to invite you to come with us to New Orleans for our wedding tomorrow. You can stay the whole weekend and see some of New Orleans. Our driver will take you anywhere you care to go.”

Kyle freezes for a few seconds, then turns to me. “Is that something you want to do, Laura?”

I nod. “It would make us all happy. Don’t you think?”

Kyle looks past me to Ally. “You really want me there, Al?”

“I do,” she answers.

I watch Kyle’s eyes begin to glisten. I believe he’s near tears. He blinks a few times, then laughs. “Better hold on to those two words, Al. You’ll be saying them a lot tomorrow. Of course we’ll come,” he says, then turns to Eden. “Thanks for inviting us, man. I know it wasn’t easy for you. It’ll take us a little time, but we can get through this bump in the road. When it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, right?”

Eden smiles at him. “Right you are, Kyle.”

Wow! I didn’t think it would go this smoothly. This all seems a little too good to be true.

And you know what they say about things which seem too good to be true. They usually aren’t

CHAPTER 32

ALYSSA

My hair is done and my make-up perfect as I hang onto my father’s arm. Flashes of light blind me as people take my picture as I’m led outdoors to a waiting crowd of people, most of whom I don’t know yet, but soon will. The veil which covers my face blurs the scene, which I assume is ideal.

I can hear Eden as he sends me an, I love you, and a You look gorgeous.

I stare straight ahead until I hear another voice. I can’t believe it’s not me at the end of the aisle. It’s Kyle in my head.

In another world, it would be him, but I live in this world and my life is with Eden. In a bizarre twist of fate who I thought to be the perfect man for me is not. Instead, I’ve found myself not entirely human. A bird has dwelled in me, lying dormant until this very night when it shall be unleashed.

What will the air feel like as it flows across my face and body? How will things smell to me? Will I enjoy it?

I’m not sure if this condition is a curse or a blessing. I’ll live a long time, but I will have to endure the deaths of all those I love, save my mate. I will see even our children pass. The depths of sorrow for what I’ve yet to lose have made a chasm in my soul.

To mourn those yet to be born is ridiculous, but I do. This day starts it all, my future as a shape shifter. The other half of the only Phoenixes in this world. Chosen before birth by The Creator of all things. Such responsibility I’ve never known. Somewhere deep inside me, I know I’m up to it.

A tall and very ancient-looking man with long, white hair wears a black robe, and I think it does not bode well for all he’s about to make us promise to.

He stands on an altar above my Eden, who I’m happy to have standing next to me as we move into the next phase of our lives.

I was told this part of the ceremony was acceptable for me to have Kyle and Laura at, but what must they think of this?

As I reach Eden, my father kisses my cheek through the veil before placing my hand in Eden’s. I smile at him as we tell each other everything will be okay and how much we love each other. Then the man speaks.

His voice is booming, and I find I’m flinching at how loud it is and how close he is. “Welcome all to the marriage of two very exceptional individuals. You are all here to witness the vows they will make to Our Creator,” he says, then his arms motion outward, nearly touching Eden as they do. “I am Galchobar and you are about to witness history.”

A thunderous applause from our guests surprises me.

This is not how weddings go!

I hear Kyle thinking, What kind of wedding is this?

Deep in the recesses of an old grey-stoned church in the middle of New Orleans, we’ve come to say our vows and become one. The roof long gone, we stand under the stars, which light up the night as sconces on the stone walls add to it. I told Laura and Kyle that the wedding has a Medieval theme.

Hope they buy it.

My attention is taken abruptly as the old man’s booming voice says my mate’s name. “Eden, son of Lyle, do you vow to love this woman for eternity?”

Eden looks into my eyes. I want to melt into him right now and forget this huge drama of a wedding. His velvet voice speaks, “I do.”

Though I know he loves me, it’s very pleasant to hear him say he vows to for eternity.

“Alyssa, daughter of David, do you vow to love this man for eternity?” the old man asks me.

I answer him quickly, wanting this over, “I do.”

Galchobar looks out to our guests. His voice loud, he speaks to them. “On this night, before all of you, this couple has made a vow to Our Creator to love each other for eternity. You all are witnesses to their vows.”

His long windedness is making me think this will not go as fast as I’d like it to.

Patience, princess, Eden sends to me as he squeezes my hand.

The resounding boom of the old man’s voice makes me jump again. “Eden, son of Lyle, do you vow to honor this woman, Our Creator, and all those created for eternity?”

“I do,” comes my mate’s answer.

I await the old man’s loud voice and he does not disappoint me. “Alyssa, daughter of David, do you vow to honor this man, Our Creator, and all those created for eternity?”

“I do.”

The ancient man goes off on another tangent. His long arms raise as he says, “You are witnesses to the vow of honor they have given each other. Integrity, fairness, and honesty are keystones of the foundation needed to live a life of servitude to the masses. These creatures have been sent to us to save others, and the vow of honor they give each other is extended to Our Creator and every creature on this planet.”

“What the hell does that mean?” comes out of Kyle’s mouth, from his seat not far behind me.

Eden sends me a look and a message, They’ll take him out if he says anything else.

Galchobar gives me a stern look and I turn to look back at Kyle, lifting my finger to my mouth in a gesture for him to remain silent. His eyes are wide as he nods back. I smile and see he’s thinking, I’ll talk to her after the wedding.

Good!

I give the old guy a nod and he continues, “Eden, son of Lyle, do you vow to protect this woman for eternity?”

“I do,” he answers as he squeezes my hand and smiles at me.

He’s beyond adorable!

“Alyssa, daughter of David, please kneel before your mate,” the old man says, and I turn my gaze from my gorgeous mate to Galchobar.

Eden’s voice fills my head, ‘It’ll be okay, Princess.’

This is not cool!

I look back at Eden. He’s smiling and squeezing my hand a little, I suppose to reassure me. Slowly, I drop to my knees as I try hard to control the anger which is threatening to flow through my blood.

Eden sends me, ‘Thank you, precious.’

I send nothing back, as I’m having to focus on not getting up and telling Galchobar just where he can go with this crap.

“Eden, son of Lyle, please repeat these words after me. I, Eden, son of Lyle, now am and have always been your master.”

Oh, hel,l no!

Eden sends me a thought, ‘Princess, please remember this is an ancient ceremony. I have to say these words. Please don’t make a scene.’ Then the words he’s been asked to repeat come from his mouth.

My body shakes with how mad I am!

I look up at him and glare into his eyes, which widen as he knows I’m beyond pissed.

The old man’s voice can barely be heard by me as the blood pounds through my ears. “Alyssa, daughter of David, bow your head in front of your master and repeat these words after me. I, Alyssa, daughter of David, vow to be submissive to this man for eternity.”

I swallow hard because I don’t want to make the vow. The moments tick by and Kyle’s thoughts come to me, ‘No fucking way am I going to allow this to happen.’

Eden sends me, ‘Alyssa, please, princess, it’ll be all right, I promise. Just say the words, please. I will always confer with you on everything, no matter what.’

Keeping my head bowed, I close my eyes to hold back the tears I feel threatening. “I, Alyssa, daughter of David, vow to be submissive to this man for eternity.”

I think a piece of my soul has died.

CHAPTER 33

EDEN

My mate is not taking her position well and it’s almost killing me.

I send her thoughts of how I’ll never treat her with anything but the respect she deserves. If I could change the words of this ceremony, I would, but it’s out of my hands at this point.

We may be able to make changes during our reign, but we are powerless until this part is completed, putting us in charge.

The man who presides over this ceremony is something not of this world either. Galchobar is an ancient and he is immortal, sent here to oversee our kind, and other special creatures as well.

Not vampires, though, for reasons he did not care to explain to me. He detests them as well as werewolves.

“Eden, son of Lyle, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, not only in man’s eyes, but also in the eyes of Our Creator?” Galchobar asks me.

Alyssa’s hand trembles in mine as she kneels before me, her head bowed. I give her hand a small squeeze. “I do.”

“Allow her to rise now, if you are ready to,” he tells me, and I immediately pull at her hand to help her stand.

Her eyes are narrowed, thankfully not at me. No, she looks at Galchobar, and she plots to give him a piece of her mind as soon as she possibly can. I do feel a bit sorry for the old fellow.

Somehow he holds her molten gaze as he says, “Alyssa, daughter of David, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, not only in man’s eyes, but also in the eyes of Our Creator?”

“I do,” she replies and turns her head to me. Her eyes soften and her heart beats wildly.

She is beyond anything I could have ever hoped for and she is almost mine.

Galchobar holds out two silver wedding bands. A bird is etched on both. I reach out to take one from him as he says, “Eden, please take the smaller of the two wedding bands and place it on your mate’s finger.”

I do as he says and look into Alyssa’s gorgeous sapphire eyes as I do. She smiles at me and I feel her joy.

Galchobar takes her attention from me as he says, “Alyssa, please take this ring and place it on your mate’s finger.”

She does as he’s asked and I feel complete.

“By the power vested in me by the state of Louisiana and Our Creator, I now pronounce you man and wife,” Galchobar says with a flourish of his hands and a deep bow to us both. “I am your humble servant. You may kiss your bride.”

I life the veil, which has hidden her beauty from me a bit, finding the most gorgeous and perfect creature I’ve ever laid eyes on. My heart swells with emotion as I finally have her. From now on we will be as one.

My arms wrap around her as I lean her back to kiss her. One of her feet comes off the floor as I hold her in my arms. “I love you, Alyssa Fontaine.”

“I love you too, Eden,” she says with a smile, then I kiss her.

Long and slow, our kiss seals our vows. My heart beats like a bass drum, as does hers. Slowly, I bring her back up and Galchobar says, “Let me introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Eden Fontaine.”

I hold our clasped hands up in the air as our guests cheer, clap, and shout out congratulations to us. It’s overwhelming how many people are here in this dank and dark old church. As my eyes scan the crowd, they land on Kyle and he is frowning.

“I must talk to him first, Eden. He’s upset,” Alyssa whispers in my ear.

I nod at her, knowing she needs to do this.

Am I happy about it? No!

We approach Kyle and Laura. Kyle frowns, but Laura is beaming. It’s she who speaks first. “How dramatic. So cool! I love theme weddings!”

“I thought it was barbaric,” Kyle says as he reaches out for my mate’s hand. “Is this how you wanted it, Ally?”

Ally smiles reassuringly to him as she allows him to hold her hand. “Sure, Kyle. It’s kind of cool, don’t you agree?”

“No,” his voice is flat and he searches her eyes for the truth he knows is hidden behind them.

“We can talk later. We have a lot of guests to thank for coming. You guys go get some drinks and something to eat up in the patio area. We’ll join you soon,” Alyssa tells them as she pats Kyle’s hand.

He kisses her cheek, “Okay, we’ll be up there waiting for you. Are you sure you’re okay, Ally?”

“I am, Kyle. Scoot!”

Laura hugs Alyssa and then me. “I loved it! See you in a little while.”

Kyle shakes my hand. “Congratulations, Eden. You have a great girl here. Promise me you’ll always treat her right?”

“I promise, Kyle. Thanks for being so understanding.”

They turn and walk away from us. “I miss them already, Eden,” my mate says.

“They’re not going anywhere, Princess,” I say, feeling her heart aching as they move out of her sight.

Though I’ve never felt such deep connections to anyone other than my parents and Alyssa, I am able to feel what she does now.

A physical pain in her chest when Kyle walked away stabbed at mine as well. Emotionally, I was unaffected, but this ability to feel her pain is new. I wonder if we’ll start to feel each other’s emotions as well.

Married but a minute and already new things are happening to us!

“Come, princess, let us thank our other guests,” I tell her as I lead her to meet some of our protectors.

Linda comes towards us, and involuntarily, I remember our last kiss.

Huge mistake!

Alyssa’s body goes rigid as I hold her around her waist up against my side. “Why did you never tell me?” she asks with a tremble to her sweet voice.

“I’m sorry. I’ll tell you all about it, but later,” I say as Linda places her hand on my shoulder, then pulls me into a quick hug. “This is Linda Davis, Alyssa. She’s our fashion coordinator. She’s purchased all of our clothes and accessories for us.”

Alyssa smiles at Linda, but it’s taking a lot for her to do it. “So nice to meet you. Eden hasn’t told me a thing about you, Linda.”

Linda bats at my arm. “Oh, Eden, how could you? I thought for sure you would tell her about me. After all, I am a little bit more than just your fashion coordinator.”

Alyssa speaks to her with a sharp tone to her usually angelic voice. “I’m quite aware of what you were to him. A tutor of sorts, I see. Just for future reference, if there is ever another young man who you find in need of tutoring, I like the way Eden handles me. The gentleness you taught him does nothing for me.”

Linda’s eyebrows raise and surprise fills her eyes. “I see. I do apologize, Mrs. Fontaine.”

“No need,” Alyssa says, finally softening her tone. “It is I who should apologize. I’m possessive and jealous. Two unattractive things to be. It’s something I have to work on. Thank you for all you’ve done for us, Linda.”

As if my heart could take in anymore, pride wells up in mine. To witness the acts I’ve done with Linda and deal with them so quickly is amazing. She dealt with this so much better than I did with Kyle.

I move on to other guests and the night moves on. After meeting the entire room of people, we’re both tired. Then Galchobar looms in front of us.

“It is time. You will be transported to the transformation ceremony. It’s at another location and has been prepared by other protectors. We must leave now,” he informs us and motions for us to follow him.

“I need to see Kyle,” Alyssa says as she refuses to move.

“You will,” the old man says as he continues to walk.

She and I exchange confused looks, then follow the ancient man to our destiny.

Ready or not, here it comes!

CHAPTER 34

ALYSSA

It’s so dark. Where am I?

The last thing I remember, I was getting into the back seat of a black Bentley. The old guy, Galchobar, was driving us to another ceremony, the one where we were to transform.

Is that what happened to me? I transformed and can’t remember anything?

Running my hands over my body, I find my wedding dress is gone and another much lighter dress has been put on me.

When did I change clothes?

The sound of water dripping echoes around me as if I’m in a cave. The ground is hard, possibly cement. It’s so damn dark. A dim light shines in the distance.

I suppose I need to get to that. What the hell happened to me and why can’t I communicate with Eden?

Pushing myself up to my feet, I find them bare. When I spread my arms out I find a wet rock wall to my right. I use that to keep me steady as I move towards the light. Something squishes between my toes, making me flinch at the thought of what it might be.

This is taking an eternity!

As I near the opening, which is round, I can see it’s made from rocks; old, grey, ancient-looking rocks.

Ouch! Crap, I stepped on something.

I look down. The light shines in enough for me to make out a circle on the rock floor. As I reach for it, I can tell it’s a large metal ring with an old fashioned key hanging from it. My head jerks up as a loud roar fills the cavern.

What the hell was that?

My body clings to the cold and wet wall. The sound came from outside and now I think going out there would be a terrible mistake.

You have to go somewhere, girl!

Slowly, I creep towards the opening, staying close to the wall. Peeking out, I see dirt, then across from me two huge cages swing on chains hung from the rafters of a giant structure, much like an arena. On one side people fill stands. They’re far away, but I can still hear their yells and applause.

Dangerously close to me, a male lion paces back and forth, seemingly unaware of my existence. The large cat stops and watches something. I follow its gaze to see someone pulling themselves up inside one of the cages. The cat darts away, roaring like crazy.

Apparently, the animal does not want the person to stand up.

“No!” I hear a male voice yell, and immediately I know that voice.

God! No! It’s Kyle!

The familiar sound of Galchobar’s voice fills the open arena, yet I don’t see him. “Only minutes until the spell wears off and all will be known by the future Phoenixes. Will she make it? Or will all be lost? Once the cages open, the lion will be able to attack them. Will the male Phoenix be able to handle him on his own and save the mortal?”

What the hell is going on?

Chains rattle as the cat bats at the cage which holds my Kyle. Movement in the other cage catches my eye. It’s Eden.

What am I supposed to do?

I lay my head back on the cold wall and try my best to think of a plan.

The key on the ground has to open the cages. If I can open them and get the lion to chase me, they can go out the gate I saw at the end of the arena. I’ll have to run faster than the damn cat.

I grab the key and take advantage of the cat’s preoccupation with hitting the cages and roaring as they spin, and occasionally clank against the other.

A tall stone wall runs behind the cages, so that’s where I’m headed. Noticing my clothes, I find I’m in a knee-high, solid-white dress with a haltered top. I take a quick moment to be sure I have panties on, because how embarrassing would that be if I didn’t?

Yeah, they left them on me. Thank God!

The lack of shoes comes in handy as I begin my entrance into the arena. The cat is unaware of me until the crowd goes wild with my presence. Kyle and Eden both shout at me. I can’t make out what either of them says.

Focused on the wall, I find three stones which jut out. With my way up the wall figured out, I’m almost home free. The first step up, I feel the wind behind me as the lion swipes a huge paw, just missing me. I make it up the wall and turn to look at the lion. He’s on his hind legs, trying his hardest to reach me.

I stick my tongue out at him. “Not this time, kitten.”

Holding my arms out to balance myself, I walk down the foot-wide wall until I reach the first cage, which Eden is in. I smile at him. “Need a little help?” I ask as I wiggle the key.

He smiles back. “What makes you think that?”

“Well, since you have it all under control, I’ll just run back out of here and let you deal with it,” I say, then turn back.

“Stop messing around, princess, and get him out first, then me,” Eden says.

I turn back as the lion goes from batting at Eden’s cage to trying to climb the wall to get me.

So distracted the kitty is. I wonder if he has to take pills for that.

Kyle looks pissed. “Is this part of your damn medieval wedding, Ally?”

Eden shouts over, “I told you already it wasn’t.”

Kyle keeps glaring at me as I answer him. “Of course it isn’t, Kyle. God! What kind of monster do you think I am? Now, if you could try to swing over here to me, I can jump on the cage and unlock your door. Eden, can you keep the kitty occupied while I do that?”

Kyle pulls on two of the cage’s bars, then leans forward. The cage slowly starts swinging in my direction. Eden taunts the cat on the other side of his cage. As he gets the cage close, I jump. Grabbing onto the bars, I find I’m thin enough to slip through them.

Kyle’s hand reaches out and grabs me, pulling me to him. He holds the bar with one hand and wraps the other around me. I feel his face in my hair, then his lips on my cheek.

I close my eyes with how good his warm breath feels on my ear as he whispers in it, “God, Ally. What’s going on?”

His face is so close as I look up at him. The confusion on it does something to me. My hand runs up into his blonde curls.

“Kyle, are you okay?”

“Not really,” he says, his voice soft. The motion of the swinging cage pushes our bodies together and my breasts up against his broad chest ache for him to touch them.

This is wrong!

The swinging slows enough for me to pull my body away from his. I use the bars to pull myself to the cage’s door as I say, “I’m going to unlock the cages, but don’t get out of it until I take off, letting the cat chase me. Then you guys get out and run to that gate over there. I’ll come as soon as I know you two are safe.”

Kyle crosses the floor to get to me, holding me to him again. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you do that, Al. I’ll take the key and do it.”

I tweak his nose. “You can’t fit through the bars of Eden’s cage,” I say as I shrug my shoulders.

“Fuck,” he hisses.

Reaching out of the cage, I put the large key in the hole and turn it until it clicks. The door opens a bit. Kyle catches it, holding it closed. He releases his hold on me. “I’ll get the cat’s attention so you can slip out of my cage and jump into his. You be as careful as you can. Promise me,” he demands.

“Of course I will,” I say as I move to the side of the cage closest to Eden’s. “Hey, leave that kitty alone, you big bully. Let Kyle play with it for a while. Swing over here and pick me up. I need to save you, my prince.”

Eden laughs and turns away from the cat as Kyle begins banging on the bars in his. The lion moves right on over to the far side of Kyle’s cage, leaving me open to switch cages.

As Eden swings, the cages are close enough for me to simply grab one of Eden’s bars and slip from one to another without much effort. His mouth is hot on mine as he kisses me like he thought he might never see me again. Heat sears through my body as his tongue flows over mine, claiming my mouth. He has to hold me up as my legs give out.

Reluctantly, he eases his kiss and releases me. “I’ve missed you, princess.”

“I can tell,” I say, almost out of breath.

Our heads rest together at our foreheads. “My heart nearly burst as I watched that lion chase you,” he says as his finger traces a path down my stomach, leaving electric tingles in its path.

“Mine almost burst when I saw you in this cage. You about ready to get out of here and start our honeymoon?” I ask, running my hands over his back, down to his fantastic ass.

Yeah, we need to get out of here and consummate this marriage!

Eden takes the key from my wrist. “I heard you telling Kyle your plan and I cannot allow it, princess. I’ll do it.”

“Eden, please. I can do this. Let me.”

The shake of his head ticks me off. “No, baby. I just can’t do that.”

The lock clicks, and he almost jumps out when I stop him. “Eden,” I say, and he turns. “I asked you to let me.”

Although the spell Galchobar put on us has our telepathy blocked, he can read my eyes. They’re saying to let me do what I had planned, or I’m going to be pissed, and who wants a pissed off bride on their wedding night?

He pauses and considers what I’ve asked. “Alyssa, this is very dangerous.”

“I’m supposed to do this. I can feel it. Please allow me to,” I say.

Eden holds the door open just enough for me to slip through it and says, “May Our Creator be with you.”

I place a kiss on his cheek as I move past him, hopping out of the cage and running back towards the opening I came out of. The lion’s roar lets me know he sees me.

His paws thunder behind me and his roar sends heat to my back. I dart into the opening and fall back against the wall as the lion runs past me, then I fly back out the opening.

Kyle and Eden are running to the gate as I see another lion released at the far end of the arena. It takes off after them.

I run at that lion as I hear the roar of the other lion, which has turned around and found me again. With that one behind me, I run straight for the other and jump over its back as the lion who follows me crashes into him.

Seems lions don’t take kindly to being run into!

They fight each other while I double up my speed and run for the gate. Eden holds it open as Kyle yells, “They’ve stopped fighting each other and now they’re after you. Run! Hurry!”

A paw swipes at me, catching the material of my dress as it flies behind me. I hear it rip and pray my whole backside isn’t exposed. Through the gate I run, right into Kyle’s waiting arms as Eden locks the gate.

The tug on my dress from Eden examining just how close one of the lions got to me turns my attention from the tight hug Kyle has me in. “I’m okay,” I say as I pull away from Kyle and turn to Eden. “Are my panties showing?”

Kyle answers, as I’ve turned my back end towards him, “A little. Why’d you put on red panties with a white dress?”

At that moment, I realize the spectators are all cheering and applauding.

How crazy is that? I never noticed them until it was all over.

Galchobar’s booming voice comes from somewhere, but again, I don’t see him. “She has succeeded.”

Eden points up and Kyle and I join him in looking in that direction. Galchobar floats down to us, landing gently on the rocky floor in front of us. Kyle leans over. “I’m not this guy’s biggest fan,” he says, drawing the old man’s attention.

“Nor am I yours,” Galchobar says. “Yet your connection to our very special creature means we must co-exist.”

“What does that mean?” Kyle asks.

A flash of light fills my eyes, leaving me blind. My body falls, but many hands catch me.

What’s happening to me?

CHAPTER 35

KYLE

I’ve been kidnapped and placed in a clear box!

Another cage, and the second time I’ve been abducted on the same night. Ally and her new husband have told me this is not part of their medieval wedding, but what the hell else could it be?

And where in the hell is Laura?

After that completely fucked up wedding, Laura and I went up to the patio.

Okay, I have to get this straight. Who gets married in an abandoned, old-as-hell church that’s falling down? Also, who wants to take the vows my Ally has? She was never one for this type of thing.

My Ally is sweet and innocent. She’s not some theater major with a penchant for BDSM. Then this fucking guy comes along and suddenly she is?

No way! I’m not buying that!

I can’t remember how I came to be in a cage with a lion pushing it around, but I did. Ally saved me and her new husband, then it all went dark. And now here I am.

The scene in front of me is surreal. I’m at the back of a crowd of red, hooded, cloaked people, trapped in this clear box, which is raised on some type of platform.

It’s night time. The only light comes from a massive fire in the middle of the congregation. Why I’m here is a mystery.

God, please don’t let me be a sacrifice!

The last thing I remember was hugging Ally, then she turned around and I saw her red panties.

On that note, when I held her to me, she reacted. She’s not over me, not by far. As a matter of fact, I feel closer to her than ever. I wonder what happens if she’s married but decides to dump him to be with me?

“We are here to witness the new Phoenixes' rebirth. You are all witnesses to the change of power,” the complete asshole who officiated my Ally’s wedding says as he rises from nowhere up into the air.

Seriously! Who or what is this old dude?

The red-clad mob in front of me begins to chant something I don’t understand. After three minutes of the mind-numbing chant, thunder rings out, shaking my glass cage.

I didn’t see any lightning!

The old dude shouts out, “Your Phoenixes are here. They have served this planet for over a century. Their time has been served and they are free to go home.”

The cloaked audience stops chanting and falls to their knees. Throwing their arms up in the air, they say, “Praise be to Our Creator.”

Okay! This is a new kind of nuts!

A horrible shriek sends my hands to my ears.

Hey! I’ve heard that sound before!

That day, at Ally’s. In the woods. I heard the same exact sound.

Thank God the roof of my cage is also clear and I can look up into the night sky. The moon is full and there are two shadows which continuously move in front of it.

Shit! Those things must be huge!

The crazy people in front of me change their weird chant to something else. Two bright beams of light come out of the ground in the distance.

The chanting is faster and I can see something moving in the lights. A tall pole comes from each one. I watch as the poles ascend into the air. My heart has stopped.

My Ally is tied to one of the poles, her small, bare feet on a tiny platform. A silky, white dress hits her at her ankles. Her head hangs at her chest. She’s unconscious.

I bang against the glass wall of my cage, but no one turns back to look at me. My Ally’s new husband is strapped to the other pole. He’s also unconscious, but he seems to be stirring.

If I make it out of this alive, I swear I’ll kill him!

This has to be his doing! He was in a cult and dragged my precious Ally into this crap!

The poles with their tiny platforms rise high into the air. Another shriek alerts me to the fact the enormous creatures are much closer than before. And now both Ally and Eden are fully awake.

My God! What is she thinking? Please don’t let her be afraid!

Now I can see very clearly as the things fly over me and the crowd of freaks. They’re enormous blackbirds.

Just what my grandfather said flew around his truck down in Texas, making him crash into an electric pole the day before Ally had her accident. And most likely what Ally and I saw when we went on that hike the day I asked her to go to Texas and live with me. What do these things have to do with this cult?

The chanting has changed. I can finally understand the words, as they’re now in English. They’re saying, ‘Spirit to flames,’ whatever that means.

God, please do not let these crazy people send my Ally into that fire!

The giant birds come close, circling over all of us three times, then they both fly straight up into the sky. Horrible shrieks fill the air as they move away from us. Ally looks up at them. Her eyes are bright and she’s smiling.

She doesn’t seem to be afraid at all. How is that? Is she even the same girl? Did that damn jackass give her something to make her so different? I swear I’ll kill him if we all make it through this!

The crowd is chanting faster and it’s driving me crazy. Suddenly, they all kneel. I look up and see one of the birds doing a free fall. Its back is coming down first, the long wings spread upwards. It looks dead as it passes in between Ally and the jackass.

Her eyes frantic, she screams, “No! Rodney, wake up!”

Rodney? How the hell does she know the bird’s name?

A flash of orange, red, and yellow flames momentarily take my sight. The bird has fallen into the large pit of fire.

That bird’s history!

Once I can see again, I look back up at Ally. She’s crying.

I bang on the glass wall of my box again. I have to find a way out of this thing. She needs me to help her.

A loud screech draws my attention. Just as I look up, I see the other bird doing a nose dive into the pit of fire. Another explosion of flames erupts.

My Ally is sobbing. She shouts, “Why, Grace? Why?”

Grace, huh?

Sorry to say, she’s history too. What is it with those birds? I’ve never known of suicidal birds, but those were really big. Maybe only the giants kill themselves.

The chanting stops. “It is done!” the old man’s thundering voice says.

What does that mean? Did this cult somehow bring the birds into the fire? Were they on a rope that pulled them into it that I didn’t see? Were the birds evil and needed to be killed?

“It is time for the new couple to take the place at the top of our society. They have been joined in marriage and now they will be joined in the unity of the legendary Phoenixes. We must thank Our Creator for this gift to this world,” the old guy shouts, followed by the crowd’s shouts of thanks.

More chanting begins as the robed people continue to stay on their knees. “Flames to spirit,” they all say.

What does that mean?

The pole Ally’s jackass prince is on begins to move forward. “No!” Ally screams as she looks at him with tears streaming down her face.

“It’s going to be okay, Alyssa, my princess. It’s time. Have faith. I love you,” he shouts to her.

Dear God! They’re taking him towards the pit of fire!

Oh my God, please save him. I know I said I was going to kill him, but I didn’t mean it. God, please don’t let these crazy people kill him!

The pole moves closer to the pit and I find I can’t watch anymore. I turn my back, leaning up against the glass wall.

This isn’t real. It can’t be.

I close my eyes and will myself to wake up from this nightmare. This cannot really be happening.

I can still hear the insane chanting going on, but my mind moves far away. I think of Ally and me walking in the forest, back in Cloudcroft. The way her hair smells in the summer, like lemons and honey. How her hand feels in mine. Small and fragile, like she needs someone to protect her.

Her scream pierces my brain, “Eden! No! Stop!”

I close my eyes even harder and put my hands over my ears. The sound of the flames bursting into the air can still be heard.

They’ve killed him!

There is no way I can turn around and witness this. It’s obvious they’re about to kill my Ally, and most likely I’m next. Thunder booms, and a strange screech rings in the air, yet I cannot make myself look.

“Eden!” Ally screams.

Why did she sound so surprised?

I turn around, my eyes still closed. It takes everything in me to open them and look at my Ally. Her pole is moving towards the fire. She’s looking up and she seems unafraid.

It must be some powerful drugs they gave them both!

I hope they give me some before they do whatever horrible act they’re bound to do to me, so I don’t freak out.

I place my palm on the glass, wishing I could touch her just one more time and hold her in my arms once before they take her from me forever.

Please let there be a heaven where I’ll see her again as soon as they take my life. Please let God be real!

Across the sea of red-robed people kneeling and chanting, my Ally looks at me. Her eyes glisten with tears as she shouts out to me, “Kyle, don’t worry. I’ll be okay. I’ll be back for you. Please don’t worry.”

She’s delusional and I have to watch her go into the flames. I must bear witness to her execution. If I do manage to escape, I must be able to get justice for this horrible crime.

“I love you,” I yell, but I doubt she can hear me through this glass.

“I love you too, Kyle,” she shouts back. “I’ll be back to get you.”

The bottom drops out from underneath her small feet. Her hands must have been released, because her arms dart out and turn in the air as if she’s trying her best to fly instead of fall into the red-orange flames.

My heart stops beating as her body disappears into the pit of fire. “Ally,” I find myself screaming over and over again as I pound on the glass.

She’s gone! Gone forever!

My body and brain go numb as I fall to my knees. Tears fill my eyes and my breath catches in my throat.

I can’t quit staring at the flames, praying she’ll come out of them unharmed. Though, even in my current state, I know it can’t happen.

Something dark, and large rises from the flames, moving slowly up. I wipe my eyes to clear the tears which blur my vision. Standing back up, I watch as long, black wings unfurl just above the flames. The thing emerges, flying straight up. A shriek breaks the night air.

‘It’s me, Kyle,’ I hear Ally’s voice in my head.

It can’t be! I’ve gone insane!

‘You haven’t gone insane, Kyle. It’s really me,’ her voice fills my mind again.

I hope they take my life quickly. I’m going crazy fast.

‘You’re not going crazy. This is real. Watch, I’m about to fly right by the glass container you’re in. Look at my eyes as I pass you and you’ll see it’s really me,’ the Ally voice says in my head.

I guess if I have to be crazy and hear voices in my head, hers is not an unpleasant one.

‘Simply not an unpleasant one, Kyle? I expected you to like my voice much better than that. Here I come,’ her voice tells me.

Suddenly the sound of beating wings pound against the glass walls of my prison. Faster than I can see, something huge passes by me. “If that was you, I didn’t get to see much. You went too fast,” I say out loud, and now I feel really crazy.

‘I know. This flying stuff is new to me, remember. I’ll come back by. They’re about to let you out anyway. You have a special place in this society, Kyle.’

Speaking out loud again, I say, “And just what would that be, voice in my head?”

Beating wings pass by me again. This time I catch a glimpse of a dark blue eye.

Could it really be her?

‘It really is me, Kyle. Now some of our stronger male protectors are going to help you out of there. Promise me not to start trying to fight them. I promise nothing is going to happen to you. You are part of me and they cannot hurt you. Since I fell in love with you, Our Creator had to make adjustments for that. Though I cannot see the future, I can see you are to be asked if you’d like to join this society as my primary protector.’

I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud. They must be pumping the drugs into this glass cage, because I’m starting to believe the voice in my head.

“So, I have a choice?” I ask.

‘Of course, Kyle. Eden and I had no choice. We’re not completely mortal. You are, and mortals always have a choice in what they do. The only thing is, this is your one chance. It can’t be offered to you again, and if you decide not take the offer, your memory of this whole event will be taken from you. You’ll wake up in your bed back in Cloudcroft.’

“Where’s Laura?” I ask, feeling kind of dumb for talking to myself.

Maybe they need to pump some more drugs in here, because I’m not all the way mindless yet.

‘She’s asleep in one of the bedrooms at our mansion. She’ll be told she drank too much and had to be taken home. I’ll implant some fake memories of a reception which never happened in her mind. Also, at this point, she’s not to be told about what we are,’ the Ally voice tells me.

I settle into a squat as I lean against the glass wall and contemplate her offer.

Be a permanent part of my Ally’s life, or go back to my normal life, go to college, probably marry Laura. Or is that even possible?

‘You can marry whomever you want, Kyle,’ Ally’s voice tells me.

Okay, so I can still live my life how I want to and live this crazy life as some type of protector to Ally.

I ask out loud, “If I decline your offer, will I forget that I love you, Ally?”

‘You will.’

The silence after her simple statement fills my heart with a sadness I’ve never known before. That’s saying a lot, because I thought only minutes ago that my Ally was dead.

I can start over. I’ll forget about my love for her and be able to move on. How come that makes me sick?

“I want you in my life, Ally. If this is real, which I highly doubt, I want to be your protector. Hell, I always have been in a way. Tell them to come get me out of here and let’s get this show on the road. Wait! I have one more question. This just came to me,” I say.

Before I can ask the question, her voice interrupts me, ‘I will not always be a bird. I can transform back and forth.’

“Okay, then. Yes, I will take the place as your primary protector, Alyssa,” I say, and find a place in the glass squeaks as an invisible door opens. Four men, much bigger than me, wait for me on the other side.

I hope I’m not dead already. This is not my idea of heaven.

CHAPTER 36

ALYSSA

I follow Eden as we fly through the night, which is lit up by the full moon. The transformation is complete and our full powers given to us. I can communicate with Kyle telepathically as well I can with Eden.

Kyle’s agreed to be my primary protector, something I’m very happy about. Eden, not so much.

‘Stop thinking about it, Alyssa. You had to offer it to him. You had no choice,’ Eden sends to me.

His words tell me he’s taking it as best he can. I can feel what he feels though and his heart is aching.

‘I love you more,’ I send to him.

‘I know you do, princess. I’ll get used to this. Just give me time.’

Cool air blows past my face as we fly over Lake Pontchartrain. A fish jumps, a spark of silver against the dark surface. My imagination was nothing compared to the reality flying is.

Strength fills my bird body as I glide through the air. Eden flies up high and I follow him over the tall treetops. We’re going back to the mansion.

Kyle has been taken there and he waits with Galchobar for our return. A brief ceremony to cement his commitment to me will be held. No one will attend. This is between Eden, me, and Kyle. Galchobar will officiate.

Guess The Creator is telling the old guy what to say. This is a new deal for the Phoenixes.

‘Yes, it is. Thanks to my stubbornness,’ Eden sends to me.

‘This is not your fault, Eden. Please stop blaming yourself. It was meant to be. Can’t you look at it like that? Our Creator makes no mistakes,’ I send back.

His sleek bird head looks back at me and he winks his large emerald eye. ‘You are right, my princess.’

I’m right! Wow! Marriage ain’t so bad! And my man makes a handsome bird.

‘You’re quite beautiful yourself, precious,’ Eden sends.

I feel as if I’m blushing with his compliment. Can birds blush?

The mansion is lit up. We can see it from a mile away. This night has lasted forever. I swear we’re in a time warp. Never has a night lasted so long.

As we approach the backyard, it becomes pretty obvious why it’s as large as a football field. We require a bit of room to land. ‘If I trip and fall all over myself, you better not laugh at me, Eden.’

His chuckle fills my head as he thinks about how funny that would look.

Okay, the scene does look funny I have to admit, but I’d rather not be the comic relief this evening.

‘Make sure you stay in bird form until you stop, or I’m quite sure you’ll take a tumble if your human legs try to keep up at the fast pace of our bird legs,’ he sends to me, along with a mental picture which frightens me.

So much to think about!

As we descend, my bird feet hit the ground running. I hold my wings out some to use the wind to slow my large body. My weight as the large bird is a burden I’m not used to, and I lean forward, threatening to take a nosedive into the lush lawn.

‘Raise your head, Princess.’

I do as Eden says, finding myself balanced and slowing. Once I stop completely, I picture myself as a human again.

In an instant, the weight of my body changes. My hands rub my arms, which are tired. Involuntarily, I run my hands all over my body to make sure I really am the same girl with all the same parts.

I hear Eden giggling as he runs up behind me, picking me up and tossing me into the air. His strong arms catch me as I come down.

“That was exhilarating, don’t you agree?” he asks me.

“I do,” I say, and he laughs.

Still holding me off the ground, he presses his body to mine. My legs wrap around his waist and my arms do the same to his neck as he walks with me.

“Thank you for saying those words so many times when I know it was hard for you a few times during our vows. I swear to you I will always treat you as the equal I consider you to be,” he tells me as he looks into my eyes.

Even if I wasn’t able to get in his head, his eyes would tell me he was telling the truth. I don’t know why I was ever afraid.

“You weren’t afraid, Princess. You were pissed. As well you should have been. We’ll get that changed straight away. I’ll not have our successors be subjected to such an outdated thing,” he says, then stops walking. “We’re here, if you care to stand on your own. It’s a bit awkward having Galchobar see us this way, don’t you think?”

I look back and see the old man and Kyle sitting by the swimming pool. ‘Damn, Ally, really?’ Kyle thinks to me.

Thankfully, there seems to be a privacy screen between the telepathy Kyle and I share and the telepathy Eden and I share, or I’m quite positive the two would never get along.

I glance at Kyle and send him, ‘You should see the things I’ve had to see about you and Laura in your very dirty mind, Kyle.’

He blushes and looks away. I smile up at my new husband and unwrap my legs from his waist. “I love you,” I tell him.

The touch of his hand on my cheek sends shock waves through me and suddenly this little ceremony can’t get over with quickly enough.

We need to start this marriage thingy, and quick. My body aches for him.

Eden turns me toward Galchobar. He’s ready to do the ceremony it seems, as he rises up into the air.

“Stand next to your primary guardian, if you will, Mistress Fontaine,” he says, with a bit less than the booming voice he’s used at the other ceremonies.

I move away from Eden and take the place next to Kyle, who’s risen from his chair. He smiles at me. “I can’t believe this, Al.”

“I know, right?” I say with a giggle.

Galchobar clears his throat, making us stop our childlike banter, and pay attention to him. “Our Creator has given you a choice Kyle, son of Joe.” Galchobar hesitates as if listening to something, then looks at Kyle. “Your father’s name is just Joe? Not Joseph or Josiah?”

“Just plain old Joe, sir,” Kyle answers.

“Okay, then. How very common. Who’d have ever thought, oh well,” the old man says with a shrug of his large shoulders. “Let me continue. Kyle, son of Joe. Do you vow to protect this special creature for as long as you shall live?”

Kyle looks at me. His sky-blue eyes sparkle as he takes my hand in his. “I do,” he says.

My heart just skipped a beat and then it felt like it was breaking as Eden’s felt pain.

Galchobar pulls my attention back to him as he says, “Mistress Fontaine, do you vow to follow this man and do as he bids you to, without hesitation, as he is your guardian for life?”

I look up at Galchobar with confusion. “For life? Do you mean his or mine?”

“Yours, Mistress Fontaine. As your primary guardian, he will live as long as you do. Special powers will be bestowed upon him. One is longevity, just as you have,” he tells me, and now I’m not sure I want to do this to him.

I turn to Kyle. “This is something I’ve had trouble accepting about my position, Kyle. It’s a surety we’ll outlive all those we love. Our children included. Are you sure you wish to do this?”

Pictures fly through Kyle’s head as he thinks over what I’ve said. He pats my hand as he says, “I will be with all my loved one's in the end, Ally. Let me do this. It’s far beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined.”

I look back at Galchobar and say, “I do.”

He looks back at Kyle as he says, “Kyle, son of Joe, with the power vested in me by Our Creator, I now give the female Phoenix to you to protect as you would protect your own child. You may place a kiss upon her wedding band as a sign of your acceptance of this position.”

Wow! Given to two men in the matter of a day! Do all the ceremonies have to be so archaic?

Kyle looks at me, a seriousness in his eyes I’ve never seen before, then says, “Alyssa, I will protect you always. Thank you for this. I love you.” His lips touch my wedding band as he bows in front of me.

I run my hand through his blonde curls. “I love you too, Kyle.”

Eden is at my side before Kyle can stand back upright. “Congratulations on the position, Kyle. It makes me very happy to know my wife has such a great protector. I know you’ll always treat her with the respect she deserves now that you know what a truly special creature she is.”

Kyle gives Eden a smile as he says, “You know I will, Eden. I would like to apologize for not treating her like the princess she is. If I’d known, it would’ve been much different.”

Eden moves between us, clapping Kyle on the back. “I’m sure you would have, Kyle. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m taking my wife to bed. We’ve had a very long evening as have you. I’m sure you’re just as exhausted as we are.”

Kyle’s eyes dart to mine. “See you later then?” he asks.

I smile at him. “Much later. When you decide to get up, take Laura and go see some of the sites. Just ask Niles to get the driver for you two. There’s so much to see.”

Eden wraps his arm around my waist as he leads us into the house. It’s evident he’s placing his body between mine and Kyle’s.

“Niles will be giving you your own credit card. It’s payment for your services to Alyssa. The Phoenix Foundation provides everything for us and they will for you as well,” Eden tells Kyle as we walk. “We’ll get together soon to hammer out all the details. In the meantime, consider this a vacation. Have fun, see the sights. Don’t wait around for us, okay?”

Finding we’re at the top of the stairs, we stop in front of the bedroom Laura’s been placed in. “Remember, Laura can’t know anything yet. Maybe never,” I say.

“Do me a favor, Al,” Kyle says. “Don’t send me any mind messages for a while, if you catch what I’m pitching.”

“You don’t send any and I won’t,” I say with a smile.

Eden shakes his head as he says, “Shit! This is weird.”

“Yep,” Kyle and I say in unison.

As Kyle slips into the dark bedroom, Eden and I walk down the long hallway to the very end where our new suite has been built. Neither of us has seen it yet.

If I wasn’t so damn exhausted, I’d be more excited.

We stop in front of the ornate, cherry wood door. Eden slips his other arm under my legs, pulling me up to cradle me in his arms. “You ready for this, Mrs. Fontaine?”

Placing my arms around his neck, I whisper in his ear. “I’ve never been readier for anything in my entire life, Mr. Fontaine.” I leave a light kiss on his neck.

Oh! This is about to get good! 

CHAPTER 37

EDEN

The grandeur of our new suite of rooms is almost lost on us as we enter. Alyssa is my wife, and the thought of getting her to our new bedroom consumes me.

I turn with her in my arms and she closes the door, locking it. Down the hall I go. A light shines into the darkened hallway. Turning into the first room on the left, I find what must be the master bedroom.

“Oh, my!” Alyssa gasps at the sight. “It’s beyond gorgeous, Eden.”

A monster-sized bed sits in the middle of the large room. A royal blue bedspread makes me smile at the thought of my wife holding it up to her bare chest, the color enhancing her eyes.

“I need a bath,” she tells me.

I carry her into the lavatory to find a jetted tub sunken in the middle of the large room, a large shower to the right of it. “The shower would be quicker. Don’t you think?” I ask.

“You can put me down, Eden,” Alyssa says.

I do as she asks and she goes to look at the tub.

Please pick the shower!

She turns back to me. “Okay, a shower it is, but tomorrow I’m taking a bath in this piece of art,” she says as she begins to pull her dress away from her shoulder.

I hold up my hand. “Don’t you dare deprive me of undressing you, princess. I’ve dreamt of this for some time now.”

A slow and sexy smile she gives me as she drops her hands. “Have you?” she asks. “By all means, do not let me stop you, husband.”

Husband! It sounds so sweet as it leaves her plump, red lips.

I unbutton the white shirt they put me in for the last ceremony. I watch her eyes as she looks at me. Her eyes roam over my pecs and down my abs, which I’ve worked very hard on being sure are defined.

The tilt of her head and movement of her eyes looking away from me cause me to follow her gaze. She’s caught site of my back in the mirror behind me. By the smile on her face, she likes that too.

Dropping my shirt, I pop the button on my white slacks. They left us both with bare feet, so I’m done as I drop the last bit of material keeping my body covered.

Alyssa takes in a breath, her words but a whisper, “My God in heaven, Eden, you are perfectly gorgeous.” Her hands run over my tattoos and she looks impressed. She trails one finger over the cross in the middle of my chest. Her hand grazes the word trust along one rib.

I walk around behind her, leaning my head to whisper in her ear, “I am nothing compared to you, princess.”

I push down the thin straps which hold her white dress up. The loose garment floats down her body, leaving her in small, red, lace panties. As I move around her body, I graze hers with mine.

My fingers trail over her delicate collar bone, making a trail between her breasts to rid her of the last item covering her body from my eyes. A slight push and they lay on the floor.

Taking her hand, I lead her to the shower. I push a button in the middle of the shower and water flows over us from every direction possible. “It’s warm,” Alyssa says with a giggle.

I steady my heart and my need for her. Bottles of shampoo and other things have been placed in the shower. I put a nice-sized dollop in my hand and massage it into her hair. It smells like honeysuckle.

She moans and says, “That smells great.”

“Good, I’m glad you like it,” I say as I let the water rinse the shampoo out of her long, silky, black locks.

Picking up the body wash, she stops me. “Not yet, put that conditioner in my hair first,” she says.

I do as she says and she rewards me with a kiss after I’ve massaged it in.

Her lips taste like cherries. My tongue moves into her mouth, finding it hot.

She’s making this so hard. She’s making me so hard.

I pull back. “I have to hurry up with this shower thing.”

She giggles and I’m about to have to take her, conditioner in her hair or not. I put some body wash on a poufy scrubber, running it over her body, and its physically killing me. My heart is racing and my lower region is on fire.

“Your turn,” she says as she turns to me. “The water will rinse my hair and body off. Let me do you.”

That’s exactly what I want! Do me, baby!

Alyssa pulls me to one of the seats in the large, grey, slate shower. The seat is warm and puts me at just the right height for her breast to graze my face as she leans over me to grab the bottle of shampoo.

Involuntarily, I take it in my hand. “Nuh uh! Not yet, Mr. Fontaine. Let me get the grime off you first.”

“Okay, but hurry up. I swear I’m about to burst,” I say as I watch her move to the side. Her breasts move up and down as she massages the shampoo into my hair.

Her fingers glide along my head. “I love your hair, Eden. Never cut it any shorter than this.”

I close my eyes so I can’t see her naked breasts and tiny waist so close to my face. Quite literally, I might burst.

“I don’t need conditioner, Alyssa. Just wash me off.”

“No way! Your gorgeous hair deserves just as much attention as mine does, Eden,” she says as I feel the shampoo rinse out and the conditioner put in.

Kneeling with the poufy scrubber thing in her hands, she washes my feet.

Dear Lord, help me to take my time with her! There has never been anything sexier to me.

Her long, dark hair falls across her back as she leans over my legs. The touch of the silky, soap-drenched scrubber makes my skin tingle.

Or is that from her touch?

Up one leg then the other, she cleans me. Finding herself face to face with my arousal, she hesitates. Slowly, she places the scrubber on my erection and rubs it. “You’re beautiful, you know,” she says.

“You’re killing me, you know,” I say as I run my hand over her wet hair while she kneels before me. “Hurry this wash up. I need you.”

The water which flows over us rinses the soap from where she’s washed. She lifts her head to look at me and says, “Eden, can I place my mouth on you?”

For the love of all that’s holy!

“Perhaps another time, Princess. I’m sure to be unable to control myself if you do that right now, and truth be told I want to do that inside of you, not in your mouth.”

Red covers her cheeks. “Of course. How dumb of me.”

Taking her face in my hand, I lift it to look at me. “There is nothing dumb about you, princess. I’m inexperienced and completely hot for you. It’s no fault of yours.”

She stands and hurries to wash me the rest of the way. “There. You’re done,” she says.

Rising, I take her by the waist and lift her up, pressing her up against the wall. “I love you, Mrs. Fontaine,” I say as I press my body against hers.

“I love you, Mr. Fontaine,” she says, then her mouth presses to mine and I fall apart.

Every place she touches me sets my skin on fire. Her hands run over my back as my tongue claims every space of her mouth. I want every bit of her.

Her breasts press against my chest, their nipples hard. One foot begins to travel up my calf, then the other follows as she attempts to wrap her legs around my waist.

I push away from her. “No,” I say. “I’m taking you to our bed. Our first times needs to be done right. I don’t want to have sex with you, Alyssa. I want to make love to you.”

I press the button and the water goes off. Fluffy, white towels sit on the counter top. Wrapping her up in one, I wrap one around my waist. Her body is light as I pick her up and carry her to our bed.

Our bed! How long I’ve waited for this.

I set her down on the bed, her body kept from my view by the towel. I remove it, then drop mine. “You are perfect, Alyssa.”

“No more than you, my prince.” Her eyes smolder as she looks me over.

I drop to my knees on the side of the bed and take her hand in mine.

“Alyssa, you are precious to me. You’ve had to agree to so many things you never thought you’d have to. I want you to know we can do this when you want. I’m putting the consummation of this marriage in your hands.”

The softness in her voice makes my heart swell as she says, “Eden, my love, thank you for putting this in my hands. I’ve had to swallow my pride and vow to things I don’t believe in. It’s wonderful to know that if I say we wait on this, then we do.”

Her eyes search mine for a long while. I cannot read her thoughts. She moves her body away from me, moving further onto the bed. Her answer, I assume.

Her slender hand pats the bed next to her. “Please come join your wife, love. I’ll not have one night go by where we don’t have a taste of the love we share. Take me, my prince, I am yours.”

My heart pounds at her words. “And I am yours, Princess,” I say as I slide onto the bed next to her.

Dim light throws shadows over the contours of her face. My hand flows over her high cheek bones as I look into her sapphire eyes. The darkness of her thick lashes make them stand out. They twinkle up at me.

She is beyond comparison!

Though I ache to be inside her, I wait. Stroking her arm with one hand and her thigh with the other, I watch her eyes as she watches mine. I move to straddle her body and run my hands over her ample breasts, then down to her flat stomach. I lean over and kiss her stomach where I hope to one day see it swollen with our child.

Slowly, I kiss my way up to her breast, popping one into my mouth. Her hands tangle in my hair and she moans softly. I fight the urge to thrust my erection into her innocence.

I must take my time!

As I kiss and nip at her breast, I run my hand down between her legs, stroking the small bud in the center. Her hands tighten in my hair, pulling at it. “Kiss me, Eden.”

Her voice is raspy and I find it intoxicating. Trailing kisses up from her breast to her neck, I finally place my lips to hers and she opens her mouth for me to enter. Slowly, I move my tongue in and she wraps hers around mine.

The heat which has filled me intensifies. My kiss grows hungry and frantic as her nails bite into the flesh of my back.

She reaches between us and takes hold of my cock. The silkiness of her skin on me nearly throws me over the edge. I want her.

I need to be inside her!

Pulling my mouth from hers, I move my body down hers, running my tongue over her breast, down her stomach, and over the small bud. Her hips arch up as I do.

As I kiss her clit, I put one finger in her, finding her wet, and ready. She is tight, though. Her walls squeeze even one finger. I ease it back out and push it in. Her hands tangle in my hair again.

“Eden,” she groans.

I move my finger in and out, trying to get her as wet and ready as I can. As I dart my tongue over her swollen clit and move my finger inside her, she arches up and pulls hard at my hair.

“Oh, God!” she screams as she comes, her tight walls pulsing around my finger.

She’s as ready as she’ll ever be.

My body grazes hers as I move up, kissing her all the way. Her eyes are closed as my face nears hers and I press my lips to her cheek.

“I love you, Alyssa.”

Her eyes flutter open. “I love you, Eden. Please take me now.”

Her legs spread open for me and I lower myself into her slowly. “This will hurt, precious.”

“Go slowly,” she says with a determined look in her eyes.

The tip of my throbbing dick touches the edge of her vagina. I push a bit and it goes in. She squeezes my ass and pushes at me to go in further. A bit more of me goes in and the heat is like a magnet to the head of my dick, pulling it in until it’s stopped by something.

“Just do it, Eden. Just do it. I’ll be okay,” her voice is raspy in my ear.

I kiss her neck as I push past the last barrier. She screams out in pain, “Fuck, that burns!”

I try to pull out, but her hands on my ass stop my retreat. “Alyssa,” I say, but she stops me with a kiss.

Her mouth is soft and yielding. I move slowly inside her with a short stroke. Slowly, she grinds her hips against me, moving me inside her. Her kiss grows harder and she moves against me with force.

‘I’m ready,’ she sends me.

I pull almost all the way out and push back in with a quick motion. Nothing stops me this time. The tightness around my dick is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

She’s becoming wetter as I move in and out of her. Sweat covers my body and my chest slides back and forth over her hardened nipples as I pound at her, sliding my hard dick into her over and over.

Soft hands travel up my back, running over it then up into my hair. Plump lips find my neck. She nips at it as I thrust into her.

Her innocence is no more and she moves with me, wanting it as much as I do. The touch of her teeth on my neck sends a shock straight to my dick, making it pulse like never before.

“Alyssa, baby. God, Alyssa!”

The teeth stop biting at me as the soft walls surrounding my very swollen dick pulse, sending my body into a spasm. I can’t think as hot fluid shoots from me into her and I quiver deep inside like never before.

Masturbation doesn’t hold a candle to the real thing!

I fall onto her, holding her as we both try to catch our breath, then leaving her once her walls no longer pulse around my spent dick.

I could live inside her like this, our bodies as close to one as possible.

“This is going to be hard to stop doing, Eden,” she whispers.

Don’t I know it!

CHAPTER 38

EDEN

I turn over very quietly to see my wife is still asleep. I slip off the bed to go to the lavatory. My body is sore and I love it. I must’ve used muscles I didn’t know I had.

A hot shower should do the trick.

I press the button in the shower and the warm water runs over me.

Damn, I never knew a shower could feel so good!

I just stand still and let the jets of water do their job. Closing my eyes, I lean back against the wall. ‘Would you look at you? Did you forget to invite me?’ my wife’s voice fills my head.

I open my eyes to find my gorgeous Alyssa with a bad case of bed head.

“I know. That’s what happens when I go to bed with wet hair,” she says as she steps in the shower. The water wets it immediately, taking the tangled knots down a notch.

“You looked so sweet, sleeping. I couldn’t wake you up. You’re here now, so let me lather you up,” I say as I pour the body wash straight into my palm.

She has my back up against the warm tiles of the shower wall before I realize she’s done it. Her mouth is on mine. I bring my hands up to her shoulders, rubbing the soap in as I run my hands over her back. She pulls back away from me a little.

“I could take a shower like this every day. Clean me up, my prince,” she whispers to me. Then her mouth is on mine again.

I manage to get enough soap on us both to clean us up a little, as my wife clearly would like some more of my attention. I manage to get her to ease up on her kiss. “Good morning, Mistress Fontaine,” I say, my lips against her ear. I nibble at her earlobe.

She turns her face to look at me. With a sinister smile, she says, “Good afternoon, you mean, Master Fontaine. I’m about to make it even better if you’ll allow me to.”

Pulling at my shoulders, she eases me onto the seat. Her hands run down to my arms, over my thighs, and right to what she wants. “Are you sure, baby? That’s a lot to do so soon. That can wait until you feel more comfortable,” I tell her, but she shakes her head at me.

“I’d rather not wait, Eden.”

Pulling her hair back, she gets on her knees in front of me and my cock begins to gravitate toward her perfect little lips. My stomach is tense as her hand caresses me. Her head goes down and the warm inside of her mouth makes me hard instantly.

“God, Alyssa! God, don’t stop!”

My hands find locks of her hair to wind themselves in. The wet heat of her mouth moves up and down the long shaft of my dick, making my whole body hot and rigid. I’m about to lose it when I pull on her hair, making her stop.

“Baby, you have to stop or I’ll sully that precious mouth of yours,” I tell her as I stand and move her up against the wall.

I press my body to hers and grab her legs, making her wrap them around me. Taking one hand, I run it down to rub her clit, making her moan. “I’m ready. I want you inside me.”

Shit! She’s hot!

Moving her down onto my rock-hard dick, it takes a bit of effort to push it into her swollen vagina. “This might hurt,” I say.

“Bite my neck while you do it.”

I rest my lips on her already marked neck and bite gently as I push myself into her. “Harder, Eden! Bite harder!”

Clamping down harder, I thrust all the way in as she screams. “Fuck! Why does it have to burn like that?”

“I’ll stop,” I say, but she looks at me like I’m crazy.

“No! Don’t do that. Come on, I have to get used to it,” she says. “It’s like exercising. It hurts at first. I’ll stop screaming and cussing.”

Moving slowly, I pull out a bit, then push back in. She’s so tight, I’m about to explode, and I don’t want to do that until she does. Kissing her neck drives her wild, so I kiss and nip at her neck.

A groan comes from her, and I move faster, stroking harder and deeper. Her legs squeeze me as she speaks between clenched teeth, “Damn, Eden!”

Her pulsing throws me over the edge and I spill into her as her walls milk me. Leaning my forehead to hers, our jagged breaths melt together in the steamy shower. Unwinding her legs, she stands.

“I love you, Alyssa.”

In a sudden attack of shame, she lowers her eyes. “I’m too aggressive, aren’t I?”

“What? No way, baby,” I say as I place my hands on either side of her face, making her look at me. “I love you.”

“I love you too. But I’m super aggressive all of a sudden, and I don’t know why,” she says as she averts her eyes.

“I tell you what, princess. Let’s go get something to eat. I saw a basket of something in there when we passed it last night. You have to be starving. I know I am,” I tell her as I turn the water off, taking her hand in mine.

She follows me out and I wrap a towel around her. “I need a moment or two in here alone, please, Eden.”

I nod and press my lips to her forehead. “Don’t second guess a thing about anything we do. This is brand new to us both. By the way, in case you didn’t notice, I like it too, princess.”

A smile creeps over her plump lips, so I leave her, knowing she’s happy once more.

CHAPTER 39

ALYSSA

I fell back asleep as Eden dressed and went down to the kitchen to get us something to eat. I’m afraid I look a bit of a mess with hickies and bite marks all over my chest and neck.

Yeah, it turns out I’m a freak in the sheets. Who knew?

Eden doesn’t enjoy the neck area attention as much as I do. His hickies are elsewhere. Thankfully, our bodies heal much faster than normal humans, so I should be presentable soon.

As long as I can stop asking him to bite me for at least a day. Why do I crave it so?

The clock next to the bed says it’s six. He left over an hour ago, so I throw on a blue, silk robe and leave the bedroom to search for him. I find him sitting in the living room, eating a pizza and watching television. I clear my throat and he turns to look at me.

“Alyssa, you’re up,” he says as he jumps up, coming to me. I see his chest is bare, but he has on black pajama pants, meaning he came back in and changed while I slept uber hard.

Crap, he’s so freaking sexy. I want to grab him and drag him back to the bedroom.

“Are you hungry?” he asks as he takes my hand, pulling me to the sofa.

I sit down next to him. “Yes, I am. I see you got a pizza.”

He smiles. “I was famished. I’ve never been so hungry.” He puts a piece of pizza on a plate, handing it to me. There’s a six-pack of Dr. Pepper on the coffee table. He breaks one off, opening it for me. “Here you go, Alyssa.”

The commercial on the television is over and the show he was watching comes back on. I’m taking a big drink and almost spit it out.

“Eden, really? This is what you’re watching?”

He almost squeals back at me, “What! You watch it.”

I shake my head. “I’ve been a bad influence on you if you’re watching Teen Mom now. Next you’ll be craving crummy hamburgers.”

He laughs. “I’m not that corrupted!”

Before I realize it, I’ve finished the piece of pizza he gave me. I reach to open the box and get another piece. I see it was a large pizza and it’s half gone. “Wow, Eden, married like a day and over eating already.”

“Laugh it up. That’s your second piece, Alyssa,” he reminds me.

“Well, I’m starving. Someone has kept me in bed for about twenty-four hours,” I quip.

He smiles his devilish smile at me and says, “Eat up, girl. I plan on keeping you in bed for another twenty-four.”

True to his word, Eden has kept me in bed another entire day and night.

I sink into the hot water of the Jacuzzi, almost immediately relaxing. The pulsating jets of water soothe my now aching body.

I have to get out of the bed more often.

I have to drag myself out of the tub. I dry off, then tiptoe over to the bed see if Eden is still sleeping. He is, so I decide to dress in one of the fancy nightgowns I saw in my enormous closet. I pick out a lacy little number in red, with matching panties. Then I tiptoe back to bed, snuggling into Eden’s back as I drift off to sleep.

EDEN

Alyssa is curled around my back and I feel silk between our bodies. I turn over and pull the blanket back, revealing a very sexy little red nighty.

“Mmmm …,” I moan. “What do we have going on here, Mrs. Fontaine?”

Her sleepy eyes open and she grabs the blanket out of my hand, covering herself back up. “It’s cold, Eden, stop.”

“I’ll let you sleep. I’m going to take a shower,” I say. “I really think we should get out of this bed today. You know, go do something.”

I’m determined to get a real shower and shave this beard from my face this morning. Although part animal, I don’t care to live like one.

As I hold my hand under the dispenser, warm lather fills it and I smooth it over the thick, dark stubble, which has made my Alyssa’s cheeks and inner thighs quite red.

If I can get her to go somewhere, she’s going to need some makeup to hide her cheeks and neck. Oh, and her chest too!

Clean-shaven, I get in the shower. In walks my gorgeous wife in her little husband distractor.

“Oh, yeah, baby, I hoped you’d join me,” I call out from the shower.

“We don’t have time for that right now,” she tells me as she heads to the sink. “I had a dream about a plane full of people who need our help. Our first mission, Eden. Isn’t that exciting?”

“Our first mission?” I ask as I turn the water off and step out of the shower. “Already?”

Crap! They sure didn’t give us very long to honeymoon!

My wife is about to meet me at the front door of our suite. We’re about to depart for Miami, where this dream of hers told her we need to be to save some people.

I’ve set up our pilot, Jeffery, to take us there, and he’s managed to get a spot as the captain of the plane which is about to be in danger.

My jaw drops as my wife comes down the hallway out of our bedroom where she’s been getting ready to go. Alyssa’s silky black curls fall around her shoulders, ending at the tiniest part of her small waist, which is accented by a tight, red dress.

It fits her like a glove, molded to her curves and stopping just above her knees. Sky high black heels is where my eyes end, then I look back up. The little, silver bird necklace hangs just beneath her collar bone.

Words fail me. She holds her hands in the air, gesturing for me to say something. “You’re hot,” I say,

That’s all I got.

“Oh, Eden. Of all the words you know that’s all you can come up with?”

She walks over to me. The heels make her legs look long and strong and I want to do things to her I haven’t yet. “Outstanding,” I add.

“You can do better than that,” she says as she runs her hand around my back. The heels make her head come almost as high as mine, perfect for turning my head and landing my lips right on hers, no bending required.

Snaking my arm around her waist, I kiss her cheek. She’s managed to cover all the redness in her cheeks, save a slight blush. Her neck looks long and free of the marks I’ve left on her. “Spectacular,” I say.

“Now you’re getting there,” she says with a brilliant smile.

How is it a person can get even more beautiful?

“Are you ready to do this thing?” I ask as I pull her close to my side and smell the honeysuckle of her hair, constantly fighting the urge to take her right back to our bedroom and devour her.

“The old me would have said no. But I’m not the old me. Let’s go do this thing,” she says.

I open the door leading us out of our suite and into the long hallway. “You truly aren’t the old Alyssa, in more ways than one. While I loved the old Alyssa, the new one is smoking hot.”

As we near the staircase, thumps upon it make us look up from raking our eyes over one another. Kyle has Laura by the hand and they’re both in bathing suits, slightly damp from the pool. At the top of the staircase, they freeze when they see my mate.

I’m unhappy to see Kyle drop Laura’s hand immediately. “Ally,” he says.

Laura’s hands cover her mouth as her eyes widen.

My mate smiles. “You like?”

“Fuck me,” Kyle so eloquently says.

I try to shoot him a look to let him know that language is not tolerated here, but he can’t take his eyes from my wife.

“Language, Kyle,” Alyssa reminds him.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I forgot. You kinda stunned me,” he says as he walks away from Laura and straight to my mate.

“Are you two having a nice time?” I ask.

His eyes dart to mine and right back to the gorgeous creature at my side. “I am. We are. Are you going out?” he asks.

Alyssa looks up at me, sending me, ‘I’m going to tell him real quick.’

When she reaches out to hold his hand, I see she’s even painted her fingernails red. I let her go for a moment to say hello to her friend, whom she’s ignoring.

“Hello, Laura. Are you having a nice time?” I ask as I walk up to her.

“I am. This is so nice of you to let us stay. Your driver is so nice. Hell, everyone is,” she says, then looks over at Kyle and Alyssa who whisper to each other, then look into each other’s eyes as they communicate telepathically things that Laura can’t hear. Nor can I for that matter.

Please don’t be sharing intimate details of our love life!

“The pool is nice, isn’t it?” I ask Laura, trying to catch her attention.

She looks back at me. “It’s weird what they’re doing. Do you see that?”

Time to go!

“Princess, we must hurry,” I call out to my mate.

She flashes a smile at me and kisses Kyle on the cheek, leaving a perfect impression of her red lips on it. “Coming, babe,” she says, and saunters away from her ex-boyfriend slash new primary guardian.

Laura walks away, joining Kyle as they enter their bedroom suite. Alyssa walks up to me, putting her hand behind my neck and drawing my face close to hers. “I’m ready when you are, Mr. Fontaine.”

I stare back at her for a second, her eyes smoldering. “I sure am glad the jet has a bed, because I don’t know how long I can keep my hands off you, Mrs. Fontaine.” I tell her, then wrap my arm around her and lead her down the stairs.

As we walk past the game room, Scotty shouts out at us, “Whoa, they live.”

“Hey, Scotty, having fun?” I ask.

“Yeah, we went to see the house we’re moving into. It has a bigger game room than this. It’s crazy sick. Eden, dude, you gotta come play once we get over there man.”

“Sure thing, dude,” I say.

Alyssa laughs. “Dude, Eden?”

“What? I know how to play games, Alyssa.”

“Bye Scotty,” she shouts back as I move her towards the door.

“Where you guys going, anyway?” Scotty asks.

“A secret mission,” Alyssa teases.

“Fine, don’t tell me then,” he calls out after us.

We make our way to the front door, only to be stopped once again. This time my father catches us. “I thought I heard voices out here. Finally decided to join the living, huh?” he asks as he puts his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in to hug him.

“Hey, Papa,” I say, hugging him back.

“You look fantastic, girl. Married life is agreeing with you already,” he tells my mate.

He lets me go and goes to hug my mate, wrapping her up in his arms and rocking her back and forth several times before he releases her.

“I know everyone wants to see us, but we have some work to do this evening. We have to get to Miami, so we have to jet, Papa. Could you please let Mother and Alyssa’s parents know about us?” I ask.

“Sure thing, kids, get out there and do what you need to do. I’ll take care of the old folks. You can tell us all about it when you get back. Be careful you two. Love you both,” my father tells us as we walk out the door.

My jag is sitting in the driveway, right beside the new BMW the foundation gave Alyssa, and there is her jeep. She looks at me quizzically as I lead her to my car, helping her into the passenger side.

“When did my jeep get here?”

“I’m really not sure. I just know my car keys were in the night stand next to my bed.”

After helping her into the passenger side of the jag, I run my hand up her leg. “Such a beauty you are, princess. I certainly wish we were up in our bed rather than taking on a mission so soon.”

“Hurry up and get in. Let’s get this out of the way and we can be back in bed before the morning,” she says with a smile.

I get to see that smile forever. Thank you! 

CHAPTER 40

ALYSSA

I shared the entire dream with Eden on the jet ride over here, so he’s up to speed now and knows exactly what we’re supposed to do.

We get to the Miami airport early and go inside. I want to be sure I see the people from the dream before we do what we’re planning. I’m a little unsure if the dream is real or not, making me hesitant about all this.

We go to an area near the gate they should be going to. There’s a television on the wall and the weather is on. It shows clear skies with no chance of rain. It gives me doubt.

“Eden, look at the television. The forecast says no rain and clear skies. What if I’m wrong?”

“Then you’re wrong. So what?” he simply says.

I throw my hands up in the air. “Well, that’s bad, and we involved Lana and Jeffrey and their time and effort. I mean, Jeffery had to figure out how to be able to get the original pilot off the plane so he can pilot it.”

“Alyssa, it’s no big deal. He loves doing this and so does Lana. If nothing happens, great. No one is going to think any less of us. It just means the one in charge decided to go a different route. Besides that, you can’t go by what the weather report is. I can’t think of how many times it’s been way off.”

I smile. “Eden, I love you. You’re so fantastic,” I gush, then give him a kiss on the cheek.

I’m the luckiest creature alive!

He smiles at me, but in an instant his look turns serious. “Alyssa, isn’t that the little blonde girl and her mother from the dream? Turn around slowly and see.”

I turn around to look. The moment I see them, my heart begins to race. “Yes, it is,” I say as I grab Eden’s arm. “It’s true. We have premonition as well as flight and telepathy. This is unreal!”

Eden’s expression is puzzled as he pats my back. “Simmer down there, little lady. You sure are getting excited about such a small thing. You didn’t get this gaga over transforming into a giant bird.”

My grip on him loosens as I realize how much of a dodo bird I truly am.

“It’s just a thing I always thought I had and now I know it’s true. I used to dream things and they’d come true a lot. All the way back to the first time I saw Kyle. The night before he came to our school I had a dream about a husky little blonde-haired boy coming into my classroom and taking the seat next to mine.”

Eden looks away. His chest is tight and I can feel it. “Perhaps what you and he have was always meant to be. My mother keeps telling me to let the guilt go, but I can’t think it’s anyone else’s fault that I must share you except my own.”

Share me!

Running my knuckles over his cheek, I draw his attention to me. “Eden, please don’t look at it like you have to share me. I’m yours and yours alone. Our Creator wants things to change. Maybe that’s why he chose us. No matter what, we will make changes to help the future Phoenix couples. Now let’s put this on the back burner and deal with the task as hand.”

His hand captures mine and he holds it against his cheek. “Let’s do that.”

I wink at him “Okay, look around. Do you recognize anyone else?”

I scan the people as more begin to crowd into the waiting area. I see the elderly lady I recognize. She’s standing next to a man in a shirt with palm trees on it.

Oh, him. I know him!

Well, I don’t really know him, but recognize him from my dream.

I motion to Eden for us to get closer so we can hear people talking. My curiosity is peaked. The palm tree shirt guy is talking to the elderly lady.

“Thanks for bringing us to the airport, Madge,” he says, sadly. “We’ve been saving and saving for this trip. I’m happy we can go before Rose gets too ill. God, I’m going to miss her.”

The elderly lady pats him on the back. “I’m here for you brother. You’re not alone in this. Go have a good time and don’t think about that. Enjoy every day and don’t think about when the last one will come.”

I back up a little, wiping a tear from my eye. I look at Eden to see if he heard it too. I know he did as a sad look is on his face.

The lady in blue tells them they can begin boarding now. I see the little blond-haired girl being carried by her mother—her pregnant mother. In just about an hour, she’ll realize she’s having another baby.

This is so weird that we know this before she does.

“I think we’ve seen enough, don’t you?” I ask.

He nods then takes my hand, leading me to the exit. We can see the plane taxi out onto the tarmac, getting ready for take-off.

Just as we’re about to walk out, the tall man, the husband of the main woman in my dream, comes into the airport. Anxiety radiates off of him. It takes everything in me not to run after him and let him know everything will be all right.

We find the rental car the Phoenix Foundation rented for us and Eden opens the door for me to get in, then slips into the driver’s seat. He turns it on, then hits a button on the computer screen. A lady’s voice tells us where to go.

As we travel down the road, I can’t help reaching out for Eden’s hand and saying a little prayer in my head.

We travel away from the city lights and end up on a vacant lot with tall grass and several trees on it. The grass is so tall that, once we drive into it, it envelopes the car, making it practically impossible to see. Eden takes the key out of the ignition and stashes it on top of the front driver’s tire. I grin at how clever he is.

“It’s time to fly, Mrs. Fontaine.”

The sky-high heels I have on have to go and Eden takes his shoes off too. I look over at him with a huge smile. “Our first mission, Eden! Are you as excited as I am?”

“I am, princess. Let’s get going,” he says, and transforms with a resounding boom of thunder.

Whatever happened to ladies first!

‘Come on, princess,’ he sends to me.

I picture myself as the huge bird and find I’m close to him, just like that.

Magic is too cool!

In the distance, lightning strikes over the water. All I can see is water beneath me. Another strike of lightning shows that there are low clouds beginning to hang out of the sky.

Suddenly, about fifteen lightning strikes happen simultaneously, showing us the storm is really big. Then we hear it as we both look up and to the left. We see the plane as it disappears into the dark clouds.

Eden shrieks.

‘Sorry about that. I attempted to speak out loud. I wanted to tell you to follow me. I’m changing our trajectory,’ he sends to me.

‘I was wondering,’ I send back.

He changes our direction and I follow him closely. He pounds his wings harder, making him go faster. I do the same to increase my speed to keep up with him. We enter the cloud bank and almost immediately the rain pelts us as winds push us around. It takes every bit of strength I have to keep myself steady.

I see the water spout I saw in my dream. It’s like a tornado but it’s made of water. Its spiraling dangerously close to one side of the plane. We see the plane turn around, going back in the direction it came from.

I follow Eden as he changes our path so we can get to it. As we near the plane, Eden flies around the back of it and I lose sight of him.

Crap! I’m alone over here. Okay, be cool, you knew this was going to happen.

I fly next to the plane, trying to remember the dream. I think I’m supposed to go up and get in front of the plane. As I fly by the side, I can see the faces looking out at me.

Oh, that poor lady is screaming.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I cry out, but all that comes out is a thunderous shriek.

What kind of idiot am I? Eden just told me that would happen. Well, that probably made her feel even more afraid!

I focus on getting to the front of the plane. I remember Jeffrey is flying the plane, so he’s probably looking for us, so he can follow us out of this mess.

The wind is blowing so hard it’s difficult to move up to the front of the plane. I feel a difference in the air on my toes, or claws, or whatever they are. I dive my head down to bring my body into it, then I find I can glide really fast in this pocket of air.

Before I know it, I’m at the front of the plane. I dive a little more and I’m in front of it. Now I see Eden, I move towards him, we curve to the left some, and I can see the plane is following us.

The wind is hard, pushing back at me as the water pounds at me, like fists punching me all over my back. Lightning zig zags really close to me and I can feel the electricity from it. I can’t see for about a second from the bright flash. Then I see the edge of the storm. Thankfully, we fly out of it.

The air is so different it disorients me. I move my wings a little to find my stride. Eden moves us to the right. I see the runway lights shining up at us.

“We made it,” I shout, only to hear that shriek.

‘I really have to stop that!’

‘We’ll get used to it,’ Eden sends back.

We move away from the plane toward another part of the shoreline. I look back to see it land safely on the runway. As we near the place where we parked the car, we slow.

Eden must have spotted it because he makes a Bee-line for a certain spot. He hits the ground just before I do. I see his bird feet hit the ground and turn into his legs, then I touch down.

I transform back into my human body. We look at each other. “We did it! We did it, Eden!” I shout as I run to him, hugging him and jumping up and down.

He laughs and tosses me up into the air. “I know, Alyssa. That was great!”

Our first mission has been accomplished!

CHAPTER 41

KYLE

Laura is fast asleep as I wait up for Ally to come back from their first mission. I wanted to go, but with Laura knowing nothing about them I couldn’t.

I’m not sure how Laura and I will work out if I can’t tell her.

Ally’s stayed cooped up in her bedroom since they got married. I saw her briefly before they left for Miami, and she told me about her dream and saving people on a plane.

I bet it was cool, and I missed it.

So now I wait for the second-hand details and stew about my problems.

What am I supposed to do with my life now that I’m a primary protector to a mythological bird-woman? Can I still go to college? Will they go to Austin with me? Or do I have to go to a college in New Orleans? When can I tell Laura about their secret? How will she take it if they do let me tell her?

I can see it all now. I tell Laura I have to base my life, which it will out-last hers by a few decades or so, on Ally.

I see a slap coming in my future!

Nah, Laura won’t be cool with that. I wonder if I can talk Ally into telling Laura. It’s a much better idea, and if anyone gets slapped then it will be Ally, and I don’t see Laura doing that. No, she’ll probably just cry.

And that makes me sad.

The old guy said I’d get some gifts and I know I have telepathy with Ally, but no one else. This morning I found out I’m a lot stronger than I was before the ceremony.

I’m not sure if playing football in college is such a great idea anymore. I could seriously hurt someone. Plus, using superhuman powers on the field is most likely against some rule, I bet.

I found out about my strength because Laura couldn’t find her flip-flop and asked me to run into the bedroom to check under the bed. The bed in the room we’re in is giant. Solid wood with four large posts and a heavy mattress. When I put my hand on the bottom of the bed to pull the blanket up, my hand caught the frame and I lifted it like it was nothing.

The whole damn bed!

So then I threw a baseball once we were outside. Laura hadn’t come out yet, and Scotty and I were horsing around. I told him about my super-strength and he found a ball. That kid was impressed and more than a bit jealous.

“Why couldn’t I get something like that?” he said. “She’s my sister. We come from the same parents.”

I didn’t know what to tell him. I wasn’t about to say, ‘She loves me more than you.’

That would’ve been rude.

The love thing me and Ally have is weird. It’s not like we used to have, yet deeper. I can’t be jealous about her and Eden.

They were made for each other. Ally showed me the things the other bird-people showed her, and let me tell you there is no way she’s made for anyone but him.

I’ve accepted it. Well, kinda. I have no choice. The faithful sidekick is what I suppose I am now.

How depressing. I must work on what I am.

When I saw Ally this morning coming down that hallway, I didn’t recognize her. She was way out of my league. A grown ass, sexy-as-hell woman is what she looked like.

Her dress and heels had to have cost thousands of dollars. Everything about her screamed, ‘I’m not of this world.’ It made me question my mind. Like, how did I never see that in her before?

I’m sitting at the top of the staircase to be sure I don’t miss them coming in. It’s a sure thing they won’t be coming out of their love nest once they get back in it.

I know I wouldn’t let her out much if I was Eden!

A beam of light falls across the huge, marble floor of the room at the bottom of the stairs.

Don’t ask me what the room is called because I have no clue.

There are so many rooms in this mansion and they call them all something different.

Her giggle hits my ears before I see her. I send, ‘You’re finally back,’ to her.

Ally and Eden walk out of the darkness and into the light over the staircase. “You waiting up for us, Daddy?” she asks me sarcastically.

“You are very late, missy,” I return her sarcasm.

I stand up as they make their way up the large spiral stairs. He holds her tightly to his side.

It used to be me, holding her like that.

I take a step back to let them pass me. Ally reaches out and touches my cheek. “Come to our suite. We should talk about things,” she says, and I follow her like a puppy.

‘Don’t think like that,’ she sends to me.

I follow them into their new place at the very end of the long hall. I look around as we go inside. It’s nice, like really nice. There are two huge, overstuffed, red-leather sofas, a chandelier in the middle of a high ceiling, and a monster television hanging on the wall.

Damn! My room is a dump compared to this place.

Ally spins around out of Eden’s tight grip. “Where is it you’d like to live, Kyle?”

“Me?” I ask, surprised at how fast she turned around and that she is right in front of me, so close I can smell her hair. It smells like honeysuckles.

“I’m going to take a shower, princess. You talk to Kyle,” Eden says, then leaves the room.

I’m no threat?

“No, you’re not,” she says as she takes my hand, leading me to one of the sofas.

She sits down, pulling me down to sit next to her. “You don’t even look the same, Al.”

“I know, Kyle. Something woke up in me. The Phoenix, I guess. I feel different. Flying is so phenomenal, so is telepathy, and the ability to have premonitions.”

Her legs look gorgeous in those heels, and her red dress leaves nothing to the imagination. My eyes can’t stop roaming over her body. “I wish I could’ve gone,” I say. “When can I tell Laura?”

The touch of her hand on my chin brings my face back up from looking at her legs. “While I’m flattered by your adoration of my physique, Kyle, I’m trying to talk to you. We must get past this physical thing we have. It will never happen, so we must let it go. I thought you understood that when I showed you the reality of who and what I am,”

“Yeah, I do. I really do, but what’s happened to you?” I ask, then touch the top of her arm as her bicep is firm and shapelier than it had been. “You’re buff, Ally.”

“The flying I suppose,” she says, and releases my chin. “So, you wish to tell Laura our secret?”

“I should’ve been there with you tonight,” I say. “I am your primary guardian you know.”

The flip of her hand into the air makes one of her breasts move under the tight, red dress, drawing my attention as she says, “We must think of another name for your position. I hate that one. It makes me think I must ask you before I do anything, which I don’t have to do.”

I smile at her and lean close to her ear as I whisper, “Remember the old guy’s words and your vow to me, Mistress Fontaine. Do you vow to follow this man and do as he bids you to, without hesitation, as he is your guardian for life? Then you said, ‘I do.’”

The warmth of her breath on my cheek as I purposely drag it by her mouth makes me hesitate, as our lips are so close it would be easy to touch them.

“I did agree to that, didn’t I?”

“That you did, and I have to hold you to it. So what I say goes, princess.”

‘I hate the fact we can’t be together,’ I send her as our foreheads touch.

‘It’s not our fate. You and I are to be something else to each other. Hard as it may be, we’ll have to get past this,’ she sends me.

Not really wanting to move away from her, I do anyway. I sit back on the sofa and take in a deep breath. “Why would he do this to us?” I ask.

“Our Creator?” she asks.

“Whatever you want to call him, but yeah. Why?”

Ally slips her heels off and turns towards me, putting her feet underneath her. Her legs are hidden from me, something that is probably for the best.

“I remembered something today,” she says. “I had a dream about you. The night before you showed up at school that day. When the teacher introduced you, you came and sat in the empty desk next to mine.”

“I did sit next to you, Al,” I say. “You’re just remembering what really happened.”

“No, I’m not. A little girl named Stacy sat in that desk, but she was absent the day you came. You took her seat and the teacher moved her when she came back to school.”

“So? Stuff like that happens, Al.”

“You and I were meant to be together,” Ally says. “You are my protector, though, not my lover. Our teenage hormones created that need for each other. You do remember how you also wanted Laura at the time you kissed me. Our deep connection made you and I both think we were attracted to each other in that way. Only we weren’t supposed to go that route. It was Laura you should’ve been with the last few years. Not me.”

Talking to my Ally about Laura, her best friend, is uncomfortable and I’d rather not do it. Her eyes twinkle at me as she awaits my response. “I know you’re right.”

A smile slowly forms on her plump, red lips. “Good, then that’s settled. You are my protector and no physical stuff can happen between us.”

My eyes roll as I look away from her. “God, Ally! I know it can’t. That’s what’s so damn hard. I’ll get over it, I guess.”

‘And yet I don’t want you to,’ she thinks and I snap.

I grab her by her shoulders and pin her back to the sofa. ‘Tell me to stop,’ I send to her.

Her eyes search mine as I move my lips closer to hers. ‘I don’t want you to stop,’ she sends back.

Achingly slowly, my lips move to taste hers. ‘Just one kiss, Ally. All we need is one last kiss. We’ll never do it again,’ I send her.

My eyes close as my lips are so close to hers, I can feel her warm breath on them. A flash fills my head and there are the faces of Laura and Eden.

Sadness radiates from them, filling my heart with heavy sorrow. One small action could cause them so much pain. I pull my face back from Ally’s.

She’s seen the same thing I have and we look at each other, knowing it isn’t in us to hurt people we love and care about. I lay my head back on the sofa.

“Well, at least we know what’ll happen if we try something like that again. The Creator will not allow it to happen anymore. I’m glad it’s beyond our control,” Ally says.

The pounding in my chest almost hurts as I realize I’ll never touch those lips again. I have to get out of here and away from her. “I need to go, Al.”

“I understand. We can talk about everything later,” Ally says as she moves her legs out from under her and places them on the floor. “You asked me where you could live and the answer to that is anywhere you want. I don’t have to have you right next to me. Only when we go on dangerous missions will I need you. Other than that, feel free to live your life as you wish and wherever you wish.”

Her damn gorgeous legs take my attention and I have to get the hell away from her before my heart bursts from my chest. “Catch you later, Al,” I say as I get up and walk towards the door. “Have a good night.”

“You’re leaving?” she asks as she catches up to me.

Her hand on my arm as she stops me sends a chill through my entire body. I turn back to see her eyes looking sad.

“I need some time to adjust. You’ll be in my life for a very long time, yet I can never have you. This isn’t easy for me. I can see it’s not for you either,” I say, then I caress her pink cheek. “I’ll leave you to have your honeymoon with your mate. Call me if you need me. I have to get back to my life and figure out what I’m going to do with it. I also have to decide what I’m going to do about Laura. It’s not fair to her. She deserves someone who can give her all of him. I’m not that guy.”

“Please don’t hurt her, Kyle. Think about this a lot before you make a decision about breaking up with her. There’s a slight chance that in the future she can be told our secret,” Ally says. “She and I are also very close. It may be she can be a part of this as well. Don’t count her out just yet. As far as you not being able to give a hundred percent of yourself just yet, don’t let that get in your head. One day you will.”

Slowly, I move my hand up her arm, relishing her soft skin. “Ally, you will reside in my heart forever. Your presence there takes up space and it makes it impossible to give one hundred percent to anyone else.”

Her voice is soft as she says, “Kyle, you also reside within my heart, yet I love Eden with all I have. You will learn how to do that too.”

I kiss her cheek and hug her tightly. “I love you, Ally. I’m going home after Laura gets up. I don’t know if she’ll leave with me or not, but I have to get out of here for a while.”

Letting her go, I turn and open the door. Right before I close it, I hear her say, “I love you too, Kyle. Be safe.”

Tears cloud my vision as I make my way down the long hallway.

How am I supposed to live over a hundred years with this pain in my heart?

CHAPTER 42

ALYSSA

Pain radiates through my body as my Kyle leaves our home. I woke as he left this house, his goodbye waking me from a deep sleep. Laura decided to go with him back to Cloudcroft. He doesn’t know how he’ll deal with what we have, nor do I.

How can I feel so much love for my mate and still have love for another?

What a cruel thing to do to us all. Eden struggles with the knowledge, and if we decide to let Laura in on our secret, she’ll have difficulty with it as well.

This life will be long and I have to wonder if our want for each other will ever go away. Kyle has a permanent place in my heart. I don’t see our feelings ever leaving us entirely.

For now, he’s gone. Eden and I can concentrate on each other and making a strong bond. Perhaps in time, I will grow into a creature who can make sense of things of this nature.

Love, lust, and friendship are all complex relationships.

A quick flash of Kyle and me runs through my head and I shake my head to make sense of it. I was very round bellied, like I was pregnant, and his arm was around me.

But that could never happen. Could it?

CHAPTER 43

ALYSSA

It’s been a month since we had our first mission and nothing else has come up. I’ve left my Kyle alone, letting him deal with things in his own way. I can’t lie and say his absence hasn’t changed me in ways.

Eden and I have settled in nicely to our marriage. We seem to be waiting here to see what comes next for us as the Phoenix couple. It’s an odd thing to be waiting for and I feel a little lost about what we’re supposed to really be doing.

No one seems to be stepping forward and letting us in on what we’re supposed to do when not on a mission or planning one. Eden thinks it’s because we have to work on being the birds, learning how to fly and transform more quickly and becoming stealthier. We’ve been practicing at night around the mansion.

But there’s a little pain in my heart with Kyle being so far away and us not talking at all. It’s a thing Eden is aware of, as he’s able to see my thoughts, which roam all too often to wondering what Kyle is doing at that very moment.

I suppose some day in the future I’ll learn how to deal with this thing.

The light streams in through the window, waking me up from a deep sleep. I feel Eden’s leg thrown over mine and wiggle to move out from under it. Once freed, I sit up on the edge of the bed. My entire body aches with every little movement. Muscles are sore I didn’t even know I had.

“Owww!”

I walk slowly and painfully to the bathroom, starting up the bath. Once it’s full of piping hot water, I push the button on the wall, turning on the jets for the next twenty minutes. The hot water helps to soothe my sore muscles. Thankfully, I don’t have to work out today. I get a day off between each workout.

Yesterday I found out Eden’s personal trainer, Beck, is a demon from hell. It’s no wonder Eden has that freaking hot body, but good Lord he has to work hard for it. It was my bright idea to start working out with him, so there’s no one to blame but myself.

The bathroom door opens and I see my sleepy husband walk in, going straight for the shower. I’m beginning to think he didn’t notice I’m in here. I can hear him humming some kind of tune as the shower starts. The jets in my tub turn off by themselves, as the time I’m supposed to be in here has run out. I can hear him much better now.

He’s mumbling, “Doctor, you have to … I can’t lose her … help her …”

I get out of the tub, wrap a towel around myself, and walk to the shower to find Eden’s eyes closed. He’s standing under the water, but there’s no soap on him. He’s just standing there as the water falls on him.

He yells, “No … don’t say that … no!”

I realize he’s asleep and remember hearing somewhere that you should never wake up a sleepwalker. I gently take his hand, leading him out of the shower. The feel of the water on my skin jolts me, as its freezing cold.

How in the world did that not wake him up?

I place a towel around his shoulders, then lead him back to bed, lying him down as gently as I can. I pull the blanket up to cover him as his skin is freezing and he’s shivering. I climb into bed and snuggle up next to him, trying to warm him up. His body tenses up as I move my body close to his. He reaches out to touch me.

“Alyssa?”

I giggle. “Yes, Eden, who else would it be?”

He turns over, then sits up, looking down at me. His usually happy face has a very distraught look to it, then he almost falls down on me, hugging me to him tightly.

“God, I’m so glad. It was just a dream. You are here, right? Say something. Say something, please.”

“Eden, what’s wrong? Whatever it was, it’s just a dream. It’s not real.”

He shakes his head, making his brown waves dance above his broad shoulders. “I have to not think about it. It can’t happen like that. I won’t let it.”

“Eden, please tell me what has you so upset.”

He stands up rather abruptly, his bare body taut and rippled with new muscles that draws my attention and admiration. “I have to take a shower. I have to clear my head,” he says as he walks away from me. “Don’t leave our suite!” Then he disappears into the bathroom.

Guess he doesn’t remember being in the shower.

I get out of the bed and get dressed. As I sit at my vanity, fixing my hair, I find myself wondering what kind of horror my husband has just witnessed in his head.

Why does he want me to not leave our suite? Was it a premonition? What can be done to change the outcome if it was?

He’s still in the shower when I finish getting ready, so I go to the living room of our suite. A knock at the door startles me. I jump, then laugh at myself for being so silly.

As I open the door, I find a short man standing there. He’s just a little taller than I am, which is not tall at just five foot four. Thinning, grayish hair is swept to one side, trying to camouflage a growing bald spot.

Why do men do this? Just cut it right and be natural or get some implants!

The man holds a large bouquet of wildflowers as he stands in the long hallway, scanning my entire body.

In an effort to get him to look me in the eye, I say, “Oh, how nice. Please, put the flowers on the table.” Then I move back so he can come into the room.

He sets them down, then turns towards me. “Allow me to introduce myself, Alyssa Fontaine. I am Darren Stiles. I read about your marriage to Eden in the newspaper.”

I extend my hand to shake his, but he backs away from me.

Okay, maybe he’s a germaphobe!

I drop my hand. I’m not trying to offend him after all. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Stiles. Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful,” I tell him as I admire the large bouquet.

He stammers, “Uh, yeah, anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Eden used to see my daughter, Karen.”

What? What the hell is he talking about? Eden told me he never dated anyone.

The man sees the surprise in my eyes. A smirk forms on his thin lips. “Maybe he didn’t tell you? I’ve never heard of you. You’re not from around here, are you? I mean, you talk funny.”

“I’m from New Mexico. Perhaps that’s why you’ve never heard of me.”

He fidgets for a second. “Too bad about your weird accent. Other than that, you’re very pretty.”

I find myself walking toward the door, as he’s making me uncomfortable. “Mr. Stiles, while it was very nice of you to drop by and bring flowers, I’m afraid we’re very busy today,” I say as I open the door. “So, if you could please see yourself out.” I gesture for him to leave.

He walks past me, then turns back to me. The smirk still has not left his chubby, red face. “See you around, Mrs. Fontaine.”

I close the door, lock it, then push the button with Eden’s father’s name on it. The intercom which is wired all over the mansion. “Papa?”

His soft French accent with just a touch of Southern to it answers me after a few moments. “Yes, darling.”

“A man was just at my door with flowers. Do you know who let him in?”

“A man! What? Alyssa, lock your door. Where’s Eden?”

“Taking a shower.”

“Go tell him to get out and get dressed. Don’t come out of your room until you hear me at your door. Make sure your balcony doors are locked as well. Do not open your curtains at all and stay away from the windows. Get Eden now,” he commands.

Oh, God, what the hell is going on? No one let him in? How did he get in? How did he know where to find us?

I see Eden’s closet door open, with a light streaming out of it. I go into it, finding him with black slacks on and nothing else.

“Eden, a man was just here. He brought flowers. He told me you dated his daughter,” I say, and find I’m clutching at my stomach as it feels like I’ve just been punched. “Anyway, the problem is no one let him in. He acted weird, too. Your father said to lock the door and not to come out until he comes to get us. He said you’d know what to do.”

I turn to go make sure everything is locked, but he’s at my side, his arm tight around my waist. I struggle to get away from him, as I find I’m mad at him for not telling me he dated someone before.

“Alyssa, don’t,” he commands me as he moves me to the bed, sitting me down on it. “Stay right here. Do not move. Do exactly as I tell you to.”

He goes to check the balcony doors, then moves quickly to one side. “Shit, he saw me,” he hisses.

The glass blows inward as something strikes one of the glass panes which make up the French doors that lead out onto the balcony. Eden runs right at me, grabbing my hand and taking me somewhere down the hallway. He opens the last door at the end of the hallway, then quickly locks it behind us. There are no windows in the room. It’s pitch black. I hear a click and a dim light comes on.

“What is this place?” I ask him, having never ventured through the whole suite of rooms we have.

“It’s a safe room, Alyssa,” he tells me as he reaches to press a button on the intercom hanging on the wall.

“So we have a safe room?” I ask.

Eden nods, then speaks into the intercom. “Papa, he threw something through the balcony doors. Papa, can you hear me?”

I look around the dimly lit room. There are shelves on one wall with canned foods on them and twelve gallons of water. In the corner is a small single bed with two pillows and a blanket. I look over in the corner closest to us to see what I believe to be a portable toilet. A ceramic bowl sits on a small table next to it.

Finally, someone answers on the intercom. “This is Niles, sir. Your father and several others are searching the grounds for the intruder. The item which was thrown into your room has been removed. You need to stay in your safe room until further notice.”

“Is my mother safe?” Eden asks.

“Yes, sir, she’s in a safe room in their wing.”

With a relieved look on his face, Eden comes to sit next to me on the small bed. “Alyssa, what did that guy say to you?”

I cross my arms over my chest. “He told me his name was Darren Stiles, and that you dated his daughter, Karen. Is that true Eden?”

“In a way, yes,” he answers.

Something in me snaps. “In a way, Eden? It’s either yes you did or no you did not. Simple as that.”

“You remember when I told you several of the girls expressed interest in me in high school, right?”

I shake my head, as I’m so pissed I can’t talk.

How could he leave that information out?

“Karen begged me to take her to the senior prom,” he says. “She was not a very pretty or popular girl. I felt sorry for her, you know? No one would take her and she wanted to go very badly. She already had her dress purchased, but she had no date.”

“I can’t see how that was your problem to solve.”

“If you will remember about what I told you before, the common thought about me was that I was not heterosexual. So she didn’t expect anything physical, just a boy to take her to the prom. I thought that was all she wanted, so I didn’t see any harm in taking her.”

“I see,” I snap.

Eden’s hands twist together nervously as he says, “Unfortunately, after the prom, she still wanted to hang around with me. Like I said, I felt bad for her, so I let her come over and play in the game room with me sometimes. I guess she took it as I liked her. She began to tell everyone we were dating. I couldn’t have that, so I stopped talking to her. She didn’t take it well. She told her father I took her virginity then refused to see her anymore.”

My jaw drops and my eyes go wide. “She did what?” I gasp.

He shakes his head, looking down. Finally, his eyes come up to meet mine. “Well, you know that isn’t true.”

“I don’t know. I mean, why didn’t you tell me this before?”

He throws his hands in the air. “Alyssa, you know damn well I didn’t do that. Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve shown you how much you mean to me. I would never have jeopardized us. Not on purpose anyway.”

“So her dad, he’s a psycho or what?”

“Well, I didn’t realize he was this bad,” he says as he sits down next to me. “He came to see my parents after his daughter told him that about me. He was upset. I thought he believed me and my parents when we told him there was no truth to it. You see, the date to the prom was completely chaperoned by them. My father was in the game room with us whenever she came over. There was not a single time we were ever left alone.”

I shake my head. “Eden, this is so much to take in. I wonder what this man is thinking.”

“He’s thinking about money, Alyssa,” he says as he wraps his hand around mine. “Because that’s what he wanted from us before. Of course, we refused to give him any as nothing wrong was done to her. Far from it. What she was doing was wrong.”

“How much money did he want?”

“He asked for a million dollars. How do you like that? He would’ve given his daughters virginity away for a million dollars.”

Mostly to myself, I mumble, “This is a crazy place. We should probably move away.”

Eden kisses the hand he holds, then says, “There are crazy people everywhere, Alyssa.”

A knock comes at the door. “Open up son. It’s Papa,” Lyle calls out to us.

Eden opens the door and Lyle reaches in, quickly pulling him into his arms, hugging him tightly. He lets him go, finally, then grabs me, hugging me too.

“You kids, okay?” he asks as he finally lets me go.

“Yes, sir,” Eden tells him.

I walk out, only to get snatched up by Eden’s mother. “Oh, my babies, I was so worried.”

Eden helps me get out of her grip, only to find he’s caught up by her. “Mom, it's okay,” he says, soothingly to her.

As we walk past our open bedroom door, we see the glass on the floor as the sunlight shines through the broken pane, reflecting the light on the numerous pieces.

My parents are in the living room. They both rush at us, taking turns hugging us.

“Gee, guys, really? So much fuss? We’re fine,” I tell them.

With a serious tone to his voice, my father tells us, “Sit down, please, both of you.”

I’m shaken by his demeanor. Eden and I sit down as the four of them stand in front of us. Mom comes to sit next to me as Eden’s mother comes to sit next to him.

“The man who was here is very dangerous,” my mother says as she pats me on the back. “He’s done some horrible things, it would seem. When Lyle called the police to let them know there was an intruder and that he got away, they responded immediately. They saw the surveillance footage from the security cameras and they recognized him as he’s being sought after for a prior crime.”

My father puts his hand on my mother’s shoulder and says, “His daughter, Karen, was found in an alley in downtown New Orleans last night. She was badly beaten. Luckily, she was found and taken to the hospital. There she told the doctors her father had been sexually abusing her for years. She tried to stop him from doing it again, but he beat her, then took her, dropping her off in a deserted alleyway. He thought she was dead. They sent police to his house only to find it was burned down.”

I look at my mother in shock and disbelief as I reach my hand out to Eden. “I should’ve never opened that door. I put us at such risk, Eden,” I say despondently, upset with myself.

Eden holds my hand. “No, don’t blame yourself.”

I turn to look at Eden. “I’m so sorry, Eden. You should go see her.”

Eden’s father stops me. “Going to see her is out of the question. We’ve already sent someone to look after her there. She’ll be well taken care of. She will have the finest medical care, both physically and mentally. We’ll take care of her, don’t worry. She’s been told you’re aware of her condition, but you cannot come to see her for safety reasons. She’s fine with that. We’re trying to locate an aunt who she says is the only relative she’s ever heard anything about.”

My head is spinning at this information. What an animal that man is and I let him into our home. Then I’m reminded he was in the mansion way before he got to my door.

How did that happen?

“Did you find out how he got into the mansion in the first place?” I ask.

“He walked right through the front door. He somehow knew the correct code to gain entry at the gates. The code has already been changed,” Lyle says, as he shakes his head almost sadly.

“We do know he’s not on the premises anymore though,” my father says, turning our attention to him. “While his car is still here, he was seen climbing over the fence. Just to be safe, though, you’re all coming to stay at our new house until he’s caught.”

“How is there any safer than here?” I ask.

“The house is smaller, with a safe room built into each bedroom,” Lyle says. “The closets are all safe rooms there. The security system is state of the art, even better than what we have here. Also, I don’t think he’s figured out your parents live here in New Orleans now. So I hope he won’t be looking for you there.”

Eden rises, pulling me up with him. “Then I’ll finish getting dressed and we will leave.”

When we walk into our room, the glass on the floor brings a thought to my mind. “Eden, I wonder what he threw to break the window. Look, the hole is small. It can’t be more than three inches around or so.”

Eden studies the hole in the glass. “I don’t know. I just know he had a sling shot in his hand when I saw him,” he says, then turns to me. “Alyssa, I’m sorry about this. I had no idea she was from such a messed-up situation.”

“Eden, don’t do that,” I say as I follow him to his closet. “You saw a girl who had no friends. She just wanted to do what everybody else was doing. You know, be normal and go to her senior prom. The poor girl was enduring so much at home it made her unable to make real relationships. I’m glad you did that for her. Please don’t apologize for it again. I admit I was angry at first, but you didn’t do anything wrong. My heart aches for that poor girl.”

Eden pulls on a white shirt, buttoning it as he walks to me, then pulls me to him. “You’re so kind-hearted, Alyssa. I love you so much. You have no idea how much,” Eden tells me with added warmth to his soft, velvety voice.

“I love you too, Eden,” I tell him as he rocks me slowly back and forth, kissing the top of my head.

When we walk outside, I see a black suburban parked in the driveway. “Is that the man’s?” I ask.

“No, sweetie, it’s mine. Your mother and I found it at our new house when we moved in. Pretty cool, huh? The Phoenix Foundation always does so well by us,” Dad says.

He opens the car door for us. “I don’t see our cars anywhere. Where are they?” I ask.

Lyle turns to look at me as I climb into the seat behind him, and says, “We had them put into the garage and locked them up tight so that maniac can’t get to them. They’ll also be gone over with a fine-tooth comb to be sure he’s not done anything to them.”

I look over at Eden. “I hope he hasn’t done anything to mess them up.”

He smiles at me. “Even if he has, they’ll be fixed up good as new. You can count on that, Alyssa.”

As we come to the gate, there’s an old, ratty-looking, brown Buick. “So this must be his,” I say.

Lyle answers me, “Yes, it is. I’m very disappointed he was able to get through the gates. That means someone gave him the code or buzzed him in. Someone in our home.”

I hadn’t even thought about that. I cannot imagine who would want us hurt. Everyone who works at the mansion seems so nice and genuine. The thought there’s someone in the house who’s against us is frightening. Why would anyone be against us?

Eden buckles his seat belt, then mine, which I neglected to do. His constant attentiveness has me forgetting to do the most basic things for myself. “I cannot believe someone in our organization would be a part of this,” he says. He looks at me and smiles, then sends me, ‘I’ll try to control myself, princess. I don’t wish for you to become so reliant on me you forget to buckle your own safety belt.’

I smile back and kiss his cheek.

He’s so adorable!

“Unfortunately, son, it’s impossible to be certain that every person has good intentions,” Lyle says. “That’s why we have to do the things we do to keep you safe. It takes many people to be sure of that, and sometimes we have to fight our own to keep the Phoenix couples safe.”

Eden asks, “Do you think this person or people changed the way they thought about this organization because of us?”

Lyle looks back at him. “People can change for many reasons. Maybe the person started out with good intentions and then something happened to make them fall away from what we’re doing. Hopefully we’ll find out soon, as not only do we have the New Orleans’s police department investigating, but also our own team of investigators. They should find something soon. This guy didn’t just disappear.”

Eden looks down at me. “Promise me you’ll be good and do everything we’re told to do, even if it doesn’t make sense to you at the time, princess.”

What? What is he talking about?

“Eden, I don’t understand.”

His arm slides around my shoulders and he pulls me into his chest. “Just promise me, please,” he not so much asks as demands.

I nod my head, but internally I’m freaking out. I mean, come on, just do whatever I’m told to, without questioning anything? I don’t know if I can do that. What if someone I don’t completely trust tells me to do something I’m not comfortable doing?

“Eden, what if the person who helped this guy get into the house tells us to do something we question? I mean, we have no idea who it is, right?”

He smiles at me. “Okay, I see. Just do what I ask, or what anyone else who you trust asks, okay baby?”

I smile back at him. “Okay,” I promise him and I feel a little bit better about it now.

The gates open up at my parents’ new house. As we drive up to it I’m speechless. It’s gorgeous. It’s not nearly as large as the mansion we just came from, but it’s a mansion as well. Even though its brand new, it’s still full of the southern charm Louisiana is known for.

Four large columns hold up an enormous balcony overlooking the front entrance area, which is spectacular. There’s a large area of pink flowers blooming up the middle of two stairways, leading up to a porch. It’s a shade of white, but has a slightly pink hue to it. Dad pulls up and we all get out.

“This is beautiful, Toni. I haven’t seen it finished. It turned out so nice,” Sierra tells my mother.

“It really did. They always do such a fantastic job, don’t they?” Mom asks.

“That they do,” Sierra agrees.

As we enter the house, we walk right into the main living area. I can tell my mother had her hand in decorating because I see several paintings which came from our house in Cloudcroft. The painting over the sofa is one that my mother’s father painted when she was a little girl. It’s of her and her little sister at the beach in California.

“Come Ally and Eden, let me show you to your room,” Mom calls to us as she heads towards a gorgeous staircase that spirals up just off the living area.

We follow her up the stairs. “This place is so nice, Mom.”

She turns to me and smiles. “The first door to the right is yours. Make yourself at home, dears. You will find that, as usual, your closets are already filled with clothes, as are the dressers. Come down whenever you are ready to,” she tells us, then turns to go back down the stairs.

I open the door to find a large four poster bed with a dark maroon-colored bedspread on it. The room only has one closet, but it’s huge. Eden’s things are on one side and mine on the other. I notice that in the back of the closet there are supplies such as gallon jugs of water and canned foods.

“Eden, why are there supplies like this I here, do you think?”

“This is a place where hurricanes come in on occasion, baby. Most homes have these things in them somewhere. You know, just in case. Once it’s known a hurricane is coming in, the stores get crazy and run out of things quickly.”

Eden opens the only other door in the room to find a decent sized bathroom with a stand up tiled shower. It’s not nearly what we have back at our place, but it’s nice. My parents, as usual, scale back on things they find pretentious. I, on the other hand, love having a huge bathroom with all the bells and whistles.

“Think you can be comfortable here?” I ask Eden.

Suddenly, he picks me up off the ground, holding me in his arms and spinning me around. Taking me back into the bedroom, he lays me down on the bed. He reaches down, taking my sandals off and running his hand up my leg. My heart is pounding in my chest. His eyes are full of desire.

He begins to unbutton his shirt. “Baby, as long as I’m with you, I can be comfortable anywhere. Now let’s break this sucker in.”

CHAPTER 44

EDEN

He’s drugged her! I can’t find her!

I run through the dark alley behind Bourbon Street.

She has to be near here. This is where I last saw her thoughts!

Alyssa sent the words, ‘I love you, Eden. My time has come, unless you stop this. I’ll see you on the other side, my love.’

With those words, she also sent the view she was looking at. The dark grey stone walls of the back of one of the many clubs along Bourbon Street.

I search as one of our doctors struggles to keep up with me. I know I’ll need his help once I find her.

This is all my fault. Why did I have to get involved with that family?

A dark mass looms in the distance. My heart pounds as I race to it. And there she is.

The doctor shouts, “Eden, let me see to her first.”

The look on his face as he turns back to me after he’s looked at her tells me all I need to know.

He rises and looks away as I dive to my princess’s side.

My body is shaking. It’s as if I’m being shaken. “Eden! Wake up!”

It’s Alyssa’s voice, but how can it be?

The smell of barbecue fills my nostrils as I blink my eyes open. The room is cloaked in orange light and a figure moves in front of me, the sun’s light behind it, making it hard to make out.

“Eden,” she says.

It’s my mate! She’s alive! It was all a dream!

I sit up. “There’s still time.”

Alyssa looks at me quizzically. “Still time for what?”

I shake my head to clear it before I grab her and pull her to my bare chest. Burying my face in her honeysuckle-scented curls, I breathe her in. “Alyssa, you’re in danger. We need Kyle here to help keep you safe. Laura, too. She’s key in keeping you safe as well.”

Alyssa frowns. “Laura? She doesn’t even know what we are, Eden. How can she help? And about Kyle. Well, things have been so much easier to take since he left. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I don’t want him around. It’s just too hard,” she says as she drops her head.

She’s been doing that a lot since Kyle went back to Cloudcroft. The inner confidence she gained when we first transformed into the Phoenixes seems to have left her.

I reach out and take her delicate chin in my hand, making her look at me. “They love you, Alyssa. It would devastate them both if something happened to you. With their help, nothing will.”

“Eden, you need to show me your dream. I can’t make a decision like that without knowing what might happen to me.”

Now it’s my head which drops. “Alyssa, it’s hard for me to talk about it without getting upset. I don’t think it’s a good thing for you to see. That’s why I took so long in the shower this morning. I had a hard time getting control over my emotions. The idea of losing you is …” I trail off.

I can’t let myself think like that!

Alyssa walks to the chair where I threw her little summer dress right before I devoured her. “I’ve heard enough, as you’ve been talking in your sleep and even sleep walking, to know something happens to me. There’s a doctor you talk to, so it’s not good.” She pulls it over her head, then makes her way to the dresser.

Finding my shorts on the floor, I pick them up and put them back on. “More than hurt, Alyssa. You don’t make it.”

She stops looking through the drawer she opened and looks back at me. “I don’t make it? What could happen to me? It just has to be a dream, not a premonition. It can’t be my death. Not so soon. Longevity was promised to me. What about that?”

“Alyssa, the dream is too real, too vivid. It continues when I fall back asleep.” I explain.

She turns back to the drawer, pulling out a lacy pair of white panties. “What if you’re wrong and we get Kyle and Laura over here for nothing?”

I give her a frown. “I hope I am wrong, but I have to follow my heart on this. I can’t just do nothing and let this happen to you. I have an idea that might help you to come to grips with this. If you die, Alyssa, you know I’ll be dead within a day of you. Kyle may follow as well. We’ve never understood how his connection to you will be affected if you pass before he does. Is that what you want, for us to leave this earth, never having accomplished more than one task on this planet?”

She pulls on her panties and I nearly lose my train of thought. Her voice makes me look up at her eyes. “How do Kyle and Laura fit into stopping whatever it is that’s going to happen?”

This is where she’ll really fight me!

“Okay, here it goes. I’ve dreaded telling you this, Alyssa, because the answer is …I don’t know.”

Her slim arms rise up into the air as she shouts, “What? You don’t know? Are you crazy?”

“Something in my dream is why I say that, although I don’t know why. I say to myself in the dream, ‘If only Kyle was here. If only Laura had been with her.’ That’s why I think they’re key players in keeping you alive.”

“Crap, I hate this!” she says as she slips on her sandals. “I don’t know why he’s putting us through this. Why, Eden, why?”

I slip my T-shirt over my head and go to her, holding her to me. “Please don’t do that, Alyssa. Don’t question. It serves no purpose. For what reason, we may never know. It’s just something which needs to be done. Learn to have faith. Hasn’t anything we’ve been through brought that home to you yet?”

Laying her head against my chest, she wraps her arms around me and says, “What’s so wrong with me that I keep questioning everything over and over again? You’re right and I know it, but I can’t stop myself. In the very beginning, I had so much faith. I’ve lost my confidence as well as my faith.”

I rock her in my arms and place a kiss on top of her head. “You’re hiding from the pain, princess. You’re hiding from who you really are. Since Kyle left, you’ve changed back into the girl you were.”

Her body shudders and she whispers, “I miss him like you can never understand. Only I don’t want him around because it’s so damn hard. I hate myself for wanting him. I love you so much and I don’t understand how I could want you both.”

Her honesty fills my heart. “I know you love me, precious. Kyle is your primary protector and you two have to learn how to live with that. The attraction will have to be dealt with. You both are hiding from it right now and it’s not helping it go away.”

She looks up at me with those sapphire eyes, batting her dark, full lashes. Unshed tears make them glisten as she says, “I suppose you’re right. I’ll call him and tell him about your dream and the crazy man. I don’t know if Laura will want to come or not.”

“Bet she will, princess,” I say with a knowing smile.

That girl isn’t going to let Kyle come out here without her!

“We’ve been up here for hours,” Alyssa says as she pulls out of my arms. “I shudder to think what our parents are thinking about us right now.”

She strides toward the bedroom door and I catch up, slipping my arm around her tiny waist. My laugh is a bit on the evil side as I whisper in her ear, “Probably something terrible, like we’re up here making babies.”

She stops and bats at my chest with her small hand. “Don’t even joke about that, Eden. I forgot to pray before you devoured me while ago.”

“What? You usually pray before we, umm …” I say.

Her voice an octave higher than normal interrupts me, “Of course I do. It’s our only form of contraception. I hope Our Creator will accept an after prayer as opposed to my normal before prayer.”

I laugh and give her a little squeeze. “Princess, we have no control over that. You’ll just have to accept what happens. A baby wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

“We’ve been married just over a month, Eden. Let’s be us for a while before we have to be parents. I mean, damn, we’ve had a lot of transitions. First we get married, then we become giant birds. Adding being pregnant then having a baby to care for, well it’s just too much. I can’t handle anymore right now.”

I kiss her cheek as we trot down the stairs. “I love you, princess.”

“I love you too, my prince. If you care about my feelings, perhaps you could join me in asking Our Creator to give us more time before he bestows a gift upon us.”

I nod and smile, but hide my true feelings from her.

It’s not in our hands after all.

CHAPTER 45

ALYSSA

We go downstairs to find no one in the house, so we wander around until we see our parents out a door off the kitchen. “Look, Eden, they have a swimming pool.”

Eden opens the door. “I see that. Let’s join them.”

Lyle, saunters towards us, and says, “There they are. I was wondering if you were ever going to come join us.”

“We were tired from all the drama, Papa,” Eden says with a smile.

Lyle gives Eden the same devilish look Eden gets sometimes. “Tired? So that’s what they’re calling it now days?” he asks, then turns his attention to me. “Make it a baby girl, Alyssa. I want a sweet little girl to spoil.” My face turns beet red and my head drops like a rock. Lyle’s arm wraps around my shoulders, hugging me to him. “Oh, how I love to see her blush.”

I hit at him faintly. “You’re terrible, Papa,” I reprimand him, as my whole family laughs.

Eden comes to my rescue. “Papa, leave my wife alone,” he tells Lyle and then the rescue effort takes a bad turn. “There will be no babies yet, as my wife has come up with a new way to stay un-pregnant. She uses divine intervention—a prayer prior to marital relations is keeping her safe from becoming a mommy before she’s ready to.” They all laugh again.

Fantastic. I just found out my newly formed family is a bunch of real comedians!

“You guys should take your act on the road sometime or at least off a short pier into alligator infested waters,” I quip as I find I’m madder at my husband for divulging our intimate secrets than I am embarrassed.

Mom tries to help me by distracting the comedic line up that is my husband and Eden’s father. “Oh, come here my baby girl. Let me put some sun block on you before you burn out here,” she tells me as she pulls me away from the rat pack.

“Thanks, Mom. They’re brutal, huh?”

“It’s all in good fun, Alyssa,” she tells me as she lathers me up with sunscreen, then hands me the tube. “Go put some on Eden. I don’t want him to get burned either.”

I take the tube over to my wonderful, yet overly talkative husband as he sits in the bullpen with our fathers. I say, flatly, “I have to put sunscreen on you. Mom said.”

He looks at me and his naturally tan face has a slightly amused look to it. “I tan, Alyssa. I don’t need any.”

“Um … but Mom said, Eden. So … I have to. It’s for your own safety,” I tell him, with a fake sweetness.

“Oh, I see. Well, if it’s for my safety then by all means, please,” he responds, with the same fake sweetness to his velvet voice.

I take a nice-sized dollop of the white goop and place it on his nose. “There you go. All done,” I tell him as a smile crosses my face at how silly he looks.

He looks at me, then his eyes go dark. He leans over to whisper in my ear. “I see you want to play with me. You must feel like laughing since you’ve made me look funny for your amusement. I feel like hearing you giggle, Mrs. Fontaine. I think that will give us both what we want.”

My eyes widen as I remember the last time he wanted to hear me giggle. I almost peed myself as he tickled me.

I can see in his eyes that he’s about to pounce on me. I turn and start moving away from him to the safety of my mother.

I look back as I hear a chair scraping the cement. Sure enough, he’s getting up. If he’s already up, my mother isn’t going to stop him from getting me. I move faster to the side of the house, climbing the railing which runs around the porch. I see a large plant there, so I hide behind it. He walks past it.

Yes! I’m home free!

Then he turns around. “I see you, Alyssa. Don’t move.”

“No, Eden!” I shriek as I start to back out of my hiding place.

“Alyssa! Really, don’t move!” he yells at me.

“What is it?” I ask, remaining perfectly still as I see a worried look on his face.

Then I hear it—a loud humming sound. I raise my eyes to where it’s coming from to see a million red wasps on a massive nest, snuggled inside the plant I’m hiding behind.

One flies directly at my face. I move like lightning and hear the hum of them as they follow me.

I run as fast as I can, right past Eden as he reaches out for me. He runs right behind me as the mass of wasps chase him too. I get to the front door and fly into the house. Eden is right behind me, then turns to slam the door shut.

“Crap, those things are freaking fast!” he says, excitedly.

I start to laugh. He still has the sunscreen on his nose as he looks down at me, bringing his face close to mine. I wipe the white goo off his nose, then I close my eyes in anticipation of his lips touching mine.

His hands at my waist take my attention from his lips as he begins his tickle torture. I scream and try to wiggle out of his grasp, giggling like a maniac all the while.

“Stop, Eden, please!”

He lifts me up, tossing me onto the sofa, then goes crazy on me. “Eden, please!” I beg him.

He stops his tickling, but takes my hands up over my head, stretching my arms up and holding them down. “So, no more tickling, then, Alyssa?”

“Please, no more. I’ll be good. I won’t ever put stuff on your face again, ever,” I tell him, in hopes he’ll let me up.

He holds me still. “Do you promise?”

I nod my head. “I promise.”

His eyes turn from playful to serious. “Alyssa, what if someone other than me was holding you down? Do you think you could get away from them?”

“Eden, you’re really strong. Most people aren’t as strong as you are,” I tell him, then remember the fact that I’m pretty strong as well.

Who does he think I’ll be coming up against, the Hulk?

“I’ll lighten up my grip then,” he tells me as I feel a little less pressure on my wrists. “Now try to get away from me.”

I wiggle and move, but can’t pull away from him. I decide to go for the groin, but not hard or anything. He anticipates my move, though, then sits on me, holding my legs down too.

Now I really can’t move.

After a brief struggle, I give up. “I can’t get away from you, Eden,” I confess to him.

He lets my hands go and then stands up. “We have to get you some self-defense lessons. I’ll talk to Beck about it tomorrow.”

I sit up with a new realization that I’m completely incapable of defending myself. “Damn Eden, I can barely make it through his workouts. How can I add more to that?” I whine.

“You’re a lot tougher than you think you are. You’ll get through it,” he says as he lifts me up, placing me back on my feet. “As a matter of fact, you should ask Laura to take them with you. Might give her some incentive to join Kyle when he comes.”

“Did you forget where we are?” I ask him.

“This is a big house, Alyssa. I’m sure there’s at least one more bedroom available.”

“Um … I don’t even know if that would be appropriate. I mean, I have no idea if they’re, well, you know, still together like that.”

“Oh, I bet they are,” he says, with a smile.

Moving past him to go back outside, I look over my shoulder, and say, “He told me he didn’t know if he would stay with her or not. Our little situation has him confused and he’s not one to lead a girl on.”

I open the door to the patio to find dad pulling steaks off of the barbecue pit. “Ally, go tell Scotty to come eat dinner,” he calls out to me.

“Where is he?”

“His game room. Go back through the kitchen, then the living room. There’s a door under the staircase. That’s it,” he directs me.

I turn around to find Eden stopped right behind me. “Game room, huh?” he says as he raises his eyebrows. “I have to see it.”

We walk back through the house to find the door under the staircase, Eden opens it and says, “Wow, it’s like when the Wizard of Oz goes from black and white to full color.”

My eyes have to adjust to the complete darkness, only interrupted by the lights of scattered video games, television screens, and game consoles. The room is huge. I can hear Scotty before I see him. Then my eyes adjust and I finally see him. He has a headset on.

“Scotty,” I call out, but Eden stops me.

He puts his finger to his lips. “Shh, he’s online. Don’t embarrass him,” he whispers to me, then makes some hand signs at Scotty. Unbelievably, Scotty nods his head at Eden, then we leave.

“That cannot be healthy,” I state as Eden closes the door behind us. “Our kids won’t be doing any of that.”

He smiles. “Oh, our kids? So one day we will have kids? Like you’ll quit praying for no kids?”

“Someday, Eden. Not today though. Apparently I have to get buff and become a lethal weapon in order to stay alive,” I tease him.

CHAPTER 46

KYLE

After a whole month of not hearing a word or a thought from Ally, she called to tell me I need to get to her by the morning and she ruined my night.

I also have to do my best to get Laura to come with me, and that feat might prove to be a little hard.

When I left the mansion in New Orleans I was an emotional mess. Laura noticed how quiet I was on the jet ride home and tried to get me to open up to her.

Talking to her about my Phoenix problems is not a thing I’m allowed to do.

That burden is mine to bear. I’ve never felt more alone. I can’t talk to my Ally, the one person I’ve always been able to talk to about anything. It hurts us to be around one another. A deeper love for her, I’ve never had. Yet I can never have her the way I crave.

She’ll be in my life for a very long time. My vow to her gave me a long life—over a hundred years. Along with the gift of longevity, I also got a hell of a lot stronger, and now my plans to go play college football are over.

I’d probably seriously injur,e or maybe even kill, someone if I played.

My life is supposedly still mine to live where I want, how I want, and with who I want. As if that’s going to be so damn easy to do without being able to tell people who and what I really am.

How am I supposed to live a normal life now?

The Phoenix Foundation will pay everything for me since I’m Ally’s primary guardian and her top protector. I want more than to be a babysitter for my ex-girlfriend. But I’m stumped at just what it is I can do. I still have my scholarships to college and have no idea how I can get out of playing football if I use them.

My heart and mind have been numb for a month. A solid month with no real emotions flowing through me. My parents have accused me of using drugs. My father asked if I was smoking pot and my mother cried. She blames Ally for the change in my behavior.

Mom was never an Ally fan, for reasons I’ve never been clear on. My mom thinks Laura hung the moon and was so happy when we started seeing each other. They hang out a lot, going shopping and to the movies.

It’s probably my mother who’s kept my relationship with Laura going. I’ve been distant to say the least. I prefer to be left alone to read, play video games, or get on my computer to search for Phoenix legends.

I’ve become obsessed with the legends of the Phoenix and Thunderbirds. Now that I know the truth, they all seem like fairy tales.

Laura came to visit this afternoon, like she does on most days. I hung out with her for a whopping fifteen minutes before I palmed her off on Mom. I gave Laura the keys to my truck and asked her to go down to Alamogordo to buy me some new jeans and shirts. I gave her the credit card the butler, Niles, gave me before I left New Orleans and told her to take Mom and make a girl’s day out of it.

My endless supply of money is being questioned only minutely. My parents think it’s money I’ve saved from my jobs the last couple of years. I’ve been given a lot of pats on the back for how well I’ve handled my earnings, a fact which makes me detest myself.

I was on the internet looking up all things Phoenix related when Ally called. My heart stopped when I saw her name flash across my cellphone screen.

I answered it without using words. ‘Hello, Al.’ I sent her with my mind.

“Miss me?” she asked me out loud.

“So, what’s up, princess?” I asked as I closed my laptop.

A flash in my head showed me exactly what was up, as she sent me some weird scene with her lying in a dark street as Eden held her, and rain fell around them. A doctor stood near them, looking down.

Suddenly a short, balding chubby older man filled my mind. He carried some wildflowers as he walked into Ally’s suit at the mansion. Then there was a horrible scene of the guy doing terrible things to someone who seems to be his daughter.

Her words whispered through the phone filled my ear with an invisible heat. “I need you, Kyle.”

“Send the jet. I’ll be there by morning,” I said as fierce protection welled up in me.

“Eden says you need to bring Laura with you,” Ally told me.

“May I ask why?” I asked, thinking Eden would rather me have my own female to keep my mind on.

Her giggle hit my ears and my heart skipped a beat. “That’s not why, silly. Something in the dream told him she helps out with this situation. Somehow she keeps this from happening, along with you.”

“I’ll give it my best shot. I’ve been a bit on the cool side with her. I’m not sure about us at this point. My heart belongs to another, as you’re aware,” I said.

“There’s room in there for more. I’m proof of that. So you haven’t broken up with her?” she asked.

“It was you who said to take that slowly and think about it. She’s had so many guys do her wrong. I’d hate to be added to the list of guys who dumped her for no real reason. She’s a great girl, Al,” I said.

“Nobody knows that more than I do, Kyle. So how’s that going, then?”

“I palm her off on my mother a lot,” I said.

A long period of silence filled the phone. “Your mother likes her?” she asked.

“Likes her? I wouldn’t say that. She loves her,” I said, and immediately was sorry as the hurt Ally felt filled me.

“Wonder what I did to make her hate me.” Ally said.

“Al, come on, baby. You were meant for another after all,” I said.

“I know,” she said. “Anyway, try to get her to come. Don’t worry about packing anything. I’m getting the two of you some clothes brought over here, as well as all the other things you’ll need. The driver won’t be taking you to the mansion. We’re at my parents’ new place. I gave you separate bedrooms. That’s what you want, right?”

My head filled with her thoughts, ‘Are you two still sleeping together?’

Without hesitation, as if I could lie to her if I wanted to, I sent back, ‘Not since we left the mansion.’

An audible sigh rang in my head. “Not that it’s my business,” Ally said. “See you in the morning, Kyle. Bye.”

And that’s how she ruined my night.

I have to see her and stay with her, and Laura has to be there, making all this shit even harder.

If I could just tell Laura what we all are, things would be so much better.

The sound of my truck pulling into our driveway lets me know my mother and Laura are back. I walk into the living room where my father dozes in his recliner and an old western on the television blares.

The front door opens and Mom yells, “Turn that dang thing down!”

Dad jerks awake and looks at me as if I had something to do with how abruptly he was woken up. I shrug my shoulders at him. “You got the remote, Pop.”

After a search of his chair, he finds the remote and turns the sound down. “You didn’t have to yell, Gertie,” he bellows.

Mom drops several large bags on the couch. “You need a hearing aid, Joe.”

Dad mumbles something about not wanting to hear everything and Mom shoots him a look of irritation. Laura comes inside, holding more bags. I decide to turn on the charm, trying to get her to agree to go with me to New Orleans.

Taking the bags from her, I kiss her cheek. “Did you have a good time, baby doll?” I ask.

Her light blue eyes look at me with curiosity as she says, “Baby doll? It’s been a while since you’ve called me that, Kyle.”

I set the bags down and pull her up into a hug, lifting her off her feet. “I know and I think a break from this place would help our relationship.”

I spin her around and carry her off to my bedroom. “Kyle!” she shouts as her face turns red. “Your parents!”

I look back to see my mother beaming at us. “Never mind them, Laura. They love you and want us to be happy.”

Carrying her into my room, I kick the door closed behind us and lay her down on my unmade bed. Her blonde hair fans out on my pillow as she looks up at me with a twinkle in her eyes. “How sweet you’re being,” she says.

I sit down on the bed, and run my hands through her silky, soft hair. “I’ve been neglecting you. My mind’s been a mess. We’ve had an offer and I’ve already accepted for my part. I’m going to New Orleans early in the morning. Ally’s parents got a new house and we’re invited to go for a visit. She and Eden are there already.”

Laura looks away from me and her face is void of any readable emotion. “So that’s why the good mood. You get to go see Ally.” Her words are soft but full of hurt.

I kiss her cheek and lean my forehead to the side of hers as she continues to turn her head from me. “That’s not why, Laura. It gives us a chance to get away from here for a little while. We need that, don’t you think?”

“We need something, I agree,” she says, then scoots over, moving away from me. “Why is that do you think?”

Great! She needs to talk and we’ve little time to get things right with us before I need to leave with her.

“Things are different and I don’t do different really well,” I say as I stand up and pace around my bedroom. “That’s why I need to spend more time with Ally and her husband, so I can get it through my thick head she and I are over. You and I are together and I need to appreciate that.”

She turns on her side, resting her head on her hand. “You and I don’t have to be together. You go on without me and see if you miss me at all.”

I need her to go!

“Laura, of course I would miss you. Come on, go with me. It’ll be fun. She’s sending the jet for us. You and I can work through this little rough patch. I care about you a lot,” I say, then sit back down on the bed and run my hand up her tanned leg.

“You care about me. That should be enough, shouldn’t it?” she asks. “You have a bit of trouble telling me that. You don’t say it very often. Yet you have no trouble telling Ally you love her.”

Ouch! She’s not pulling any punches.

“You’d rather I tell you something I don’t feel yet?” I ask, taking her chin in my hand to make her look at me. “I care deeply about you, Laura. And may I add, you haven’t told me how you feel about me in a long time either.”

Her eyes narrow. “Kyle, I’m crazy about you and you have to know that. I come over here, uninvited, every day to see you. You don’t call me, take me anywhere, or walk me home. Yet I hang on, hoping you’ll get it that Ally has moved on and left you behind.”

My heart contracts at her words. She has done all that and I sit in my room and whine to myself how I love Ally. My life is going to always have her in it and it’s making me nuts. If I could only talk to Laura about this, things would be so much better.

Threading my fingers through hers, I look at her. “I know I’ve been a crappy boyfriend. I asked you not to see anyone else and have done nothing with you, left you dangling.”

“Yeah, you have,” she says. “Do you remember the last time we kissed?”

I nod, because I know it was the night before we left the mansion in New Orleans. Before Ally and I almost kissed.

“You love her and you still want her. I’m not good enough anymore,” she says, then sits up. “I have to admit, she looked fucking fantastic. With enough money, I suppose most women could look that good.”

“Money, huh? Is that what you think about her? It’s only money that makes her glow and shine like a star? Wow, Laura, some friend.”

Standing now, she makes her way to the door. “I’ll make this easy on you, Kyle. We’re over.”

What? Shit! What have I done?

She moves quickly to the front door. My mother looks up from her seat on the couch. “Are you leaving, sweetie?” she asks Laura.

Laura stops her hasty retreat and looks at my mother. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry. I’ll explain later,” she says, then turns to look back to me as I’ve emerged from my bedroom. “Have a nice time in New Orleans.”

She walks out the door, leaving my parents looking at me. My mother jumps up and runs at me. “What did you do to her, boy?”

I raise my hands over my head in an exaggerated shrug. “Hell if I know, Ma! I asked her to go with me to New Orleans where we’ll stay in the Devlin’s new mansion for a visit. How horrible of me, huh?”

“Ally’s? You asked her to go with you to see that girl?” my mother asks, then pokes me in my chest with her skinny finger. “You are an idiot, son! That girl is married. I knew she wasn’t the one for you. You got lucky when Laura accepted your advances.”

“My advances?” I ask

Mom turns to walk away from me, but I grab her narrow shoulders and spin her around to look at me. “She told me what you did to her, Kyle.”

My mother’s words make my world tilt on its axis. Laura told my mother about how we got together. She’s insane!

Mom looks at me, her eyes growing gentle and her words not coming out as harshly. “She’s a great girl, son. Let Ally go. She’s gone anyway. Hold on to Laura. She’s a keeper.”

I spin around to walk out the front door. I have to go fight for my girl. I’ve hurt her with my insane notion of Ally and a love which is nothing more than a connection for me to protect her.

Laura lives three doors down and although she walked out of my house with her head held high and no tears on her face, I see her leaning against the wall by her front door. Her hands cover her face and I know she’s crying. It is killing me, and I jog over, careful to be quiet so she doesn’t hear me and run inside.

Her cries are quiet,and her body shakes as I approach her. I take her in my arms, pulling her close to me. She buries her face in my chest and clings to me. “I love you, Laura,” I say, without knowing I was going to do it.

I guess that’s how you know sometimes. If the thought of losing them makes you weak, then it must be love. My mother’s right. Laura is wonderful and patient with a foolish boy who pines after one he can never have.

I have to get over Ally and be happy with who I have right in front of me.

The tears have streaked her pink cheeks as she looks up at me. “Really, Kyle?” she asks. “You aren’t just saying that?”

I kiss the top of her head “No, I’m not just saying that. I love you, Laura. When you said we were over and walked out, something in me broke wide open. I see what and who is important to me now.”

Her bottom lip quivers as she says, “I love you too, Kyle. I have for a while.”

She’s loved me!

Slowly, I lean to touch her lips with mine. Her arms reach up around my neck and she pulls me to her. It’s been so long since our lips have touched, and when they do, I fall apart inside. She makes heat fill my body.

She pulls away from me a little. “Kyle, I don’t want you to go to New Orleans.”

I press my forehead to hers. She thinks I only want to go see Ally and that’s not it at all. Maybe a form of the truth would make her agree to come with me.

“Baby doll, I didn’t tell you why we’ve been invited,” I say. “A man may be trying to hurt Ally. The father of an old girlfriend of Eden’s. The guy’s crazy. He raped his daughter and left her for dead. Now it seems he may be after Ally.”

She pulls out of my arms and turns away. “Are you serious?”

“I am. You can call her if you want to.”

She runs her hands up and down her arms as if she’s cold, but it’s nowhere near cold. She turns back and says, “I’m being a jealous ass and I’m done being that. You were right about one thing. What kind of friend am I? I love her too, and I should put that at the top of my priorities. Tell her I’m coming too.”

I smile at her as my heart fills with a new feeling for her. “You’re pretty fantastic, baby.”

She takes my hand in hers and pulls me into her house. “Mom and Dad won’t be back for hours. Why don’t you come in for a while? I want to show you how much I love you, then you can show me how much you love me,” she says, and I find I’m happy to hear her words.

CHAPTER 47

ALYSSA

I notice I’ve missed a call when I pick up the phone off my night stand. I hit the button to listen to my voice mail. A man’s voice comes out of the phone’s speaker.

“So they think that by moving you, it will stop me from getting you. I will get you, Alyssa Fontaine. You took my daughter’s place in that family. She should be living that life, not you. I should be living in that house, not you. I can’t wait to get my hands on you, bitch,” a man’s voice says. I realize right away it’s Darren Stiles voice on the recording.

I drop the phone, staring at it helplessly. I can’t believe what I’ve just heard. I find I’m shaking uncontrollably. That man did terrible things to his own daughter. What in the hell would he do to me?

Tears begin to fall out of my eyes without me even realizing it. I have to let them know. I pick the phone back up and take it with me. I find my father sitting with Lyle in the living room.

My voice is shaky as I call out to him, “Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

I hold my phone out to him. “He wants me.”

Lyle stands up quickly, coming to wrap his arm around me, and pulling me to sit down on the sofa with him. He holds me tightly to his side. I sink into his chest, feeling very drained. The reality that I could end up dead, and very soon, has hit me like a brick wall.

“Alyssa, you’re white as a ghost. Who wants you?” Lyle asks me.

“Press the voice mail button, Daddy.”

My father pushes the button. He and Lyle listen to the man’s message. My father’s face pales, then he stands up.

“I’ll call the police. I’m getting your mother, Alyssa. Stay with Lyle,” Dad tells me, then leaves the room hastily.

I find I’m suddenly sobbing. Eden’s father holds me close to him as he says, “Alyssa, we won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe. You have to believe me. You are safe.”

I feel a tug on my shoulder. “Alyssa,” I hear my mother’s voice say.

I turn away from Lyle to grab onto my mother. “Oh, Mom, what’s happening?”

Mom has me in a protective hold. “I’m taking her to her room.”

She sits me down on the bed, then walks over to the one window in the bedroom, making sure it’s locked, pulling the curtains together, and closing them. “Things change so fast around here, don’t they darling?”

She goes into the bathroom, coming out with a wet wash cloth, and blotting my face with it. The coolness of it makes me feel better and I start to calm down.

“Mom, why are there such bad people in the world?” I ask as if I’m a child.

Her arm slides around my shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess only God knows that. You’ll be fine, Alyssa. That man can’t get to you. There are too many people here to protect you for him to be able to get to you. He’s just trying to upset you. Don’t let him do that to you. You’re not a victim, Ally.”

The bedroom door flies open as Eden rushes to me, grabbing me up into his arms and wrapping himself around me. “I’m so sorry, Alyssa. I can’t believe I brought this down on you. I was a fool.”

I hear the door close as my mother leaves the room. I hate that Eden thinks this is his fault. I can’t stand it. I pull back from him, wiping my eyes.

“Eden, nothing is your fault. The man is crazy. You didn’t make him that way. You just did a nice thing for his poor daughter. I’ll be fine. I just got freaked out. I’m okay now. I have faith that all the people around me will make sure I stay safe. I’m done crying about it.”

His hands go to either side of my face, holding it gently. “Alyssa, it is my fault. I should’ve had our people do a background check on her and her family before I agreed to do anything with her. I didn’t do that and now look where we are.”

“Eden, if you would’ve done that, then you would have never taken her to the prom,” I say as I run my hands over his arms. “Or let her come over to your house and given her a few moments of happiness. Her life must have been horrible. I’m happy she got to go to her prom. I’m happy you did that for her. Don’t second guess it now. It doesn’t help the situation any.”

He looks away from me, then sits down on the edge of the bed. He drops his head down, looking at the floor and shaking his head back and forth slowly. Then he stops. “I’ll try harder not to blame myself for this. You’re right, I suppose. If anything happens to you, though, I’ll never forgive myself for all of eternity.”

I move his hands from my face and hold them in my lap as I giggle. “Eden, don’t say that. I have to spend eternity with you. I can’t spend it with a spirit who resents itself.”

I see a weak smile begin to form on his face and he says, “You giggled. I love it when you giggle.”

“I know you do, my prince. Now show me some of that faith you have so much of and that I sorely lack. You’re supposed to be the strong one who never shows fear.”

The touch of his hand running through my hair makes chills run through me. “Princess, I’m weak as a kitten when it comes to you.”

My heart pounds in my chest as I feel his fear for me. It takes everything in me to stop myself from freaking out.

If he’s this afraid for me, then I’m really in a lot of danger!

‘Take my mind off this,’ I send to my mate.

His strong hands move over my neck and back, massaging them as he sends back, ‘Your wish is my command, princess.’

Lips as soft as downy feathers cover my shoulder as he moves the thin strap of my sundress off. I stretch my neck and he moves his mouth to it. A quick nip at the nape of my neck, then he softly sucks at it. My body flashes with a fire which runs from the tip of my toes to the top of my head.

I want him now!

I stand and drop my dress, then pull his shirt over his head. His tattoos are beautiful and I run my hands over them. All have meaning, and the cross in the middle of his chest shows exactly who it is he works for.

Though he’s made fun of me for it, I say my prayer in hopes of staying us for a while longer, rather than adding a child, and kiss the cross on his chest.

Lifting me by my chin, he looks into my eyes. Putting his arms around me, he unhooks my bra, then pulls it off. My stomach flutters as he bends down and places his warm mouth over my breast.

I hear the button on his shorts pop and feel them drop past my legs to the floor. His mouth travels between my breasts up to my neck, then finally to my mouth.

The sweet taste of cinnamon fills my mouth as Eden’s tongue roves over mine in a tangle of wet desire. My hands flow over his shoulders and down his back until they find his muscular butt where I hold him, pressing him to me.

He picks me up and tosses me onto the bed. I smile at him as he leans over me to rid me of my panties, kissing my leg as he moves back up. ‘I’m about to make you forget everything but me, princess,’ he sends me.

I close my eyes and prepare to think only about my mate and how he makes me glow inside. My body shakes as his lips touch the little pearl, which pulses with desire. His tongue runs over it and my hands tangle up in his luscious locks as I hold him to me and groan in ecstasy.

‘You taste like heaven, precious,’ he sends me.

My tongue flows over my lips as I send him what I want, ‘Let me taste you while you taste me.’

His mouth leaves me as he looks up. “Really?” he asks with a smile on his face.

I smile and nod, and he moves so I can get on top of him. When my mouth slides over his hard erection, his moan vibrates my clit as his tongue runs over it. I shudder with exhilaration.

The touch of his mouth on me spurs me on to slide my mouth over his hot, silky, throbbing member. My hand strokes as I run my tongue over the tip and down the shaft.

With no indication, Eden rolls me over. I end up on my knees as he pulls me back by my waist. One hand grabs a fistful of my hair as he fills me from behind, jerking me back to him. He pounds into me and I quiver with how hard he’s breathing and how wild I feel with him. “You like it, princess?”

I moan my answer as I quake inside, about to lose it. An orgasm rips through me, sending me into a loud shriek. I drop my face into the mattress to stifle the noise and Eden pounds me harder and faster.

My legs shake with weakness, but he doesn’t ease up, and I feel it welling up in me again.

How the hell can it happen again so quickly!

Eden pulls at my hair as he hammers me and my face is pulled away from the mattress. My insides erupt and I scream Eden’s name as I come undone.

He stiffens behind me and groans loudly, “Alyssa!”

Slowly, he falls on my back and I lay out on the bed, barely able to draw air into my lungs.

Yep, that worked. I can’t think about anything but him!

Once we’re able to catch our breath, Eden pulls me to spoon with him as he runs his hands along my side. In no time, I find I’m falling asleep, and just before I do, I find Eden must’ve fallen asleep and his dream starts in my head. I shudder as I watch myself die in his arms again.

Will we be able to stop this from happening?

CHAPTER 48

ALYSSA

I wait semi- patiently in the living room for their arrival. Laura texted me nearly twenty minutes ago, letting me know they were in the car and on the way here. I just hope our secret doesn’t show itself in front of her somehow.

The doorbell finally rings. I jump and run to the door, flinging it open. There stand my two best friends in the world. They both have beaming smiles on their faces. Their presence makes me realize I missed them even more than I thought I had.

“Ahhh,” I scream and jump up and down.

Laura does the same as Kyle shakes his head. “Girls … they’re so over the top. It’s only been a month.”

Laura and I grab each other up into a hug as we hop around. “Well, hello, Kyle. I’m glad to see you again,” the ever polite and eloquent Eden greets Kyle.

I stop jumping, trying to act more like a lady. I hold Laura close to me though, not ready to let her go. Her shoulder-length blonde hair is so shiny and soft. I have to touch it. Her sparkling blue eyes are lit up with excitement.

I see Eden shake Kyle’s hand and think to myself he needs to stop being so freaking formal. I let go of Laura so Eden can shake her hand, or whatever he’s going to do to welcome her, and then turn to Kyle.

Crap! My heart’s beating so damn hard and he and Eden both know it.

“You better get over here and hug me, boy,” I say with a smile.

He smiles sheepishly at me and holds his arms out for me. I almost jump into them, hugging him tight. I have to fight the urge to wrap my legs around his waist as he holds me off the ground. I release my grip on him, standing back to take a look at him. His blonde curls fall across his forehead, almost touching his eyes.

‘I missed you too, Ally,’ Kyle sends to me.

My heart aches as I just want to cuddle up with him and let him make me feel safe and secure. “God, am I glad to see the two of you!” I say as I move away from him, going to hang on my husband’s arm.

Remember who it is you’re made for, girl!

Laura smiles as she looks around the room. “This place, Ally! It’s beyond anything I could’ve imagined your parents living in.”

“Our guests might like to freshen up after their long ride, Alyssa,” Eden says. “You should show them to their rooms and give them a chance to do that before lunch is served. I hope you both like alligator and shrimp, as our chef and his staff came to prepare that for us this afternoon in honor of your visit. We know you had a light breakfast on the jet. You have to be famished.”

Kyle looks at Eden and surprises the complete hell out of me. “Hell, yeah, guy, that’s completely cool. Thanks Eden,” Kyle tells him, then holds his fist up. Again to my surprise, Eden holds his fist up and they bump their fists together.

I try to hide the surprise, but Eden catches it and smiles at me. He’s so full of surprises. My heart skips a beat as I feel so much love for him at this moment. This can’t be easy for him to have Kyle here.

Gesturing for them to follow me, I lead them upstairs. “Come on, guys. Follow me.”

I hold Laura’s hand as Kyle follows close behind us. “Al, this place is beautiful. I can’t believe any of this. It’s like a dream. Your mom must be over the moon with this.”

I smile at her. “She sure is.”

We walk down the hall and then come to the bedroom door I picked for her. It’s at the end of the hallway and Kyle’s is right across from it. I open her door, showing her to her room first. The room is beautiful, with a large bed in the middle of it. The bedspread is her favorite shade of dark green, as are the curtains.

“Go ahead, check it all out, and don’t forget to look in the dressers and the closet. Those are all yours, Laura,” I tell her.

She turns to look at me in astonishment, “You know you didn’t have to do all this, Ally.” I just smile at her. Then I turn to Kyle.

I hope he likes his room as much as Laura seems to like hers.

“Right across the hall is you. Just like I told Laura, Kyle, check it all out. Everything is yours,” I tell him as I walk the short distance to open the door to his room.

He walks past me into the room, then turns around to look at me. “This feels right, doesn’t it, Al?”

I smile at him. “Right as rain, Kyle. Now once you’ve done whatever you need to do, grab Laura and make your way back downstairs so we can start eating. I’ll be waiting in the living room for you two,” I tell him as I turn to walk away, trying my best to lighten up what flows between us.

I turn back to look at him as he sends me, ‘We’ll get through this, Al.’

I send back, ‘We have to, don’t we?’

I find Eden waiting in the living room, as well as my little brother, Scotty. “Come, Alyssa,” Eden tells me, as he pats the open space on the sofa next to him.

I smile as I walk down the stairs, still feeling uneasy with Kyle’s presence. I sit down next to my husband. Eden puts his arm around my shoulders, then kisses my cheek. I look up at him to see he’s smiling widely at me. His emerald eyes have a sparkle to them that they only get when he’s happy about something.

“Laura looks happy, princess. They must be getting along well,” he says.

My wedding ring catches my eye as a light in the chandelier makes it sparkle. “You think?” I ask, not really wanting to talk about how my Kyle and my best friend are getting on.

Kyle and Laura come down the staircase, hand in hand. My heart thumps hard against my chest, and Eden gives me a squeeze and a kiss on the side of my head. Scotty jumps up, almost running over to Kyle. Scotty is still such a little kid at fifteen.

I suddenly realize he’s had to leave all of his friends. He’s been thrown into this completely different life just like I have. Only I have Eden and Kyle. Scotty has no one. The thought makes me a little sad.

“Hey, creep,” Scotty teases Kyle as he mock-punches him in the arm.

Kyle mock punches him back and says, “Hey there, small fry. I’ve been told you have your own game room.”

Scotty is pumped with Kyle here to play with him and nearly yells, “You wanna see it?”

I stand up quickly. “Not yet, Scotty. We need to eat first.”

“What a party pooper!” My brother mopes as he heads off to the dining room.

I immediately feel sorry for him. “After dinner we’ll see about it, Scotty,” I say and see his face light up again.

We follow Scotty’s lead, going to the dining room. Terri, the head maid from our home, has outdone herself on glamorizing it. The dining room looked good before, but now it looks grand. Large bouquets of fresh flowers are everywhere. The table is set with gorgeous crystal glasses and beautiful china.

Laura lets out a gasp. “Ally, this is beautiful. So elegant.”

“Sit here, right across from us,” I tell them.

Kyle pulls the chair out for Laura. I smile at her as I follow Eden to the other side of the enormous table. He pulls out a chair for me and I sit down. I notice Scotty has taken the chair next to Kyle. I can tell he’s glad Kyle’s here.

He and Eden get along well, but I’m pretty stingy with Eden’s attention. We’ve seen very little of my brother since we came here. I’ll have to make sure we change that.

My parents enter the dining room and Eden stands up, as is the custom when a lady enters the room, I found out. Kyle surprises me yet again as he stands up too and taps Scotty on the shoulder to get him to stand as well.

Laura looks over at me. “How formal,” she mouths to me.

My father walks to Kyle and shakes his hand. “It’s good to see you again, son.”

Kyle smiles. “Good to see you too, sir.”

Dad leans down to give Laura a hug and says, “Nice to see you too, Laura. We’ve missed seeing you.”

“Your new home is beyond gorgeous, Mr. Devlin,” she says.

My mother approaches Kyle and he takes her hand to shake it, but she pulls him into a hug instead. “It’s so good to see you, Kyle.”

Kyle hugs her back and says, “You too, Mrs. Devlin.”

Mom kisses Laura on top of the head. “We’ve missed you both so much. It’s been a month since the wedding.”

My parents go to the end of the table, taking their seats. The boys sit back down, but are forced to stand back up as Eden’s parents come in. Lyle walks up to Kyle and shakes his hand, beginning the lengthy hellos between my friends and Eden’s parents.

They go to take their seats at the other end of the table. Everything is going so well. Terri comes in with a bottle of white wine, pouring everyone a glass. After she leaves, Scotty holds up his glass.

“So, we’re sophisticated again, Dad?” Scotty asks our father.

Dad looks at him. “If it’s in front of you, drink it, boy. No need for comments.”

We all laugh a little and I look at Laura. “It’s not always this formal, but I wanted to give you guys the five-star treatment. I’m so glad you’re here.”

Laura smiles back. “This is really nice of you, Ally. Nice of all of you,” she says as she looks at Eden and then our parents. “Thank you all so much for inviting us.”

Eden looks at her and smiles. “We love having you here.”

Terri arrives again with our salads, placing them in front of us. Laura leans in a bit. “Ally, the clothes are to die for. I can’t thank you enough. I’m so lucky to have you as my best friend.”

“Having a personal shopper is the best.”

“So after dinner, Al, can Kyle and Eden play games?” Scotty asks.

“I’m not their boss, Scotty. They can do whatever they want to,” I answer him.

“So do you want to?” he asks, looking back and forth between Kyle and Eden.

“If Kyle wants to, then, yeah,” Eden answers him.

“Of course I do, Scott,” Kyle tells him, then leans close to him to whisper something in his ear I can’t make out, and then they both laugh.

“I don’t know about that Kyle. I’ve been playing like nonstop since we got here,” Scotty informs him.

Kyle looks over at Eden. “Should I be afraid, Eden? Is he that good?”

“He kicks my ass,” Eden replies.

I look at Eden. “Your mouth, Eden,” I whisper.

“It’s quite all right, Ally,” my father tells me. “Scotty kicks my ass at those games too.”

Everyone laughs and then Terri brings us the main course, which is fried alligator and shrimp with beans, coleslaw, and hushpuppies. I’m surprised by the taste of the alligator. It’s not at all what I expected.

“You know, I was expecting this to taste very different,” I comment.

Then Laura and Kyle look at each other. “It tastes like chicken,” they say at the same time, making us all erupt into laughter again.

Later, Terri brings in the dessert. It’s the most gorgeous pineapple upside down cake I’ve ever seen. I wonder how in the world our chefs can make such a simple cake look like a million dollars. They never cease to amaze me.

“Everything was so delicious,” Laura says as she sets her dessert fork down next to her half-eaten piece of cake. “I’m so full, I can’t even finish this phenomenal piece of cake.”

Scotty clanks his fork down, loudly. “Dad, I’m done. Can I be excused?”

“Okay Scotty, but I don’t want you to stay up all night, playing games,” Dad orders.

“I won’t. Well, you guys coming, or what?” he asks Eden and Kyle.

Eden looks at me and Kyle looks at Laura for approval. “Just go,” I say as I wave my hand at Eden.

He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, then jets out of the room, following Kyle and Scotty. “Looks like it’s just you and me. We should go for a swim. I think I’d love swimming at night,” I tell Laura

“That sounds good to me,” Laura says in agreement.

We run upstairs to change into our bathing suits. “Come to my room as soon as you’re ready,” I tell her.

She’s at my door before I know it and we take off out to the pool. I turn on the outside lights. A light inside the pool comes on as well, making it look pretty. The usually humid and hot air is a bit cooler, making the night more pleasant.

“I just can’t believe this, Al. Like when did your parents get rich?” Laura asks me.

That question has caught me off guard, so I make something up. “Dad sold some stocks or something like that. You know, they don’t talk to me about their finances.”

We slip into the warm water. “This is a lot warmer than I thought it would be,” I say.

“It feels fantastic. It’s so nice out here. You were right, swimming at night is cool,” Laura says.

We sit on the large steps that lead into the pool, leaning back on the edge. Stretching my legs out, I kick them back and forth slowly. Stars sparkle in the night sky as I gaze up at them. An image of Eden and me flying in the dark sky flitters through my mind.

“So what’s your plan for the fall, Laura?”

“I’m up in the air about it right now. You know how I’d planned on going to a local community college and staying at home? Well, Kyle wants me to go to Austin with him now. There are small colleges there too and many more part-time jobs for me to choose from,” she tells me, making my stomach clench. “I’m really happy we can still be close, Ally. You know you’re like the sister I never had.”

How can I be jealous of her? I love her!

I smile as I say, “You’re like a sister to me too, Laura. I’m happy for you. So are you thinking about going with him?”

She nods her head and says, “He told me he loves me last night.”

My heart stops! He loves her?

“Wow,” I say as I look up at the sky, trying to make sure the tears which threaten don’t fall.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” she says.

Still looking up, I ask, “How about you? Do you love him?”

“Of course I do. What’s not to love about him? I told him after he told me,” she says. “Then we went inside my house and made love for three hours.”

Good Lord, I want to cry my eyes out and throw up!

CHAPTER 49

ALYSSA

The room is dark, except for one small light. I see a chair sitting under the light, but no one is in it. I try to move and find I can’t. I look up to see my hands are tied to the headboard of a rusty iron bed. My feet are tied at the bottom of the bed to the rusty rails of the footboard.

Looking down, I see a lacey, blue nightgown which just covers my body to the tops of my thighs. I try to scream for help, but there’s something in my mouth almost choking me. The choking sensation seems to turn on my senses. I feel intense pain all over my body and groan in agony

The smell of cigar smoke fills my nostrils. Someone is in here, hiding in the shadows. I move my head frantically, trying to see where the person might be. I see a red glow from the cigar I smell. It’s not that far away from me. Then I hear a voice—a man’s voice.

“I wouldn’t wear myself out, trying to get out of the bonds I’ve put you in, Mrs. Fontaine,” the man says.

It’s him, the crazy man, Stiles. His chubby, round face with straggly, thin, grey hairs surrounding it comes into the light just enough for me to see him.

His voice a hiss, he says, “Glad you’re awake now. It wasn’t much fun with you asleep, but I managed.”

What? What the hell has he done to me?

I pull at the ropes that hold me tight to the lumpy bed. He comes closer to me. I struggle even harder to get free. His hand reaches out, lifting the bottom of my nightgown up as he looks underneath it.

He holds up his other hand. A light blue pair of silk panties is hanging on his finger. He begins to twirl them around. I realize they’re mine and try in vain to scream.

“I’m afraid the gag was something I had to do to you, as I can’t stand the ugly accent you have. I have to tell you I’m sorry, as it would seem I used maybe a bit too much morphine when I drugged you. You were very unresponsive even as I did the dirtiest things to you, Mrs. Fontaine. Otherwise, you could have enjoyed them too.”

Tears start to run down my cheeks. They burn as they do, making me realize they’re scraped up. He must have beaten me. I can taste blood in my mouth. I look down to see my knees are scraped as well. He senses I’m figuring out he’s hurt me in more ways than one.

“Hope you don’t mind, honey. I like to get rough with my girls.”

I see his hand coming to my face slowly, then he pulls it back up really fast, bringing it down on my cheek with a hard slap. I try to scream again and almost choke as I do. Tears stream down my face.

“That turned a nice shade of red. I like that,” he says to himself. “Stop crying or I’ll do it again!” he yells at me.

His nature changes extremely suddenly as he kneels down beside me, looking into my eyes. “Please stop, please stop crying,” he says. “I just want to make you feel good. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you made me do it. You should have stayed away and let Karen have that rich fucker. She doesn’t have everything you have. She’s plain like her mother. You should have given him up so she could have a chance with him. Now that I’ve taken you away from him, maybe now he’ll take her. I need the money. I have special needs I have to pay for. I can’t afford it on my own, you know. Maybe I won’t kill you. Maybe I’ll just keep you here. You could do the things I need. How about that? I can leave you alive if you agree to not run away and do what I need. It’s not so bad. Lots of people do it. Just nod your head if you agree.”

The tears have not stopped flowing. I nod my head yes, hoping to fool him into letting me go.

“No shit! You agree? I can’t believe it. You want me, don’t you?” he asks.

I nod my head yes again.

“I knew it. I want to let one of your arms loose. Promise me you won’t try to do anything crazy. I want to see if you can do what I need done.”

I nod my head yes again.

He stands up and takes a knife out of his back pocket. He opens it, then looks at me intently. Somehow I’ve managed to stop my tears. I have a hard time concentrating on what I need to do, as my brain feels fuzzy.

The knife grazes my cheek on purpose as he brings it up to cut the rope tying my right hand to the rusty railing of the headboard. I act like I like the feeling of the knife on my face, as I hope it throws him off.

I feel the freedom as the rope is cut, letting my arm fall. Unfortunately, my arm is asleep. I can’t move it. It falls limply onto the bed. I try to move it, but it just won’t move right.

“Give me your hand,” the sweaty man commands me.

I try very hard, but I can’t move it. I move my head back and forth, trying to get him to take the gag out of my mouth.

“I’ve broken you,” he cries, then tears stream down his chubby, red cheeks.

I shake my head no, hoping he’ll let me go. Suddenly he changes again.

“You stupid piece of shit! Of course you broke her,” he says to himself as he turns away from me. “You can’t do anything right. Now you have no choice but to kill her. They can’t find her like this, or you’ll go to prison. You can’t go there. They’ll rape you. You’re far too tender to go there, Darren.” His voice is high pitched. It’s as if he’s impersonating a woman.

He stops talking to himself and turns to look back at me. His eyes are almost black instead of the drab brown they’ve been.

The knife is still in his hand. I try to move my arm and it moves a little bit. I move it to my side in an attempt to protect myself. This only infuriates him.

His voice flat, he says, “You’re dead.”

I feel a pain in my ribs almost immediately. My face is slapped repeatedly. Then my other arm is cut down as are my legs. They are all of no use to me. I close my eyes, trying to picture myself as the big, black bird.

A stabbing pain hits me in my shoulder. I can’t concentrate any more. He’s on top of me, slapping me hard. I can’t feel a thing anymore. I see only blackness.

“Wake up, bitch. I’m not done with you. Wake up,” I hear him screaming at me as I drift away.

“Alyssa, Alyssa is that you?”

I’m lying on something hard and cold. It’s cold in this place. I’m so cold. “Alyssa! Thank Our Creator, Alyssa! I found you.” I hear Eden yell, “Doctor, you have to save her. I can’t lose her. Please tell me you can save her.”

“She’s lost a lot of blood, Eden. It looks like she has some broken ribs and most likely a punctured lung. There’s a knife wound on her side. The ambulance will be here soon. We’ll get her to the hospital and get started on her as soon as we can,” I can hear the other voice say.

“You have to help her. She can’t die. Not yet, not yet! Please, Alyssa, stay with me. Don’t give up. Keep breathing. I know it hurts, but keep breathing, baby, please,” the velvet voice cries as he rocks me back and forth, gently and slowly.

I can taste blood in my mouth. I feel something thick coming up my throat. I’m choking! Help, I’m choking! I can’t breathe! I can’t take a breath!

“Eden, she’s not going to make it.”

“No! Don’t say that! No!”

Then I hear humming.

A loud knock at our bedroom door startles both of us awake as we sit up quickly. “What? Who is it?” Eden says loudly.

“It’s your father. Open the door,” Lyle calls out to Eden.

Eden looks over at me. “Are you okay?”

I nod my head yes. He gets up and grabs my silk robe off the chair, tossing it to me. I wrap it around me to cover up my skimpy nightgown. He strides over to the door, adjusting his T-shirt and pajama bottoms, then running his hands through his messy, dark locks.

“Yes, Papa?” Eden asks as he opens the door.

Lyle comes into the room, going to the window and checking to be sure it’s locked. “What’s going on, Papa?” I ask.

Lyle turns to Eden and hands him a piece of paper. He reads it quickly. “Damn! How in the hell did he do that?” Eden asks his father.

“It gets better son,” Lyle tells him. “It was taped to your bedroom door this morning.”

Eden’s usually tan face goes pale. “How? How could he get through this gate too, into this house?”

Lyle shrugs his shoulders. “We can’t keep hiding from this man, Eden. We have to draw him out.”

“That would mean using bait and you know the only bait that will draw him out. I won’t do that,” Eden argues.

I interrupt their arguing. “Can I see the note?”

He hesitates. “It’s not a good idea, Alyssa.”

“I had the dream, Eden. He takes me away somewhere after he’s drugged me with morphine. He ties me up, rapes and beats me, then leaves me on the street somewhere. You find me, but it’s too late. I choke to death on my own blood. I think after what I’ve seen and felt, because it felt real, I can take whatever that note says,” I say as I hold my hand out.

He looks at his father. Lyle nods his head yes and then he hands the note to me.

Mrs. Fontaine

It was nice to see you again. That little bikini you had on last night left little to my imagination. Too bad that blonde bitch was there or you and I could’ve had a real good time.

Don’t worry, though, I will get you alone. You and I have some things we need to talk about, like what color panties you like. I bet you like blue ones.

Keep playing hide and seek with me. I like it. This is a nice house. How nice of your parents to set you up in a nice bedroom right at the top of the stairs, the first one on the right. I left you a present.

See you soon.

My blood runs cold as I read each word slowly. “Eden, it says he left a present. What do you think it is and where do you think it is?”

Lyle walks towards the bathroom and says, “Just stay right there, Alyssa. I’ll search your room to see what he could’ve left in here, if he was ever really in here at all.”

Eden begins to open the closet, checking it over. “Nothing out of the ordinary in there.”

“Nothing in here,” Lyle says.

Eden begins to open the drawers on the dresser. He opens the top drawer, moves things around, and then closes it. He opens the second drawer and stops. I can tell by how his face pales a little that he’s found something.

“Papa, he was in here.”

Lyle walks over to look. “Oh my! Jesus, that man’s sick.”

“What? What is it?” I ask, softly.

Eden turns to look at me. “No, Alyssa, you can’t see this,” he tells me and then he shuts the drawer.

“It’s that bad?”

They both nod their heads. “I have to go call the police. Don’t touch it. Try not to touch anything, but get dressed and come downstairs,” Lyle commands.

I call Laura and ask her to get Kyle and meet us downstairs. After we dress, Eden and I go down to the living room to find that, not only are Kyle and Laura there, but our parents and two police officers as well.

My father stands up. “Okay officers, let me take you up to the bedroom so you can get started. The second drawer of the dresser, right, Lyle?” my father confirms.

Lyle nods yes. “Eden, go with them too,” Lyle directs Eden

I go sit next to Laura. “Sorry about all this Laura. I didn’t think he’d find us so quickly.”

“It had to be someone who was here yesterday. There was the kitchen staff. The maid, Terri, the driver who brought Kyle and Laura here, and the person who delivered the clothes,” Lyle explains.

“Linda?” I ask. “You think Linda could have something to do with this?”

“Any of them could, dear,” my mother says, “How can we ever figure out who would’ve helped him?”

The conversation is making me uncomfortable. Linda being a suspect is flying through my brain at great speeds and I send the thought to my mate.

“Mom, can we go make something to eat?” I ask.

She looks at me, then at Lyle. “I think that’ll be fine. Kyle, stay with them, okay?” Lyle says.

“Yes, sir,” Kyle answers him.

I go to the fridge and pull out a carton of eggs. Kyle sits on one of the stools at the breakfast bar as Laura helps me. “So what did the note say exactly, Ally?” Kyle asks.

“I still have it,” I tell him as I pull it out of my pocket and hand it to him. “Eden told me to give it to you. Read it.”

Laura looks at me with confusion. “Why would he do that?” she asks as she goes over to read it with him. I don’t answer her. “This is really scary, Al. He was out there with us somewhere, hiding in the dark.”

Kyle looks up at me. “He was in your room. I can’t believe he was in the house and no one noticed.”

“Eden’s father thinks the best thing to do is to try to bring him out of hiding,” I tell them as I scramble the eggs.

“While that is probably the smartest thing to do, you do have to realize you would be put in danger, Ally,” Kyle tells me.

I nod. “What else can be done?”

“I don’t know, but after what Lyle said about the bird in the drawer, I know this guy is a complete psycho,” Kyle tells me.

“What did Lyle say was in the drawer?” I ask, praying I heard him wrong.

“You know, a black bird with a piece of string wrapped around its neck that he must have used to choke it to death,” Kyle tells me.

The blood goes out of my face. I stumble a little. Kyle jumps up, grabbing me, then taking me to sit in a chair at the dining table. Crap! A black bird he choked to death. Not only does he want to kill me, he knows what I am.

I look up at Kyle and send to him, ‘He knows what I am!’

His arms close around me as I fall and things go black.

CHAPTER 50

Kyle

“Ally, are you going to faint?” I ask as I sit Ally down.

Laura gets a wet towel and holds it to her forehead. “Ally, you okay? You turned so pale,” she says.

‘He knows I’m a bird,’ she sends to me. ‘This is bad! This is really bad. He has to be stopped. He’ll tell people. What are we going to do?’

“Eden didn’t tell you about the bird?” I ask, knowing damn well he didn’t, but I’m trying to talk out loud so Laura doesn’t get confused at how I know certain things that have gone unsaid. “Shit! He’s going to be so mad at me for running my mouth.”

“No, I needed to know that. He would’ve told me anyway. Don’t worry,” Ally says as she looks at me, then Laura.

“I’ll finish making breakfast, Al. Just sit there and chill. Kyle get her a glass of juice, please,” Laura orders.

I bring Ally back a glass of apple juice, then sit down next to her, putting my arm around her shoulders. Her head drops onto my shoulder. My mind is spinning out of control. I have so much to do and Laura’s not knowing about what we are is a pain in the ass.

I know she could handle the secret, but I have to get Eden and Ally to agree.

I kiss the side of her head, like I used to do all the time. “Everything’ll be all right, Ally. You have a lot of people around you who love you. We won’t let this freak get you.”

Her hand takes mine and she holds it in her lap as she sends me, ‘I feel safe with you here.’

My arm tightens around her shoulders and I hug her to my chest. ‘You’re safe with me here, baby,’ I send back.

Laura brings us each a plate, setting them down in front of us, then gets hers and comes to sit on the other side of Ally. “Eat up, Al, you need to keep your strength up,” she tells her with a smile.

Ally grins at her and leans over to kiss her cheek. “I love you, Laura. You’re going to be such a good mother someday.”

Eden comes into the kitchen, sees us all piled in close to each other, and smiles. I’m happy to see he isn’t unhappy with me being so close to Ally. She’s tucked into my side with my arm wrapped around her.

“I see you’re being well taken care of, Alyssa,” he says as he grabs a plate.

Laura jumps up. “Go sit, Eden. I’ve got it,” she commands him as she pushes at him to sit down across from us.

He’s still smiling at Ally. I’m not sure if my close proximity to her is making him uncomfortable or if he’s actually happy I’m watching over her so closely. Laura puts his plate and juice in front of him, then returns to her seat next to Ally.

“The police are watching the surveillance video right now. So we’ll know shortly how he got into the house,” Eden tells us. “Laura, I wanted to thank you for saving my wife’s life last night. If you hadn’t been with her, or if you had decided to come into the house for even a minute, he would’ve had her.”

Laura looks up at him. “Do you really think so?” she asks in disbelief.

“I’m very sure of it and so are the police,” he tells her. “I can’t begin to thank you enough.”

“Eden, I’m really sorry,” I say. “I had no idea she didn’t know, but I brought up the bird in the drawer.”

Eden gets a surprised look on his face. “How did she take it?”

“Not really well,” I tell him as I give her a gentle squeeze. “She just about passed out.”

Eden looks at her. “I bet she did. You okay now, Alyssa?”

She nods. “It’s better that I know that anyway.”

Eden smiles at her and I can feel the rate of her heartbeats increase. “I know. I was going to tell you sometime in the near future,” he says with a soft tone to his voice, which makes Ally all melty inside.

God! Knowing what she feels is so damn weird!

I release her from my tight hold and move my chair over, so our legs no longer touch. I really don’t want to feel her every feeling. It seems like we’re getting more and more telepathy with one another.

I’m not sure I like it.

Laura and I take the dishes from the table, as we’ve all finished eating, and put them in the dishwasher. Eden takes Ally by the hand, pulling her up to him. They lean their foreheads together, sending things back and forth to each other no doubt.

Ally’s Mom comes in. Her face gets a strange look as she looks at Ally, then back at me and says, “I’ll get the rest of this cleaned up. You two are guests for goodness sake.”

Eden helps Ally out of the dog house. “She got the news about the bird in the drawer and got a little shaky. So Laura was kind enough to make breakfast for us.”

Her mother gives her a hug. “Oh, it upset you that much?”

Ally looks around the room at us all and says, “It shocked me at first, but I know everything’ll be fine. I have faith. I’m not going to let this guy get into my head, no matter how hard he tries.”

‘That a girl, Al,’ I send her.

She smiles back at me. ‘Thanks, Kyle. I’m so glad I have you,’ she sends me.

Eden looks at her, and in that instant, she shuts me out. “How far you’ve come in such a short amount of time,” he tells her.

“I guess it’s just the fact he did such terrible things to his daughter and what he’ll do to me. If he’s able to get to me, that has me thinking I can’t be afraid of him,” Ally says as she threads her fingers through Eden’s, something she used to do with me. “I have to stop him from doing this to anyone else ever again. I can’t be another victim. I have to be his ending. Our dreams have let me know I have no choice in the fact. He has to be stopped or it will be the end of us.”

Eden’s face drops as we realize she just said something she shouldn’t have. Laura catches it quickly. “Our dreams? What does that mean, Ally?” she asks.

Ally’s eyes look frantically at Eden for an answer. Unfortunately, he just looks back at her with a blank face.

Okay, no help there.

I look at Ally’s mom to find she has the same blank expression.

Okay, then I have to come up with some explanation.

My arm slides around Laura’s shoulders as I pull her tightly to my chest. “It just means, you know, the stress of this situation must have them dreaming about it. Almost like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, only it’s before the actual horrible thing happens,” I offer as an explanation for my Ally’s overactive mouth.

“Let’s go see if they’ve finished watching the surveillance video yet,” Eden says, changing the subject as he takes Ally and leaves the kitchen.

Laura and I follow them. I hold her close to me and she whispers to me, “Maybe they’re too close, ya know?”

Yeah! No kidding! What would she think if she knew how close Ally is to me?

Eden’s father, Lyle, is coming back into the large living room. He must’ve walked the police officers out. Lyle turns to us and I can tell by his expression that they know who helped Stiles.

“That was very productive,” Eden’s father says as he takes a seat on the large sofa next to his wife, Sierra. “We found out who let him in. It was a member of the kitchen staff, a young man named Brady Mathews. He’s been with us for about two years. I know him very well. I can’t imagine what he was thinking. We’ll soon find out. though, because the officers are going to the mansion to get him right now. I’m praying they can get the information from him as to where Stiles is.”

Ally looks at Lyle with curiosity and asks, “So there’s no way Linda had anything to do with it at all?”

Eden’s eyes go wide and he drops her hand. “Linda?”

Ally looks at us all, then says, “They said she could be a suspect, Eden.”

Eden looks at his parents. “Papa, you told her this?”

Lyle shrugs his shoulders, and says, “I said it could’ve been anyone who was here yesterday. That’s all, son.”

Eden turns back to Ally, a bit of a glare in his eyes. “Alyssa, why would you even think such a thing about her?” His question seems to physically hurt her. Her eyes drop to the floor and she wrings her hands.

Her demeanor makes me feel like she’s lost something of herself she had found just before I left her in New Orleans. It brings out my protective side. I leave Laura’s side to walk over and place my arm around her shoulders. “Eden, I’m sure you have to understand all people who’ve been in this house yesterday had to be in question in everyone’s minds.”

Ally sends me a scene—Eden and a lady with brown hair kissing by his swimming pool. I wince at how intense it looks. I look up at Eden and he knows she shared it with me, by the look in his eyes. He’s hurt.

He reaches his hand out for Ally to take. She looks up at me, then moves away from me. “We’ll discuss this later, princess,” he says and gives me a look before he darts his eyes to Laura.

I guess he wants me to leave his wife alone and mind my business. Sorry, dude, Ally is mine to watch after, and I’m not going to let anyone get in the way of that.

I made vows too, after all.

CHAPTER 51

ALYSSA

“They brought Brady here to see you, as you requested, Eden,” Lyle tells him as he comes into the kitchen where the four of us are playing cards.

I turn to look at Eden. “You asked them to bring him here? Why?”

“I want to ask him some questions. Do you have anything that you want to ask him?”

Dropping my cards on the table, I say, “I hadn’t thought about it, Eden. I’d like to know some things. Can I come with you?”

He stands up, holding his hand out to me. I take it, looking back to Laura and Kyle. “We’ll be right back.”

Kyle frowns at me and sends, ‘I should be there too.’

He should, but Laura would find that more than odd.

I send back, ‘Laura! Duh!’

As Eden takes me from the room, Kyle sends me one last thing, ‘You and I will straighten this shit out before the night’s over! I’m not going to be shut out. I’m your protector!’

Great! He’s pissed! And apparently I get to deal with that later.

Lyle leads us to my father’s office, where the two policemen from earlier are standing just inside the door. There’s a young man sitting in my father’s chair. He’s in handcuffs.

Eden and I follow Lyle into dad’s office. My father comes in too, shutting the door behind him after he asks the officers to give us some privacy and they step outside.

The man has his head hanging down. “Won’t you please look up at me?” Eden requests.

The man shakes his head. It doesn’t detour Eden though. “You have done my family a great wrong. I would like an explanation for why you’ve done this.”

The man shakes his head again. His wavy brown hair bounces as he does it. I feel this man has much sorrow in him. I move towards him slowly, feeling compelled to touch his head. I slowly reach out to touch him.

Eden looks at me. I stop for a second and then he nods. I place my hand on the top of the man’s head.

My mind is suddenly filled with his memories. It’s as if I’m him. I’m looking into dark brown eyes with dark circles underneath them. Her hair is brown and messed up, like she just woke up.

My chest pounds as Brady reaches out to touch her. Her shoulder has a big bruise on it. Brady leans to kiss it.

“Does that make it any better, Karen?” I hear his voice say.

The girl smiles. “Yes, Brady.”

I hear a door open, then it slams against the wall. “Get the hell away from her,” a gruff voice calls out.

Brady turns and I see Darren Stiles coming at him. He has a baseball bat. Darren’s eyes are red and he’s sweaty. A small amount of spit hangs from his bottom lip, as he must be so angry that he’s practically foaming at the mouth. The smell of stale cigarette smoke and dirty socks fills the air as he gets closer.

“No, Dad, please don’t. I love him!” the girl screams.

“You don’t know what love is, you little slut. He doesn’t love you. Who could love someone like you? You’re a whore and not worth a penny!” he yells, then he swings at Brady with the bat.

Brady moves quickly, avoiding contact with the bat. “I should kill you for what you’ve done to her, you sadistic freak!” Brady yells.

“What did she tell you?” Stiles demands.

“How you beat her and rape her every chance you get!” Brady yells at him as he moves to stand in front of the crying girl who sits on the bed.

“She’s a liar. You need to leave so I can deal with her,” Stiles tells him in an unbelievably calm voice. “She’s sick in the head, boy. You can’t believe anything she says.”

Brady isn’t buying it. “I’m taking her with me. You need to leave her alone. Forget you have a daughter,” Brady tells him as he takes the girl’s hand, pulling her out the door with him.

Suddenly the scene changes. Brady is going into a small white house. “Karen, I’m back,” he says as he walks into the kitchen.

“Karen?” he calls out as he walks into the bedroom.

“Karen?” he yells as he begins to panic, calling her name over and over as he runs through the house and out the backdoor.

He returns to the house, opening the closet to see if her things are still there. Most of them are gone. Empty hangers and one black sweater is all that’s in the closet. He reaches out, taking the sweater down, and a paper falls out of the pocket.

Asshole,

I need a favor from you as you work for the bastards who fucked my daughter and me over.

I want you to get me into that house.

If you refuse, then I will kill Karen.

You have until tonight to get me the information I want:

The code to get into the gate

A map that shows me how to get to the newlyweds’ rooms

And a picture of any windows or balconies that enter their rooms

Leave this information in your mailbox and I will pick it up tonight.

Brady shakes his head and starts to cry. He picks up the phone to call someone, only to slam it back down.

“I can’t do this. I can’t do this to them,” he yells.

He leaves the house, getting into his car. He drives to an old trailer house and gets out. Stiles comes out of the shabby trailer.

“Why did you come here? You must want her dead,” Stiles yells at him.

“I don’t have any of the information you want,” Brady lies. “I’m buzzed in at the gate and I stay in the kitchen. I can’t help you. So just let me take Karen.”

Stiles gets a smile on his round, red face. “I guess you better go find that stuff out, then, because I’m keeping her until you do. As a matter of fact, you have until nine tonight to get me that information, or you can look for her on the street,” Stiles informs him.

Brady shoves Stiles to the ground and runs into the house, calling out Karen’s name. Suddenly, Stiles is behind him. His demeanor is unbelievably calm for someone who just got shoved to the ground. He’s still smiling.

He sneers at Brady. “You must think I’m an idiot. She isn’t here. Now go get what I want.”

Brady goes back to his car and drives away. I can actually feel the pain in his chest. Random thoughts are running through his mind. He’s torn between his allegiance to us and his love for her.

The scene changes again. It’s dark. A light goes off as his cell phone buzzes on the table beside his bed. “Hello?” he says.

“This is Doctor Jones at the Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in New Orleans. I’m looking for Brady Mathews,” a voice tells him over the phone.

“That’s me.”

“A Karen Stiles has asked me to call you. She was raped and beaten, then left for dead in an alley in town. She said she needs to talk to you,” the doctor tells him.

“Okay, can you put her on the phone?”

“Brady?” Karen says weakly.

“Karen, oh my God! What did he do to you?”

“Brady, it was bad. I don’t know what he asked you to do, but can you please do it? He told me to tell you that if you don’t get it done, he’ll come to the hospital and kill me.”

“Okay, Karen, I will. Get better, you hear me? I love you. I’ll come see you soon.”

“I love you too, Brady. Please just do what he asks.”

He turns the light on, writing the code to the gate and drawing a map of the house, putting an x on our rooms and on the balcony doors. Then he walks outside, placing it in his mailbox.

I pull my hand away from his head. Slowly, I go to my knees in front of him. I take his chin in my hand, bringing his face up to look at me. His eyes are void of any expression. It’s as if a major piece of his soul is gone.

“Brady, I forgive you. I won’t let them do anything to you. Now, please talk to us, so we can stop this man,” I tell him.

As I stand up, he keeps his eyes on mine. “You forgive me?” he asks hoarsely. “Why would you ever do that?”

“You would’ve never done this on your own. He made you do it. You felt you had no other choice. You couldn’t see him kill Karen. I wish you would’ve come to us in the beginning, as we could’ve helped you and her before this happened. Now please tell us how he came to know what Eden and I are?”

“I didn’t know he knew that. That’s terrible. He must’ve overheard us talking in the kitchen when he snuck into the mansion that morning. My only contact with him after I left the note was yesterday when he called me. I guess he follows me, because he called my cell phone right after I got here yesterday. He told me I had to get him in here or he would kill Karen. I’m so sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am. I have to be punished for what I’ve done. Don’t drop the charges. I must pay for my crimes against you,” he begs me.

I hold my hand out to Eden, sharing with him what I saw in Brady’s mind. “There will be no charges, Brady. My wife and I forgive you. You’ve already suffered, as I feel your heart is heavy for what’s happened to Karen. I want you to move forward with your life with her. We’re going to make sure she gets better. The two of you should live a happy life from here on out. Once she’s had counseling, if you so wish it, she can join our organization,” Eden tells him.

My father opens the door. “You can take the cuffs off of him now, officer. There’ll be no charges pressed on him,” he tells them.

They look surprised, but do as my father has told them to. They look at Eden and me, I guess to be sure this is something we really want. I nod my head yes at them. They turn and leave as Lyle walks them out.

Brady rubs his wrists. “I can’t thank you enough, Mr. and Mrs. Fontaine. What can I do to help you catch him? I’ll do anything.”

“You need to let him know you can deliver my wife to him,” Eden states, shocking us all.

“Have you thought this through, Eden?” my father asks, with concern.

“Not entirely, sir, no,” he answers truthfully. “I just know we have to take control of this situation. He wants Alyssa, so we need to use that information to catch him. Brady can trick him into thinking Alyssa is going somewhere by herself, or going to be here by herself. Stiles will try to get to her if he thinks that. Only she won’t really be alone. With your help, and everyone else’s, sir, we can figure this all out.”

Dad claps Eden on the shoulder. “Then I guess it’s time for us to brainstorm,” Dad tells us as he motions for us to follow him.

As we walk into the living room I see Kyle and Laura sitting side-by-side on the sofa. Our mothers sit across from them on the other sofa. Kyle stands up when we enter the room. He’s looking at Brady, then he looks at my father.

“What’s he doing out of cuffs and still here?” Kyle demands to know.

Eden looks at me. “Alyssa, maybe it would be best if you take Kyle and Laura upstairs while we work this out.”

Kyle sends me, ‘Let him know I’ll not be shut out of this, Ally. You take Laura up and I’ll stay down here. I have to be in on this. Your safety is my number one priority.’

I look up at Eden and say, “Let Kyle help out, babe. I’ll take Laura up. Come on, Laura, let’s go upstairs.”

As we reach the top of the stairs, Laura pulls me to my room, shutting the door behind us. “Ally, why do you think you can trust that guy? I mean he gave the freak all the information he needed to get to you.”

“This is hard to explain,” I tell her. “I can tell he was forced to give Stiles the information. Brady is Karen Stiles’ boyfriend. Darren Stiles told him he had to get him into our house or he would kill her. Apparently, he told Brady to give him the information by a certain time. When Brady didn’t get him the information by his timetable, Stiles raped and beat his daughter almost to the point of death. He actually meant to leave her alive, just barely, so he still had something to hold over Brady’s head. That’s what he’s been doing and he’ll keep doing that until he finally gets me.”

Laura throws her arms up in the air as she paces around my bedroom. “How in the hell can you be so gullible? You can’t believe a word the guy says. Of course he’s going to say he was blackmailed. It’s like, step one when you get caught—blame someone else.”

Crap, this is so much harder to get her to believe. I wish I could just tell her I have this gift, but I can’t.

I sit on my bed and look out the window. “I see where you’re coming from, Laura. I really do, but these people are a lot savvier about the ways of the world than we are. I have complete faith in them and my husband, so I’m ready to do whatever it is they come up with. I trust them that much.”

Laura sits next to me, sliding her arm around my shoulders. “I’m not positive these people have your best interest in mind. I’ve thought some brainwashing might be going on. I’ve done a lot of research on this Phoenix Foundation they’re so big in and that you and Eden are going to a part of. Ally. A couple committed suicide or something like that about the same time as you got married. Apparently they were long-standing members of the Phoenix Foundation. Their obituary said the husband died, followed minutes later by his wife. Al, that crap doesn’t happen.”

Man, this is getting harder and harder not to tell her. I can’t though.

“I heard about that too,” I say as I take her hand in mine. “It turns out they were old—like really old—and just it was a weird fluke that they died like that. I haven’t been brainwashed in any way.”

“This foundation is more like a religious cult in my eyes, Al,” Laura throws at me. “Have they made you attend any meetings or anything at all?”

“No, I haven’t been made to attend any meetings,” I say with a slight laugh. “This is a great organization. These people help so many hungry children, even building schools in third world countries.”

Laura rolls her eyes. “I’m aware of all the good they do. Are you aware the members of this foundation never leave it? Once they join, they never leave, not any of them, Ally. That’s not normal.”

Wow, this just keeps getting harder. What can you not find on the internet?

“Well, who would want to quit an organization that does so much good?” I ask.

Laura squeezes my hand and looks straight into my eyes. “Al, you have a quick answer for everything I tell you. That’s kinda crazy, because it’s exactly what people in cults do.”

Boy, she’s making this so ridiculously hard.

I give her a wide smile. “Okay, how about this? You’re here to see everything that happens. I’m asking you to stay awhile and see what goes on. Then you can decide if I’m in danger or not.”

“That’s exactly why I accepted your invitation, Ally. I’m not going to stand by while something crazy or terrible happens to you. I love you.”

Her words bring tears to my eyes.

How can I leave her in the dark like this? The freaking rituals—I can’t put her through that. It’s bad enough that Kyle had to go through them. I can’t let Laura go through anything near what we did.

“I love you very much. You will probably never know how much,” I say as I hug her tightly to me. “You’ll be here with me. If you see anything which seems cultish, then point it out to me. Now, I’m going to need you to help me take care of this situation, but only if you want to.”

“Hell, yeah, I’m going to help you take care of this situation, Ally,” Laura says as we release one another. “Once Kyle told me someone was stalking you, there was no holding me back. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not anything that’s happened between us will stop me from caring about you.”

In an instant, all I can think about is asking her to join our organization. If she could just know about us things would be so much better.

“Laura, perhaps you and Kyle could join The Phoenix Foundation. Better to be on the inside when checking into something, don’t you think?” I ask.

Her eyes narrow. “I’d have to discuss it with Kyle. I’m not sure it would be the right thing to do at this point.”

Okay, she’s clearly not ready.

Eden walks in. “Okay, you both should come downstairs now. We’ve come up with something which involves you,” he tells us.

We follow him down the stairs and see Scotty has even been brought into it, something I’m not happy with. I don’t want anything to happen to him. I don’t want anything to happen to anybody.

Eden leads us to sit directly across from our fathers and Kyle. I hold Eden’s hand tightly, as I find I am getting pretty nervous. Then I notice Brady isn’t here and so does Laura.

“Where’s that guy?” Laura asks Eden.

“He’s been taken home, so he can start to contact Stiles,” Eden says as he motions for us to sit. “We’re hoping Stiles will see he’s been released and try to contact him again. Once he’s made contact with him, he’s going to let us know, and then our part of the plan will begin.”

Lyle takes our attention as he adds, “We’ve decided it’s improbable that we can get Stiles to come here again. We need to do this out in the open. The three of you will take a trip into town to go to the New Orleans zoo.”

Dad continues where Lyle left off. “We all feel he’s much more likely to think he can get to you in a place like that. Although the three of you will arrive together, the rest of us will arrive there a bit later, so he’ll not see us all together and get suspicious. We’ll flank you on each side, so you’re never alone, but at times you will appear to be.”

Lyle takes our attention again as he says, “Once he’s taken the bait—that’s you, Alyssa—then we will all come in on him at once. Our security team will be there as well to make sure he doesn’t get away.”

My father adds. “He will not be taken to the police station, as we feel he might get out, and we can’t have that. Instead, our security team will take him to a mental institution in Alaska, where he’ll never be released.”

Laura looks at Kyle across the room and asks, “Who are the three they’re talking about, Kyle?”

“Me, Ally, and Eden,” he answers.

She looks at me. “Ally, I want to come too. I didn’t come all this way to not help you.”

I look at Eden and send, ‘Is that going to work, if she doesn’t come? I don’t want anyone in danger that isn’t essential for this plan to work out.’

Eden’s hands go running through his hair as flashes of his dream flow through his mind and out to mine. Her role seems to have been played out already. She was supposed to be with me at the swimming pool and she was.

He has to come up with something to tell Laura, though, so he says, “Kyle feels strongly about you staying here, Laura. He doesn’t want you in any danger.”

Laura looks at Kyle. “I feel like I should go, though.”

Kyle rises and comes to her, taking her by the hand. He lifts her up and puts his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “Laura, please just do what I ask. I can’t see both of you in danger. My mind will stay more focused if I don’t have to worry about you too. I love you, you know,” he tells her.

Eden takes my hand and gives it a squeeze as a sharp pain stabs at my heart with his confession of love for another.

A slight blush covers her cheeks. “Well, when you put it that way. I would feel terrible if something happened to you because you got distracted because of me,” she concedes.

“So that’s settled,” my father says. “Laura, you can help Scotty here, then. He’ll be tracking us all and keeping us updated about where everyone’s at. We gave Brady a tracking device that we hope he can put on Stiles somehow, if he’s able to actually see him. The chances of that are slim, though, so we’ll tap into the surveillance cameras at the zoo as well. It may take both of you to keep track of everyone, plus keep us informed.”

Laura nods her head. “That’s good. At least I can be of some use.”

Kyle kisses her on top of the head. “You’re always useful, baby,” he tells her, making her smile.

Will I ever get used to seeing them together like this?

Eden’s warm breath fills my ear. “It’ll get easier.”

Why am I so jealous?

Dad stands up. “You kids get your bathing suits on and go for a swim. Have some fun for goodness sakes. I’m going to teach Lyle here how to barbecue this evening. I know how much Kyle and Laura love my barbecue ribs.”

“Yes,” Kyle hisses as he hugs Laura tighter. “I missed those the most.”

I give him a dirty look. “Thanks a lot, Kyle,” I find myself saying, before I can stop the words from flowing out of my mouth. “Now I know the real reason you came all this way and it wasn’t for me.”

Kyle laughs at me. “The truth is out, Ally. It was never you I was after. It was your dad’s barbecue,” he teases me.

“Stop it Kyle. We don’t want to burst her bubble with the fact that we only came here to get to eat her Daddy’s barbecue and her Mom’s apple pie,” Laura adds as she gives me a wink.

“You guys are awful,” I say with a laugh as we go up the stairs to change into our bathing suits.

Eden and I stop at our door as Laura and Kyle walk down the hall to theirs. I notice Kyle’s head bend down. It looks like he’s whispering something to her. I try to tune into his thoughts, but he’s blank to me. I find myself feeling a bit prickly inside.

Then Laura calls back to us. “You guys go on down when you get ready. It’s going to take me a little longer to get ready. I have to shave my legs. We’ll meet you down there in a little while,” she says, then I notice Kyle patting her on the rear end as he follows her into her room.

“What do you know about that?” Eden comments as he opens our bedroom door. “I guess he helps her shave her legs.”

I look at Eden as I frown. “Stop it, Eden,” I tell him as I walk into the room. “I don’t want to think about that.”

Eden pops me on the bottom lightly. “There goes that jealous streak again, Mrs. Fontaine,” he says with a grin as he closes the door behind him.

“It’s not jealousy, it’s just … it’s just … hell, I don’t know what it is,” I whine.

Suddenly Eden has my back up against the wall, pulling at my hair as he brings his lips down on mine. He thrusts his tongue through my lips. My heart races at his unexpected eruption of passion. Just as suddenly as he pounced on me, he lets me go and walks away from me.

“Oh, no you don’t, Mr. Fontaine. You get back here and finish what you started,” I say, and then I pounce on him.

Heat fills me in an instant as I wrap my legs around him and kiss him like I missed him. He lays me down and tugs my clothes off. I close my eyes and all of a sudden I see Kyle looking down at me, pulling my clothes away from my body.

I open my eyes again and see a frown covering Eden’s gorgeous face.

“Alyssa? What the hell?”

He turns away from me and I sit up. Only my bra and panties are left on me. “Eden, stop!”

He turns back to look at me. “You want him.”

I shake my head. “Don’t say that, Eden! It’s something I can’t help. Come back here. I have to learn how to control that. It’s just that I can tune into him since he’s so damn close. I think I just saw what he was doing to Laura down the hallway. I swear.”

Eden shakes his head and walks away from me. “Let’s just change into our bathing suits and go down to the pool. I’m no longer in the mood.”

As he disappears into the bathroom I’m left wondering how this is all going to work out.

Will I ever get this under control? 

CHAPTER 52

EDEN

Somehow I managed to get through last night without losing my mind over my mate and her protector. It was not easy though. When I took her to our bed after hours of swimming and horsing around in the pool with her friends, I thought she’d be near exhausted and the images of Kyle might stop popping into her head.

I was wrong though. It made it difficult to make love to her, as she kept seeing his face. It ruined the night for that anyway.

All I can do is blame myself for this. If I’d listened to my mother and brought her to New Orleans when she was thirteen, then this would not be an issue.

So I have to keep my mouth shut and muddle through this. At least there is nothing going on right this minute as we eat breakfast. It’s not constant, so I have to be thankful for that.

I feel my stomach tense up as my mate takes my hand. Her nerves are going crazy as my father answers a phone call on his cell as we all sit at the table eating breakfast.

“Good. Too bad you couldn’t see him to put a tracker on him,” my father says. “Keep us informed of anything else he does. Another thing, don’t go to the hospital. We had Karen moved to a different hospital, so he won’t know where she is. We added security for her as well. Once this is over, it’ll be safe for you to see her.”

My father ends his call and rises from the table. “Well, you heard it, guys. It's go time.”

My mate is shaking like a leaf. I try to console her. “Alyssa, remember the things Beck taught you last night. You’ll be fine. We’ll be right there and you’re completely capable of taking care of yourself as well.” I remind her about how Beck came over last night and taught Kyle, Laura, Scotty, and me some basic self-defense moves.

Not that me or Kyle needed it, but we did it to make the girls happy

Alyssa snuggles into my chest as we walk toward the door. “I’ll get okay. I’m just not looking forward to this.”

Toni and my mother give us all hugs at the door. We have to wait for Laura to let Kyle go before Alyssa can give her a hug. “I won’t let anything happen to your guy, Laura,” she tells her.

Laura squeezes her and says, “You better not, Alyssa Shaylee Fontaine!”

The jeep has been brought from the other house for us to go to the zoo in. Kyle jumps in the back seat, sitting in the middle.

The top has been taken off, to be sure Stiles can see us if he’s looking. Our plan is to stand out. After helping Alyssa in, I walk around to the driver’s side, getting in.

As we take off, I say, “Here we go.”

My mate fidgets with her hands. Her nerves are taking her over. Kyle’s hand lands on her shoulder, rubbing it. He says, “Ally, stop worrying, girl. You couldn’t be safer. With the two of us watching over you, that freak will never get to touch you.”

I hope to God he’s right.

She turns and gives him a smile. “I know I’m being silly. You guys won’t let anything happen to me. I know that.”

I take the exit off the highway, which leads us to the zoo. As we pull in, I noticed that the parking lot is full of cars. We finally find a parking space, then get out and head to the ticket line.

There’s a lot of people here today. I find myself wishing our trip here was as happy an occasion as it is for the people around us.

Once inside, I take my place on one side of Alyssa. Kyle’s on the other side of her. I lead them to look at the monkeys. I find I can’t seem to concentrate on anything. My eyes are constantly scanning the crowd for Stiles.

My phone vibrates and I answer it. “Hello? I’ll let her know,” I say, and then hand the phone to Kyle. “Laura wants to talk to you.”

Kyle takes the phone as I look at my mate. I tell her, “He’s here. Scotty and Laura spotted him on the zoo’s surveillance system. Now, don’t go getting all shaky, because he’ll know something’s up, as I’m sure he’s looking at us right now. So keep it cool. Promise me.”

“I promise,” she says, then sends me, ‘I’m freaking out inside though.’

I send her, ‘I know you are, princess. We’ve got you. Don’t let fear rule you.’

Kyle hands the phone back to me. “Game on, then. You keeping it together, Ally?”

She nods her head. “Not really, but I’m finding I’m a pretty great actress. I see an academy award in my future,” she says, nervously laughing a little.

We both laugh with her and I take her hand in mine, leading them to the next exhibit. We look at the birds and the bears. Then we come to the lions. Kyle looks at them intently. “Do you guys hate lions as much as I do?” he asks.

My phone vibrates again. This time it’s just a text – We are here. Time to bait the trap-

I look at Alyssa, then over to Kyle. “Get ready everybody. It’s time,” I tell them.

I lead them to an area where there’s a small café with restrooms, one on each side of it. So Alyssa is forced to leave us as we go to the men’s room and she has to walk over to the other side of the small building to get to the ladies' room.

I look her in the eyes. “Just stay cool and relaxed. We have you,” I tell her, then turn and walk into the restroom as Kyle gives her a wink, then follows me.

This better work!

CHAPTER 53

ALYSSA

I turn slowly, trying not to act afraid even though I’m clearly terrified and looking down at the ground as I walk. I glance up to see how far away I am from the ladies’ room, then turn to look behind me to see how far I am from Eden and Kyle. They’ve gone into the men’s room.

Supposedly, they will intercept Stiles before he comes into the restroom.

God, please don’t let him hurt me. Don’t let something go wrong, please!

I turn back around, looking down again. Dirty, brown dress shoes come into my vision. I look up slowly. There’s a red, chubby, round face with sweat dripping off his forehead.

It’s Stiles!

Suddenly, I’m slammed through the ladies’ room door as he pushes me in, then follows me.

Only a little girl and her mother are in there and they run out quickly. He slips a small metal bar through the door handle, locking it closed. I move as far back from him as I can.

“I’ve missed your beautiful face, Mrs. Fontaine,” he snarls at me.

“Look, Mr. Stiles, my husband will come looking for me in here. Please, just open the door and nothing bad will happen to you, I promise. If he has to break the door down to get you, I can’t say I can protect you then,” I let him know.

He laughs. “Like I need you to protect me. You’re nothing but a damn girl. Useless, except for one thing,” he tells me as he moves closer to me.

I scan the room for anything I can use to protect myself with, but find nothing, as the room is just bare concrete walls. There are two bathroom stalls, which are closed. One sink with a plastic mirror is one side of the room. I’ve positioned myself across from the only door that leads in or out of here.

He pulls a syringe full of clear liquid from the pocket of his tan slacks. The most disgusting look forms on his face and he says, “I might not make it out of here alive, but I sure as hell plan on getting you to go with me. After I take you right here on this floor, I will kill you. We can land on the other side together, bird lady. Never thought about making it with a bird before, but now that’s all I can think about.”

“Let me guess, morphine?” I ask.

He stops and looks puzzled at first, then begins to come towards me. “Your little birdie senses must be tingling. Right you are, Mrs. Fontaine. I can’t have you making it out of here before I get a taste of that tender white meat. I sure wish I could see you turn into a bird, Mrs. Fontaine. How about you do that for me?”

“I’m quite afraid you’re mentally unstable, Mr. Stiles. People can’t turn into birds,” I say with a chuckle. “I don’t know where you got the idea I could turn into one from. It’s funny, really.”

He stops coming towards me. “You can turn into a bird. Don’t lie to me. I heard them talking about it. How you flew out and saved a plane full of people.”

I laugh. “You must be a lot crazier than I thought you were if you believe that.”

He begins to move forward again as I back away from him, staying as far from him as possible. “You’re trying to distract me from my purpose, Mrs. Fontaine. It doesn’t matter if you’re a bird or not. I just want to see your skin turned red after I slap you over and over again, all over your body. I want to watch your blood drip down from your mouth after I bite your lip,” he tells me, trying to get into my head to make me break down.

I’ve felt so weak and insecure for the last month. When I first transformed, I felt different, so full of power. Kyle left and I lost that confidence.

I’ve been so worried about my damn feelings for him and how to make my life work, loving both Eden and Kyle, it’s taken something from me. Yet as I listen to this man talk, I’m getting it all back.

This monster who stands before me means to hurt me, kill me even. He’s hurt his daughter, a soul that was entrusted to him. Our Creator is with me and will help me to take this creature away so he can do no more harm.

With a newly-found strength, I smile at the filthy, immoral, and corrupt being who holds the needle poised to pierce my skin and take me from this world.

“Well, you really have talked quite enough, Mr. Stiles. I can see you believe you’re going to drug me, then beat and rape me. But you aren’t.” I wink at him as I lace my fingers together and push them from me to loosen the joints. “You are fixing to get the beating of your life and when you wake up in the nut house, you can tell everybody it was a useless girl who kicked your ass.” I let him know, just before I run at him.

I hit him square in the chest as hard as I can. He flies back through the air until he hits the cement wall. The wall was quite a ways behind him and the thud his body makes as it connects is loud.

Wow! That was a pretty great shove if I do say so myself!

I hear a gut-wrenching smack as his head hits the wall. I almost feel badly about causing him so much pain. Then I remember what he’s done to his daughter and that feeling goes away.

“I hope you enjoyed your flight,” I tell him.

I walk toward the door to unlock it. Amazingly, he starts to come at me again, trying to stop me from getting to the door. I don’t stop my progression until he’s about three feet away from me. He reaches out to punch the needle into me. I take a quick jump and kick him in the chin with my foot, splitting it open and making him fall back as he clutches at it.

“Save yourself the pain, Stiles. Stop trying to hurt me. Our agents will take you to a nice place to live under sedation for the rest of your life. It’s much more compassion than you’ve ever shown anyone in your life,” I say.

I move towards the door again, only to find he’s regained his footing and is still coming towards me. I look at the sink I’m standing by. A bar of soap rest on the side of it. I pick it up and hurl it at his forehead. It strikes him, but it only seems to make him mad, not hurt.

His voice is a growl as he says, “Fucking bitch. This is going to feel so good when I take you down!”

He’s on me before I know it. He has me pushed up against the cold cement wall with my back to him. Pushing his body up against mine, he presses me up against the wall. I feel his hot breath on my neck. The smell of cigarettes and whisky almost choke me. I close my eyes and throw my head back as hard as I can.

I hear the thud of my skull hitting his. The pressure is off me as he falls back, stumbling and falling across the room, away from me. I take the chance to get out.

The walk to the door isn’t that far and I begin to remove the small iron bar he used to lock it. The door opens and my Eden’s face is right there.

My, he’s a handsome and welcome sight!

He grabs me, then I feel a pain in my shoulder. Almost immediately, I feel cold rush through my entire body and start to feel like I’m falling asleep. Eden picks me up. I hear him yelling, “You son of a bitch, what did you give her?”

I hear Stiles say, “A lethal dose of morphine. Say goodbye to your little birdie.”

Kyle’s voice fills me ears. “You piece of shit,” he yells, just before I hear a smacking sound. “There you go, guys. You can carry his ass out of here now.”

Then everything goes black.

CHAPTER 54

EDEN

My mate lies nearly lifeless in my arms. Her heartbeats come slower and slower, her breaths shallow with long lapses between them. I wasn’t fast enough to stop this.

We follow one of our protectors who works at the zoo to an empty stable once used for giraffes. Kyle runs by my side, holding Alyssa’s hand in his.

He looks almost as bad as I do.

My father and Alyssa’s follow close behind. The agents have taken the asshole, Stiles, away. We’ll never be seeing him again, thank The Creator. Large doors open and I take my mate inside the dark area.

Placing her body on the ground, I look around at those who surround us. “I have to get her to transform. That’s the only way her body can beat the amount of morphine he put into her.”

Kyle steps back and says, “Do it.”

I wish it was that easy!

“I don’t know how to change her. I can only change myself,” I say. “You and I both have telepathy with her. We must use it to try to get her to picture herself as the bird. I don’t know about you, Kyle, but I can’t see a thing moving in her mind.”

Kyle frowns as he looks down at her. Kneeling beside her, he places his hand on her forehead. He looks at me and I kneel of the other side of her. I place my hand on top of her head.

Nothing!

“Maybe her heart will feel us,” I say and place my hand over half her heart, leaving room for Kyle’s.

His hand touches mine as we hold them to her chest. Light thumps pulse beneath my hand. “I saw a flash, Eden,” Kyle says.

I nod. “I saw it. The clothes are constricting her. They have to come off.”

I turn back to look at my father and hers. “You may want to turn away. We have to remove her clothes.”

Her father, David, raises his eyebrows. “You sure about that, son?”

I nod and turn back. Kyle removes her shoes as I unbutton her blouse. I press my forehead to hers, trying to send her pictures of herself as the bird. Pushing the shirt off her shoulders, I turn her to take it all the way off. Kyle steadies her as I pull at it, then unfasten her bra.

She’s going to be so embarrassed!

“Just hurry, Eden. I’m not scoping her out or anything. Let’s just get this done and her transformed,” Kyle says as he quickly unbuttons her shorts, which I pull off her.

I look up at him. My wife is lying on the ground, bare chested. Nothing is left on her but a small pair of lacy black panties. “I beg you not to look below her waist once I remove these,” I say to him.

His hand clasps my shoulder. “You have my word.”

I pull them off and stand up. Kyle holds her head up, cradling it in his lap. “Maybe you should change, Eden. Maybe you can get to her mind in that state. I’ll work on this end and you on that,” he says.

It might work!

“Cover your ears,” I tell them all.

I picture myself as the bird and suddenly I’m seeing things differently. I open my mouth and a loud shriek comes out. Fluttering my wings, I push air past my mate as I call to her with my mind.

Please let this work!

CHAPTER 55

ALYSSA

I feel wind blowing in my face. The beating of wings fills my ears. My eyes open to see Eden in front of me, but he’s in his bird form. His emerald eyes look at me.

“What happened to me?” I ask, but all I hear is a shallow shrieking sound.

I must be in bird form too. I move my arm and feel the wind ruffling my feathers. I stand up but feel a little wobbly. Eden walks around me. I keep my eyes on him and then I see Kyle standing next to me. I look right at Kyle, who’s smiling like crazy at me.

Eden moves out the large doors which lets in the only light into this dark thing we’re in. He sends thoughts to me, telling me to follow him. Then he shoots up into the sky, shrieking at me as his mind says, ‘Follow me.’

I stumble out of the barn thing, the light in the sky nearly blinding me. Moving my arms up and down, my feet lift off the ground and I’m in the air.

The wind on my face helps me to wake up. I feel groggy, but every flap of my wings seems to clear my brain a little more. Eden leads me very high up into the evening sky.

The sun is beginning to set over Lake Pontchartrain as we fly over it. The colors are so brilliant.

The mansion comes into view. I suppose we’re going there as Eden begins to fly lower and lower until our feet hit the ground.

I’m surprised to see we’re both birds still. I take a few steps, then I see Eden looking at me. He blinks his eyes a couple of times, then I hear his voice in my head, ‘How do you feel?’

‘I think I’m okay,’ I send back.

He sends, ‘Picture yourself in human form and you’ll turn back.’

I close my eyes and try to see myself as a human again. I feel a change. I can feel the breeze on my skin. I open my eyes slowly to find my husband standing in front of me. I’m engulfed in his embrace right away.

“Thank God, Alyssa. It worked. I was so afraid. I love you. I love you so much. I’m so sorry this happened to you,” he gushes.

“I’m okay, Eden,” I tell him as I laugh a little.

As he pulls his body away from mine I notice the breeze on my skin. My entire skin. Looking down at myself, my mind goes blank. “Why am I naked?”

Instead of answering me, he laughs. “How do you feel, really, Alyssa?”

“I feel okay, I think. The fact that I have no clothes on is problematic though. What happened, Eden? The last thing I remember, I saw your face and then heard Kyle knock that freak out. What happened to me?”

Eden takes my hand, leading me to the house. He pulls his shirt off and puts it on me, barely covering my ass.

“Stiles stabbed a syringe full of morphine into your shoulder just as you opened the door. I can’t believe he had the strength to do that after what I heard you do to him in there,” he tells me.

“I know! Like, I knocked him about six feet through the air into the wall and somehow he kept coming. Then I kicked him in the chin, splitting it open,” I say. “Then he pinned me against the wall, so I head butted him. I thought that was enough, but I guess I should’ve knocked him all the way out before I turned my back to him.”

I find we’ve made it to a side door I’ve never been in before. Eden opens the door, revealing a set of stairs. He leads me up them, and we come up to find a door at the top of the staircase. He opens it, and we’re at the back of our suite.

Once safely inside, Eden leads me to the sofa, and motions for me to sit down, then he kneels on the floor in front of me. “I’m so sorry this didn’t work out as well as I hoped it would. He should’ve never been able to lock you away like that. My mind was frantic at the thought he might hurt you and then he did. I wouldn’t blame you if you never forgive me for that. For the whole thing. This was entirely my fault,” he tells me sadly.

I have to stop him. “Eden, you stop that right now. I’m fine. I don’t know how I’m fine, but I am. Things happen. We made it through this without the ending being terrible. Now please enlighten me about what you did after I passed out.”

The skin crinkles around his eyes as he grimaces. “You really want to know, princess?”

I nod. “Of course I do.”

He proceeds as he looks down at my legs, rubbing them as he says, “Just as you passed out from the morphine, I was given a flash of what I had to do to keep you alive. The scene played out super-fast in my head. I had to get you into your bird form. I guess that, since you’re so much larger as a bird, the morphine wouldn’t be a lethal amount to you if you were in that form,” he tells me, then pauses for a second.

“Go on,” I coax him.

“I felt your breathing begin to slow to almost nothing and your heart beat was taking longer and longer between beats. Alyssa, please believe me when I say there was absolutely no time to waste,” he says with a sense of urgency in his voice.

“Why do you say it like that, Eden?” I ask, finding myself nervous about hearing the answer.

“You’ll see.” His eye twitches. “Well, one of our people works at the zoo and he took us to a closed off area they don’t use anymore. It used to be an enclosure for the giraffes, I think.”

“Okay, that’s not too bad,” I say.

“Um … let me see. How should I tell you this part?” he asks himself. “You know how sometimes people who get drunk pull their clothes off? Well, it’s because they feel constricted by them. The clothes actually make it harder for them to breathe. So, as you might have guessed, which I see by the blush on your face that you have, I had to undress you. I also had to ask Kyle to help me.”

“Wait a minute. I was lying on the ground, I assume. And I assume you covered me with something. So how much did he see?” I ask him.

“Okay, back to that then, huh? Like I said, time was of the essence and it became quite clear to me we had to hurry. So there was no time to go looking for something to cover you with. He saw everything, but I have to say he was a gentleman and didn’t ogle you,” he says.

“Oh, God,” I say, sitting up and leaning over. “I think I’m going to throw up.”

Eden stands up. “Should I take you to the bathroom, Alyssa?”

I sit back. “No, please continue. Don’t let my devastating embarrassment stop you,” I say, somewhat sarcastically.

He sits down next to me, taking my hand in his. “Well, as embarrassing as it is, everything worked. I transformed, then I was able to get you to come out of the drug’s effects pretty quickly after I got into your head, and got you to change too. Then I used my wings to blow air in your face, waking you up,” he tells me.

“And now we’re back home, and all that’s left to do is hide away from Kyle forever,” I whine.

Eden laughs a little. “If it makes you feel any better at all, I was embarrassed too. I never thought I would have to get my wife’s ex-boyfriend to help me undress her so we could turn into birds together and fly away,” he says.

I have to laugh a little as well. “We’re some messed up people, Eden. That’ll probably scar Kyle forever,” I say.

“He didn’t seem to mind,” Eden tells me as he laughs.

I blush seven times harder than before. “Eden, don’t tell me that!”

He smiles and stands up. “We need to get cleaned up and dressed. I bet everyone will be here soon,” he tells me as he pulls me up, then leads me to the bedroom.

He opens the door to our room. I’m pleased to see the glass on the balcony door has been replaced. It looks like nothing ever happened in here. I find I missed this place and my beloved jacuzzi tub.

CHAPTER 56

EDEN

I sit on the bed, watching my mate as she braids her hair. “I’m so glad that’s over, Alyssa. You have no idea the relief I feel, knowing you’re safe again.”

She rises, done fixing herself up. “Ready to go downstairs? They’re sure to be here by now.”

Her confidence is back and she glows with it. She chose a tight-fitting, navy blue dress, which fits her body like a glove. It occurs to me that many men would rather their wives not dress so sexy. Yet I love her to be full of confidence, and if she feels like dressing this way, I’ll be damned if I let some insecurity in me bring her down.

Taking her by the waist, it reminds me of how I held her when I brought her home from the hospital after her accident. I smile at her, then place a gentle kiss on her perfect cheek. “I have to hold you close to me right now, princess. I almost lost you today.”

She giggles as she leans into me and we walk down the staircase. “I love you and relish your attention. Your quick thinking saved us all.”

Niles is at the door to the formal dining room. “Your friends and family have been waiting for you. Please come in and sit down,” he instructs us.

“Good evening, Niles. It’s so nice to see you again. I’ve missed you,” Alyssa tells him.

His eyebrows raise slightly. “Well, I missed you too,” he states stoically.

My eyes scan the room quickly. I notice Galchobar is here, as well as my family and Alyssa’s, and Kyle and Laura. My eyes catch Kyle’s. He’s staring at my wife, his mouth slightly open.

Alyssa blushes and clings to me. She sends me, ‘I can’t do this. Get me out of here.’

I tighten my arm around her waist and send her, ‘You got this, princess. Keep up that confidence you have back.’

Galchobar rises and comes to us. “Good evening, Alyssa. I see everything has turned out well, all the way around,” he says as he motions to Kyle and Laura. “It’s a shame you were drugged. Thankfully, Eden was given the answer to your dilemma before it caused you permanent damage.”

Alyssa smiles at him. “Thank you for coming this evening, Galchobar. It’s nice to see everyone after the day I’ve had.”

“Everyone had to see you, Alyssa,” I tell her as I take her to sit at the table. Purposely, I seat her next to Kyle, then I sit on the other side of her.

The quicker she faces her embarrassment, the better.

She looks at the tablecloth as if it’s a work of art. I know she doesn’t want to look at him. I guess Kyle does too as he takes her by the chin and makes her look at him. “Hey, girl, you look a hell of a lot better than when I saw you last.”

“Please don’t remind me,” she mumbles.

Kyle looks past her to meet my eyes. He seems confused, so I say, “She asked about her state when I brought her home. I had to explain what we had to do.”

Laura leans up and looks at me. “Her state?” she asks.

Kyle gives me a slight head shake and I smile.

Shit, Laura!

Alyssa takes Kyle’s hand, moving it from her face. “Have you thought about what I offered you, Laura? About becoming a member of The Phoenix Foundation. Kyle’s a member, you know,” she says, and Kyle’s eyes go wide. “It just happened. Don’t be upset with him.”

Laura’s voice becomes high pitched. “Kyle! You joined the cult?”

Kyle closes his eyes and he turns to her. “It’s not a cult and I’d like it if you joined us,” he says, then turns back to look at Alyssa. “You didn’t tell me you asked her that, Ally.”

“Are you mad?” she asks him.

“I’m not mad, Al,” he says. “A bit confused, but not mad.”

“I want her to know,” Alyssa says, making the rest of the people at the table gasp.

Galchobar clears his throat. “My dear Mistress Fontaine, perhaps we should talk privately for a moment.”

Alyssa radiates confidence and I suddenly feel sorry for the old guy. “Are you going to tell me I’m not allowed to ask my best friend to join our organization, sir?”

“I would never dare to tell you such a thing,” he says, with a bow of his head.

Laura lets out a sudden laugh. “What in the hell?”

“Laura, maybe we should drop this and talk about it later,” Kyle says as he puts his arm around her.

“Now’s best,” Alyssa says. “This secret has gone on long enough. I feel as if I’m lying to her and I don’t like it. Kyle is in love with her and she him. It’s not fair to him to have to hide this from her. This is something which hurts me to make him do. I want no more of it.”

Kyle looks at her with a frown. “Don’t do this because of me, Ally. I can’t allow that and you know it.”

Laura pushes his arm off her shoulders. “You can’t allow her?” she asks with a glare. “This man bows to her as if she’s the damn Queen of New Orleans and you tell her you can’t allow her to do something? Tell me, Kyle, when did you get this power over her?”

“She needs to know,” I say as I turn my attention to Galchobar. “She’s not a threat. Her character is good and she’d be a help to our causes.”

Laura stands up and looks around at us all. “Wait one minute, Eden. I’m not about to join this thing. You may have pulled Kyle in, but I’m not going to be suckered into anything.”

The tall-stemmed glasses, one filled with red wine and one with water begin to shake in front of Laura. “Sit!” Alyssa says quietly.

Laura sits down immediately. “Ally! What are you doing?”

The glasses stop shaking and Laura looks at them. Alyssa leans over to Kyle. “I want to show her how we communicate.”

“Ally, you’re going to freak her out,” he says as he shakes his head vigorously.

Laura leans up to see them better. “How do you communicate?”

Alyssa meets her stare. “Tell Kyle anything you want. Any little detail or a long detail. Anything you want. Then he’ll tell me, only he won’t be speaking to me out loud.”

“This is crazy,” Laura says, then pulls Kyle back and whispers quietly into his ear.

Kyle’s eyes go wide and he smiles. “Maybe you should say something else. Because this is real, Laura, and that just might bite you in the ass.”

“Just do your little party trick, Kyle,” Laura says with more than a touch of sarcasm. “Only I want to stand behind Ally, so I can make sure you don’t mouth the words to her.”

Laura moves to stand behind my mate and watches Kyle like a hawk. Alyssa’s cheeks turn red as Kyle sends her whatever it was Laura said to him. She looks up at Laura and says, “You dirty girl. You better come here and let me whisper that back to you, or you will die of embarrassment.”

Laura’s smirk fades as she leans down and Alyssa whispers in her ear. She stands back up and says, “No fucking way!”

Alyssa nods her head, as does Kyle. Laura throws her arms in the air and goes back to her chair, plopping down on it. “Okay, how’d you do that?”

“Telepathy,” Alyssa says, then takes a sip of wine. “If you don’t mind, Laura, I’m starving, so let’s get this all out in the open and as you eat the delicious dinner we’re about to be served, you can let it all settle into your mind.”

Laura gives a faint nod and Kyle wraps his arm around her shoulders. “Go for it, Al. I won’t let her run off or pass out.”

Alyssa smiles, then says, “Eden and I can transform into large—well, maybe large is too small of a word. Do you think large is adequate, Eden?”

“I like the word giant. It suits us better,” I answer.

Alyssa nods in agreement. “You’re right. We can transform into giant birds. They call us Phoenixes and we help people. Along with that little gift, we have telepathy with each other. I also have it with Kyle. That’s all the gifts we’ve been given so far. Oh, yeah, and we can make things happen. Like I made you sit and shook the glasses. Little things like that. I don’t know if Kyle can.”

Laura turns her head to look at Kyle. “You have some type of powers too?”

He shrugs. “I’m extra strong and I think I can sense danger, but I need to practice that more.”

“Why?” Laura asks.

“That’s an excellent question, Laura,” Alyssa says. “Eden and I were chosen before our births by Our Creator. The wedding was not a theme wedding. It was an ancient one. Galchobar, here, is an immortal. He officiated the very first wedding of the original Phoenix couple.”

“Shut up!” Laura says as her eyes roll to look at Galchobar.

“I will not,” Alyssa says with a laugh.

Laura looks back at Alyssa. “You gave Kyle powers. Can you give me some?”

“It wasn’t me who gave him powers. I don’t have that kind of power. It was Our Creator,” she answers.

Looking up at Kyle, Laura asks, “But why you, Kyle?”

Instead of answering her, he turns to look at my mate. It’s she who answers. “Laura, I’ve had love in my heart for Kyle for several years. As he’s had for me. When the change began to happen in me, he got stuck in my heart. It pulled him along with me.”

“He’s yours?” Laura asks.

My wife nods. “But only a bit of him is. The rest of him can be yours, or whomever he chooses. I belong to him in a way as well. He’s my primary guardian,” she says, then looks back at me. “Please help me think of another name for him, Eden. I detest that title.”

“Of course, princess,” I say as I place a kiss on top of her head. “Laura, he is her protector. Nothing physical can happen between them. You will never lose him to her.”

Kyle looks at my wife and smiles. “You got that right, doesn’t he, Al?”

“Yeah, Romeo. So, with that all said, let’s get our grub on. I’m starving and Laura needs to eat something to help her with the shock.”

Kyle kisses the side of Laura’s head. “You’re stuck with me, baby,” he says. “Say you’ll join us.”

Laura looks at my mate and nods. “How can I refuse? Your secret is mine too now. How about you show me the birds after dinner?”

Galchobar halts any answer. “I’m afraid you must wait for the ceremony to initiate you into our flock, dear girl.”

Alyssa shoots him a look. “Why?” she asks. “And what are they going to do to her? They made Kyle and Eden lion toys and poor Kyle had to see us all go up in flames. I don’t want that for her.”

“It’s not up to you or me, Mistress Fontaine,” he says, then the maids bring in the trays heavy with food and all conversation on the subject ends.

CHAPTER 57

LAURA

As shocking as it was to hear the things Kyle, Ally, and Eden told me, I find I’m handling it all pretty well. Ally has me a bit worried about the initiation into the flock, but if they all got through it, so can I.

They explained more as we all hung out in Eden and Ally’s suite last night. We slept in a couple of their extra bedrooms they have. Kyle felt uncomfortable sleeping together in such close proximity to Ally, which at first made me mad. Then, when I really thought about their telepathy, and how she might see what would’ve surely happened between us, I had to agree with him.

Their lifestyle is fantastic. This evening we sit at the swimming pool back at their mansion. We lounged the day away as we played in the water. But any minute now, the fun will be over and we will have to do another workout with the beast known as Beck.

Since I have no superpowers, I’ve decided to get as strong as my human body will allow me to. I don’t wish to be left behind in all their missions. I have to find some way to make myself useful.

The patio door opens and a nicely-dressed woman with dark brown hair walks out. “Shit!” Eden says, almost under his breath.

I look at him, as do Kyle and Ally.

Why in the world would he say that? Then I find out.

“Eden!” the lady cries.

He stands up. He’s wearing nothing but his swimming trunks and sunglasses. She goes straight to him, hugging him tightly.

I sit in my lounge chair, looking at her over my sunglasses. She is just about the same height, weight, and build as Ally. It’s uncanny.

Eden turns her to us, introducing her. “This is Linda Banks, the woman who has chosen all of our clothes. This is Kyle and that’s Laura. She’ll be joining our foundation very soon, so you’ll be seeing a lot of her.”

She finally takes her arm from around his waist and moves towards me. She extends her hand for me to shake. “It’s so nice to meet you, Laura. I met Kyle at the ceremony,” she tells me in a very professional voice.

“It’s lovely to meet you too. I have to thank you for all the beautiful things you’ve sent to us. We’re all very happy with your taste,” I say, to assure her.

Then Eden says, “Would you like to join us, Linda? I’m sure Alyssa has a bathing suit you can use, as you are the same size.”

My eyes dart to Ally, who has a jealous streak a mile wide. She can’t be happy with this woman who keeps touching her husband. I’d have a fit.

“How nice of you to invite me, Eden,” she tells him as she puts her hand on his shoulder. “I would love to take a quick dip with you. With all of you.”

Ally speaks up as she looks over her expensive sunglasses at her husband, “Eden, how nice of you to invite Ms. Banks to join us, but you must have forgotten we were just about to go in and get ready to leave. Remember, we’re going to go work out with Beck?”

He smiles at her. “I did forget about that. Sorry, Linda. Maybe another time then?”

“Oh, pooh,” she pouts.

“Sorry,” Ally says.

I bet she’s not!

“Well, I’ll have to take you up on that swim another time, then. I just came over today to make sure Laura and Kyle’s things were moved into the correct room,” Linda says as she turns her attention to Kyle. “I managed to get both of your things into Alyssa’s old closet, as you two will be staying together in that room. That is what you requested, right?”

Ally looks at me, a little surprised. “You two are staying in the same room now? I thought that Kyle would be in Eden’s old room,” she says. “What happened to that plan?”

I look back at her and say, “The ginormous picture of you in that room is a bit overwhelming for me, Ally. I can’t have my man falling asleep looking at that thing. It could be bad for our relationship.”

“The picture can be taken down. Don’t make yourselves uncomfortable because of that. I can have it out of there before you go to bed tonight,” she offers.

Kyle jumps into the conversation. “Ally, it’s okay. We’re not uncomfortable at all. We want to stay together.”

“I see,” she says as she stands up. “Well, we should head inside and get ready to go.”

Eden grabs her cover up and drapes it across her shoulders, then pulls his shirt on. “Let us walk you out, Linda,” he tells her as he wraps his arm around Ally’s waist, then takes Linda’s hand, leading her back to the patio door.

Kyle and I lag behind a bit. As we come into the foyer, we see Eden and Ally at the front door with Linda.

“It was nice to see you again, Linda,” Eden says.

She turns to Ally. “It was really nice to see you, Mrs. Fontaine,” she says.

Ally speaks through clenched teeth, “It was nice to see you again too, Ms. Banks,”

Linda quickly pecks Eden on the cheek, then hurries out to her car, which I see is a rather expensive Mercedes.

“Nice car. She must make a lot of money,” Ally says.

“Oh, yes, the foundation pays her very well. She works really hard, you know,” Eden says.

“Oh, don’t I know that,” she says, and her teeth are still clenched.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Eden asks her as they walk up the staircase several steps in front of us.

She turns to look at him in astonishment. “It was excruciating, Eden!” she yells.

He pauses, looking into her eyes, then begins moving up the stairs again. “You’re getting better. I couldn’t tell you were jealous at all. Well, not about me anyway. When you found out that Kyle and Laura would be sleeping together, your feathers seemed to get a bit ruffled,” he tells her

I guess Eden thought we were far enough behind them that we couldn’t hear him. I glance up at Kyle and ask, “Is Ally mad?”

“She’s seeing red, but I’m not sure why,” he says and I bolt after her.

“Alyssa Shaylee Devlin Fontaine, I want to talk to you right now,” I say, sternly. “Sorry, Eden, I have to talk to my best friend for a minute or two,” I apologize to him as I take her by her arm and pull her to her bedroom. “I don’t want Eden to hear what I have to say to you.”

“What the hell, Laura?” she asks.

I usher her into her room and close the door behind us. “Ally, I’m tired of this thing you have for Kyle.”

“I don’t have a thing for Kyle, Laura. I’m a happily married woman now,” she says as she pulls back from me.

“The hell you don’t. What was that crap out there? I saw the look on your face, Ally. When he told you we wanted to stay together, you were pissed. You might as well admit it,” I fire at her.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it pissed. I would call it concerned. I don’t want you to rush into things and hurt each other. I’m just looking out for both of you,” she says.

“Rush into things? Really, Al?” I say as I gesture to her. “Look at you. Talk about rushing.”

“Eden and I are different. We can’t ever leave each other. If you tire of Kyle, you can leave him,” she tells me.

“What makes you think I’ll tire of Kyle?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” she says as she falls on her bed. “Crap, I don’t really think that, Laura. I have these little, petty jealousies. I can’t explain it. I was jealous about that lady who showed up. It got my jealousy juices flowing.”

“Why would you be jealous of her? She’s old enough to be Eden’s aunt or something. I thought they probably were related, the way they acted together, like they had known each other for a long time.”

She pulls a pillow up and wraps her arms around it. “It’s a long story, Laura.”

I need to hear her story if I’m about to believe it’s not Kyle she jealous about. “You better give it to me, because I need to get to the bottom of this.”

“I can’t believe you’re making me tell you this,” she says, then hesitates. “The lady was Eden’s touch tutor. She taught him how to kiss and touch me properly.”

What in the name of all that’s holy?

My mouth falls open. “OMG! You’re lying!”

“I wish I was. Eden never told me about her until we met her at our wedding. Then I saw it for myself as his mind replayed a time they had a practice session. You can ask Kyle about it. I showed him the memory and he agreed it was a hot encounter.”

“Sick. Did they really call them sessions?” I ask.

She nods and I see the sadness in her eyes. “I just can’t get over it. I keep trying, but it’s so damn hard when she touches him and acts all young and shit. He seems oblivious to her antics. Then she shows up over here and the fool invites her to join us for a quick dip. I mean, could he be that clueless?” she asks.

I nod. “I think he just might be. I’ve noticed he doesn’t act like any super-hot guy I’ve ever seen, not that I’ve seen that many. He’s just so crazy over you that he can’t see that other members of the female persuasion find him fascinating. It’s one of the things I like about him.”

“You like that about him?” she asks.

“Well, yeah, Al. I mean he doesn’t look at himself like he’s anything other than your husband. Either he’s clueless about other women, or he just doesn’t see them as a threat to you, because he’s hopelessly in love with you. You’re the world to him. No one could ever replace you. You know what I mean?”

“I think you’re telling me I have no reason to be jealous,” she says as she drops the pillow to her side. “Because he would never do anything with anyone else, and the women who fall all over themselves for him don’t have a shot in hell at taking him away from me.”

“That’s right Ally,” I tell her. “Now that we have that cleared up, let’s clear up this thing between us. I know this is a little bit hard for you. I can see it in your eyes every time Kyle and I touch each other in front of you.”

Ally drops her head. “I’ll get over this, Laura. I don’t want Kyle like that. I don’t know why I get a little pain in my chest when the two of you touch. Or a big pain in my chest when it’s thrown in my face that the two of you are doing what I could never do with him. I hate to say this, but a part of me wants to know what would’ve happened if Eden had never come along and if this bird thing never happened.”

“But it did happen, Ally, and you’re happy with Eden,” I say as I take her hand.

“I was happy with Kyle,” she says as she runs her thumb over my knuckles. “When he touched me, it felt like a jolt of electricity ran through me. The night we finally got to go alone to the movies, we made out through the whole movie. I don’t even remember what the movie was because we were so caught up in each other. On the way home, he pulled the truck over and I almost gave into him. The only thing that stopped me was the promise I’d made my mother. I’m jealous of you, Laura. You get to experience more with him. I could have had that, but didn’t, and now I never will.”

“Ally, I had no idea you felt that way,” I say. “How selfish of me not to have thought you’d have issues about your unresolved feelings for him. I was foolish to think this could work.”

Ally’s brows draw together as she frowns. “No, please Laura, this can work. I need you, like you can’t know how much I need you. Look how you just helped me with my jealousy over Eden. You stopped me from getting into a big fight with him just now.”

“I did?”

“Yes, you did. I don’t have anyone to talk to about my own issues,” she says. “You’re the only one I can talk to like this and now you know everything about me. Do you know how hard it is to be a freaking bird and not tell anyone?”

I laugh. “I bet it is. Now I have to keep it a secret too. Do you think time will heal you, Ally? That’s what Eden thinks.”

Confusion fills her face. “You’ve talked to Eden about this?”

“Briefly, and only once,” I tell her. “We met at the top of the stairs one morning. The morning after we all went swimming at your parents’ house and Kyle and I took a little longer to get down there. I don’t know what happened between you and Eden. He must’ve gotten the idea you were a little jealous of what you must have guessed we were doing that held us up. I also confided in him that Kyle often tenses up when you and Eden are whispering to each other or touching each other.”

“He does?” she asks.

“Yes, he does,” I answer. “Eden’s sure the physical feelings you and Kyle had for each other are fading, that you are both getting back to the strong friendship you had before the physical stuff started to happen, and that time will fix this situation.”

Ally pats my hand. “So you have to deal with this crap from me and Kyle, then?”

“I pretty much knew that having a relationship with him so soon after you two broke up was going to be riddled with issues—mine, yours, and his,” I say. “He doesn’t talk as openly about your relationship as he did when I first started talking to him. I was trying to help him get past his obsession about getting you away from Eden and your parents. I don’t know if it’s because he’s talked it all out of his system or that he doesn’t want to hurt me. I can feel him tense up and see in his face at times that it hurts him to see you and Eden together.”

Ally turns away. “My poor Kyle.”

“Your happiness means more to him than anything else. Making sure you’re safe has always been his top priority. I can remember that from back when we were kids. Maybe he’s supposed to be your protector, Ally. Maybe I’m supposed to be that too. Whether it was pre-destined or not, that is what we are,” I say.

“Laura, I can’t thank you enough for being so understanding. Your heart is so pure,” Ally tells me. “I love you. You and Kyle have done so much for me. It’s time I stop being a selfish brat about him. To stop thinking of him as my Kyle and let the two of you have your life together, free from my petty jealousies. From this moment on, you’re going to see a new Ally. One who promotes this relationship of yours and encourages you as you’ve encouraged me.”

“I love you too,” I tell her as we hug. “I’m so glad we talked. Now let’s put this behind us.”

“I agree,” she says. “Now go get on your workout clothes, because we’re about to embark on a torturous journey that involves Satan himself. But don’t worry, because I have a jacuzzi we can soak in after the torture.”

“Ally, should I be afraid?” I ask in a fake scared voice.

“Be afraid, Laura, be very afraid. The self-defense session with him was nothing. Workouts with Beck are a whole different thing.” she tells me in a mock spooky voice as she leads me out to the living room and out the suite’s door. “See you in twenty minutes.”

CHAPTER 58

ALYSSA

The pilot’s voice tells us we’re about to land, so Eden and I go take our seats. “See, Alyssa, it’s not always horrible,” Eden tells me as we get into the car that’s taking us to Kyle and Laura’s new place.

He also showed me a bit about how Kyle liked both Laura and I when we were all fifteen. His best friend, Cody, got in his ear and told him once he’d kissed me the decision was made.

It made me see our whole relationship in a new light, one where he felt he’d messed up his chance with Laura, so he just stayed with me.

Not quite the love story I’ve always had in my head!

Eden had a dream about how Laura will be initiated into The Phoenix Foundation and we flew up to surprise them with what they’ve been given. I’m not happy about the drama of sneaking away and making them think we’re kidnapped to get them here.

We pull up to a large gate, quite a ways from the airport in Austin, Texas. The driver pushes a button and it opens. We drive up the long driveway, which is lined with tall pine trees. The house finally comes into view. It’s a huge, log-cabin-style house.

“Laura is going to lose it when she sees this place. I know Kyle will love it. It’s torture, the panic we’ve put them in, but I think they both will feel like it was well worth it when they see this,” I say.

“The decorators have almost finished their bedroom and it looks like everything has been done out by the pool. It should only be a few more hours, then they should be here. Dad told me they took off several hours ago in your car, right after they were told about the abduction,” Eden tells me.

“That’s the only thing I feel badly about. The lying doesn’t feel really right,” I say.

“I suppose it’s a test to see if they’re really capable of being our guardians. Maybe you could look at it like that, Alyssa,” he tells me.

“I’ll try,” I say.

The front door opens as Linda Banks comes in, followed by a bunch of people carrying boxes and bags. “Eden and Mrs. Fontaine, it’s so nice to see you again,” she calls out to us.

Eden takes my hand, leading me to her. I find it incredible that I feel fine about her now, since Laura helped me to see I don’t have any reason to be jealous.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, Linda,” Eden tells her, then points up the stairs. “Their room is the door at the end of the hallway at the top of the stairs. You can have your staff take their things up there.”

I smile at her. “Hello again, Linda. Thank you so much for doing all of this for my friends. And call me Alyssa, please.”

“Well, it is my job, Alyssa. Besides that, I’m happy to do it.”

I can see she’s nothing but a professional in front of her staff. “Okay, we’ll I’ll let you get to work then.”

She hurries off to get working. I turn to look at Eden to find him beaming down at me. “What?”

“You’ve come a long way, baby,” he laughs, then kisses the top of my head.

“I told you Laura helped me get over the jealousy thing. Anyway, Linda acted very differently this time. Much more professional. She also kept her hands to herself, which I liked.”

Eden looks at me quizzically. “So if she had run up and hugged me, then you wouldn’t have taken that so well?”

I shrug my shoulders. “I really don’t know.”

He shakes his head back and forth slowly. “Alyssa, you are such a mystery. I never know what to expect from you.”

“That’s exactly how I like it,” I tell him as we walk out to the patio in the back of the house.

The sky is beginning to show signs of the sun setting. Oranges, reds, and yellows fill the sky. The air is beginning to cool. The pool looks beautiful and inviting. The waterfall adds a dramatic effect that I know Laura will love.

“Eden, do you really think they’ll like this place?”

“Uh, hell yes they will. Not only is it close to where Kyle’s going to go to college in the fall, but there are twenty acres for him to do whatever he wants with them. This place has everything. A pool, a giant back yard for the kids they will have someday, a game room, and even a recording studio in the basement. Not to mention the completely badass four-wheel-drive Ford truck and the Mercedes SUV in the four-car garage. It’s not really a gamble, Alyssa.”

“Okay, when you put it that way, I guess you’re right.”

The band that has set up on the temporary stage in the enormous back yard starts to do their sound check. The light is quickly fading away, making the lights that have been strung up everywhere begin to glow.

“It’s time, Alyssa. Are you ready to take our places?” Eden asks me.

“As I ever will be.”

We go into the living room, sit down in front of the television, and wait for Kyle and Laura to find us.

The front door opens slowly. Kyle’s head comes into view as he looks into the dark room. “Okay,” he whispers. “Come on. Follow me closely.”

He moves into the room cautiously as aura follows him. “How are we ever going to find them in here? This place is huge.” Laura whispers.

“Shh, look I can see a light just around the corner. Be really quiet. I have no idea who it could be,” he tells Laura.

Eden and I sit perfectly still on the sofa as we wait for them to come to us. Time ticks by slowly. I don’t hear anything else for what seems like an eternity. Then I feel Laura’s hand touching my shoulder. I turn my head to look at her. Her face lights up.

“Are you okay, Ally?” she asks me quietly.

I nod. “I am fine,” I say out loud.

“Shh,” Kyle says as he puts his finger up to his lips. “Let’s get out of here before whoever took you guys gets back or wakes up or whatever.”

Eden turns to look at him. “It’s okay.”

“How is it okay?” Kyle asks in a whisper.

Eden and I stand up. “Because no one’s here or coming back,” Eden tells him as he hits a button on the remote he’s holding, turning the lights up.

I see Laura and Kyle are completely dumbfounded. “What the hell is going on?” Kyle asks, finally not whispering anymore.

“Sorry about the abduction thing. It wasn’t true,” I say.

“What the hell do you mean it wasn’t true?” Laura practically yells at me.

“It’s not true. It was a test,” I tell her.

Laura lunges over the sofa, grabbing at me as she screams. “Alyssa Shaylee Fontaine, I am going to kill you. We were told that you both had been taken. We’ve driven like maniacs from New Orleans, freaking nonstop all the way to Austin to get to you. And it was all fake?” she yells at me.

Kyle looks confused, but grabs Laura, holding her back. “Hang on Laura. We can’t kill them, even though they are asses. I can’t believe you two would do this to us. I guess you think it’s funny or something. Maybe it’s just to see how far we’ll go for you, I don’t know. I do know it’s not cool at all,” Kyle tells us.

“Okay, guys,” Eden says as he tries to calm them down. “Let’s just go outside and get some fresh air. We’ll explain it all to you.”

I take Eden’s hand and we lead them out of the house and into the dark backyard. Eden opens the door, revealing only the blackness of the moonless night. I’m surprised by the fact that it’s impossible to see anything.

“It’s pitch black out here,” Kyle says.

Suddenly the large yard is flooded with light as all the lights that have been strung up light up all at once. “Surprise!” everyone yells.

Kyle and Laura look at each other and then at me. “What’s going on, Al?” Laura asks me.

“This is your initiation into the society. This party is to welcome you and Kyle into it,” I tell her.

“Okay, that’s a little over the top,” Kyle mutters. “But really nice of everybody.”

Laura notices everyone is still looking at us. “Ally, who threw this party for us? We need to tell them thank you,” she says, almost under her breath.

“The entire society is throwing this party for you. You’ve been chosen to be our guardian, Laura. Your place in this society is second to Kyle’s. You both are very important.”

Kyle’s eyes go wide. “What are you talking about?”

Eden laughs. “She’s saying the two of you hold high positions and we’re here to celebrate that fact with you, in your home.”

Kyle and Laura turn to look at Eden. “What did you say?” Laura asks, always making sure she has everything right.

“This is your home. You and Kyle have been given this house and a couple of cars as well. This is a thank you from our foundation, for your service,” Eden tells them.

“Shut up!” Laura says loudly.

Everyone laughs. There are so many people it makes a thunderous sound, startling them both. Then the band starts to play, bringing the attention away from us, thankfully. The guests begin to dance.

I take Laura’s hand, then get Kyle’s and I pull them back into the house. “I’m so sorry for the false abduction thing. It’s an unfortunate side effect of initiations to add drama in some way. Anyway, let me show you your new home,” I tell them as I drag them away from the festivities for now.

“This is crazy,” Laura says.

“I know it is, but you’ll get used to it, I did. Come on, you two, I have so much to show you,” I tell them.

“Ally, there are four freaking bedrooms. We don’t need that many. This is all too much. We can’t accept it,” Laura tells me as we stand in front of the door that leads down to the basement and the recording studio.

Eden opens the door, then reaches in and turns on the light. The room is flooded with light. I hear Kyle’s breath being drawn in as he gasps.

Oh good, he is impressed.

“Is that what I think it is?” Kyle asks.

“If you think it’s a recording studio, then yes,” Eden tells him.

Kyle takes Laura’s hand, pulling her with him down the stairs. “We can accept it, Laura. Just go with it.”

Eden and I laugh as we follow them down the stairs. Kyle looks like he’s in heaven. He’s smiling like crazy as he turns to us.

“I don’t know how we can ever repay you,” he says.

“Don’t worry about that. Your service to our organization is worth every penny that was spent on these things,” Eden tells him.

“Ally, this is so nice and unbelievable, but we really can’t take it. We could never even afford the utility bills here. Kyle and I both would have to work three jobs to afford this place,” she says.

“Don’t be so silly, Laura. You don’t pay a thing here. As a matter of fact, we have something else to give you right now.”

I hold out my hand to Eden. He places a credit card in my hand. I turn and hand her the card.

“Kyle’s already been given his. This is for your expenses, food, gas for your cars—you know, whatever you might need or want,” I tell her.

Laura looks over the card, then puts it in her pocket. “This is nuts, you know.”

Eden takes out two sets of car keys hands the truck keys to Kyle and gives the SUV keys to Laura. “You might want to go check out your new rides in the garage.”

Laura looks at him in disbelief. “I think I’m going to pass out. This is all so much.”

“Laura, you’ll be fine. Go up to your room now and put on the clothes that have been left out for you. It’s time to fulfill some of the duties this position requires. Tonight’s job is a tough one,” I say.

Laura gets a frown on her face. “What are they going to make us do, Al?”

“Oh, it’s bad,” I tease. “You’ll have to dance your ass off, eat some delicious food, and hobnob with some of the best people on Earth.”

She smiles, then turns to grab me up in her arms, hugging me tightly. “I love you, Ally. Even if you never gave me a thing, I would still love you.”

She lets me go, only for Kyle to take up where she left off, his arms around me before I know it, rocking me back and forth. “Ally, this is beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of,” he tells me, then kisses the top of my head before he lets me go.

“Scoot, you two. Go get ready,” I boss them as I slap Kyle on the butt, shooing them up the stairs.

He turns to look at me in surprise. “You are in rare form this evening, Mrs. Fontaine.”

I smile back at him. “Hurry up. I’m like, waiting already.”

CHAPTER 59

KYLE

Stars fill the night sky as we walk out the door. It’s all so surreal. And I’m used to some crazy shit!

The band stops playing as Laura and I emerge from the house. Eden and Ally have taken their places at an altar. Galchobar stands in between them. The altar has been set up across the yard from the stage the band is set up on.

A tall man comes to us and ushers us to the altar. I’m wearing a black suit—the freaking thing is an Armani—with a royal blue silk shirt under the jacket, much like Eden’s. Laura is looking gorgeous in a silky, royal blue evening gown similar to Ally’s.

They take us up the stairs. Galchobar moves in front of us, motioning for us to stand on the other side of Ally. Laura reaches out for Ally’s hand. I realize we’re all holding hands, as Eden holds Ally’s and I holds Laura’s.

“We have a new member to welcome into our flock,” Galchobar’s thunderous voice booms into the night. “A new guardian has been chosen. The woman called Laura will be revered by our society, as she holds a very powerful position.”

Galchobar turns back to us. “Kyle, son of Joe, you have vowed to protect our Mistress. I will ask you if you are willing to take a vow to our Master. I will let you think on that for a moment while I ask Laura, daughter of Brent, about her vows.” Galchobar stands in front of Laura. “Do you, Laura, daughter of Brent, promise to protect the female mistress and male master who are now ours to take care of from this time until the end, both in human and bird forms?”

Laura leans forward and says quietly, “Who’s this Brent you’re calling me the daughter of?”

Galchobar’s white eyebrows raise in confusion. “Your mother has deceived you?”

“My father’s name is Stanley,” she says.

His head shakes. “Your father’s name is Brent. He was your mother’s first love in high school. She left her hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas without telling him she was pregnant with you. Stanley was the man she married when she was five months pregnant with you.”

Laura looks at Ally with shock on her face. “My real father doesn’t know about me?”

Galchobar shakes his head again. “No.”

“Okay, go on with the ceremony,” she says.

Galchobar looks at Laura. “Laura, daughter of Brent, do you promise to protect the female mistress and male master who are now ours to take care of, from this time to the end, both in human and bird forms?” he asks her again.

“I do,” she answers.

“Great responsibility has been bestowed upon you. You will begin your journey now,” Galchobar says.

The old guy stands in front of me. I smile at him, but he just looks as stoic as ever. “Kyle, son of Joe, do you vow to take care of the male master as well as you would your female mistress, from this time to the end, in both human and bird forms?”

I look over at Eden. His eyes are on Ally. I know he loves her and I’d do anything for her. “I do.”

“Another great responsibility has been bestowed upon you.” Galchobar turns away. “I present your leaders,” Galchobar roars and the crowd bursts into applause.

I see Eden pulling Ally’s hand up to hold it over their heads, then I pull Laura’s hand up above our heads and she and Ally raise their clasped hands. The people of our society cheer so loudly that it’s almost deafening.

Eden lowers their hands. “Let us celebrate!” he yells out to the crowd, then takes Ally into his arms and the band begins to play.

I pull Laura into my arms and sway back and forth with her. “I love you!” I tell her.

She smiles at me, then brings her lips up to mine, gently kissing me. “I love you too, Kyle.”

The song is over much too soon, but another one starts almost immediately. Eden leads Ally over to us. Much to my surprise he takes Ally’s hand, which he’s been holding, and offers it to me as he offers his hand to Laura.

Switching partners, huh?

I release Laura and he dances away with her. I slide my arm around Ally’s waist, pulling her close to me. Her hair smells like jasmine and her body forms perfectly to mine. Something in me clicks, and I want her. I want all of her.

My lips move close to her ear. “This is how it’s supposed to be, Ally.”

I try to read her thoughts, but she’s either hiding them from me or she just doesn’t have any right now. She lays her small head on my shoulder, her face so close to mine. One small move and our lips would touch.

Just one little kiss. Who would even care?

“I love you, Kyle,” she says and I almost fall apart.

“I love you too, Ally. I always will,” I tell her as I squeeze her closer to me, as if that’s even possible.

Her light pink cheek is just too close for me to resist. I touch my lips to it and feel a warmth spread through to my lower regions. The damn song ends and I have to let her go. I allow her to move back a bit before I take her hand up to my lips, leaving a long kiss on the top of it.

Her eyelashes flutter as she smiles at me. “Thank you for the dance, my partisan.”

“Your new name for me, my princess?” I ask. “And what does it mean?”

“It means you have an emotional allegiance to me. I like the way it rolls off the tongue. So much better than primary guardian or protector, don’t you agree?” she asks.

‘I do,’ I send her.

Eden and Laura come to us. “Can I have my wife back, Kyle?”

“She is yours, Eden,” I say as I look into the deep sapphire blue of Ally’s eyes, then turn to smile at Eden. “I will want to borrow her again, though. She’s a really good dancer.”

“Let’s mingle,” Eden tells us all as he leads us off the altar and into the crowd of people.

Eden takes us to say hello to Linda Banks. Why he has to continue to push this woman in Ally’s face is a mystery to me. I tense up at first because she has on a little short dress with sky high heels and I see Ally is green with jealousy already. I look at Laura, who’s smiling at Ally.

Laura leans forward to tell her something in her ear. “Be good, Ally. He only loves you.”

I smile at Laura, happy she’s being such a good friend to Ally.

Trying to reign in her jealousies, Ally looks at me and smiles as I send her, ‘That old lady ain’t nothing compared to you, doll.’

Eden has to go and make it really freaking hard. He lets go of Ally’s hand to hug Linda, then holds her back, taking a look at her.

Dumb move, dude! It would really help him if he and I could communicate telepathically. I could save him an ass chewing!

“You’re looking sexy tonight, Linda,” he tells her.

I close my eyes at his words and see my Ally’s mind go red with anger, tinged with the green of jealousy.

It’s a nasty color. Yuk!

Laura’s hand slips out of mine. I watch her walk away from me, going up to Eden and the poor woman my Ally would like to see dangling from a branch up high in one of the giant oaks in this backyard.

My Ally would fight dirty if she was given the chance.

I send to her, ‘My princess, control that temper. That’s not fighting fair.’

Ally’s eyes don’t leave Eden as she sends back, ‘Wouldn’t she deserve it, though?’

Linda wraps her arms around Eden’s waist, pressing her body into his. “Thank you, Eden. You look delicious as well.”

You’re fucked, dude!

Laura eases in between them, almost gracefully. “Hi, Linda. I want to thank you for picking out all of the beautiful things for us. I hate to shop, as does Alyssa. Having you and your exquisite taste is a dream come true for us.”

I laugh and send Ally, ‘She’s a smooth one, isn’t she?’

Laura takes Linda by the arm gently. “Can I get you to come help me at the buffet table? I want your opinion on something,” Laura tells her as she moves her away from Eden.

Eden turns to look at Ally. “How nice. Laura and Linda look like they’ll get along just fine.”

Ally and I look at each other and laugh. Eden looks confused. “You really are clueless, aren’t you, sweetheart?” Ally asks him.

Eden narrows his eyes at her. “I thought you had those jealousies under control?”

“Oh, I do. I really do,” she tells him.

She turns to me. “Let’s go find something to eat,” she tells me as she takes my hand and Eden’s, pulling us to a table away from the sexy Linda Banks and her short dress.

We take a table close to the stage. It’s quiet right now as the band is on a break. I welcome the peace and quiet.

“I’ll go get us something from the buffet. You two stay here,” Eden directs us.

I hold out a chair for my Ally to sit in, then sit down next to her. “How do you like the house, Kyle?”

Her hair is shiny. Light reflects off it and I find it mesmerizing. I take a lock and twirl it with my finger as I answer, “Are you kidding, Ally? I love it. How could I not love it?”

She smiles. “Good, I’m glad to hear that.”

Her dress fits her just right for a flowy dress, hugging her breasts, then flowing out. I sigh and say, “You have to stay here with us for a while. I’m not ready to let you go yet.”

“We can stay for a while, I guess. You know we aren’t running you off from our house, right?”

I look into her gorgeous eyes. “You aren’t?”

“Not at all. We just wanted you to have a place in Austin for when you start school. You’re always welcome, wherever I am.”

Even in your bed? Stop it, boy!

“I am?”

“Yes, of course. You are a guardian, after all,” she says.

Is that all I am to her?

I take her hand and place it on my thigh, lightly running my fingertips over the top of it. “You know, the only reason I’m okay with you being with someone other than myself is because he treats you so well. I want you to let me know if he doesn’t, because I’ll set him straight.”

She rolls her eyes. “God, Kyle, you are intense this evening.”

I take her by the chin and make her look at me. “Maybe it’s the ceremony or something. This is our second one, you know. When the wizard guy asked if I would take care of you to the end, it made me feel different this time. I don’t know what it is. I made a commitment to you for the rest of my life before. It’s a commitment I can’t ever go back on, not that I want to. It feels permanent, unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. We’ll be together through it all, you and I. In the end, we will leave this world together.”

Ally stares deep into my eyes. “You are also committed to my husband. Don’t forget that part too.”

Oh yeah, him!

I move her hand back to her own lap. “I know that, Alyssa. I won’t let anything happen to him either. Galchobar told us if one of you dies, the other will follow within a day. He said that most likely I’ll follow quickly after you. If something happens to him, then it will be the end of us all.”

Her eyes dance and she says, “I hope someday you decide to make a commitment to Laura as well.”

I look back up at her. “I don’t have to marry her. Do I, Ally?”

Her dark brows furrow as she frowns. “Kyle, do you not love her?”

“I do, but we haven’t been together long enough for me to know if I want to live the rest of my life with her,” I say. “She’s great. Please don’t get me wrong, Al. I just don’t know yet, especially with this happening. I don’t want her to feel like we have to be together, like that, just because of our positions with you guys.”

She looks away. “I see. I don’t want you to feel forced together either. I love you guys. I would never want you to be unhappy in any way. No matter what happens, you will both be in my life for a very long time.”

I see Eden walking to the table with a large platter of all types of different foods. Laura’s following him with a bottle of wine and four glasses.

“Look who I found,” Eden says.

Ally smiles at Laura. “Did you make a new friend, Laura?”

“Yes, I did, Ally. She said to tell you goodbye. She had to leave the party early. She needs to get up really early tomorrow to head back to New Orleans.”

My eyes narrow as I glance at Eden. His fascination with the drab woman makes me tingle inside. I’m not pleased with it one bit. His focus should only be Ally. “Did you get to tell her bye, Eden?” I ask.

The slightest hint of a frown takes the corners of his lips down. “No, I didn’t. I guess she was in a rush to leave.”

Laura looks at Eden and smiles. “So am I going to see the birds tonight or what?”

Eden taps the top of her hand, which lies on the table top. “I told you that you were. I always keep my promises.”

The music starts back up and Laura stands up. “Come on, Eden,” she looks back and calls out to him. Ally looks surprised. “It’s okay, isn’t it, Ally?”

The look of surprise leaves her face, leaving it as angelic as it usually is. “Yes, of course it is.”

Eden gets up to go out to the temporary dancefloor with Laura. The band plays a country song that’s slow. I find Ally watching them intently as her husband holds her best friend close to him.

I stand up, taking her hand and pulling her up. “Come on, Ally. We can’t let them have all the fun.”

I pull her in close to me as I take her arms and place them both around my neck, moving mine around her tiny waist. I press my forehead to hers. “Are you ready for this, Ally?”

She smiles. “Yeah, it’s just a dance, Kyle.”

“Not are you ready to dance, Ally,” I say as I start swaying us with the music. “Are you ready for this? For us being so close all the time. Do you think you can you handle it?”

“Eden showed me something on the jet ride over here, Kyle,” she says as she pulls her head from mine and looks at me. “I’ve seen the past from your point of view. I’m aware you had a difficult time choosing between me and Laura. I know you were more physically attracted to Laura. You felt like the tiny, almost non-existent kiss we had that one night would cost you both of us if you didn’t choose me.”

“Wow, you know that, huh?”

Leave it to Eden to find that tidbit of information in the cosmos and share it with her!

She nods. “If you would’ve told me you liked Laura, which would have been fine, it wouldn’t have stopped our friendship, and I would never have developed an inappropriate relationship with you.”

“Inappropriate?” I ask and stop our dance. “There wasn’t a whole lot of inappropriate going on, Ally.”

She looks at me and begins moving us again. “What is that supposed to mean?”

I pull her closer, our bodies touching in the old, familiar way they used to. “Just that more could have happened, but you wouldn’t let it and now it never can.”

“You can blame me if you want to, Kyle,” she says as she pulls away from me a bit. “But the fact we didn’t go any further than we did is a blessing.”

I search her eyes and try to see what she’s thinking. She’s closing her mind off to me and that tells me loads. “If it was such a blessing, then why do I feel like something is missing?”

She shifts her eyes, letting them roam over the guests. “You didn’t feel like this yesterday.”

“I kind of did,” I say. “I’ve always wanted you like that. Hell, you know that. When I told you I’d wait forever for you, I didn’t think I would actually have to. Now you and I are together, in a way, forever, but we can never be together like that. It’s a lot to take in.”

The song ends, but I don’t let her go. “Kyle, the song is over. We should go back to the table.”

“I know that, Ally,” I say, but I can’t seem to make myself let her go.

“We can get through this, Kyle. My husband and Laura know our past is a hitch in this situation. All of our feelings are important to each other. We can all work through this together. We are all supposed to be together. I saw that,” she tells me, then pulls away from me, leading me back to the table.

Eden and Laura are sitting at the table as we walk up. “You have a wonderful wife, Eden,” I say as I pull her chair out for her and place a kiss on top of her head after she sits down.

Eden smiles at me. “I am aware of that fact, Kyle. You’re a lucky man yourself. Laura is a special woman,” Eden says as he stands up to take Ally back out to the dance floor.

He’s right. I am a lucky man. A very confused man, but a lucky, confused man.

I look down at Laura. “I know I’m lucky. Come dance with me, baby.”

The band plays another slow song. I wrap myself around Laura and try hard to think about her and only her.

She’s fantastic. Any guy would be glad to have her. She’s kind and funny, with a smoking hot body. The whole enchilada, so to speak. I do love her and I know she loves me.

So why can’t I get Ally out of my mind?

CHAPTER 60

ALYSSA

Eden and I dance around the small floor as Kyle dances with Laura. Something is going on in his head and he’s having a hard time putting his feelings into the proper categories. He needs to put me in the category of a friend he protects, not a lover.

As we dance near Kyle and Laura, he holds her close to him. Until our eyes meet and he pulls back from her.

I close my eyes, hoping he’ll pull her close to him again. I hate that this situation has caused him so much confusion. I know he loves her. I know he wants her. He and I can never be together like that.

Eden nuzzles my ear. “You about ready?”

I turn my face on his shoulder, still laying my head on it. “Ready for what?”

He does this deep chuckle thing he does on occasion. It makes his chest shake and I find it adorable. “Your mind is elsewhere, I know. Laura—you do remember her, right? I made her a promise to do the bird thing.”

“Oh, yeah, that. We mustn’t let Laura down.”

He stops dancing and pulls me away, leading me into the house and out the front door to the side of the house. It's pitch black, so we feel along the wall as we go. Eden stops abruptly. I feel his hand turn over in mine as he moves his body in front of mine.

His heart is beating hard as he presses up against me. Soft lips find mine, but turn hard and hungry as he pushes his tongue past my lips. A low groan from him sends me into the same state of desire which has overcome him.

Leaving my lips, his warm breath blows gently into mine. I inhale him and he fills me, as if our souls combine inside me.

He lifts my dress, pulling it up over my head and off. The cool breeze brings goosebumps to my skin.

“Eden?”

His hands begin to caress my almost naked body. I kick off my sandals. His hands reach up, unclasping my bra. With haste, I push the jacket off his shoulders, then unbutton his shirt.

My hands graze his rock-hard abs as I take his shirt off, letting it fall to the ground. I unbutton and unzip his pants. They fall to the ground. I feel him step out of them as he takes his shoes off.

He reaches down to take off his boxers and his socks, pulling my panties off before he comes back up. The heat of his mouth grazes me as he moves back up my body.

Completely naked, I’m shaking with excitement. My back is against the cool wood of the wall. I feel Eden’s hands move up my arms. One of his hands goes to my throat, not choking me, but holding me back against the wall. I feel his breath near my ear.

My toes barely touch the ground as the heat of his words fill my ear. “Alyssa, I want you. Can I take you?”

He’s acting so differently, so savage in a way, yet still he asks me if it’s okay. My body is shaking with excitement. I can’t say no.

“Yes,” I manage just before his mouth covers mine and he forces his breath into my mouth. His tongue follows it in, covering every space, claiming it all as his.

Though he holds me to the wall with one hand, his other takes my ass, lifting me higher off the ground. Wrapping my legs around him, I slide onto his large erection.

“Oh, God, Eden!” I say before I realize it’s coming out of my mouth.

He moves our bodies as one up against the wall over and over again. “Baby. Alyssa. Tell me you love me,” Eden says breathlessly as I feel his fingers begin to dig into my backside.

“I love you. I love you, Eden.”

The feeling I have is beyond any I’ve ever felt. I can’t even think. I feel like I’m floating as I ride the wave of the ultra-hard orgasm. I want to scream, but I hold it in as our guests may be close enough to hear me.

My legs quake around his body as he stiffens and pulses inside me. His body is hard against mine, filling me like never before. He holds me like that until my walls stop squeezing at him to give me all he has.

Soft kisses flow over my shoulders and down my neck. “I love you, baby. I love you,” Eden says as he kisses me all over. “I love you, Alyssa.”

Practically out of breath, I say, “I love you, too, Eden.”

Strong arms lay me on the ground with such gentleness it feels as if I’m lying on a cloud. “What was that, Eden?”

He draws tiny trails down my chest with his fingertips, encircling my stomach. “I don’t know, Alyssa. I felt a sudden urge. You were irresistible to me. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

I giggle a little. “No, Eden, I’m not hurt at all. Quite the opposite.”

His lips touch my ear. “Don’t giggle, Alyssa, or I may go savage again. I really don’t know why I did that.”

“You didn’t turn savage. Really, you need to stop being so hard on yourself. I find you very exciting, Eden. Don’t apologize about something which was so intense and satisfying.”

“Okay, Alyssa. I’ll let it go, then. It was rather intense, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was. I’m a little weak from just how intense it was,” I confess.

I hear him sigh deeply, then he takes my hand in his. In an instant, I feel myself change into the bird and the sound of thunder rings in my ears. Eden flies straight up into the darkness. I follow him closely. With the bird’s eyes, I can see a lot better than I did with my human eyes.

We move fast, high up into the air. I hear Eden’s voice in my head. ‘Follow me, Alyssa.’ A loud screech is all anyone else can hear.

I look down to see all the people have looked up to try and see us, now that they’ve been alerted to our presence by Eden’s screech. I look back up at Eden to see that he’s stopped flying up and now is circling just above me. I follow behind him, then look down to see Galchobar escorting Kyle and Laura to the altar.

Eden starts to fly down. I follow him slowly. Eden touches down next to Laura and I touch down next to Kyle. I feel really weird, like we’re on display or something. I see Laura reach up and touch Eden’s chest feathers.

“It’s really you, Eden,” she says. “Your eyes give you away.”

I’m watching her reaction so hard I jump a little as I feel Kyle stroke my wing. “Sorry, Al, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I turn my head to look at him. The bird’s eyes see everything so much more clearly and colorfully. His blonde curls glow like rays of sunlight. His blue eyes sparkle like I’ve never seen them do with my human eyes. He looks like an angel to me.

He continues to stroke my wing, looking intently at my feathers. “God, you’re so beautiful. The colors, the softness of your feathers,” he says, then looks into my eye. “Your eyes look like actual sapphires. They sparkle and are even bluer than when you’re a person. This is unbelievable.”

Laura comes over to touch me. I feel her hand stroking the feathers on my chest. “This is so cool, Ally,” she says as she looks up at me. “The two of you are majestic.”

I hear Eden’s voice in my head again. ‘Time to fly, Alyssa,’ he sends as an enormous shriek comes out of his bird mouth.

‘Okay,’ I send back. The shriek which comes out of my bird mouth makes Laura cover her ears with her hands.

Eden takes a couple of steps backward, then runs forward, taking off over the crowd of people. They gasp in awe of him.

I follow his lead and do the same thing. I follow him as he turns to fly back over their heads again. The people begin to applaud loudly.

Eden flies straight towards Kyle and Laura, who are still standing up at the altar, pulling up just as he gets to them and going straight up into the sky. I do as he does.

Eden is flying so fast that I have to really move my wings just to stay behind him. A loud clap of thunder, and then another one right behind, sounds out as we fly past the sound barrier. Eden finally begins to slow down and I’m finding it hard to breathe.

Eden begins to descend lower into the air as I follow him. I feel like I can breathe better. ‘It’s so dark tonight,’ Eden sends me. ‘Let’s take advantage of it. Okay?’

‘Okay,’ I send back.

He hangs back a little so I can catch up and fly next to him. I can hear water running, then I see a river running underneath us. We fly down as close as we can without hitting the tall trees which line it. I see a silver fish jump up out of the water.

‘Did you see that, Eden?’ I send him.

‘Yes, I did. Isn’t it amazing how everything looks so different, so much clearer?’

‘It really is,’ I send.

His head cocks to the right. ‘Do you hear that, Alyssa?’

I haven’t heard anything. I listen and then I hear it. It sounds like a jet engine. ‘Eden, is it a plane?’

Suddenly it passes right over the top of us. It turns around to come by us again.

‘Shit. Fly, Alyssa. Fly as fast as you can. We have to get away from this thing,’ he sends me as he takes off, flying faster and faster.

The plane flies over us again, really fast. Whoever is in it knows we’re unusual, to say the least. I feel very threatened. The jet turns around to come at us again.

‘Look down, Alyssa. There’s an open area in the woods. We need to land there, as close to the tree line as possible,’ he sends me. ‘As soon as you land, change back into your human form and run into the trees. He can’t follow us then.’

I do as he tells me. The jet is following us closely, but it can’t follow us down into the clearing. Once over the clearing, we drop quickly to the ground. When our feet hit the ground, we transform and run into the woods surrounding the clearing.

Eden and I stand completely still, just inside the tree line. The jet keeps going back and forth over the clearing. Then, to my complete horror, two sets of headlights come out of the woods on the other side of the clearing.

“We can’t let them find us,” Eden whispers to me. “Don’t let go of my hand, Alyssa.”

As if he could shake me off! Crap! Why did we have to go and pull all our clothes off? Damn bad timing!

I take Eden’s hand as he leads us through the pitch-black woods. There are so many sharp things under my bare feet, poking at them as we walk cautiously away from the area the headlights seem to be going to.

The headlights stop at the edge of the tree line. I can hear one of the trucks’ doors open. “Get ‘em, boy,” I hear a man’s voice say.

I squeeze Eden’s hand as the sound of barking dogs fills the air around us. Eden is running so fast that I almost fly behind him, my feet barely touching the ground. I hear the dogs gaining on us. Eden is running back into the clearing. I can hear the jet coming.

“Don’t let go of my hand. We have to change back. Stay as close to me as you can. We have to move fast. Don’t lose sight of me once we’re in the air,” Eden orders me.

He couldn’t lose me if he wanted to. I’m scared almost to death. I just keep praying for us to get out of this safely. My human eyes can barely make out the opening. Eden runs out into the opening, transforming immediately. I follow just as quickly. Two thunderous booms follow us as we change into the birds.

‘Stay as close to the tops of the trees as possible,’ Eden tells me, making sure to only tell me telepathically so no one hears him shriek.

The jet flies over us but keeps going. I guess his radar can’t pick us up when we fly this close to the trees. Whatever the reason, I’m happy to have it off of us.

‘We’re going to lose the trees as cover, Alyssa. We have to fly as fast as we can once we lose them. Straight for their house. Do you understand?’ Eden sends me.

‘I do,’ I send him, then I send an image of the jet to Kyle.

The trees begin to get fewer and further apart and then there are no more trees. Eden beats his wings faster, as do I. The familiar sound of the air collapsing around us as we break the sound barrier rings in my ears. Then I hear a third loud clap of thunder to find the jet back on our trail.

I can’t look back anymore. I have to get back to the house—back to the people who take care of us. The jet passes over us, going out to turn around. I see the lights begin to come into view. The house is not far now.

The jet has turned and is coming straight for us. I see Eden dive, trying to get to the ground. I follow him, tucking in my wings, and letting myself fall as quickly as I can.

‘Change as soon as you hit the ground, Alyssa,’ Eden tells me. This time he lets himself shriek out loud as he says it.

He comes down a little bit farther away from the house than we started off. I hit the ground and change back to my human form, running like crazy towards the house. He slows a little for me to catch up, then grabs for my hand, taking me to the side of the house where our clothes are.

I feel for my clothes, finding them. I grab my dress and throw it around me. Eden pulls his pants on and grabs the rest of his clothes. Taking my hand again, he runs into the front door of the house. Once inside, we stop as Eden locks the door behind us. Laura and Kyle come in the back door.

“What the hell is going on? Why is there a jet following you?” Kyle asks us.

“I think he picked us up on his radar. I’m pretty sure there’ll be people here shortly to look for us,” Eden tells them.

“Go upstairs and get dressed. We’ll take care of anyone who shows up here,” Laura tells us.

I take off up the stairs. Eden follows me, going into the guest room quickly and shutting the door behind us. “I’m so sorry, Alyssa,” he tells me.

I turn to look at him. “Why are you saying that to me? It’s not your fault.”

He paces the room. “I’m the one who wanted to go flying around. I don’t know what I was thinking about. I should’ve thought about how this area is bound to be covered with air security since it’s so close to the state capital.”

“It still isn’t your fault,” I say. “You can’t possibly think of every little thing which could happen.”

I put my clothes back on, then look out the window. The party has ended. Only the people who are cleaning it all up are still outside. I feel terrible about messing up the party. I hope Laura and Kyle are not too disappointed.

“Okay, I’m dressed. Let’s go downstairs,” Eden says.

I take his hand and go with him downstairs, Laura’s sitting on the sofa by herself. “Where’s Kyle?” Eden asks her.

“He’s outside,” she says. “That jet isn’t letting up. It’s pretty obvious whoever is driving that thing saw you two disappear around here. What happened, exactly?”

I sit down next to her and Eden goes outside with Kyle. “We just went for a little stroll in the sky. We were having a good time, flying by the river. Then the jet found us. Eden thinks we came up on its radar.”

“That makes sense,” Laura says.

“We found a clearing to land in and I thought we were pretty much home free. I was wrong. A couple of trucks came and found us, like right away. They had dogs with them. Once they let them loose, we had no choice but to get back out of there. The jet caught up with us again and here we are,” I tell her.

She puts her arm around my shoulders. “Dang, Ally, that sucks. I guess it’s safe to assume they’ll be looking around here pretty soon. Thank goodness we have that gate at the entrance. They can’t just roll up here.”

I sink into her side. “I’m sorry we screwed up your party.”

“To be honest, Al,” she says. “I was really tired anyway.”

I laugh a little. “So am I, Laura. I could fall asleep right now.”

She props her head on mine. “I think I could too,” she mumbles as we both drift off.

“What?” I mumble as I feel myself being lifted up.

“Shhh,” I hear.

I move my head to look up. Kyle is carrying me up the stairs. “What are you doing?” I ask him groggily.

“Just stay asleep, Ally,” he says quietly.

“Where’s my husband?” I ask.

“He ran to town,” he says. “Now just sleep. He’ll be back soon.”

He opens the door to the guest room, then takes me to the bed, laying me down. I feel him take my sandals off, then turn to my side, pulling my legs up.

“Thank you, Kyle,” I tell him.

He pulls the blanket up over me, then leans down to kiss me on the top of the head. “Goodnight, Alyssa. I love you,” he says.

I smile. “Goodnight, Kyle. I love you too,” I tell him, then fall back asleep.

CHAPTER 61

ALYSSA

“You’re going too fast, Kyle,” I say as I follow him down a trail into the woods.

“Come on, Ally,” he says. “We’re almost there.”

He takes my hand, then pulls me to him as he covers my eyes with his hand. “Okay, no peeking.”

He pulls me a few steps further, then drops his hand that’s covering my eyes. I see a small, old, beat up shack. “See, a cabin in the woods. I told you I had a surprise for you.”

I look up at him. “You found this?”

He leads me to the door. “Yeah, I think it’s been abandoned.”

I step inside to see that he’s laid out a quilt on the old wood floor. There’s a picnic basket on it. I turn to look at him. “Did you do that?”

“Yes. You are hungry, aren’t you?” he asks.

“I guess I could eat.”

He pulls me to sit on the quilt with him. “Is this one of your mother’s quilts?” I ask.

He nods. “Don’t tell her. She’ll kill me.”

I reach over to open the picnic basket, but he stops me, taking my hand and bringing it up to his lips to kiss the gold band of my wedding ring. “I love how this looks on you. It looks so pretty next to the other one I gave you,” he says as he moves to kiss the small ,heart-shaped diamond ring on my other finger.

I smile at him. “Let me see yours again.”

He holds his hand up, wiggling his ring finger. The sun coming through the window of the little cabin catches the gold, making it shine brightly. The sun is coming in behind him, making his blonde curls glow.

He looks like an angel. I move forward, getting up on my knees to lean closer to him. I take his hand, kissing his ring. Then I put my arms around his neck as he wraps his arms around my waist.

“I love you, Ally. I’m so happy you said yes.”

“Why wouldn’t I? I’ve loved you forever, Kyle.”

He moves his arms from around my waist to the bottom of my T-shirt. I hold my arms up so he can raise it up over my head. He drops the shirt on the floor, leaning in to kiss the top of one of my breasts as it bulges slightly above my pink, lacy bra.

He stops to look up at me. “Looks like Junior has already begun his work on your body. You’ll need a larger size very soon.”

I look at him with a pout on my lips. “I still can’t believe you went and got me pregnant so soon after our wedding. I was looking forward to some time with you all alone.”

He laughs. “We have about seven more months of alone time, Ally. He won’t get in our way, I promise,” he tells me as he unbuttons, then unzips my shorts, exposing my still-flat stomach.

“I’m going to get all fat,” I whine.

He touches my exposed stomach, then looks up at me. “Thank you, Alyssa. You’ve given me the best present anyone ever could. You won’t be fat. You’ll be more beautiful.”

He moves towards me, pushing me back gently until I’m lying on the old quilt. He pulls my shorts and panties off in one quick motion, pulling off my flats. Then he stands up to take his shirt off. I suck in my breath as he does. He pops the buttons on his jeans, then lets them fall.

“You ready for this, Ally?”

I hold my arms out to him. He comes into my arms, covering my body with his. His lips touch mine and I part them as his tongue darts into my mouth. The familiar sense of heat goes straight to my lower regions.

My legs open as I run my hands over the muscles on his back and he brings his body down on mine, filling me. He takes gentle strokes as his lips leave mine, trailing kisses up my neck. My hands tangle up in his curls. His mouth comes down on mine again and his tongue fills my mouth. His kiss becomes hungry as he moves inside me, his strokes harder and deeper.

His lips leave mine and touch my ear. “Say my name, Ally.”

I’m about to fall apart underneath his hot, sweaty, rock-hard body. “Kyle,” I say as I breathe out.

“Again,” he orders as he thrusts deeper.

The force pushes the air out of my lungs as I shout, “Kyle!”

With ragged breaths, he asks, “Who do you belong to, Ally?”

“I belong to you,” I whisper.

The heat on my neck compels me to turn and catch his lips. One small kiss and he thrusts as he says, “Who do you belong to?”

My stomach clenches as I come apart and he explodes into me. “I belong to you, Kyle!” I shout.

“Alyssa!” I hear. “Open your eyes!”

I open my eyes to see Eden looking down at me He quickly rolls off of me. “What the hell, Alyssa?” he asks, with an aggravated tone to his voice.

I sit up. “I was dreaming.”

“I thought you were awake,” Eden says. “I should’ve known you weren’t. You weren’t moving at all like yourself.”

Pulling the sheet up to cover my naked breasts, I ask, “What did I do?”

I completely remember the dream I was having. Only I thought it was real. I thought I was married to Kyle. Everything felt real. I can’t believe how real it all felt. Eden sits up, running his hands through his hair.

Oh, hell, I know what I did. He doesn’t have to tell me.

I reach out to him. “Eden, it was just a dream. Nothing to get upset about. Come on, let’s finish what we started.”

He pulls away from me, though. “No, Alyssa. We can’t finish what we started. I was apparently not involved in it. Now you want him, or what?”

“No!” I say. “I don’t know why I had that stupid dream, Eden. I do know I don’t want him like that. I really don’t. Maybe the ceremony has me sort of messed up, or being chased by jets and dogs has my mind going a different direction.”

Eden looks at me, his eyes full of hurt. “A different direction? Like a direction without me in it?”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t matter. I’m with you. It doesn’t matter what happens in my dreams. I love you and my future forever is with you, Eden. This is crazy to be fighting about a damn dream I can’t help.”

“I know it is. Let’s just go to sleep. We have to drive back to New Orleans in a few hours anyway,” he says as he lies back down.

I lie back. “I told Kyle we would stay here a while with them.”

“Well, I hope that was before the jet and the dogs, because if it was after them, then you are both not thinking straight,” he says.

I need to stop talking now. I am really making my husband mad and that is never good.

“I love you, Eden. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Alyssa,” he says, then pauses. “I love you too. Now go to sleep.”

I close my eyes and wonder why I was dreaming like that. I love my husband with all my heart. I love Kyle too, but not like the way I love Eden. I don’t want a day to go by without Eden in it.

What is wrong with me?

CHAPTER 62

KYLE

“You sure can eat now, Ally,” I say, as we leave a café, then walk down a sidewalk downtown.

“Kyle, be nice,” she says as she bats at my arm.

I reach out to touch her ample stomach. “How’s Junior treating you, Al?”

“I really wish you’d quit calling her that,” I say. “Your daughter is treating me like a punching bag. I think she’s going to be a kickboxer.”

I laugh. “Well, thanks for walking over here to go to lunch with me. Are you going back to work now?”

“Where else would I be going, Kyle? Pregnant or not, we have bills to pay and baby things to buy,” she says with a tired voice.

“I know, Ally,” I say. “It’s almost summer break. I can work full-time hours at the bowling alley once school lets out. I might have a gig this weekend and that’ll bring in some extra money.”

She smiles. “We’ll make it, Kyle. I’m not worried. I won’t be off until midnight tonight. When will you be home?”

“Since you have to work, I’ll probably go hang out with the neighbor until you get home. I only have to work until ten tonight. I’ll bring pizza home for you,” I say.

“No! Not pizza, Kyle. It gives me indigestion. I’ll eat at the restaurant when I get a break. If I get a break.”

I stop and give her a stern look. “You better eat, Mrs. Stevens. Promise me.”

A frown covers her face. “I promise, Mr. Stevens. And stop calling me that. I call your mother that. It’s weird.”

I put my arm around her shoulders and say, “You could call her mom if you wanted to. It might soften her up some, to have you act more like a daughter.”

“I don’t think she wants me to act like that at all after her freak-out when you told her we went to Vegas and got married. I have the feeling she thinks you’ve made a bad mistake with me. Then we got pregnant right away and fueled her fire even more.”

“Once she sees that little baby, she’ll come around. We’ll have to get up there more often, once the baby comes,” I say.

“I don’t see how we can afford it any better than we can now. We haven’t been home since we left,” she reminds me.

I give her shoulder a nudge with mine. “You’re grouchy, Ally. You need to sleep more.”

“I wish I could, Kyle. I wish I could. Here we are. I turn right here and you turn left,” she says.

I let her go. “I love you, Ally. See you around midnight,” I say, then kiss the top of her head.

“Bye, Kyle, I love you too,” she says as I walk away.

I turn to look back at her, feeling like she’s sad about something. I see her accidentally bump into someone with her stomach. Then hear her say, “Sorry, I don’t always realize how big I am.”

“No need to apologize. It’s my fault. Have a nice day,” a guy with wavy brown hair on top and short sides says as he almost bows.

I turn and watch him walk down the sidewalk past me. He shoots me a smile and I look back to see my wife checking him out.

* * *

“I can’t believe these people,” I hear Eden say as he stands just outside the bedroom door. His voice woke me up and it becomes apparent I’m dreaming about Ally. That’s not good.

I rub my eyes and blink. My dreams come flooding back to me. I close my eyes as I see Laura has spotted me awake.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” she says with a smile.

“Good morning, babe.”

Eden’s voice comes from the hall again. “Get dressed, Alyssa,” he tells her, then shuts their door.

He sounds mad.

What is going on in my head? Why am I dreaming that Ally and I are married and having a baby?

A baby girl. We would’ve had a baby girl if she was never chosen to be a bird.

I wonder if she saw my dream somehow and Eden saw it through her. That would probably make him pretty mad.

“I’m making scrambled eggs,” Laura says as she gets up. “Come to the kitchen after you get dressed.”

I hurry to clean myself up and get dressed. I want to talk to Ally before I see Eden and maybe reveal more than I should.

As I head down the stairs, I can hear Laura talking in the kitchen. “How could I not like it, Al? It’s beyond perfect. Breakfast is almost done. Kyle’s coming down any minute. I saw Eden go out the door to the garage. You wanna go get him?”

I put the truck keys the foundation gave me in my pocket. I give my pocket a jangle to be sure they’re in there. Rocketing through the living room, I make it out the front door without Laura seeing me.

Ally’s car is gone, which means Eden went somewhere in it. I jog around to the garage and see Ally running her hand along the side of my new truck.

“Hey, Ally, I was just thinking about you. Thank you for giving me the best present anyone could ever give me,” I say, remembering one of the things I said to her in the dream I had about making love to her.

She blinks in rapid succession, then says, “I didn’t buy it, Kyle. I just told them what you might like.”

I take her hand, pulling her towards the driver’s side door of the tall truck. “Come on. I’ll give you a real quick ride,” I say and then take her by the waist, picking her up into the driver’s seat, just like I used to.

She scoots over, just like she used to, as I climb into the driver’s seat. “It’s so nice, Kyle. I haven’t been in it yet.”

She starts to scoot all the way over, but I grab her arm, stopping her from moving further from me. “Look, Ally, it has satellite radio. How cool is that? What am I saying? Your car has that too. I’m not used to all this yet.”

She begins to fiddle with the radio like she always does. “How did you like driving my car here from New Orleans?” she asks.

I look over her shoulder as she finds some crappy hard rock station. “Oh, it’s a damn cool car, Ally. But it ain’t no truck, girl.”

I start the engine and it’s loud. She looks at me with the excitement of a little kid. I back out of the garage, then drive down a dirt road that runs around the privacy fenced yard to the back of the property.

We come out of the tall pine trees to find a pasture with an old barn and a pond. “Check this out, Ally. We can have horses, and cows, and whatever we want.”

Ally looks down. “Eden told me we would be going back to New Orleans this morning. For some odd reason he went to town to get something first, but he told me to get dressed before he left. I guess we’ll be leaving soon after he gets back.”

I wonder why that is? The plane spotting them, maybe.

I pull up in front of the old barn, then jump out, holding my hand out to Ally. I’m careful not to let her body run down mine as I place her on the ground. I lead her to it. It’s a little dark. There are a couple of large stalls and a few doors. I open one of the doors up.

I pull the door open and we see a quilt lying on the old wooden floor. I look around the dark little room and see a candle half burned and an empty bottle of bourbon. My mind is reeling now. I feel hot at my memory of Ally in my dream and us on that blanket.

“I just remembered I was supposed to get Eden to come in and eat breakfast. Laura’s going to kill us,” Ally says as she turns and heads back to the truck.

She grabs at the door handle to climb back into the truck, but can’t reach it. I place my hand on her waist. “Turn around, Ally. I’ll lift you up.”

As she turns to me I can see it in her eyes. I send her a scene from my dream and she closes her eyes, dropping her head to rest on my chest.

“You too, huh?” she asks.

I hold her hand, and we share the dreams we’ve had. They’re exactly the same.

“Why do you think this is happening?” I ask.

“I’ve no idea,” she says and looks up at me. “Last night, when I had the first dream, Eden was a physical part of it. It was awful and he was hurt.”

She touches my hand again and I see what happened between them. I feel sick at my stomach. “We need to stop this if at all possible, Al.”

Let’s get back to the house. I really don’t want Laura to be upset with us for missing her first breakfast in her new house,” she says.

I lift her up and place her on the seat of the truck. She slides all the way over.

I look over at her and can’t help but to feel awful. “Eden knows it’s not really happening, Ally. I’ll have a talk with him.”

Ally’s car is still not back when I pull into the garage. “Laura is probably fuming by now,” I say.

I take Ally by the hand again. “Come on, All. Let’s face the wrath of Laura together. Maybe that way it won’t be so bad.”

“I know we’re in trouble,” I tell Laura as we enter the kitchen.

“No, you just missed breakfast,” she tells us, rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher.

“Let me help you, Laura,” Ally says.

“No, Ally. Where the hell did you go?” Why didn’t you take me?” she asks us.

I realize I still have Ally’s hand in mine. I let go and move towards Laura, holding my arms out. She isn’t having any of that, though. “No hugs!” she snaps as she moves away from me. “Not right now. I’m mad at you two.”

“I guess you had better get a dog today. You’ll need company in the dog house,” Ally tells me.

“Oh, he’ll have plenty of company because you and Eden will be in there with him,” she snaps at Ally.

Eden opens the front door, holding a box. “I found baby ducks,” he calls out happily.

Ally almost bounces over to him. He lifts a little black duck up out of the box. “I’m naming mine Daffy,” he says as he cradles the little duck.

“That’s where you were? Buying ducks?” Laura asks.

Eden looks at her. “Yeah, why?”

“I made my first ever breakfast in my first ever house and no one showed up for it. Just me and the garbage disposal had any,” she whines.

Eden sets the box down on the bar, then reaches in to get a cute little yellow duck, taking it to her. “Please just hold this little duck, Laura. It’ll make you feel better and I promise we’ll never ever miss another one of your meals again. If you should ever decide to cook for us again, that is.”

Laura holds the little duck for a minute. A smile spreads over her face finally. She reaches out to hug Eden. “Thanks for the duck, Eden. I love it already.”

Eden brings the box over to Ally. “Would you like to choose a duck, Alyssa?”

There’s one yellow one and one black one left. “I like the little black one,” she tells him as she picks it up and holds it close to heart.

My eyes roam over her breast for a mere second before I regain my control.

We have got to get this shit under control, before we hurt everyone who’s important to us.

CHAPTER 63

EDEN

The girls wait by the fire we built near the pond so we could let the little ducklings swim. Kyle and I are in the woods, searching for more wood for it. My mate and I had a conversation about the two of them earlier and I think it’s time I had a talk with him.

“Alyssa told me about your dream,” I say. “Seems the two of you are having some fun.”

Kyle looks up at me as he reaches for another log. “Fun?” he asks. “I’d not call it that, Eden. I’d call it torture.”

“So making love to Alyssa is torture to you?” I ask.

Kyle turns his back to me as he reaches down for another piece of wood. “It’s not real, Eden.”

“My mate tells me it felt like it was,” I say. “Please, Kyle, I’d like us to have an honest relationship.”

Kyle stops looking for more things to pick up and looks me in the eye. “What do you want to know, dude?” he asks. “You want the truth?”

“Of course,” I say.

He shakes his head. “No, man, you don’t.”

I look away and watch a silk spider’s web blow in the breeze.

He’s right.

“So are we supposed to pretend it’s not happening?” I ask.

He finds a pine cone and picks it up. “Don’t ask me. This is new to me. I can promise you only one thing. I’ll never be able to get physical with your wife. Not in real life.”

“Can I ask you something?” I ask.

He nods.

“If you could and if it wouldn’t hurt anyone, would you?” I ask.

He puts down his arm full of wood and comes to me. His hand lands on my shoulder. “I love her, Eden.”

His words feel like a hammer to my heart. “I know you do.”

He gives me a quick pat and turns away. “There’s no reason to go into scenarios where we get to have our cake and eat it too,” he says, then turns back. “I mean, even if you gave us your blessing to screw the hell out of each other, we could never do that. It isn’t in any of us to hurt each other in any way.”

“I could never give my blessing for that anyway,” I say.

“Of course you couldn’t. I’d wanna whip your ass if you did,” he says with a chuckle.

“I’m sorry, you know,” I say. “I’ve told my wife plenty of times how sorry I am about not following advice which was given to me to have her brought to me when she was thirteen. Yet I’ve never told you.”

“Sorry?” Kyle asks. “What in the world is there to be sorry about? What you see as a mistake, I see as great luck for me. I’m something I could have never been, thanks to you.”

“You don’t feel mad about this in any way?” I ask.

“I did,” he says. “At first. She’s in my life forever, yet I can’t have her physically and I long to. Then I think about people who have it worse. Real victims, real disabilities, real sorrow, and real pain. What do I have? Super powers, no worry over money ever, and great people who have my back while I have theirs.”

“You’ve found the bright side,” I say as I pick up a piece of wood. “It’s a hard life I’ve made for us all.”

“No, man, it’s a great life, Eden,” he says. “Look, we can’t help what happens in our damn dreams. I’m sure plenty of other shit will be worse than Ally and I leading a dream life together. Hell, I don’t even sleep eight hours a day. So you get her all the waking hours.”

I laugh and he laughs too. “Well, at least I have her more.”

“Yeah,” he says. “And what about me? Sure, Ally and I are having a dream baby, but you and she will have actual babies, ones you can hold and watch grow up. Our dreams could end today. Your life together is real and tangible, dude.”

I nod and look up at the darkening sky through the tall pines. “Our Creator must be quite the jokester.”

The bay of a hound dog sounds out in the tall, piney woods which surround the pasture. I look at Kyle as he picks up another piece of wood for the fire. “They sound close.”

He nods. “We better get back to the girls.”

CHAPTER 64

ALYSSA

The sound of dogs prompts Laura and me to gather up the ducklings and put them in the box in the back of Kyle’s truck.

“We need to cover the box with something, like a rag or something. It’ll make them stop quacking and go to sleep,” Laura says as she reaches into the truck, retrieving a small towel.

I wink at her. “Such a good mother you will make.”

She laughs. “I can’t have kids. I have to take care of you two.”

My jaw drops. “Laura, you can have kids. When I get pregnant, you should too. That would be perfect.”

Her eyebrows go up, as do her hands. She speaks with them often. “Ally! I’m not married. I can’t promise you that.”

The tilt of my head lets her know I know better than that. “That boy would make an honest woman out of you, Laura.”

She gives me her no-nonsense look she’s so good at. “Al, I don’t know for sure that he and I will end up married. I won’t marry him just because of our commitment to you two, or if I managed to get knocked up by him either.”

“I see. Looks like this guardian thing has both of you feeling the same way. Kyle said just about the same thing to me earlier. I’ll tell you what I told him. I don’t want you two to feel like you have to be together because of this situation. Be together, or don’t. It will change nothing.”

She tucks the ducklings in and pushes the box up into the bed of the truck. “I’m glad to hear you say that. Kyle and I had a talk earlier this morning. We might give our physical relationship a break for a while.”

My eyes go wide, because who would agree to that nonsense? “Why in the hell would you do that? Whose idea was that? What are you thinking?”

“Okay, Ally, slow down on the questions,” she says as she turns to face me. “We both came to that conclusion. Kyle told me about you knowing he had trouble choosing between the two of us all the way back when he was fifteen.”

“That should help you to see he’s liked you from way back. That shouldn’t make you question how you feel about him or he feels about you now.”

Her foot kicks at the dirt as she looks down at it. “The problem is the physical aspect of it all. He never thought about me in any other way except the physical way. He wanted my body, not my mind.”

Taking her by the shoulders, I say, “He loves your mind now, though. It takes a little while to find things like that out, you know.”

She smiles at me. “You know I had started to like him about the same time he started to like you.”

“I saw things from your perspective too, Laura. I don’t know if he told you about our kiss—the one that started it all. Honestly, Laura, it was barely a kiss. His lips touched mine for a fraction of a second.”

“Well, that fraction made him decide you were the one.”

I shake my head. “No, Cody did. He told Kyle he would lose us both if he tried anything with you after that. Cody did that because he wanted to start seeing you.”

“Prick! Anyway, all Kyle and I did for the month we went back home to Cloudcroft is a lot of nothing. I hung out with his mother, as he constantly asked me to take her here or there. He stayed in his room, moping over you. The day you asked him to come to New Orleans, he perked right back up,” Laura says and looks up at the night sky. “I broke up with him for all of five minutes. Then he said the words, ‘I love you,’ and I fell back onto the Kyle train with no hesitation.”

“Then getting to know each other better will help you to develop a deeper relationship,” I say. “It may just take some time.”

“We were back at it, Ally. Once he said the magic words, we got right back in bed together and haven’t stopped, until last night. After the ceremony, he was different. He was all about you again. Not out loud, mind you, but internally. When I touched him, he ever so gently pushed me away, claiming he was tired. Just like he did when we went back home.”

Telling her about our dreams is a no go.

I send Kyle, ‘Do not under any circumstances tell Laura about our dreams. She’s not going to take it well.’ Then I send the same message to Eden.

“Have you seen us together, in the future?” she asks me.

“I haven’t seen the future that far in advance. I just saw that we would all be here and have that ceremony. Nothing past that.”

She peers at me from under her thick lashes. “Could you try to see it?”

“I don’t know how to do that, but I want you to know I think you would be crazy not to keep your relationship going just as you have been.”

“It isn’t all up to me, Ally. He has to want it too. He stayed away from me as we talked—the little that we did—about not being physical with each other for a while.”

“I think that will pass,” I say. “The commitment ceremony has him confused. I can tell. He hasn’t ever made such a commitment before. He doesn’t know what he’s feeling right now.”

“Honestly, Ally, I know he’s feeling a lot more for you again. I heard him in his sleep last night. He said, ‘Say my name, Ally,’ then a little later he said, ‘Who do you belong to, Ally.’ This was accompanied by a few groans,” she says as she rolls her eyes.

Good Lord! At least she’s not aware of what we’ve got going on. She’d have a shit fit, and leave. I’d never blame her either.

“Did he say anything to you once he woke up?” I ask.

“No, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask him about it. I guess I don’t really want to know.”

“Yeah,” I say. “He probably doesn’t even remember the dumb dream. I wouldn’t bring it up to him. That’d just be a really dumb argument, you know?”

She nods. The guys come back out of the woods with more wood for the fire, stopping our conversation. “We can talk more about this later, Laura.”

“This dude has eagle eyes,” Kyle says as he motions towards Eden. “It’s so dark out there and he just kept finding one piece of wood after another. I couldn’t see a thing.”

I look at Eden. “The bird thing?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t think so. I’ve always been able to see well in the dark.”

The sound of several hound dogs barking gets closer. “Did you see those dogs when you were out there?” Laura asks them.

“No, they seem to be getting closer,” Eden says. “I’m sure someone’s hunting raccoons or something like that. They use dogs for that type of hunting.”

The sound of one of the hounds baying comes from the tree line. Then the dog appears in the pasture, followed by more dogs and more barks.

“Um, guys, is that how they normally hunt, by coming up to people?” I ask.

Eden and Kyle turn to see the pack of around twelve dogs coming towards us from across the pasture. “Maybe we should go back inside,” I say.

The dogs start running as fast as they can towards us. I move farther back into the bed of the truck, as does Laura. The dogs are not slowing down and they begin to bark differently, like they’ve caught something.

“Eden, get in the truck,” Kyle tells him.

Eden looks at him for a second, but then does what Kyle said to. He sits on the tailgate, but has to move back quickly as one of the dogs jumps at him. Suddenly all the dogs have surrounded the truck and are barking like crazy. Kyle stands where he’s been standing all along. They don’t seem to even notice him.

“It’s the dogs from last night,” Eden tells me. “They know it’s us, Alyssa.”

A shot rings out from the edge of the pasture as several men come out of the woods. They begin to come toward us. “Laura, please climb through the back window of the truck. There’s a handgun underneath the driver’s seat. Stay in the back seat and use it if you have to,” Kyle tells her as quietly as he can over the noise of the barking dogs.

She moves quickly through the open back window, making it into the truck before the men get up to us. “I found it, Kyle,” she says.

“These your dogs?” Kyle asks the men as they approach us.

“Yep,” one of the men answers him.

“You might want to get them outta here. They’re kinda fuckin’ up our night,” Kyle says.

“They sure are barking like they treed something,” another one of the men comments.

Kyle offers an explanation, “Well, we have some baby ducks in the back of the truck, so they must think they have something, but they don’t.”

An older man asks, “Y’all are new around here?”

Kyle nods. “Yes, sir. We just moved here from Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Me and my wife are going to UT in the fall. Our friends are visiting us for a while. They helped us move in.”

“You had a big party last night,” the older man says.

“A housewarming party. Where abouts do you live, if you don’t mind me asking,” Kyle asks.

“Oh, about twenty minutes up the road. Did you people notice a loud jet airplane flying around last night?”

Kyle nods again. “We did. The noise from it broke up our party last night. Does that type of thing happen a lot around here?”

“No. I have a police scanner at home. The plane was watching something fly and lost it about right here,” the man says.

“We were all outside. We saw nothing but the loud jet plane. If he had seen something, we should have seen it too,” Kyle tells him.

“Quiet them dogs down, Jimmy!” the older man yells.

“I can’t get them to quit, Bob,” the one who must be Jimmy answers.

“I tell you what, boy. What did you say your name was anyway?” he asks.

“I’m Kyle Stevens.”

The old guy’s eyes narrow and he starts wagging his finger at Kyle. “Well, let me tell you what I think, Kyle Stevens. I think you did see something and I think you’re hiding whatever them things is.”

Kyle laughs. “Sir, I don’t know how you’re used to doing things down here in Texas. Where I come from, no one comes onto another person’s property and accuses them of such ridiculous things. Now you and your friends and this pack of dogs need to leave my property now, or I will call the police.”

“Oh, I must have forgotten to introduce myself to you, son. I am the police. My name is Sheriff Hardy. Two of these guys here are my deputies and that man over there is Judge Picket.”

Oh my God, what have we gotten ourselves into?

We’re getting off on the wrong foot immediately with the law here. I find I’m standing up before I realize what I’m doing.

“Shhh,” I say to the dogs and miraculously they all stop barking. The men all look up at me, astonished.

Kyle is dumbfounded, but somehow finds his voice. “This is Kat. She’s an animal trainer,” he offers for my feat.

“It’s a pleasure to meet such distinguished members of this community,” I say.

I walk to the back of the truck, holding my hand out for Kyle to help me down. He takes my hand and helps me jump down. The dogs all sit at once as my feet hit the ground.

“Who taught you to train animals, young lady?” the sheriff asks me.

“My grandfather back in New Mexico. He was a full-blooded Navajo.” I lie, and then I reach out to pet one of the dogs on the head.

“He might bite ya,” the guy called Jimmy cautions me.

“I highly doubt that,” I say as I stroke the top of the dog’s head, making him wag his tail.

“Would you look at that?” one of the men says under his breath.

“I think it’s time for us to be getting this fire put out and going back up to the house. Thanks for stopping by,” I say.

I motion for Eden to get down too. He comes down and stands beside me. The men seem puzzled, but call to the dogs, and begin to walk back the way they came from, mumbling as they go. One of the dogs turns around and runs back to me and Eden, wagging its tail like crazy. I pet his head, as does Eden.

I lean down to the dog. “Good boy. Now go back,” I say, and then he turns and leaves us.

Laura climbs out of the back seat of the truck and walks over to help us put the fire out. Then we get back in the truck and go up to the house.

Once inside, Kyle makes a big whooping sound. “Okay, Ally, you have to let us in on your secret. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Don’t you mean Kat,” I say with a giggle. “Where did you come up with that name?”

Kyle laughs. “I have no idea. My mind was all, what the hell is she doing? I had almost no control of what came out of my mouth.”

Eden begins to laugh. “Navajo grandfather, Alyssa? I almost laughed out loud.”

“That was terrifying,” Laura yells at us. “These people are backwoods. I mean, the sherriff and his posse can just roll up in your pasture like it’s no big deal, ask you a lot of questions, and accuse you of shit.”

Eden moves to stand beside Laura. “Laura’s right, guys. We should stop joking about this.”

“It was tense, Laura,” Kyle tells her. “We’re just trying to lessen the tension with a little laughter. Try it sometime.”

Laura’s face goes red.

Oh, hell, here it goes!

“You are a child, Kyle,” she yells and throws her arms around close to his head. “I don’t know how they could have chosen you to keep them safe. We should have gotten in the truck right away and brought them back to the house. That scene should have never happened.”

“Laura!” I shout. “Stop. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

She ignores me as she directs her anger straight at Kyle. “Then you let Ally get out of the truck. You helped her out, for God’s sakes,” she yells at him. “Those fucking dogs could’ve ripped her apart. Then what? You don’t think. You don’t fucking think!”

Kyle looks shell shocked. “Why don’t you tell me how you really feel, Laura?”

“Okay, Laura,” Eden says as he takes her hands in his, standing in front of her and looking into her eyes. “We’re all okay. That is what’s most important. I can see we need to work a lot more on how we handle situations. You’re right about the danger we put ourselves in. However, Kyle is not to blame for any of this.”

Laura shakes her head back and forth. “The hell he isn’t.”

“This is my fault, Laura. I shouldn’t have taken the chance of flying around a place that’s so close to the capital of Texas. It was dumb and reckless of me,” Eden tells her.

“You just wanted to have some fun with your wife, Eden,” she tells him. “You two have had little fun and so much more drama. You saw a chance to cut loose and you took it. The reason I’m upset with Kyle is because he needs to take this commitment to your safety seriously.”

Kyle moves towards her as he sees Eden has finally calmed her down. “I’m sorry, Laura,” Kyle tells her. “You’re right. I should’ve directed that a whole lot better. I am a little new to this, though, so cut me some slack, please.”

She smiles at Eden, then takes her hands out of his, turning to Kyle. “I’m a bitch. I know that. I’m sorry for over-reacting.”

“You are not a bitch,” Kyle tells her as he takes her in his arms. “You take your responsibilities very seriously and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Eden comes to me, putting his arm around my waist. “Let’s give them some privacy,” he whispers in my ear as he leads me quietly up the stairs.

“You want them to be happy together, don’t you?” Eden asks me as we sit on the bed in the guest room.

“I do, but we may have to get used to the fact they might not be together.”

“Why would you say that, Alyssa?”

Changing into a silky, red nightie, I glance at him as I say, “Like so many relationships, this one is built on their physical want for each other and that seldom lasts. At least, according to my mother’s theories.”

“I see. She must have confided in you,” Eden says.

“Yeah, and get this, Eden. She heard him dreaming last night. That’s why I sent you guys the message not to say anything about how he and I are sharing them.”

A knock sounds at our bedroom door. “Can I come in?” Kyle asks.

I slip under the blanket to cover myself, then Eden answers, “Yes.”

The door opens, revealing a very unhappy Kyle. “Laura left.”

I pick up my cell phone and call her, but she doesn’t answer, so I call her again. “She still isn’t answering her phone.”

“I don’t like this at all. Why would she do this?” Eden asks me.

“Do you think she’s going back to Cloudcroft?” Kyle asks me.

“I don’t know. Kyle, tell us what happened, exactly as it happened,” I say.

Kyle sits down on the bed. “I thought everything was going all right between us after that fight. Then she went all crazy again, telling me I didn’t really love her and I only wanted her for her body. Like a dumbass, I agreed with her, then she stormed out the front door.”

I shake my head. “I can’t believe you said that to her. Are you trying to get her to break up with you?”

“I’m not, Ally. It just came out of my mouth before I could stop it. You don’t know what a jackass I feel like. If she would just answer her phone, I know I could make it better,” Kyle says. “I was just kidding!”

“How long exactly do you think it was before you went outside to look for her?” Eden asks.

Kyle plays with the bottom of his shirt, something he does when he’s nervous. “I waited about thirty minutes, so she and I both could cool off. Then I walked out to see the garage door open and her car gone.”

“She never came back inside the house. Did she have her keys with her?” Eden asks him.

“The keys were in it. She left them in it. She has a very bad habit of doing that.”

“It’s just going to take her a little while to calm down. She has the credit card we gave her. She’ll probably stay at a motel and come back, or at least call one of us, in the morning,” I say.

“It’s late. Let’s get some rest. I’m sure she’ll be back before we know it,” Eden says.

“I’m going to sleep on the sofa, so I can hear her if she comes back,” Kyle tells us.

“See you in the morning, Kyle. It’s going to be okay. I love you,” I tell him as he leaves our bedroom.

He turns back to look at me. “Thanks, Ally. I love you too. Eden, I’m sorry for making more drama. You guys get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning,” Kyle tells us, then shuts our bedroom door behind him.

Eden stands up, taking my hand as he does and pulling me up as well. He turns and slips his arms around me, hugging me tightly to him. His breath tickles my neck as he nuzzles it.

I giggle a little at the sensation. His hands move up my back, pushing the straps of my nightgown down once he reaches my shoulders. The light weight of it moves off of my shoulders. The softness of his lips on my shoulder makes my knees weak.

“You are mine, Alyssa,” Eden says as his hot breath warms my neck.

My eyes fly open with his words. “Eden, don’t,” I say, but he cuts me off.

He grabs a handful of my hair, pulling it so that my neck is exposed. Suddenly his mouth is on my neck, biting me. I rake my nails down his back. He stops, then tosses me down on the bed. Quickly, he undresses. My heart is pounding in my chest.

He turns and walks out of the room, into the bathroom. I hear the shower start.

What the hell? What is he doing?

I walk into the bathroom to find him in the shower. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” he replies offhandedly.

“Eden, you started something in the bedroom. Don’t you want to finish it?”

“Do you?” he asks me.

I look down, feeling embarrassed. “Damn, Eden, do you want me to beg you or what?”

“Maybe. Why don’t you join me in here and we can see if you can convince me,” he says as he opens the glass shower door.

I step in and look up at him. “What can I do to convince you?”

A smile crosses his lips and a twinkle shines in his gorgeous emerald eyes. “I’m sure you can think of something. I have faith in your abilities, Mrs. Fontaine.”

CHAPTER 65

ALYSSA

A bright white light is shining in my eyes. Kyle is standing on one side of me. I’m so hot and sweaty. A sudden tightness wraps around my stomach. I look down to see what’s squeezing me. All I see is a light blue sheet. My legs are up in some type of a device. I can’t move them. They’re strapped down.

“You’re doing great, Ally,” Kyle tells me and then taps my forehead with a damp washcloth.

Through clenched teeth, I say, “It hurts Kyle. It hurts so badly.”

Kyle pats my leg and I feel like choking him. “Ally, it won’t be long now and she’ll be here. Just try to be tough, okay?”

My words come out a bit louder than I mean them to as I yell, “I don’t want to do this anymore. I changed my mind. It hurts too badly. I want drugs. I want them now.”

“It’s too late for that, Mrs. Stevens,” a man in a white mask who’s standing at the end of the bed tells me.

The squeezing stops and I can breathe again. “Kyle, please never do this to me again.”

Kyle leans down, kissing me on top of my head. “I’m so sorry, Ally. I thought you were ready for this. You just have to get through it. You’ll be holding your daughter before you know it.”

The squeezing starts again. “No, no, no!”

The man at the end of the bed tells me, “Mrs. Stevens, you need to breathe.”

“I can’t,” I yell at him. “Where’s my mom? I need my mom.”

Kyle holds my hand, or rather, I’m squeezing his. “She’ll be here as soon as she can. You went into labor earlier than expected. Don’t you remember, Al?”

The pain eases up and Kyle takes his hand away from me, rubbing it. I look at my hand, which has an IV in it. It’s not him who has to endure this pain. He’s just standing there, feeling nothing. This isn’t fair. And the squeezing starts again.

The doctor glances at me over the sheet. “I can see the top of her head,”

Kyle smiles and it makes me want to smack that smile right off his face. “Okay, Al, it’s almost over.”

On top of the squeezing, I feel an uncontrollable need to push. “I have to push,” I yell.

The doctor looks at me and says, “Not yet.” He’s completely messing up my world.

“What?” I yell.

Kyle puts his hand in mine and kisses my forehead. “Ally, just do what the doctor tells you.”

This is all too much. Neither one of them feels this pain or this urgency to push. “Fuck you both, I’m pushing.”

The doctor’s tone is stern as he says, “The cord is wrapped around your baby’s neck. If you push before I unwrap it, you’ll choke her.” His words take the little bit of air I had in my lungs away.

Pressure on my shoulder makes me look up at Kyle. His jaw is set and his tone commanding as he says, “Alyssa, get ahold of yourself. That’s our daughter. You can do what you have to so she doesn’t get hurt.”

The squeezing and the need to push fade away. Tears stream down my cheeks. “Oh my God! Hurry, before it starts again. I won’t be able to stop myself again.”

Kyle takes the washcloth and wipes my tears away. “You can do this, Al. I have faith in you. Our daughter needs you right now. Control yourself for her.”

The massive pressure builds again. I squeeze Kyle’s hand. “Jesus, Kyle, it hurts not to push. You did this to me. I hate you! I hate you so much, you fucking bastard! You better never come near me again. I’ll fucking kill you!” I scream as the pain wracks my body.

The doctor finally sets me free as he says, “Okay, Mrs. Stevens, the cord is free. You can push now.”

I let my body do what I’ve stopped it from and feel relief immediately. Then the urge passes. I breathe in several times and then feel the tightness begin again. I push as soon as the urge hits me. Suddenly I feel a relief and hear a cry.

“You did it, Alyssa. She’s here,” Kyle says softly to me as he leans down to kiss my forehead.

“Mr. Stevens, would you like to cut the umbilical cord?” the doctor asks him.

He looks at me. “You okay?”

I manage to nod weakly. He lets my hand go and goes to the end of the bed. I lay my head back. I’m exhausted.

How in the hell do women do this shit over and over again?

“Look who I have here, Momma,” Kyle says as he walks back up to my side, holding a red-faced, little, wrinkly, black-haired thing.

He puts her on my chest and I raise my arms to hold her. “So you’re Junior. You just about made me hate my husband,” I say.

Kyle laughs. “Not ‘just about.’ I’m pretty sure you’ve hated me for the last few hours.”

I smile at him, then look back at the little human we created. “Thank you, Kyle. Thank you for this. She’s precious.”

A nurse wearing scrubs with baby ducks all over the shirt comes into my view. “We need to take the baby for a little while, to make sure she’s fine.”

Kyle takes the little, wrinkly, red baby and hands her to the nurse. “Bye, Kyla. See you soon,” he says.

My heart fills up with so much love for him. “I love you, Kyle. I’m sorry I turned into a super bitch.”

“You weren’t a super bitch, Al. You were just a big, wimpy baby,” he teases me.

“A big baby? Watch yourself, boy.”

His sky blues eyes twinkle and he moves closer to me. “Can I give my wife a kiss?”

“You need permission now?” I ask him.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare touch you without permission,” he says with a grin.

I manage a smile. “Yes, Kyle, you can kiss your wife.”

His lips touch mine softly. My heart beats hard in my chest. I move my hand up to pull him to me, kissing him harder.

He pulls away slowly. “I love you, Alyssa Stevens.”

“Time to get up, Alyssa,” a smooth, velvety voice whispers in my ear.

I open my eyes to see emerald green eyes looking down into mine. “Good morning, Eden.”

I’m wrapped in his arms as he looks down at me. “I had to wake you up. I was getting a little uncomfortable with your dream.”

I drop my eyes. “I’m sorry, Eden.”

“No need to apologize. It’s not your fault,” Eden tells me, then he gets up out of bed.

I pick up my phone and call Laura again. It goes straight to voice mail. It’s still early. Maybe she’s still mad. I decide to get up and get dressed. My body hurts. I can’t tell if it’s from my dream, or if Eden and I got too rough with each other last night.

I meet Eden downstairs. He and Kyle are eating muffins. “Good morning,” I call out to them as I enter the kitchen.

Kyle smiles at me, then looks at Eden. “I don’t envy you being the father of her children and having to be with her through all that. She wasn’t very pleasant to deal with during the delivery of the baby. I can still feel the pain in my hand from her squeezing it,” Kyle tells him.

Eden’s eyebrows raise. “Can you really feel that?”

Kyle nods. “Unfortunately, the answer is yes. That’s going to be a problem if this continues.”

“Kyle, those feelings are not real. You have to come to terms with that,” I say as I go to sit on the stool at the breakfast bar with them. I wince when I try to sit down.

Damn it! It hurts so bad!

“Not so fast, Alyssa,” Eden stops me. “Let’s get you to the sofa.”

“The dreams aren’t real,” I say as Eden and Kyle help me to half-sit, half-lay on the sofa. “Kyle, we have to stop giving in to these feelings.”

“Are you finding it so easy to do?” Eden asks me.

“No, it isn’t easy, but it has to be done. That life might have been one we would’ve had, but then again, it might be a figment of my imagination,” I say as I move a pillow under my aching ass.

Damn, this is insane!

Kyle looks at me, then sits next to me, searching my eyes for answers I don’t have. “How could I have the same dreams then?”

I take his hand in mine, stroking his knuckles with my thumb. “I’ve no idea. Nothing which has happened to me in the last few months can be logically explained. Perhaps it’s just my dreams and you’re picking up on them telepathically.”

He pulls my hand up to his chest, placing it on his heart. “Then why do I feel like this? Why does it hurt that I can’t hold that little girl right now? I miss her and want to see her again. I want to go back to sleep and back to that world.”

I reposition myself on the sofa, my ass is aching and my stomach sore. “Eden woke me up when we kissed. Is that where the dream ended for you?”

He lets my hand go and looks away. “Yes, I woke up too.” He runs a hand through his blonde curls. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about our dreams at all.”

“I don’t know,” Eden says. “Maybe they should be discussed. Things should never go ignored. We wouldn’t resolve anything if we ignored things and hoped they’d go away.”

Kyle is so close to me. His leg touches mine and I have to fight the urge to reach for him. I want to be wrapped up in his arms and feel the comfort I know is there. “I don’t think there’s much for us to discuss. Kyle was there, I was there, and even you were there for all but one of the dreams. No need to talk about it too.”

His hand touches my arm and my eyes shoot to his. Kyle sees what his presence is doing to me and gets up, moving away from me. “We don’t have to talk about them if it bothers you, Al.”

I watch him move clear across the room. “I hope it doesn’t hurt you, Kyle, but it makes me feel bad that I’m cheating on my husband in my dreams. I don’t ever want to hurt Eden. He’s everything to me.”

Eden comes to my side and sits in the spot Kyle vacated. His hand runs up and down my arm, making me grow warm inside. “Alyssa, you have no control over this. I don’t want for you to feel bad about it. Just like anything else in life, I would hope you’d embrace it and learn everything you can from it.”

I look up at him. “You’re crazy mature, Eden. I wouldn’t be so open to this if it was you dreaming about being married to someone else.”

The no-nonsense expression he wears makes me feel worse somehow as he says, “How would you change it?”

How would I?

Placing my hand on top of his, I stop him from moving it over my arm. I take his hand and place it on my stomach. “I couldn’t, could I?”

His eyes move to look at his hand lying on my flat stomach. “Acceptance is the key to moving forward with life and learning all you can as you go along the way. You’ve been given a gift. You get to see what could have been. Explore that. Not many people get to.”

Kyle sits in the chair across from us. “Dude, that sounds wise.”

I laugh at his words. “Yeah, he’s wise and exceptionally good natured. We should all strive to be a little more like him.”

Then Eden goes and acts so unlike himself, I feel as if I’m in another world. His hand goes up, he leans towards Kyle, and the two bump fists. “It’s crazy, guy! Like, as long as I touch my mate, I can see the dream and it’s real. But I’m like a spectator. That baby was so cute!”

My eyes go wide and I look at my husband. “Eden?”

He looks back at me and grins. “She was.” Then his eyes move to Kyle. “Alyssa was pretty cranky through the whole thing. I’ll make sure she has plenty of pain killers when she and I have our children.”

Kyle laughs and rubs his hand. “Hell, yeah, guy. As much as they’ll allow.”

I groan as I pull myself up to a sitting position, which hurts, but I can’t take these jokers anymore. “Let either one of you feel that horrible pain and I bet you’d be cussing like a sailor and throwing things at the person who got you in that spot. I think I handled it all pretty well, considering how many times I thought about doing some pretty bad things to you, Kyle.”

He smiles at me with that million-dollar grin. “I am aware of all you thought, even in the dream world, Al. Choke me?”

I nod and get up slowly and painfully.

I will not be wanting to experience real childbirth anytime soon!

“Okay, let’s lighten this up, then, shall we?” I say. “I need to call Laura’s mother to see if she went home.”

The phone rings several times before Laura’s mother answers it. “Hello.”

“Hi, Mrs. Tanner. This is Ally.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Why do you ask that?” I ask her.

“It’s awfully early and Laura hasn’t called me in two days.”

“Oh, I see. I was hoping you’d heard from her. She and Kyle got into a little argument and she left. I thought she might be on her way back home.”

“How would she get here? Did you send her on that plane?”

“No, she took her car.”

“What car?” she asks.

“Oh, we gave her a car. Don’t worry. I’m sure she’ll cool off today and come back, or call, or something. I just wanted to be sure she wasn’t up there before we started looking for her around here.”

“You gave her a car?” she asks.

“Yes, I’m sure she wants to tell you all about that. If she calls you, please let me know.”

“You do the same for me.”

“Yes ma’am, I will. Talk to you soon,” I say, and then hang up.

“Not there either, huh?” Kyle asks me.

I shake my head. “Let’s give her until this evening. If we don’t hear from her, we can figure out what else we need to do. She can be really stubborn.”

Kyle looks distracted, yet not all that concerned, as he says, “You know her best.”

I watch for his reaction as I say, “No matter how mad she is, or why, she’ll realize she can’t just turn her back on us. It’ll just take her some time, I guess.”

Eden rises and moves towards me. “Alyssa, maybe you should take a ride around town and see if you can find her car at a motel or something. If you can find her, you can talk her into calming down and coming back.”

“Alone?” I ask him.

“You have the GPS system. You’ll be fine,” Kyle says. “Go look for her, Alyssa.”

I head up the stairs to get my things. “Okay, then. I’ll grab my purse and keys and see you two later. I might stop and pick up some steaks or something to cook later.”  

CHAPTER 66

ALYSSA

I drop the top on my BMW. The air feels cool and crisp. I’ve not driven the car very much at all. I turn up my radio and breathe in the fresh air. The pine trees that line the driveway give off an aroma that makes me feel at home, just like they do back in Cloudcroft. It’s hard to believe such a small amount of time has passed since we were there.

A small motel sign pops up as I drive down the road. It’s not far from the house. I pull into the parking lot, but her car isn’t there. I drive further down the road and find another little motel, but her car isn’t here either.

What is up with her? Why is she so mad? How can she do this to Kyle?

A small grocery store is up ahead. I pull into the parking lot. It’s such a small town that I decide I can leave the top down on the car as I run in. The small store has a pretty good meat market. I find several steaks quickly, then get some potatoes to bake and some fresh green beans.

“Will that be all for you today?” the lady at the cash register asks me.

“Yes, thank you,” I answer her.

I look out the glass front of the building and see a police car driving slowly as it passes behind my car. “Can I ask you something?” I ask the lady.

“Yes,” she answers.

“Do you happen to know the sheriff?”

“He’s my uncle,” she tells me.

“Oh! Then it is safe to say he’s a stand-up kind of person, right?” I ask, not believing how small this town is.

“He’s the best. Why do you ask?” she asks me.

“He was just driving by my car. Just being curious,” I answer her.

She looks out the glass wall. “That’s a nice car. He was probably just admiring it,” she says.

I smile at her. “I’m sure that’s it. Thanks,” I say as I walk away from her.

I drive through the little town, looking for Laura’s car. I notice the same police car turns out onto the road behind me. It follows me for three blocks. I decide I should go back to the house. I’m careful to follow all of the speed limits and use my turn signals. The damn sheriff stays some ways behind me all the way back tp the house. Just as I turn into the driveway and push the code on the gate to open it, the lights on the police car turn on.

The gates open. I want to drive in and close them behind me, but I’m a little bit afraid to. The sheriff gets out of his car and walks up to the side of my car. He seems to be purposely taking his time before he tells me why he’s bothering me.

“Sir, can you tell me why you’re stopping me?” I ask him.

Pulling down his dark sunglasses, he glares at me. “I’ll ask the questions, young lady.”

I turn my head to look forward. “Okay, then, what questions do you have for me?”

“Can you understand me? I will ask you the questions. Now be quiet,” he says.

I close my eyes. I just remembered Kyle told him my name is Kat. If he wants to see my driver’s license, he’ll know it’s not the truth and that won’t be good. Not good at all. I picture Kyle’s face in my mind and then call his name out in my head. I open my eyes and look at the gate.

“I need you to step out of the car,” the sheriff tells me.

I turn to look at him. “Why?”

“I’ll tell you only once more. I need you to step out of the car,” he says, then puts his hand on his gun, which hangs on a belt around his waist.

I laugh at his actions. “You must be crazy. You can’t pull a gun on me just because I won’t do what you say. You’ve not given me any reason as to why you’ve even pulled up behind me.”

I hear Kyle’s truck start up from the garage. It’s loud. To my surprise, the sheriff moves his hand off of the gun. He moves away from my car and goes back toward his.

“I’ll let this go for now, missy,” he says, and then gets into his car and pulls away before Kyle can make it all the way out to us.

I pull through the gates as Kyle’s truck comes into sight. I see that he’s alone in the truck. I drive past him and motion for him to follow me. I pull up in front of the house and he pulls back into the garage. I walk into the front door with my bag of groceries.

Eden meets me at the door. “What the hell happened? Kyle said he heard you calling him and saw the front entrance in his head. What is that about?”

Before I can answer him, Kyle walks into the side door from the garage. “Did I see a police car driving off, Al?”

“A police car?” Eden asks.

“The sheriff followed me out here and then turned on his lights just as I pulled into the driveway. I did nothing wrong. I felt like he was going to try and take me in or something. I pictured Kyle in my head and called to him. I didn’t call to you, Eden, because I couldn’t have you in danger of being taken into custody,” I tell them.

“You did the right thing, Al,” Kyle tells me.

“I thought so. I was taking a gamble it would even work,” I tell him.

Eden unpacks the bag of groceries and says, “Maybe you should try to telecommunicate with Laura.”

“I can try. I’ll go up to our bedroom and try to concentrate. I bought steaks for you guys to cook out on the grill later this evening. Can you put this stuff up while I go try to communicate with her?”

I go upstairs to our bedroom and lay down on the bed. I see Laura’s face in my head. I call her name over and over again in my mind. I can’t hear anything back. I can’t be sure this is working.

I have to stop myself from thinking about how it might not work. I sit up and hold my hands up to my head. I try to see her face again. An image of her with tears streaming down her face comes into focus. I open my eyes, then get up and run down the stairs.

“I saw her with tears streaming down her face. I think it’s time to ask for help,” I say. “We need to ask our security team to find her.”

Eden stands up and takes out his cell phone as he walks out the back door to make the call. I look over at Kyle. “She will get over this. She’s really madder at herself than at you,” I enlighten him.

“I doubt that, Al,” he says, sadly.

Eden comes back in. “You won’t believe this.”

“What?” Kyle and I ask at the same time.

“Her car has a tracking device. I should’ve thought about that before, but I didn’t. Anyway, she’s right down the road. You won’t believe where,” he says.

“Eden, just tell us,” I say.

“Sheriff Hardy’s house,” he tells us.

“How can that be?” I ask.

Kyle stands up. “I’ll go get her. You two stay here.”

“Wait, Kyle. One of our security guys works in Austin as a bodyguard for the governor. He’s coming out to take care of the situation,” Eden tells him.

“So we have to wait?” Kyle asks.

“It won’t be long, Kyle,” Eden assures him.

“I’ll make some sweet tea while we wait,” I say.

“Why would Laura be at the sheriff’s house?” Kyle asks us.

“I have no idea,” Eden answers him.

“We will know shortly, Kyle. Just try to relax until then. I found some chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge. I’m going to make some cookies. Come help me, Kyle,” I tell him, trying to distract him.

“I guess I should find out where everything is in here. I don’t want Laura to have to do all of the cooking,” Kyle says.

“The cookie sheets should be under the cabinet, Kyle. I’ll pre-heat the oven.”

“I’ll be out back by the pool. I need to call our parents and let them know how things are going,” Eden tells us, then walks out of the back door.

I finish making the tea, then pour Kyle a glass. “Here, have some tea. It’ll calm your nerves.”

“Thank you, Al. Thanks for understanding. I feel like I’m going crazy here. I can’t figure anything out about any of this. It makes no sense why Laura would be over there,” Kyle says as he puts the tray of cookies into the oven.

“I know it’s confusing, to say the least. I mean, why in the hell didn’t the sheriff say anything to me about that?” I ask.

“It doesn’t make any sense at all. I just want it over soon,” he says.

The back door opens and Eden walks in. “He’s here.”

As we walk out the front door, a black suburban drives up. A well-built man wearing a black suit gets out of the car. Eden walks over to him as Kyle and I hang back.

“What do you mean, she’s in jail?” Eden shouts at the bodyguard. Kyle and I look at each other, then get closer so we can hear everything.

“The sheriff said she left here last night and he happened to be driving down the road on his way home. She pulled out of the gate here and sped down the road in front of him. She appeared to be drunk, so he had his deputy, who was riding with him, take her car to his house and he took her to jail,” the bodyguard, Jake, tells us.

“I don’t understand why she hasn’t called anyone to tell them that,” I say.

“The sheriff said the judge deemed her a flight risk. She was apparently very hostile towards Sheriff Hardy, hitting him repeatedly. The judge has not set her bail yet. They won’t let her make any calls until that time. They also have her in isolation so she can’t hurt anyone,” Jake says.

“This is ridiculous. We need a lawyer. That sheriff, a couple of his deputies, and a judge were here last night. They have an idea that we’re hiding what the jet was chasing,” Eden says.

“Then she needs to be out of there as soon as possible, before they get her to talk,” Jake tells us.

“She won’t say anything about that. She takes her responsibility seriously. She would never give up any information about them,” Kyle says.

“I am sure she would never deliberately give up any information. Unfortunately, drugs could be used to get the truth out of her,” Jakes says.

“Jesus,” Kyle says as he begins to pace back and forth.

I look at Eden, then turn to take Kyle back into the house. “Come on, Kyle,” I tell him. “Let’s go back inside. Your cookies are probably done.”

He follows me in. “This is bad, Ally. I just want her back here. What if they drug her? I can’t take that. This is my fault because I’m a mess up.”

“Kyle, stop that. This is no one person’s fault. Blame is not what needs to be done. We need to focus and take care of business. I’m positive we have lawyers who will get her out quickly. Have faith.”

Kyle looks at me, then hugs me tightly. “I love her, Ally. I know it now for sure because this is killing me.”

“I know you do. We’ll get her out,” I tell him.

Eden comes in the front door. “A lawyer is coming to see what he can get done. This is a bad situation, with the damn police department as well as the judge being against us. We’ll get her out, though, so don’t worry about that,” he tells us.

“Kyle, turn off the oven and take out the cookies, then let’s go get her car,” I say.

“Alyssa, I don’t think …” Eden says.

“I want to see this man,” I say.

Kyle looks at me. “Ally, there’s no way we can let you do that. You could end up in there as well. These are not people to think you can control.”

“We need to get her car back. That’s all I’m talking about. Let’s go get it,” I say.

“Don’t get out of the car, Alyssa,” Eden tells me as we pull up at the sheriff’s house.

I look over at Kyle, who’s sitting right next to me in his tall new truck. “You walk up there with him and don’t get back into this truck until he’s out the driveway,” I order him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Kyle says.

Then I turn to Eden, who’s sitting on the other side of me. “Picture the dogs in your head, They’ll immediately calm down.”

The minute both Kyle and Eden are out of the truck, the front door opens. An older woman is standing at the door and a large German Shepard stands in front of her.

“What do you want?” the lady shouts.

“We’re here to pick up this car. It’s my wife’s,” Kyle tells her.

“That girl ain’t your wife. My husband, the sheriff, told me that. So why’d you lie to him?” she asks.

“She is my wife. I don’t know why he would tell you anything different. I just need to pick up the car. I don’t want to upset you or anything,” Kyle says.

“You ain’t upsetting me, boy. You go on ahead and take that car. It ain’t mine. I’ll tell you one thing, though. You’re starting things out all wrong here,” she says.

“I don’t mean to be doing that, ma’am,” Kyle says, then motions for Eden to take the car.

Eden starts to walk towards the car and the dog standing in front of the lady begins to bark. “He don’t like you,” the lady tells Eden.

I focus on the dog and he stops barking. Eden continues towards the car, getting in and starting it. He drives past me as he leaves the driveway.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Kyle says to the lady, then walks back to the truck.

I see the lady lean down and say something to the dog, then it takes off running towards Kyle. She must have given it an attack command. I open the door and jump out, running towards the dog as Kyle moves quickly towards the truck.

“Get back in the truck, Alyssa,” he yells at me.

I stop, standing perfectly still as the dog stops in front of me, growling and barking. I look up to see the lady has shut the door. I see the curtain pulled back some, I guess so she can see out.

“Be quiet,” I tell the dog in a hushed voice.

The dog stops barking and turns his head sideways as if asking me how I did that. “Go back to the house,” I tell it. He turns and trots back towards the house.

I turn to go back to the truck. Kyle’s waiting for me. He picks me up, putting me in the truck on the driver’s side. “Eden is going to kill me,” Kyle says under his breath.

“That dog wasn’t going to hurt me. You, on the other hand, were fixing to get torn up,” I say.

“I could’ve outrun it,” he says.

“Just say thanks, Kyle.”

He looks at me with a frown. “Thanks, dog whisperer.”

CHAPTER 67

KYLE

My cell phone rings as we approach the gate to our house. “Hello, Eden. Yeah, we’ll go right over there,” I say, then hang up the phone.

Ally looks over at me from the passenger seat of my truck. “What did he say?”

“Eden said the lawyer is at the jail and we can go over there now.”

Alley asks, “Is he going too?”

“He’s almost there now,” I say.

When we arrive at the jail, we see the lawyer talking to Laura through a thick glass window. Her eyes fly up as we walk in. I turn to look for Eden and find him standing up by the wall with a frown on his face.

I walk up to her. Laura puts her hand on the glass and I press mine up to hers through the glass. She wears a pained expression.

“Is she all right?” I ask the lawyer.

“Not really. She’s been sick,” the lawyer tells me. “Here, you can talk to her through this phone. I have to talk to the sheriff.”

Ally walks up to the glass. Tears are rolling down Laura’s face. “Tell her we’ll do everything we can. She’ll be out soon,” she says.

I tell her what Ally said and Laura tells me, “I know that. I need you all to pray for me. I’m afraid they might be poisoning me. I’ve been throwing up a lot.”

Now I see red. “Have you told them you’re sick?”

She nods.

Ally asks, “Are they asking her a lot of questions?”

I ask Laura Ally’s question and she answers, “Not a lot. Just a couple of them. They want to know what flew to our house and where they are now. They said they won’t let me out until I tell them.”

Eden walks up and says, “We’ll figure this out.”

A lady in a uniform comes and takes Laura away. Laura looks back at us as tears flow down her cheeks. I’m trying so hard to stay strong for her, giving her a smile as she’s lead away before we turn and walk out of the room.

Ally almost runs into the sheriff.

“See you finally came looking for your little friend,” he says.

Ally looks up at him and says, “Do you not have a conscience?”

Eden and I go to her side, trying to keep her from getting herself in trouble.

“You should watch how you speak to me, young lady,” he tells her.

Ally looks him right in the eye and says, “You should watch who you mess with, sheriff. You’re in over your head. You just haven’t realized it yet. Let her go and you can avoid a lot of trouble.”

His demeanor changes some and he says, “You think you’re pretty tough. You might know how to get animals to do what you want them to, with that commanding attitude. Unfortunately for you, I am no animal. My brain works on its own.”

Eden tugs at her to leave. “Come on, Kat. Let’s go.”

Ally holds her ground and keeps her eyes on the sheriff’s. “It would seem you’re determined to underestimate us, sheriff. It’s a shame you want to do things this way.”

Eden manages to pull her away and I follow behind them. Looking back at the sheriff, I say, “You might think about letting my wife go. I hate to see what will happen to you if you don’t. You’ve made Kat mad and that never turns out well. The last guy who did ended up in a mental institution. Make wise choices, sheriff.”

The sun shines brightly as we walk out the doors. I blink and shield my eyes as Eden pulls Ally to Laura’s car. “I’m going to talk to the lawyer. Please just sit in the car and don’t talk to anyone. You’re going to get yourself locked up, Alyssa,” he tells her as he sits her down in the car and seat belts her in, then hands her the keys. “Start the car. I’ll be right back.”

I get in my truck and head back to the house. My mind is flying with what we need to do to get her out of there and to teach these idiots a lesson. They can’t be allowed to do this to people. I can’t wait for the legal system.

Eden and Ally are right behind me. I wait for Eden, then we walk up to the front door. “What did you think about what the lawyer said?” I ask.

“I think what he has planned will take a while,” Eden answers.

“I want these people to understand that messing around with things which are beyond their imagination is a dumb thing to do,” Ally says as she walks in and grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge.

I lean past her to grab a bottle of water myself and say, “Ally, you have to simmer down.”

Eden takes her hand in his. “Your temper is as bad as your jealous streak. You have to make decisions with a calm mind. Don’t let blind fury run you or you’ll make mistakes, and that could cost you and me both.”

“I hate it, but I think we have to wait for the lawyer to do this the legal way,” I say as I sit down on the sofa.

“We could do that, or we can give them what they want,” Eden says.

I look at Eden. “You can’t mean that.”

“They want the birds. They can have the birds,” Eden states flatly, then pulls out his cellphone and makes a call.

CHAPTER 68

EDEN

I hear the rattling sound of a truck coming up the driveway. I shout out to Kyle and Alyssa, “They’re here.”

I head out the door as my mate grabs a flashlight and shouts back at Kyle, “Come on, Kyle, hurry up! We have to get them into the barn!”

“I’m right behind you,” he tells her as he picks up his flashlight.

A member of our organization has brought us the much-needed diversion that will get Laura out of jail. I jump into the truck with the man and show him to the back of the property and the barn, where we get out of his truck.

Kyle jumps out of his truck and helps my wife down. “You’re a freakin’ genius!” he says.

“I have to agree with, Kyle. Your resources seem to be unlimited. Who else can make a phone call to the San Diego Zoo in California and get a pair of California Condors delivered to their door in a matter of hours?” Alyssa says.

“Um, you could,” I remind her.

She blinks at me a few times, then says, “Oh, yeah, but I didn’t even think of it. Being brought up normal has been a real drawback for me.”

“No, it hasn’t,” Kyle says as he jogs up to her, putting his arm around her shoulders. “You met me by being normal. I’m not a drawback. I’m an enhancement.”

She laughs at him as the truck backs up to the barn doors. “Time to see if these birds can get along with us,” I say.

“We need to keep it dark for them. They can get upset pretty easily,” Leo, the man from the zoo who is wearing khaki shorts and a shirt, tells us.

“This is Leo,” I say, introducing him. “This is my wife, Alyssa and one of our guardians, Kyle.”

The man smiles at us. “It’s good to meet you. I’m really interested to see if you two can communicate with Lucy and Ricky.”

“Those are their names?” I ask.

“Yeah, and I want to be really clear that we have to get this done tonight. I can’t have these guys away for long. I’m supposed to be taking them to the vet. They have to be back by tomorrow evening,” Leo tells us as he lowers the wooden door on the crate, revealing a large metal cage with two massive black birds in it.

Alyssa sucks in her breath and says, “They’re so large and a little scary looking.”

I reach out my hand to touch the cage. “Hi guys,” I whisper.

The larger bird comes towards my hand. “That’s Ricky, the male,” Leo whispers.

To my amazement, the bird leans its head to touch my hand. I release my breath. Then I reach my other hand out behind me, gesturing for my mate to take my hand. She does and giggles quietly, then says, “I immediately felt the fast pace of the bird’s heartbeat.”

The female bird comes closer to us. Alyssa puts her hand out for the bird to come touch if she wants to. The bird presses her face against the cage. Alyssa touches her face and says, “Her face is bumpy. I can feel the bird’s anticipation of what’s going to happen.”

“They will work with us,” I say quietly.

“This is amazing,” Leo says. “Let’s get them out of the cage then.”

Leo opens the cage door slowly. I stand in front of Kyle, just to be sure they don’t find him a threat in any way. They walk out of the cage cautiously, looking at their surroundings.

I look at Kyle. “Time to go get the sheriff.”

Kyle backs out of the barn slowly. I can hear the truck start outside, then he drives off. I say a little prayer that this farce works. Then my attention is drawn back to the large birds as they walk in a circle around us.

I slowly hold both of my hands out and begin to turn the opposite direction they’re going in. They turn around to go in the same direction we are.

“Amazing,” Leo mutters.

I stop and so do they. I turn Alyssa and myself to walk away from them and they follow us.

“They’re ready to go outside and fly,” I tell Leo.

I see Leo make the sign of the cross over himself. “I hope you have them in control. I’ll be killed if I lose these birds,” Leo tells us.

I smile at him. “Don’t worry.”

Leo walks back to the large barn doors and opens them. Alyssa and I walk toward the open doors as they follow us. I feel the cool night air on my face as we leave the security of the barn. The birds are feeling a little confused by the freedom we’re allowing them.

“They’ve never flown freely?” Alyssa asks.

“No, they haven’t,” Leo answers.

“How sad to be a bird and never get to use your power of flight,” she says.

“Well, they get to fly tonight,” I say as I raise my free hand up high over my head. “Raise your hand, Alyssa.”

She does as I do and we continue to walk forward into the dark night. The birds take off running past us, one on each side of us. Then they pull up into the air. Both of them shriek at the same time. I find I’m smiling like a child.

I look at my mate. “This is cool.” I begin to turn us around slowly. “Keep your arm raised until we want them to land.”

They follow our movements up in the air. I see car lights coming down the dirt road. “Here they come. I pray this works,” I mutter, mostly to myself.

Kyle’s truck pulls up, followed by another truck. Kyle gets out of his truck as the sheriff and two of the guys from the other night get out of the other one.

“You have to be really quiet,” Kyle tells them.

“Okay, let’s bring them down,” I whisper to Alyssa.

We drop our arms slowly. The birds come in to land, running up to us and stopping just in front of us. I turn us to face the group of men.

“Time to put on a show,” I say quietly. “Raise your arm, pointing to just over their heads.”

She does as I say. The birds run past us, right at the men, then pull up to fly inches over their heads. Their majestic ten-foot wingspans and the wind they create blow the cowboy hat off of the sheriff’s head.

“Shit,” one of the guys shouts as he ducks down.

“They’re huge!” The sheriff says, with excitement in his voice.

“So, you see, Sheriff Hardy, that’s what we’ve been hiding. A pair of escaped California Condors. This is Leo. He’s here to pick them up and take them back to the wildlife park they escaped from,” Kyle tells them as Leo walks up to the group.

“Hi, guys. They’re pretty cool, huh?” Leo says.

“I’ve never seen birds that big,” the other guy tells Leo.

“I bet you haven’t. They aren’t found in this area. These two accidently missed out on getting their wings clipped and ended up taking off one night. We’ve been missing them for about a month. We were sure they would never make it out on their own,” Leo tells them.

“Why was it so secretive?” the sheriff asks him.

“I have to be truthful with you. It was my doing. I’ve been covering up their absence, hoping to find them. I met Kat and Koby a while back when they came to a training seminar. I called them and many other trainers to help me find the birds,” he answers.

“So you made them keep it a secret that they’d found them?” the sheriff asks him.

Leo nods his head yes. “I would lose my job if the truth came out. I had to make up a reason to come all the way down here. It took me several days to get the time off and drive here with a cage to take them back home with. I hope you don’t turn me in. I didn’t want to tell anyone I didn’t have to about this. But these guys tell me you have their friend’s wife in custody.”

“I had to do whatever it took to get to the bottom of this. I live here, you know?” the sheriff says.

Alyssa and I drop our hands, bringing in the birds once again. They come in just over their heads. They land, then come to us, stopping in front of us. We turn to walk back into the barn and the birds follow us. Once in the barn, I turn to the birds.

“Thank you for helping us out,” I tell them.

“Time to go back home, Lucy and Ricky,” Alyssa tells them as we walk to the door of the cage. The birds walk into the cage, then turn around to look at us.

As I close the door to the cage, Alyssa says, “I hate that we have to send them back into captivity.”

“It’s for a good cause, Alyssa. The conservation program is bringing them back from near extinction. Ricky and Lucy are helping to increase the California Condor population,” I explain.

She takes a deep breath and sighs. “Bye, guys.”

I hold my hand out to them. They both come to touch my hand with their bumpy faces. My mate touches them too, wishing them a safe journey.

Leo comes back into the barn. “I think it worked, guys. They all just left to go to the jail.”

I smile at him, then Alyssa walks to him, giving him a hug. “I can’t thank you enough, Leo. We’re going to come see you at work soon.”

I shake his hand and laugh. “Thanks so much for all of your help. You are a great actor.”

“I guess those acting lessons paid off after all,” Leo tells us.

“When you get back, you’ll find that The Phoenix Foundation has given a generous grant to your California Condor Program, as well as a generous grant to you for all of your help,” I tell him.

“That’s really not necessary, guys,” he says. “I’d do anything to keep your secret.”

I smile at him. “Your protection is greatly appreciated by us. Please accept our gifts to you. It would make us happy.”

“Thank you, I will,” Leo says, then closes up the wooden door on the bird’s crate.

He gets back into his truck and waves goodbye to us. “Come on, Alyssa. Let’s walk up to the house,” I say as I take her hand and lead her up the dirt road.

She puts her head on my shoulder as we walk back up to the house in the darkness. “You handled that situation really well, Eden.”

“Kicking ass and taking names isn’t always the best thing to do,” I say, then laugh a little.

“I guess I was a little bit ready to go to war with these people,” she admits.

“You have to learn to take some time to completely assess the situation before you make a conclusion about how to handle it,” I say.

“You’re so mature. I’m lucky to have you,” she says.

I stop, taking her hand and touching my lips to it. “I’m the lucky one, Mrs. Fontaine,” I say as I take her arms and wrap them around my neck, then place my hands on her waist. “I love you so much, Alyssa. I feel closer to you every day. You have no idea what you mean to me.”

She smiles up at me. “I have some idea. You mean everything to me, Eden. I couldn’t love anyone more than I love you.”

I continue to lead her up the road to the house. “I can’t wait for Laura to be back,” she says.

“You know that Kyle is going to ask her to marry him some day, right?” I ask.

“No, I don’t know that,” she says. “And with my connection to him, I’d be the first to know if he even had that thought for a micro-second.”

“Will it bother you if he does?” I ask.

“It’s a bit soon for them to take that step. Look how badly they can fight. It might not be the right thing for them to do, at least not right now,” she says.

“You do know you care more for Kyle than you do Laura, right?” I ask.

A long sigh comes from her. “No, that’s not really true. Laura is just as important to me as he is. Though if she knew about our little dream-life, I doubt she’d be too thrilled with me. I know Kyle and I both know our lives are better on this path, rather than that one.”

“I know, but you two fall asleep and have a different life. Who’s to say when it’ll stop happening,” I say.

“Do you think it’ll continue, even though we both think our lives are better this way?” she asks.

“I don’t know, Alyssa,” I tell her as we approach the house. “I do know it’ll be hard for Laura to handle. It was difficult for me at first.”

She drops her head. “Maybe you shouldn’t touch me at night if it bothers you, as it’s something I can’t help,” she says as I open the door.

I laugh a little. “I can’t not touch you when we sleep. That’s impossible. I’m fine with it now anyway. At least Laura doesn’t have to be a witness to your dream lives. You should limit your discussions about what all went on in the dreams, though. At least with her.”

She nods. “I’m sorry, Eden.”

I lift her chin up and say, “I can take it. I can take whatever comes with being with you. I know Kyle can take whatever comes with being with you too. Laura is lacking the connection, so watch what you say to her. I’m not saying to lie, but I am saying not to be so upfront with this thing.”

“Okay,” she says. “I would control it if I could. You know that, right?”

I smile at her. “I know that, Alyssa. I wish there was something I could do too. I guess this is just another thing we have to go through. We’ve been given special gifts. Some really crazy things go along with that, apparently.”

The door opens to reveal Kyle carrying Laura into the house. “Is she okay?” I ask.

Laura’s head is lying against Kyle’s chest. She’s pale and looks very weak. “No, she isn’t all right. She almost fell as she walked out to me,” he tells us.

“I’ll call and get a doctor over here,” I say as I take out my cell.

“Lie her down on the sofa. I’ll get her some water,” Alyssa tells him. She takes the water to Laura, sitting next to her. “Laura, what’s wrong?”

“I’ve been really sick, Al. I can’t keep anything down. I feel really tired and weak,” she tells her.

Alyssa takes the straw she put into the bottle of water and puts it up to Laura’s lips. She takes a sip of it. “Kyle, bring down a blanket,” Alyssa directs him and he dashes off.

After a very brief conversation with my doctor from home, I tell them what he told me. “We need to go ahead and take her to the hospital. She’s most likely dehydrated and they need to get an IV in her and start giving her fluids as soon as possible. One of our doctors will meet us there. He said there’s a small hospital right here in town.”

Kyle comes back down the stairs with the blanket. “We have to take her to the hospital, Kyle,” I say.

“What? It’s that bad?” he asks.

“The doctor said that, since she’s been unable to keep anything down, she’s probably dehydrated and we need to get that taken care of as soon as possible,” I tell him.

Kyle wraps the blanket around her. “Let’s take her car, Eden. You drive and I’ll ride in the back with her,” Kyle says, then he picks Laura up and walks to the door.

Alyssa follows behind us. “Don’t worry, Laura. You’ll be feeling better in no time,” she tells her.

We pull up at the hospital’s emergency entrance. Kyle gets out, picking her up. “Go with them, Alyssa. I’ll park the car and be right in,” I say.

When I come in, I see them all still sitting in the waiting room. “They should be taking you straight back,” I tell Kyle.

A nurse opens the door. “Laura Stevens?” she calls out.

Kyle looks at me. “Stevens?” he asks.

“Take your wife and follow the nurse, Kyle,” I tell him.

Kyle stands up, taking Laura and following the nurse. Alyssa and I walk behind them, only to be stopped by the nurse. “Only her husband can be back here for now. Sorry guys. Hospital rules,” she tells us.

Alyssa looks at me as the nurse shuts the door in our faces. “Now I see why you lied when you took me to the hospital,”

I smile at her. “I know she’ll want someone in there with her. It should be him.”

She nods in agreement, but I feel the pain in her heart.

She’s not ready to let him go.

CHAPTER 69

ALYSSA

Just as Eden and I sit down, I realize I need to let Laura’s mother know we found her. “I need to call her mother.” I tell Eden. “I’ll be right outside.”

I take out my cell phone and walk out the sliding glass doors. “Hey, Joan, I know it’s late. I just wanted to let you know we found Laura and it’s a long story, but she’s okay,” I tell her.

“I want to talk to her,” Joan says.

“She’s sleeping right now. I’ll get her to call you in the morning,” I say.

“Ally, please. I am worried sick,” she says.

“Look, Joan, I don’t want to wake her up. Please know she’s okay. I’ll have her call you first thing in the morning,” I say.

“You better, Ally. You have no idea how hard this has been. You’ll never understand until you have children,” she tells me.

“I’m sorry. Just know that she’s okay and she’ll call you as soon as she wakes up,” I say to her before I hang up.

Eden comes out just as I turn to walk back in. “We should go home and rest. The nurse came out and told me they’ll most likely be moving her to a room later. She’s severely dehydrated. They’re going to run tests on her to find out what’s making her sick.”

He puts his arm around my shoulders and moves me towards the parking lot. “I feel bad about not being able to tell her mother everything. She told me I would never understand how she feels until I have children. I hope we’re doing the right thing for Laura,” I say.

Eden opens the car door for me. I sit down and he leans across me and fastens my seatbelt. “She’s being taken care of. Don’t second guess things,” he tells me, then shuts my door.

I look at Eden as he drives me back to their house. “Do you think that they were poisoning her?”

“I don’t know. God help them if they were,” he says.

“God won’t help them if they were,” I say. “Then we can kick ass and take names.”

The little ducks quacking in the box next to the bed wakes me up from a dreamless sleep. I rub my eyes and look over to see Eden sleeping next to me, his leg draped over mine. I gently move his leg off of me so I can get the ducks something to eat.

I pick up the box and take it downstairs to find their duck food. Each little ducky eats like they were starving when I put the feeder down for them. I stroke each one’s little head as they quack and eat, leaving the box on the table as I go to get ready to go up to the hospital.

“You’re up,” I say as I walk in to find Eden sitting up in the bed.

“Yeah,” he groans, then stretches.

“Meet me in the shower,” I tell him as I walk into the bathroom.

I hear him get out of the bed and walk to the bathroom. I turn on the water in the rather small shower, then stand under the water as it helps me to clear my head.

Eden steps into the shower with a smile on his face. “I noticed you slept dreamlessly,” he says.

I smile back at him as I put a dollop of shampoo in my hand. “No dreams,” I say as I raise my eyebrows. “I had a quiet night in my head for a change.”

He presses his body up against mine, holding me back against the wall, his forehead touching mine. I feel his hands moving over my wet skin.

“I suddenly feel very happy to be awake,” he tells me.

“You’re making me pretty happy too,” I tell him, then his hands pull me closer to him and I am lost.

I button my shirt as Eden walks past me, delivering a slap to my bottom as he does. “Let’s get a move on, Alyssa. It’s almost time for visiting hours,” he says.

“Eden, you are very promiscuous this morning. What has gotten into you?” I ask him.

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that a whole twenty-four hours has gone by since I’ve had to watch my wife making love to her dream husband has perked me up some,” he says.

I smile at him, but inwardly I feel sad. “I hope the dreams are over for good. I hate that you have to see that.”

“I hope they are too,” he admits. “I don’t like to share you, even in a non-existent reality.”

I walk to take his hand. “I love you, Eden. You understand even the craziest things. Now let’s go see how Laura is this morning.”

“She’s in room 222,” the lady sitting at the desk tells us.

“I can’t believe she’s still here. I thought they would give her some fluids, and boom, she would be better,” I say.

“We’ll find out soon enough why she’s still here,” Eden tells me as we get in the elevator and go up to the second floor.

The elevator doors open and we see the room number right away. “Here she is,” I say.

Eden knocks lightly on the door. The door opens and Kyle’s unshaven, very tired-looking face peeks out at us. “Oh, good, it’s you,” he says as he stands back for us to come in.

“Kyle, you look terrible,” I say.

“I haven’t slept,” he tells us.

No wonder I had no dreams about him. “Why not?” I ask him.

“I think Laura will want to tell you that,” he says as he shuts the door.

I look at Laura, who is fast asleep. “Is she okay. Did they find poison?”

He shakes his head. “No, it wasn’t anything that they did to her,” he says.

“That’s a relief, because I would’ve lost it if they’d done something to her. Probably just the stress of the situation had her like that,” I say.

“Eden, can you take me back to the house so I can get cleaned up? Ally can you stay here with Laura for a while?” Kyle asks Eden.

“Sure, Kyle, whatever you need me to do,” Eden says. “We’ll be back in a little while, Alyssa.”

I look at Kyle and sense something’s wrong. His mind is blank, though, almost as if he’s closing himself off to me on purpose. “Kyle, you sure you don’t have something you want to tell me? You seem out of it.”

“No, Ally. I’m really tired,” he says. “She needs you right now, a lot more than she needs me anyway.”

I watch them walk out the door, knowing full well that something has happened between them. I turn to look at Laura sleeping. Her color is better; there are still black circles under her eyes, though. I sit down in the chair next to her bed. The TV is on, so I flip through the channels, leaving the volume on low.

“Ally?” Laura says with a hoarse voice.

I stop and put the remote down. “Yes, Laura, it’s me,” I say, then move in front of her. “Can I get you anything?”

She smiles weakly. “You can get me out of here,” she says as she laughs a little.

“I bet you are ready to come home and sleep in your own bed. Hopefully the doctor will let you go today,” I say.

“I’m sure he will. What’s wrong with me can’t be fixed by staying in the hospital,” she says.

“So what is wrong with you?” I ask.

“You must have seen Kyle,” she says. “He didn’t whine to you about it?”

I shake my head. “Why would he whine about what’s wrong with you?”

“I can’t believe he didn’t tell you,” she says, almost to herself. “I thought he would come crying to you for sure. All he could say when they told us was that you were going to be so upset. It was pretty embarrassing, as the nurse thought we were married and might actually be happy with the news.”

I frown at her. “Well, he didn’t. He asked Eden to take him home so he could get cleaned up.”

“I see. He’s going to cry to Eden about it, then,” she mumbles.

“What is he going to be crying about, Laura?” I ask, getting tired of this runaround.

“I’m pregnant,” she states flatly.

My jaw drops open. “I thought you were using birth control!”

“The thing about birth control pills is that you have to remember to take them and I have trouble remembering that. So I got myself in this predicament. It’s not really Kyle’s fault. I was taking the responsibility for keeping myself from getting pregnant and I failed. He probably hates me now,” she says.

“No, he doesn’t hate you at all, Laura,” I tell her, reaching out to hold her hand. “He was worried sick about you. He told me he knew for sure he loved you because he was so upset over what was happening to you.”

She looks up at me with a blank expression “Do you know that he had the nerve to suggest that we get married?”

Why do I feel like I have just been slapped?

“What do you mean by that?” I ask her.

“I won’t be marrying him just because of this thing,” she says as she motions towards her stomach.

“Laura, I know this is a shock to you and you had not planned on any of this, but it is your future now. Accept it and be happy. Don’t shut Kyle out. He’s a great father.”

She turns her head to look at me with a quizzical look in her eyes. “Did you just say that he is a great father, Ally?”

Oh, no! Did I say it like that?

She can’t hear about that right now.

“I mean I know he will be one. That’s what I meant. Laura, maybe he was going to ask you to marry him anyway.”

“The hell he was, Al! He’s still all about you. I could see it in his eyes when he said you would be upset. Can you tell me why you would be upset?”

“I’m not upset. I don’t know why he would think that. I will set him straight, though. This baby and you are his future. I’m only a small part of it. You and your children will be his world,” I tell her.

“No, we won’t. We will always be second to you and that isn’t enough for me. I’ll always be your guardian, Ally, but I won’t always be with him. I can’t short change myself like that. Maybe someone else can, but not me.”

“He loves you, Laura. I wish you would stop thinking you’re second to me in his eyes, because that’s not true,” I tell her. “I wasn’t going to tell you this right now, but I have to, so maybe you can see where he’s coming from.”

She looks at me. “What is it? Is it that the two of you have been sleeping together? Since I’ve been gone you have, haven’t you? I can see it. Does Eden know?” she asks.

I nod. “It’s not how you think it is, though.”

“Ally, this is really low. How could you do this to Eden? I knew Kyle had that dream about you. I never thought he would talk you into it. I feel like I’m in an alternate reality.”

“That is how it happened,” I tell her. “In an alternate reality is where we’ve been living, once we fall asleep. He and I dream the same dreams, somehow. We think it’s so we can see how life would have turned out if Eden and I had never happened.”

Laura looks at me in disbelief. “So you haven’t been together in the physical sense of it?” she asks. “Only in your dreams?”

I nod my head yes. “The only thing is, it feels real. Even now, it feels like something which has really happened. That’s why he thought I would be upset. He and I had a baby together in our dream the night before last. I have been a little bit sad that she’ll never really exist. In our dream marriage, he was a great father. He loved that baby so much and he will love this one even more,” I explain to her.

“This is completely whack, Al. I don’t see how this is going to make me change my mind. I mean, he’s married to you, having kids and shit in his head. So I get the daytime Kyle and you get the nighttime Kyle?” she asks me.

“I hope our dream life is over, since we both know this path is the right one and the best one for all of us. This baby will be loved so much, Laura. You don’t have to worry. Just have faith,” I plead with her.

“I don’t know, Ally. I won’t be deciding anything right now. I want to go back home, to Cloudcroft,” she tells me.

“What, Laura? No, please don’t do that. You’ll never come back. I know this is a very different situation and one which could never have been predicted, but you belong with us. You and he really do belong together. Please stay with us for a while, please,” I beg her.

“I need to call my mother, Al. Can I use your phone? I don’t know where mine is,” she says.

I hand her my cell phone. “Do you want me to leave the room while you talk to her?” I ask.

“I’m not telling her I’m pregnant yet. I’m only a couple of months, so you never know what might happen. I might lose the thing,” she says, and I feel like she hopes she will.

“I’ll let you have some privacy. I’m going to get something to eat in the cafeteria. I’ll bring you something back,” I say.

“I really want pancakes, Ally. They brought me breakfast at like six this morning and I’m starving.”

“Got it, Laura. I love you, and Junior too,” I say, then I walk out the door, closing it behind me.

I stop as soon as I walk out and fall against the wall.

How do I feel about this? Why does this have to happen so fast? How is Kyle taking this? Why can’t life be simpler?

“How is she?” Eden says as he walks off the elevator, noticeably alone.

I walk to him, taking his hand and pulling him back into the elevator. “Did he tell you?” I ask him as we go down to the cafeteria.

“Yes. So she told you, then?” he asks.

I nod. “She isn’t taking it well, even though he suggested they get married. She’s just not feeling like he really loves her.”

“He loves you so much more,” Eden tells me.

I look at him like he’s crazy. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Yes, Alyssa, he does. This is making him feel awful. He isn’t ready for this. This dream life you two have has really messed him up. You know how everything feels real to you? Well, it does for him too. It’s too soon for him. He hasn’t gotten over the fact that your child will never be, and he doesn’t want any with anyone else’s yet,” he says.

“Well, I can see I have to talk to him. He has to get over it. He has a real child on the way now and he has to put whatever happens in our dreams into the proper perspective. He can’t live his life in dreams alone. His future is with Laura and their children. His real life is with them.”

“You know what I found out I can do now?” Eden tells me.

I shake my head. “What can you do now?’ I ask him as I pick up a tray and look at the lady across the glass from me. “Pancakes, please, with bacon.”

Eden leans down closer to me. “I tried something and it worked.”

I pick up the plate the lady is handing me, then walk over to get Laura an orange juice. “What did you try, Eden?”

“Kyle fell asleep on the sofa as soon as we walked in. He was exhausted. I went up and brought a blanket down for him. As I put the blanket down on him, my hand brushed his back and images started to appear in my head,” he says.

“You and your spying on people’s thoughts, Eden. Really, you have to stop that,” I whisper, because it has become obvious people are eavesdropping on us and our ridiculous conversation.

Alone in the elevator, I feel we can carry on our conversation. “So what did you see?” I ask.

“I see that he only sees you, Alyssa. We have to give them time alone, to bond. Your presence is stopping that from happening.”

“I can talk to him. We don’t have to leave. That’s not the answer, Eden. My best friend needs me right now. I’m not leaving her,” I tell him.

Eden opens the door to Laura’s hospital room. I take the tray of pancakes and set them down on the little table. “I found you some pancakes, Laura,” I say.

“Hey, Laura, you look a lot better. I’m really glad to see that,” he tells her.

“You are looking gorgeous as usual, Eden. Do you have any flaws?” Laura smiles as she asks him.

He smiles back at her. “Many of them. You know, Laura, I can see a glow about you,” he tells her as he sits down on the bed next to her. I hang back a little.

“He told you, huh?” she asks.

He nods and takes the back of his hand, running it over her pale cheek, then letting it rest on her shoulder. “You have nothing to fear. All is as it should be. I have seen the future, Laura, and it is good.”

He’s lying to her!

I can’t believe he’s making this up. I have to stop him. I move closer to him, reaching out to touch his shoulder to try to stop him from giving her any more false hope.

As I touch his shoulder, images begin to appear in my head. There’s a small boy with a head full of golden curls swinging in the backyard of the house we gave to them. Laura looks beautiful. She’s pregnant and smiling. Kyle pushes the swing and the little boy is laughing.

“Can you really see that?” she whispers.

“I can. Ask Alyssa. She saw it too. You’ll be a very happy family. There’s nothing to worry about,” Eden tells her as he pulls her hand up and kisses it gently.

A tear rolls down my cheek and I notice Laura has tears rolling down hers as well. “Eden, you have made me feel so much better. You have no idea.”

The door opens as the doctor comes in. “Hi guys,” he says as he enters. “Oh, tears. We can’t have any of those around here. How would you like to go home, Mrs. Stevens?”

Laura smiles at him. “I would love to go home.”

“Then get dressed. Eden, come with me, and bring your magic card so we can get her paid for and out of here,” the doctor says.

“Yes, sir,” Eden says as he follows him out of the room.

The doctor stops and turns around. “Laura, come see me within a month. My address is on the paperwork. I like to see my mothers once a month, as soon as possible. The nurse will be bringing some prenatal vitamins to you. Please take one a day and try to take them a bit more religiously than you did your birth control pills, young lady. Tell your husband congratulations for me, and I hope I’m invited to the real wedding, Ms. Tanner,” he tells her, then walks out.

Laura and I look at each other, then laugh. “Well, there you are, Ms. Tanner. Looks like you and junior are in good hands,” I say.

“Guess so,” she says as she gets up out of the hospital bed. “Now home we go. Am I ready for this, Al?”

I put my arm around her shoulders. “Probably not, but this life has a way of making us get ready for things we never expected.”

A nurse comes in to take Laura out in a wheelchair. “I’m fine. I can walk,” she tells the nurse.

“Hospital policy, Mrs. Stevens,” she says.

“Come on, Mrs. Stevens, just accept the free ride,” I tease her.

Eden meets us in the front of the hospital in Laura’s car. He jumps out when he sees us and helps Laura into the back seat. To my surprise he reaches across her, buckling her in.

“You doing okay?” he asks her.

“I’m fine, Eden. You don’t have to fuss over me,” she says.

“Let me fuss. I like it,” he tells her as he closes the door, then turns to help me in, buckling me in as well.

“He’s so attentive,” Laura comments.

“Yes, he is. I forget how attentive he can be,” I say offhandedly.

Eden gets in and drives us home to find Kyle laid out on the sofa, still asleep. “Looks like Big Daddy is catching up on his z’s,” I say.

“Alyssa!” Eden admonishes me. “Let’s go out back so they can have their privacy.”

The last thing I hear as Eden pulls me out the patio door is Laura’s voice. “Kyle, wake up. We have a lot to talk about.”

CHAPTER 70

KYLE

“Are you sure you’re okay with me doing this, Ally?” I ask.

“I think that, given the circumstances, it’s the best thing to do. In a normal situation, though, I wouldn’t really think it was the thing to do,” she answers.

“You said you saw us together and happy, so it must be the right thing to do,” I say as I take the small black box off of the dashboard of my truck.

I asked Ally not to show me what she saw. I prefer to be a little bit surprised.

I get out of the truck, putting the black box in my pocket, then turn to help her out of the truck. I reach up to catch her as she slides off the seat and into my arms. I hesitate before putting her down, looking into her deep blue eyes. I have to blink back the tears I feel welling up.

“You’re not okay with this, Ally. I hate that I’m making you feel this way. Shit, why did I have to hurry this thing with Laura?” I ask myself.

“Don’t blame yourself, Kyle. I’m the one to put all of the blame on. I should’ve handled it extremely differently,” she says as a tear runs down her cheek.

I wipe the tear from her cheek. “I don’t want you to do that to yourself. You had no choice, Ally. I did have choices. Unfortunately, I made some bad ones. I should’ve taken more responsibility. If I had done that, then this wouldn’t be happening right now,” I tell her, then pull her to me, hugging her tightly.

“You’ll be a fantastic husband and father, Kyle. I know that because you’ve been so good to me in real life and in our dreams. I just hope we can stop this dream marriage we have going. It’s making this so much harder for me to take,” she confesses to me.

I kiss the top of her head. She pulls her head off of my chest and looks up at me. Her eyes glisten with tears. These damn dreams are confusing me, and her too it seems. We fall asleep and wake up in a world where we’re making a life together. I feel closer to her with every dream we share. Now I’m going to be someone else’s husband and have children with her.

Ally shakes her head and says, “What kind of a brat am I? I’m happily married to the best guy in this world. Here I am wanting to have it all. I’m selfish to the core. My best friend needs you. You need her too. You can’t live the rest of this life without knowing what true love in the physical world is like. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“I guess you have to be careful about what you wish for, Ally. You have gifts you’ll need to learn to control. Maybe you can stop the dreams if you try hard enough. I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on you about it, but life is going to be kind of tough if I have to live like this forever,” I tell her.

She smiles up at me. “I believe you might be right, Kyle. I’ll make an effort to stop the dreams. If my wish to see what life would have been like with you came true, then I should be able to wish for it to stop.”

Taking her hand, I lead her to the house. “Things sure have changed quickly for all of us, Ally. My mom is going to freak out. I don’t even want to think about what Laura’s mom’s going do. Thankfully, you gave us this house. It’ll make things a lot easier,” I say as I open the door.

Laura’s sitting on the sofa, watching TV. “I’ll disappear out the back door so you two can be alone,” Ally whispers to me.

My heart is pounding in my chest. I make my way to her and she smiles up at me. A real smile, a genuine smile, a happy to see you smile. When Laura smiles, it radiates over her whole face. She’s beautiful and good, and she’s carrying my baby.

This is right.

“Hi,” I say.

“Hi to you too.”

I kneel in front of her. My hands rest on her knees as her smile fades. “I love you, Laura.” My voice quivers and I swallow hard to steady it. “I want to ask you something and I don’t want you to answer right away. There isn’t just one reason why I’m asking you this. It’s for many reasons.”

Her light blue eyes darken and she frowns. “Kyle, wait,” she says and places her hands on top of mine. “You don’t have to do this. I’d never keep this baby from you.”

Moving my hands from under hers, I run them along her thighs. “Laura, please listen to me. You’re strong, smart, funny, and beautiful.” My hands run up to her waist and I pull her to me as I lean toward her. I place a light kiss on her lips. “You’re sexy as hell and make me feel like I’m the only guy on the planet you care to show that side of yourself to.”

The touch of her hand on my cheek makes me turn toward it and kiss her palm. Her words are quiet as she says, “You are the only one I care to show that part of myself to.”

Pressing my forehead to hers, I forge ahead. “I respect you, want the best for you, and for our child. Just know that I’m not asking this for the baby, Laura. I know you’re incapable of hurting a child to spite anyone. This is not something I’m doing to ensure you let me be a part of our child’s life.”

Her hands cup my face and she tilts my head, placing a kiss on my cheek. “It’s okay. I get what you’re saying, Kyle.” Gently, she pushes me back to my knees. “You’re a great guy. I know you want to do the right thing. We’re young and we’ll change as we continue to grow up. We’re nowhere near who we will become.”

I press my finger to her lips to silence her. “I know that, Laura. There are no guarantees in this life. There is the time you live in at the present and that’s what matters is right now. And right now, we love each other. Right now, I can’t think of spending a day without you. Right now, I can’t think of spending a night without you. And lastly, right now, you and I are going to have a baby and I want it done right.”

My finger still rests on her lips and she takes my hand, pulling it away. “I suppose you’re right. My mother left my real father when she got pregnant, panicked, and ended up marrying someone anyway while she was still pregnant. Their divorce, and the person I thought was my father leaving us, never to return, messed me up. I don’t want that for this child.”

“That won’t happen to this child,” I say, with a tap on her leg. “I’m not your father. I’m solid and you can count on me. We have this house, we have all the money we will ever need, and we have one another. Now I’d like for you to share my name. That way we can be a real family. Not a couple of kids who went and got knocked up.”

Her eyes glimmer with the beginning of tears and I lean up to kiss her. Her hands catch in my hair, holding me to her as if she doesn’t ever want to let me go. Finally, I pull back. “Kyle, you can ask me now. I’m ready.”

I get on one knee and pull the box from my pocket. The large, three-karat diamond shines like the sun as I open the case. Her hands fly to cover her mouth as an audible gasp falls out of it. “Laura Tanner, would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”

Tears flow over her pink cheeks and she leans towards me. A sob comes out of her mouth, then her arms are around my neck as she hugs me and whispers in my ear the one word I’ve been waiting to hear, “Yes.”

CHAPTER 71

ALYSSA

Eden is sitting by the swimming pool. He looks up at me when I walk out of the back door. He sets his cell phone down on the table and stands up, taking me in his arms. Tears flow out of my eyes as my cheek touches his shoulder.

“I know this is hard for you, Alyssa. You know it’s the right thing for them to do. You’ve seen that everything turns out well for them,” Eden tells me.

“Why does everything have to be so damn hard?” I ask him.

“To make us stronger,” he answers me.

“Just like your devil trainer, Beck, almost kills us with his workouts and somehow that makes us physically stronger?” I ask him.

“Pretty much the same, I guess. Maybe we all need our heart broken at least once, so we know what it feels like when love is lost. That way we know exactly how precious it is,” he tells me.

I pull my head up off of his shoulder. “Eden, you somehow always know the exact words to use to make me understand things I never thought I would.”

“It’s my job to make you feel better. You are my world, Alyssa,” he tells me.

“Eden, you’re my world too. I don’t know why I’m such a brat, but I intend to try my hardest to stop,” I tell him.

He wipes the tears from my eyes. “I have received some news that will take your mind off this for a while.”

“What?”

“We have to go back home in the morning,” he says.

“Eden, no, we can’t leave. Not right now when Laura will need me so much.”

“I have been shown what our next mission is. We have no choice,” he tells me.

“How bad is it?” I ask him.

“It’s a little hairy and pretty far away. We have to go get our passports.”

“How hairy?” I ask, feeling nervous.

“Where we are going, the weather can get rough pretty quickly. A small boy is going to get lost in the forest near his home. If we don’t intervene, he will die in a storm which comes up suddenly,” Eden tells me.

“This boy must be pretty important.”

“I guess he will be, but right now he’s an orphan and I’m afraid no one gets very upset at his disappearance. In fact, no one looks for him at all,” he says.

“Eden, that’s so sad. What are we supposed to do?”

“We have to go to him and bring him to safety.”

“So where are we going?” I ask.

“Korea,” he tells me, like it’s nothing.

“South Korea?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “The other one—the one where they hate Americans.”

“We have to do most of the mission as birds, don’t we?”

He nods. “It isn’t going to be easy, Alyssa. We’ll have help from some people in South Korea. A family there will take him in and raise him. We just have to get in, get him, and then get him over to them without being spotted by anyone,” he tells me, like it’s not a big deal.

“Eden, how old is this kid?” I ask.

“Three years old. He’ll be afraid of us, Alyssa. He’ll have no idea what we’re doing to him,” he tells me.

“I doubt there will be many times when we’re helping people and they realize we’re not there to eat them,” I say.

“Alyssa, you certainly have a unique way of looking at things,” Eden tells me.

The back door opens and Laura walks out. “Ally, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Eden tells me and then walks back into the house.

Laura walks up to me, holding her hand out for me to see the engagement ring Kyle gave her. “It’s so beautiful. Thank you for helping him pick it out for me.”

I smile at her. “I’m happy you decided to accept his proposal. You two will be happy together and you’ll have a beautiful family.”

“Thank you, Al. Thanks for everything. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. Kyle and I have decided to go back to Cloudcroft to get some of our personal possessions and to tell our parents everything. There is so much to tell them,” she says.

“That’s good. You can get that out of the way and begin to move forward. Eden and I have to take off for home and then head off to North Korea to save a little orphan boy,” I say.

“Okay, just like that, huh?”

“Apparently. It came to Eden just a little while ago. He’s getting so in tune with his gifts. I guess his openness to all of this is helping him to figure these things out more quickly than I’m able to,” I say.

“You’re doing pretty well with it too, Al. You sure are better at accepting the bizarre than I could’ve ever imagined,” she tells me.

“Once you guys are back and settled in, we’ll come for a short visit. I want to give you guys plenty of time to bond and get into a normal routine. You know you can use that credit card for all of your needs and wants, so please treat yourselves to some nice dates.”

She smiles back at me. “Damn, Al, this is all so generous. I can’t imagine how we can ever do enough for you guys to deserve it all.”

“You kept our secret, didn’t you? That’s a lot right there. You will do so much more for us in the future as well. You both deserve everything you get. I just want you to know that, Laura,” I tell her.

“I love you, Alyssa Fontaine. I’m going to miss you guys.”

“We haven’t done anything since we got here. We should all go out to dinner to celebrate your engagement and new baby,” I say.

Laura takes my hand and leads me back into the house. “Let’s go make the guys get cleaned up and take us out.”

Kyle stands up when we walk in the door. “Can you believe she said yes, Al?”

I smile at him. “Yes, I can. She would have been a fool not to. Congratulations, you guys. Laura and I have decided you two need to take us out to a fancy dinner to celebrate. I was thinking about the dinner cruise in Marina Del Rey that Eden and I went on.”

“Marina Del Rey, California?” Kyle asks.

“Yes, if you think that you can handle it, Laura,” I add.

With a nod, she says, “I would love to go. What do you think, Kyle?”

“I think, hell, yes,” he shouts.

Eden smiles at me. “Then let’s get ready and I’ll let Jeffrey know we need him to come and get us.”

Eden and I follow Kyle and Laura up the stairs to our rooms to get ready. I notice that Kyle and Laura look so much happier than they have in the last few days.

The thought that this is the way it’s supposed to be makes me feel better. I find that I’m feeling thankful for knowledge of the future. Without it, this would be practically impossible for me to take.

“The jet looks so cool. I can’t believe we have access to such cool stuff,” Laura gushes as we pull up to the tiny airport where the jet is.

“Take it all in, Laura. Your children will have such a different life than you’ve had,” I tell her.

She smiles at me as we walk up the stairs to get on the plane. “This is just surreal, Al. It’s almost overwhelming. I have an idea of how you must have felt when you found out about Eden and your destiny. It all happened so fast and that’s just what is happening to me now. I just graduated from high school and suddenly I am going to be married to a guy who I’ve only dated for a couple of months, and we’ll have a baby seven months from now. A month ago, I would never have believed it if someone told it to me.”

“Life is weird, Laura, but it’s a good weird,” I say as I take the seat next to Eden.

Simultaneously Eden and Kyle reach across us and buckle our seatbelts. It makes Laura and I both giggle. “So well taken care of, we are,” Laura says, and then gives Kyle a little kiss.

I look at Eden. “Are you ready to dance the night away before our mission starts tomorrow?”

“Yes, I am, Mrs. Fontaine,” he says, then kisses my hand lightly.

I smile at him. “I love you, Eden.”

The evening air blows through my hair as we stand on the deck of the boat. “That was the best dinner I’ve ever eaten,” Laura says as she lays her head on Kyle’s broad shoulder.

“I’m glad you were able to enjoy it, Laura. I was a little worried that you might get a little queasy with the baby and all,” Kyle tells her.

“Maybe it’s the fresh, salty air, or the fact I feel so much better about things, but I don’t feel bad at all,” she says.

Eden pulls me to dance with him as the small band starts to play. “Come on, Alyssa, dance with your husband, please.”

I smile up at him as he takes me into his strong arms and begins twirling me around to the music. I drop my head to his shoulder and watch as seagulls fly through the orange sky as the last rays of the sun slowly fade out. My mind is blissfully at ease. All seems right in the world again.

CHAPTER 72

ALYSSA

“This is crazy, Eden. We can’t do this. We have no idea of where we are going or how to get back here,” I say.

“Our senses will be different once we transform, don’t worry,” he reminds me. “All you have to do is follow me. Once we see him, I’ll pick him up with my claws and you’ll move in underneath me. I’ll get as close to you as I can and drop him onto your back. He’ll instinctively put his arms around your neck and hold tightly to you. Then I’ll lead you back here. It’ll be easy, Alyssa.”

My frown shows him I have little faith, even though he shared his premonition with me. I’m so unlike myself this evening. “Yeah, that sounds so easy. I hope it goes like that, Eden.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Eden tells me, and then transforms instantly, a loud clap of thunder sounds out around him.

I follow his lead and jump into the air, transforming into my bird form. I can hear and see so much more clearly now. The night doesn’t look nearly as dark as it did before.

We fly away from behind the little shack in the back of the house that we were brought to, and that we will bring the little boy back to once we have him. The sweet smell of spicy chicken cooking somewhere fills my nostrils.

I look down to see the trees we’re flying close to, hoping they will hide us from the radar of both South and North Korea. With them both so ready to kill each other, what we are doing could start a war of great proportion. The need to do this as quickly as possible weighs heavily on me.

Eden falls out of the sky just in front of me. I look to see that he’s found a clearing he’s landing in. I follow him down. A huge bolt of lightning fills the sky and the rain begins to fall immediately.

‘Damn, that was fast, Eden,’ I send to him.

‘I told you there would be a sudden storm,’ he sends back to me.

We walk under the cover of the thick trees. They keep the rain from battering us too badly. The wind howls around us.

My eyes scout the area for the little boy. It’s difficult to see with the rain and wind. A bolt of lightning brings light to the wooded area and I think that I see movement. My ears pick up a cry. I move toward a sound that’s faint because of the howling wind.

‘There he is, Alyssa. Just keep an eye on him. We have to wait for the storm to subside before we pick him up. Don’t let your eyes off of him.’

The little boy is crouching down, holding his head down on his knees as he wraps his arms around them, keeping himself in a tight little ball. I find I want to transform back into my human form and go pick him up and comfort him. I want to do this so badly, it’s hard to stop myself.

‘You can’t do that, Alyssa,’ Eden’s voice rings out in my head.

‘He’s so tiny, Eden. He’s freezing and so afraid. I have to do something to help him,’ I think to him.

‘You are, Alyssa. You’re taking him to a family that will love and care for him. This is a hard time for him, but it will soon be over, and great things are ahead for him after this. Have patience. The storm won’t last much longer,’ he tells me.

The little boy hasn’t seen us yet. I shudder at the thought of how afraid he’ll be. As if this storm and the fact he’s lost isn’t enough for him to go through, he has to see a couple of monsters as well.

There is a huge bolt of lightning, then an enormous clap of thunder rings out, and as suddenly as the rain started, it stops.

I can’t believe the weather here. Its harsh, to say the very least.

I look to see that the boy is still huddled up against a tree, not moving.

‘I need for him to stand up. I’m going to fly up and make a small sound. I need you to be ready to fly underneath me, so you can catch him. Be ready, Alyssa,’ Eden sends me, and then he flaps his huge wings, lifting his body up off of the ground.

My eyes are trained on the tiny boy. I hear Eden shriek and the boy’s head turns up to the sky. He screams and stands up, running as fast as his little legs will go. He’s heading right toward me, but he doesn’t see me, as he keeps looking back at Eden who follows him with his claws stretched out to pick him up.

I flap my wings to bring myself up into the air, readying myself for when Eden picks him up. The boy stops as I rise up in front of him and screams again.

I cringe at the fact that we’re terrifying him. I see his eyes full of fear as Eden grabs him up by his shoulders, lifting him off of the ground. The child’s screams climb up a notch and hurt my ears.

I fly underneath Eden as quickly as I can. I feel the weight of the boy as he falls onto my back. He almost weighs nothing.

I’m reminded that this poor child has been neglected terribly. This is his only chance at survival. Maybe one day he’ll look back to this horrible scene and realize we helped him.

His tiny arms wrap around my neck. I can feel his heart beating wildly. I hum the same tune Eden hummed to me in my premonition of being killed by that Stiles man.

It vibrates my body. I hope it will help this poor child to not be so afraid. It seems to work. He’s not screaming anymore, at the very least.

The sound of people running through the trees underneath us fills my ears. The voices sound excited, but I can’t understand any of what they’re saying.

A beam of light shines up through the trees. I see Eden avoid letting it catch him. They seem to only be aware of his presence, so my cargo is safe.

‘Alyssa, I have to take them a little off the path. You have to make it back to the house on your own. I’ll be right behind you as soon as I lose them,’ he sends me.

‘Damn, I’m not sure where it is,’ I send to him.

‘Focus, girl. You can follow the smells and sounds. Just remember those things as you get closer,’ he sends and then flies away from me.

The lights follow him and I’m left alone with my precious cargo. I fly in the darkness, looking down, trying to see anything I might recognize. I remember that the house I need to go back to has a small blue light at the back of it. I look for that. The smell of the chicken cooking brings my attention to the fact I’m getting closer to the house.

The little boy on my back is holding tightly to my neck. His head touches mine as he repositions himself on my back. His thoughts fill my mind.

A room appears in my head, a dark room full of small children. Some cry and others stare blankly at the walls. I feel a pain in the pit of my stomach. It’s because I feel hungry.

The child on my back has felt hungry most of his little life. I find that so sad. There’s no reason that any child should ever feel like that. I pray this child grows up to make a difference in his home country.

The sudden smell of laundry pricks at my nose. There was a clothesline in the backyard of the people who will take care of the child.

I move towards the smell. I can’t believe Eden had to leave me like this. I have no real knowledge of where I am.

‘You’re on the right track. Keep following your senses. You are almost there,’ I hear Eden’s voice in my head.

The blue light comes out of the darkness. The little man and lady are standing by the shack in the back. I drop down lower and land in front of them.

The lady rushes to take the little boy off of my back. She has to pull at him as he’s holding so tightly to my neck. He finally releases his grip on me. He begins to cry as the lady carries him away quickly.

The man stands and looks at me. I hear the sound of wings beating through the air and Eden lands next to me. The man bows to us and says something I don’t understand, then he turns and runs into the house.

I walk behind the shack and transform back into my human form. Eden is hurrying as well. We have to hurry. Our driver is waiting down the street for us. We can’t have anyone see us at this house.

“Well, that wasn’t too hairy, was it?” Eden asks me.

“I lived through it, but it could’ve gone a little smoother. I hate that the little guy had to be so afraid. I hope he can forget about all of it,” I say as I follow Eden down a dirt alley.

“He’s alive and safe now. That fact trumps all the negative aspects of it,” he says as he walks up to the waiting car.

He opens the door and lets me get in the back seat first, then slides in beside me. “Back to the real world,” I say as I lay my head on the back of the seat.

“The real world, huh?” Eden asks me.

“You know, the one where we can be just you and me. No birds, no missions, no crazy dream life. Just the two of us, back in our home, alone. I’m finding I’ve missed that,” I tell him.

“I have too. I can’t wait to get you back home, in our own bedroom,” he says.

“I miss my jacuzzi. I could really use it about now,” I say.

Eden laughs at me. “You and your bathtub, Alyssa. Here I am, talking all about how I want to get you back into our bed, and you can only think about that tub.”

I smile at him. “It’s more than a bathtub, Eden. I will be happy to get back to it all. Back to some alone time with my husband. It’ll be nice.”

I didn’t dream about life with Kyle as I slept on the plane on our way here. I made another wish. I wished that Kyle and Laura would be happy and have a healthy family. I guess our dreams would’ve been unhealthy for him and his new family.

I turn my head away from Eden so he can’t see my face. I feel a tear run down my cheek. That part of my life is over and I have sadness in my heart about it.

I will never see that baby in real life. I will never really feel Kyle’s love for me in that way. I pray my selfishness lessens with time.

I wipe the tear from my cheek and take in a deep breath. “When we get back, I think that you and I should take a trip all alone. Maybe to the Caribbean. I bet we could get a private island and stay on it for a while. Just the two of us. I want to be with you and only you,” I tell Eden.

“That sounds nice, Alyssa. I’m not sure we can do exactly that, but I’m sure we can figure something out,” he tells me.

His hand touches mine and he sighs. “Alyssa, please don’t feel sad about never getting to see the baby in real life.”

“What?” I ask him.

“I can see your thoughts, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m jet lagged or something. My mind is so scattered. The little boy and his horror at us kind of messed me up. I feel like crying, not only for him but for all the children going hungry and being neglected. How can Our Creator let these things happen?” I ask Eden.

“It’s not for us to question,” he tells me.

I sit up, finding myself mad at his words. “When do we question? When is it finally time to question?”

Eden smiles at me. “Alyssa, this serves no purpose.”

“That is your answer for everything. What does serve a purpose?” I yell.

Eden lifts my hand to his lips and places a kiss on it. “I have news for you, Mrs. Fontaine.”

So he’s trying to divert my attention. I can’t be so easily manipulated. He, of all people, should know that.

“Oh, for the love of everything holy, Eden. Not another mission. Not so soon. I’m exhausted. The long flight, the anxiety, the long flight back home. No, I can’t take anymore,” I whine.

“Okay, I won’t tell you, then. Just rest, Mrs. Fontaine,” he says softly.

I drop my head onto his shoulder. My eyes close, but my mind can’t stop.

What news does he have? Can it be any good at all? Oh, damn my curiosity!

I sit up and look at Eden. “Well, you have my mind going, so tell me before I go and make myself crazy.”

“No, you should rest. I can tell you another time,” he says.

I close my eyes again. Whatever he’s doing isn’t going to work on me. I’m exhausted. I will rest. I don’t even want to know what he has to say. I drift off for a minute and suddenly I am being carried onto our jet.

“I can walk,” I say to Eden.

“Just stay asleep, Alyssa. I’m taking you to bed,” he whispers to me.

He lies me down on the bed in the jet’s bedroom. I feel him on the bed beside me, then he wraps himself around me. His hand rests on my stomach, his warm breath on my neck.

I turn my head to look at him, his face is about an inch away from mine. “I think I can hear your news,” I say softly.

“You sure, Alyssa?”

His emerald eyes dance with his question. I look into them, trying to see what his mind has hidden from me. There is nothing but a black wall. Maybe I don’t want to know after all.

That damn curiosity I have overtakes me. “Eden! Yes, I’m sure.”

He looks into my eyes and smiles that smile which melts my insides. “When you turned into the bird, I heard something different. I heard more than I usually do.”

I frown at him. “What are you talking about?”

“I heard your heart beat. It’s loud and strong,” he says.

“Oh, that’s cool. I hadn’t paid any attention to that. I’ll see if I can hear yours next time we turn into the birds,” I say, thinking to myself he made a bigger deal out of that information than it was worth.

I lay my head back down on his shoulder, but he takes my chin in his hand and pulls it back up so I have to look at him. “Alyssa, that’s not all I heard. I heard your heartbeat and I heard another one as well. A little heartbeat,” my husband tells me. Then it all goes black.

A baby! Already …

EDEN’S ENDING

Our daughter, Gwen, was born on a Tuesday morning in the month of April. It’s been four years since that day. My connection to my mate is still strong, but thankfully not the same. With the pregnancy, we found the child connected us even more so than we already were.

I experienced everything Alyssa did throughout the pregnancy and the delivery. Thanks to that knowledge, I now have a new respect for mothers. The whole thing is hard and the end is a nightmare of squeezing pain.

But in the end, you get this perfect little person and somehow it makes it all worth it.

Thankfully, that condition is gone, and I can feel only my feelings and she can only feel hers. We still have our telepathy, and it keeps getting stronger.

With the arrival of our own child, we became aware that many children need our help, so we’ve moved our foundation in that direction. Not only feeding and educating children, but also setting up programs for people to spend time doing meaningful activities with them.

We educate their parents about how to make a happy life for them by putting family first and material items second. We build homes for needy families and help the parents get educations if necessary.

It was my mate’s idea to build a better furture for their children and I quite like it. We want to make the world a place where the importance of the family is in the forefront again, like it once was.

My wife is a professional speaker now and holds seminars on the importance of finding a balance in relationships. Her disdain of the ancient ways made her seek education and she found anthropology is what excited her the most.

She’s on her way to a master’s degree. She says she’ll be content to stop there, but my bet is on her getting her doctorate. My wife, Dr. Alyssa Fontaine. I like the sound of that.

Kyle has an MBA and his own band. He and Laura married. They still live outside of Austin and have two children now, both boys, a farm full of animals, and a yellow lab they treat like one of their children.

Laura has just started college. She wants to be a school teacher. It turns out she loves kids and teaching them things. She found that out through helping with our foundation.

Me, I’m into spreading the word of Our Creator. I studied religions from all over the world, then majored in philosophy. Now I am the pastor for our organization and also for The Rising Spirit Church.

We have a little television program that comes on Sunday nights and a following of a few million people from around the world. It’s a nondenominational church, of course. We welcome all kinds.

It’s getting to be time for dinner. The whole clan is coming to the mansion this evening. Scotty is introducing us to his new girlfriend. It’s not his first girlfriend, but it’s his first serious one.

Scotty turned out to be a player in more ways than one. Those days might be numbered now, as he talks about this girl constantly, a sure sign.

My mate is at the door to my office. I can tell she’s ready for us to go downstairs. I walk to her and take her hand. A flash of her naked body lying across our bed with a large stomach blasts through my mind.

“Where’s Gwen?” I ask.

“With your father. He took her for a walk,” she tells me. Her hair is curled and falling down around her face. Her lips are so red and shiny and I can’t focus.

I can only think about how beautiful she is and how much I want her. Oh, Lord, help us, here we go again. And I couldn’t be happier.

The End

Stormfronts Series

An Alpha Billionaire Romance

By Michelle Love

When billionaire property mogul Theo Storm gives the Commencement address at her college, grad student Jess Wood initially dismisses him as a rich, bland businessman. When he notices her in the audience however, his blatant admiration for her attracts whispers amongst her friends and colleagues and an embarrassed Jess escapes from the throng, only to find herself unable to stop thinking about him.

Storm tracks her down to her tiny apartment and persuades her to have dinner with him. The incredible attraction between them becomes almost unbearable. Theo takes Jess back to his luxurious penthouse and going against all her self-made rules, Jess goes to bed with him. Instead of breaking the tension between them, their tempestuous, uninhabited sexual chemistry awakens something almost feral inside of her, leaving her craving more and more of this incredible man.

Come With Me Part One

It might have been the fourth glass of bourbon, or the fifth or the sixth. Theo Storm wasn’t sure. All he remembered was making a dumb bet with Max who, with mischief in his eyes, shook Theo’s hand, muttering ‘Good luck with that’ under his breath.

Theo opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling of the hotel room. God, why was it every time he went drinking with Max, he turned into a loud mouthed asshole who thought that he ruled the world? The trip to Vegas had been to celebrate the opening of their latest boutique apartment building – and to thank Max for working every hour of every day to get it done. Theo had promised himself that he wouldn’t get trashed. He never came out on top when drinking with Max. The guy had hollow legs, for Christ's sake.

‘Jesus.’ A headache shrieked around his skull and Theo groaned. He rolled out of bed onto the floor and briefly considered staying there for the rest of his life. Reluctantly he staggered to his feet and into the bathroom, stepping under a too-hot shower and sighing with relief as the water hit his tired body. After he’d dried himself, he wrapped a towel around his waist and stood at the small sink to brush his teeth, studying himself in the mirror. Almost forty years old and he still acted like a twenty-year-old college kid, partying nearly every night. He knew what his dad would say, with disappointment in his eyes. Settle down, son. Grow roots. Make a home, a family. Theo sighed. It wasn’t enough for his dad that he was the head of StormFronts, the company that Theo had built from literally nothing. That he’d been top of his class at MIT or that he’d designed, built and paid for his dad’s retirement home in the Florida Everglades (thankfully a continent away from his own Seattle penthouse).

Theo rinsed his mouth and then threw back a couple of glasses of tap water to combat his hangover. He'd been moaning about his Dad’s attitude last night at a staggeringly unsympathetic Max, who merely rolled his eyes and called him a poor little rich boy. Max was right, he knew. He just had to ignore the parental pressure but still… it was probably why he’d made that ridiculous bet with Max.

I will find the love of my life within three months.

Theo shook his head at the thought of it. Why the hell had he made that bet? Hubris and hyperbole. He shrugged – it wasn’t as if Max would hold him to it in the cold light of day.

‘I am absolutely going to hold you to it,’ Max told him on the plane back to Seattle. Theo groaned and slumped back in his seat. His hangover wasn’t abating at all and now he was on the way to give the Commencement speech at Seattle’s most prodigious college. Theo was used to public speaking in his job, not that it was his favourite thing to do, but he’d agreed to it back when he’d been dating a girl from Tacoma – whose name he couldn’t remember, he thought now with a jolt of shame – whose cousin was part of the graduating class. The speech was written, his custom-made Armani three piece pressed and waiting. He’d even managed to shave this morning. Outwardly, he’d look the part of the billionaire mogul but inside… he swallowed a wave of nausea. Idiot. Why get hammered the night before the speech?

Theo definitely wasn’t in the mood for another grilling from his best friend. Max fixed him with a serious glare.

‘You promised me you’d find the one. I want you to, at the very least; try to have a social life. You haven’t dated anyone since Lorelei.’

Theo grimaced and Max sniggered. Lorelei had been a sweet girl but her obsession with the healing power of crystals had doomed that relationship very, very quickly. Theo chuckled at the memory.

‘Yeah, see? ‘

Max rolled his eyes. ‘That’s not a reason to avoid the whole dating thing. You can’t write off the whole thing just because your last girlfriend thought she could talk to the spirit world. It’s an important part of life and besides, you’re not getting any younger.’

‘Thanks, dude.’

Max grinned at Theo’s sarcastic tone. ‘I’m serious. I want you to meet someone who’ll make you happy.’

Theo studied his friend. ‘You say that with all the smug complacency of the happily settled.’

Max flashed him his cheesiest grin. ‘What can I say? I got lucky with Joel. Now if only you’d embrace your inner gay guy, I’ve got a hundred friends panting to meet you.’

Theo grinned. ‘Ah, your ongoing campaign to turn me. Sorry, dude, I appreciate it but…’

‘You worship at the Alter of Vadge, I know.’

Theo sniggered. ‘Charmingly put.’

Max sighed dramatically. ‘Well, a guy can dream. How long has it been since you were serious about someone?’

Theo didn’t answer – mostly because he couldn’t remember ever being serious about anyone. ‘Can we drop this?’

‘Nope,’ Max was grinning wildly, ‘I tell you what, I’ll make this interesting. You get married before Christmas – I’ll work for you for a year for free.’

Theo’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You’re serious? Married? Not going to happen.’

Max nodded, leaning forward in his chair. ‘Dude… you’re my best friend and I just want you to slow down. You work, work, work, which is all good but you’re missing out on so much. Meet someone, fall in love, and get married. Hell, I’d be happy if you just dated someone. Come on, help an old romantic out. Besides…’ he sniffed huffily, ‘I really don’t want to find you dead of a stress-related heart attack at your desk. We’d never get the smell out of the carpet.’

Theo grinned at his friend but as Max pulled a blanket over himself and turned away to take a nap, Theo stared out of the window of the plane at the sparkling blue waters of the Pacific, the craggy beauty of the West Coast and wondered if Max was right. Maybe it was time for something more, something real. Thing was… he didn’t even know where to start, what he was looking for, or who he wanted as his partner in life.

He glanced over to his sleeping friend and knew his friend was right. Theo grinned to himself and settled back into his seat to enjoy the rest of the flight.

‘I hate to ask.’

Jessica Wood narrowed her eyes at her boss. Professor Gerry Land grinned sheepishly and shrugged as they sat together in the college’s refectory, empty coffee cups in front of them. Jess sighed. She knew this wheedling tone of old. Gerry had been her mentor, her champion for four years through college and when she’d applied to be his research fellow to pursue a Ph.D., he’d pulled strings to make sure that she’d gotten the position.

Occasionally though, like now, he’d call in the favor.

‘Yeah, yeah, what now?’

Gerry smirked, knowing that he had her. ‘Commencement.’

Jess made a face. ‘Oh, no way…I did it last time.’ Their Art department was supposed to send a representative to the ceremony and while they both appreciated the true meaning of the tradition, it was deathly boring – sitting for hours, applauding everyone, listening to some celebrity rambling on about how the graduating students should ‘reach for the stars’. They actually had a tally on how many of the illustrious guests used clichés like that.

‘Please? I just have so much work to do….and this funding application isn’t going to write itself.’

Jess made a face at him, knowing that he’d won. If she didn’t go to the ceremony, Gerry would dump the application process on her and no way – no freaking way – she was getting into that.

‘Fine.’

Gerry nudged her shoulder with his. ‘I owe you one.’

‘You owe me many.’ But she smiled. At twenty-four, Jessica Wood was exactly where she wanted to be – immersed in a world of art and study. She wasn’t rich. That world belonged to her step-brother, Jules. Her mom had married Jules’ French millionaire father but now, after they’d both died, it was just her, Jules – and Jules’ never ending puppet strings. That was the one thing wrong with her life. She worked for Gerry and part-time in a one of Seattle’s artisan coffee houses and still only managed to make enough to cover her rent and food. She was okay with that but Jules still managed to exert his influence over her life in so many different ways.

She pushed the thought of him away now, and fought the heavy dread that always followed when she thought of her step-brother and went to get changed for the ceremony.

Her apartment was less than a block from the college and she quickly showered and slipped into her go-to dress; a dark burgundy silk sheath that shimmered down and hugged her curves. At five foot four, she wasn’t the tallest woman, but the dress flared out at her waist, showing off her surprisingly long legs. Her dark mahogany hair fell almost to her waist and she pulled it up over one shoulder. The lightest of make-up was put on, then she added a delicate gold chain which lay against her dusky skin and fell into the valley of her full breasts. Glancing in the mirror, Jess nodded once. She knew people considered her attractive but… ‘They can’t see the damage within’, she thought. She dismissed the thought and scooted out of the door.

Back at college, she made her way to the ceremony, held in the wide courtyard. She glanced at her watch and saw that she was early. She grinned to herself and decided to call Gerry to pass the time. She ducked into a quiet corridor and pulled out her cell phone.

‘I’m calling to issue you an official death threat.’

Gerry chuckled. ‘Hey look, at least you get to hear about how the world is indeed a shellfish-based opportunity for our students.’

‘About how this is ‘only the beginning of the adventure?’’

‘Yep and of course, and how they are all astronauts.’

‘Huh?’

Gerry sighed. ‘’Reaching for the stars’?’

Jess laughed. ‘Oh of course, sorry. God, would it kill one of these people to quote some Eudora Welty? Some Dorothy Parker? Even some Bill and Ted would be nice.’

‘Snob.’

‘You bet. I’ll see you later – and I’ll be armed.’

Gerry laughed loudly. ‘I’ll buy you dinner to make up for it.’

‘You bet you will.’

She hung up and turned to walk out to the courtyard. She stopped, a small gasp escaping her. At the end of the corridor, watching her, a man was stood half in shadow. Jess’s heart began to thud as the man’s gaze locked with hers, burning into hers. He was tall – very, very tall, at least six five, and his huge body was expensively clad in an exquisite three piece suit. With his dark curls close-cropped and his face angular, he looked sculpted to perfection.

They stared at each other for a long moment then the Dean appeared and bore the man away. Jess let out her breath out in a rush. What the hell was that? She felt the blood burn hot through her body, a pulse beat between her legs. Jesus… The way he had been looking at her – as if he wanted to tear off her clothes, possess her… Jess turned and leaned her burning forehead against the cool stone wall. For a second, she closed her eyes and imagined what would have happened if the Dean hadn’t interrupted the moment. Would the man have come closer, pushed her against the wall, kissed her? The tension had crackled along the distance between them and now she fantasised that he’d lifted her up, tugged her panties aside and fucked her hard, right then, right there. She gave a small groan at the thought then pushed the thought away she stumbled out into the courtyard and found her seat amongst the other faculty and representatives.

What the hell’s the matter with me? She shook her head as the thought ripped through her. Was she that bereft of a sex life that she was imagining rough sex with a total stranger? Ummm yes. She sighed, shaking her head. The woman next to her gave her a strange look and Jess smiled sheepishly at her. The Dean was at the podium now and talking, and Jess tried to concentrate on what he was saying.

‘…head of the multinational property corporation that has not only specialised in high-end properties but also worked closely with Habitat for Humanity to bring much need shelter to those in need around the world. I’m pleased to introduce to you, Theodore Storm.’

Jess felt her heart flutter as the guy from the corridor stepped up and shook hands with the dean. Her first glimpse of him had not done him justice. He was gorgeous, a Greek god amongst his serfs. His expression serious but kind, and there was a smile on his full mouth. Looking at him was like staring at the sun, Jess decided, dangerous, risky, a threat to sanity but she tried to look away and couldn’t. As he began to speak, his low, melodic tone made his speech even more compelling and Jess was gratified to hear him speak of opportunity, and of hard work.

‘You’ll hear a lot from other about how this is your time…,’ Theo Storm fixed his audience with a confident and authoritative stare, ‘…and maybe it will be. What they won’t tell you is just how hard you will have to work if you want to achieve even one per cent of your ‘dreams’. Nothing – nothing – will be handed to you in this world. I say this as someone who grew up in a poor family. Yes, now I can live comfortably as anyone – but it took every ounce of everything I had to get there. Determination, willingness to work every minute of every hour. There was a point when I lived in my car to save on rent money.’ There was a murmur in the crowd and Theo grinned, shrugging good-naturedly. ‘I know, a property mogul living in his car. But,’ – his face turned serious again – ‘that’s what it takes. That kind of sacrifice. If you’re just interested in the latest iPhone, the latest cool sneakers as soon as you graduate then…go work for someone else, do the nine-to-five. There are some among you who will do that – and believe me, there’s nothing wrong with it if that’s all you’re looking for. Me, no. I couldn’t. I believe in going after what I want.’

And he looked directly at Jess, caught and held her stare… and held it…. and held it. Jess felt her heart falter then quicken, her cheeks flame scarlet as they gazed at each other. The crowd, silent, now started to murmur and Jess was aware of the people turning to gaze at her. A minute turned to two, then Theo cleared his throat and smiled at her.

‘There are always things beyond our reach seemingly,’ he spoke again, his even tone belying nothing of the fire burning in his eyes, ‘But the best way to combat that is this – pretend that it isn’t. Pretend you can have anyone – anything, I’m sorry, anything you want and you’re halfway there. So there it is. Thank you, Dean, for inviting me to speak and finally, my last words of advice are these…’ Storm grinned them and the sharp angles of his face softened, became boyish. He laughed briefly, still gazing at Jess, who couldn’t help returning his infectious smile. Theo nodded at her slightly then leaning into the mic, he spoke his final words. ‘’Be excellent to each other… and party on, dudes.’’

Jess was still giggling as she made her way back to the art department. Theo Storm was rich, gorgeous and as funny as hell. The whole package, she sighed, almost with longing. She relayed what had happened to an appreciative Gerry.

‘Well, you got your wish,’ he said before returning to his work. Jess sighed, flushing slightly. Almost. Her mind flittered back to that moment in the corridor, that feral need inside of her for Storm to take her in his arms and…

‘An Art Department with its own living, breathing work of art.’

His voice made her start, spin around. Theo Storm was leaning on the doorframe, grinning at her.

‘Hey,’ Theo couldn’t help from chuckling at her pained expression.

‘Um….hi.’ She had a low voice, almost a purr and it made his pulse quicken and his groin tighten. She was achingly beautiful: big brown eyes, long dark hair, and a curvy figure but it wasn’t that which drew Theo to this young stranger. It was her sense of humor, and her obvious intelligence.

He was aware he was staring and her face was becoming redder and redder from his intense scrutiny. He stepped towards her and saw her quiver, glancing into an office at the side of the big room. He saw a middle-aged man bent over his desk. Theo looked back at the girl and held out his hand.

‘Come with me.’ He was gratified when, despite a little hesitation, she slid her little hand into his and allowed him to lead her out of the room

Jess had no idea where he was taking her. All she knew was she would follow him anywhere. He led her outside to a waiting limo, opened the door for him and she slid into the back seat as if in a daze. He got in beside her and spoke to the driver, who nodded then put up the privacy screen. Theo smiled at her, touching his finger to her cheek.

‘Hey there, I’m Theo.’

She swallowed, wanting to lean into his touch. ‘Jess…I’m Jess.’

Next to him, she felt tiny, dwarfed as he moved his body closer, his palm cradling her face.

‘Hi Jess…’ he whispered, his face close to hers and then his mouth was on hers. She sank into the kiss, his soft lips moving against hers tenderly, his tongue gently exploring hers. She moaned softly and his kiss grew rougher, his breathing as laboured as hers. He pulled her onto his lap and she curved her arms around his neck as his hands slid around her waist, his big thumbs stroking her belly in a way that made her weak.

‘Christ, you’re beautiful,’ he murmured against her mouth. She opened her eyes to find him gazing at her with clear green eyes. She gasped slightly as his hand slid between her legs, caressed her through the cotton of her panties.

‘I want you,’ Theo Storm told her and every cell in her body melted at his words. She nodded, wanting him to tell her more.

‘We’re going to my apartment, Jess, and when we get there, I’m going to peel that dress from your glorious body and fuck you all night long. You are mine now, understand?’

She nodded, breathless, speechless. Was this really happening? If it was a dream, then she didn’t want it to end. She wanted this man to possess her completely, to never wake up from it. He kissed her again, a long, intoxicating kiss that made her head spin and then the limo was stopping.

She didn’t remember how they got from the car to the elevator, all she knew was that once inside, Theo drew the spaghetti strap of her dress down and exposed her left breast, catching the nipple in his mouth and sucking on it. She gasped at the feeling and felt her legs quiver. She tentatively slid her hand down to his groin, the feel of his thick heavy cock huge against her hand and the hot length of it thrilling her. Theo moaned at her touch and smiled down at her.

‘It will be inside you very, very soon, Jessica.’ His hand, stroking her already wet panties, slipped inside the cotton and his fingers started to rub her clit, sliding along her cleft to her sex. He slid two fingers into her, moving them in and out of her. Jess’s head was swimming now and she barely heard the elevator stop. Theo swung her up into his arms and kissed her as he carried to her towards what she supposed was his bedroom. He set her on her feet and true to his word, he unhooked the dress from her shoulders and let it slither to the floor. He dropped to his knees, burying his face in her soft belly and she felt his tongue circle and dipped into her navel, his lips against her skin. God, she wanted him so badly. She tugged at him and he laughed at her impatience, sweeping her onto the bed. He stroked her face tenderly.

‘Okay, but this is the last time you get to set the rules, my Jess.’ She heard him unzip his fly, heard the condom snap on then he was pushing her legs apart and he plunged his huge cock into her. Jess almost screamed with pleasure as he fucked her harder and harder, her legs curling around him as she rode him. He pinned her hands above her head, his hips grinding into hers so roughly she felt pain but she didn’t care, she wanted to take all of him in, feeling him pounding her into otherworldly pleasure. She came again and again, but he kept on, his massive cock driving into her deeper and deeper until she was crying with pleasure. She felt him come, finally, his amazing body jerking and shuddering with the force of his climax. He stayed inside her as he shivered to a stop and then kissed her so passionately that it made her head swim.

‘Jessie, Jessie, Jessie…’ The way he spoke her name, a name no-one else called her, in a way was so intimate, so tender that she wanted to cry. He buried his face in her full breasts, breathing her in, catching his own breath. She cradled his head for a moment then as he shifted so he could look at her, she placed her palms flat against his immense, hard chest, marvelling at the feel of his solid body. His face had softened from the sharp angles of his arousal now and he smiled down at her.

‘Well, hello.’

She chuckled. ‘Hello,’ she suddenly felt shy, ridiculously, incongruously. Theo brushed her lips with his.

‘Jessica… I wanted you from the minute I saw you in that hallway. This morning I had a wicked hangover and a speech to give. I didn’t expect to find a goddess.’

She blushed furiously at his words and suddenly felt vulnerable. Was he giving her a line? Why bother now he’d already had her?

Theo was studying her expression and he stroked her face with his big thumbs. ‘No bullshit, I swear. But I did, I had to have you.’

He touched the pad of his thumb to her bottom lip then drew it down the centre of her body. Her belly quivered as he splayed his big hand across it. Jess couldn’t look away from his gaze and she reached up tentatively to brush her fingers along the dark circles under his eyes. He smiled as she did.

‘Hard night, last night’, he explained. ‘If I’d known, I’d have gotten more rest so I was ready…’

‘Ready for what?’ Her heart was beating fast, her voice barely a whisper. Theo Storm kissed her again, a deep throaty chuckle rumbling through his body.

‘To fuck you all night long, beautiful Jess, all… night… long.’

Jess woke in the middle of the night, thirsty. Beside her, Theo slept, his handsome face relaxed and sleeping. He looked much younger, almost boyish. He was on his side, facing her, his hand splayed across her belly protectively, his lips pressed against her shoulder. ‘Wow’, Jess mouthed to herself, grinning. She couldn’t really believe what had happened in just a few hours. Feeling her throat protest, she slid carefully from under his grip and out of bed.

The night was cool on her skin and she shivered. Snagging his shirt from the floor, she wrapped it around her body: it was so big it fell almost to her knees and wrapped around her petite body nearly twice. She grinned, burying her face in the fabric to catch his scent. Fresh and woodsy, clean linen. She padded into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the sink, rinsing it and filling it with water. She drank an entire glass then refilled it, wandering out into the living room. Three walls were made entirely of glass and now she wandered over and looked down to the streets below, leaning her hot forehead against the cool glass.

Theo had kept his word and had thoroughly and expertly fucked her until she was exhausted, his complete domination over her body making her limbs liquefy and her senses explode.

Now, here in the silence of the night, Jess wondered how she’d gotten here – how his sheer machismo and dangerous charm had overcome the rules she had set up for herself. Don’t let anyone get too close.

She reasoned that sex wasn’t the same as emotional closeness but then again… something told her Theo wasn’t one of those hit-and-run guys.

‘You should always be lit by the moonlight.’

She turned at the sound of his voice and grinned at him. He was leaning against the doorway, the way he had earlier, watching her. He smiled as she chuckled, and went to her. He slid his arms around as she smiled up at him.

‘That was so cheesy,’ she murmured and he laughed, kissing her. He pulled the shirt open to reveal her body and she watched him as he admired the full breasts, the slight outward curve of her belly. He touched his fingertips to her cheek and she leaned into his touch, her gaze locked with his. He bent his head and kissed her slowly, taking the glass from her hand, and pulling the shirt from her body. Lifting her up, he pressed her back against the cold glass and she gasped at the icy feel against her skin. She could feel his cock, so ram-rod hard as it nudged against her sex and she moaned with longing, the honey flowing from her to cover his shaft.

His expression was so fierce, so focused on her that she felt a thrill of adrenaline spike through her. No-one had looked at her like that before, as if he wanted to own her, worship her. She wrapped her legs around his back as he supported her with his big hands, pressing her hard into the glass as he thrust into her. His immense strength made her feel as if she would rip in two as he drove relentlessly into her, his mouth grinding down onto her lips hungrily. He was so strong that he could hold her up with one arm, the free hand tangling in her dark hair, bunching it in his fist, holding her head still.

‘Jessica…. say my name.’

She gasped it out, barely able to catch her breath. ‘Theo…’

‘Again.’

‘Theo…’

He rammed his cock so deep into her that she screamed his name out again and again. Bright lights exploded in her vision as she came but he was unrelenting and Jess felt as if she were going to pass out. By the time he lowered her, gasping for air, she felt as high as if she’d mainlined heroin. Theo stretched out beside her, head propped up on his elbow, watching the rise and fall of her breasts as she caught her breath, his hand stroking lazily over her belly. Eventually, she grinned up at him and he bent his head to kiss her. She stroked the hard lines of his cheekbones. His eyes were soft and, looking into them, she felt as if she’d known him forever. He smiled, seeming to read her mind.

‘Jessica Wood,’ he spoke softly - she thrilled at the melodic low growl of his voice, ‘You are the best reason to stay awake all night long. I’d like to see you again… to show you more of my world, learn about yours’. He bent his lips to hers and then locked his gaze onto hers. ‘I want to teach you about a world of pleasure that you’ve never even dreamed of.’

Her breath caught in her throat and a thrill of fear and pleasure mingled in her senses. His eyes were dark, dangerous, the sharp angles of his face even more defined by the darkness and the moonlight. He kissed her throat, then took each nipple into his mouth in turn and teased them until they were so hard they throbbed with pain. He pressed his lips against her belly then looked up at her.

‘A preview. I promised you I was going to taste every inch of your skin. I‘m going to fuck you hard, Jessica Wood, so fucking hard. My tongue is going to go deep inside you, and you’re going to scream my name, and beg me to fuck you. Are you on birth control, Jessica?’

Breathless, she nodded. He smiled. ‘Good. Because I want to feel your sweet cunt on my cock, Jessie, flesh on flesh. I want to fill you with my cum.’

His words were making her so wet she could barely speak but she managed to gasp out ‘I want to suck you.’

Theo grinned and flipped her so she straddled him. She moved down his glorious body, kissing his hard chest, the rippling stomach, taking his cock, so rigid and huge in her small hand, gliding her lips over the wide crest of it, feeling his body tense as she began to draw on it, her tongue teasing the tip. She could taste the sweet, clean skin, the saltiness of his pre-cum. She felt him tangle his fingers in her hair, the pads of his thumbs massaging her scalp. She dug her fingernails into the skin of his hips, heard his sharp intake of breath, his low, triumphant ‘Yes!’. His hips began to shudder as he neared his peak, and Jess felt his cock grow harder and then pulse as he shot into her mouth over and over.

Just as quickly, he moved her onto her back and pushed her legs apart, his mouth hungrily clamping onto her sex, his tongue lashing around her clit, his teeth grazing the sensitive bud, the folds of her labia swelling and pulsing with arousal. She reached for his head but he grabbed her hands and held them at her sides. His tongue swept along her cleft and delved deeply into her and she nearly screamed at the feel of it. Her entire skin vibrated with ecstasy, almost unbearable pleasure and when she came, she let herself go, forgot everything else but his touch, his mouth on her. She had no time to recover before he plunged his cock into her again, roughly pressing her legs further apart, making her hips ache. He kissed her and she wrapped her arms around his neck, never wanting to let go, never ever ever…

The sun was streaming through the bedroom windows when she opened her eyes. She glanced over to the clock on the nightstand. Eleven-thirty. Shit. She bolted upright then remembered – it was Saturday. She heard a commotion from the kitchen and got up, snagging Theo’s shirt again. She padded through the apartment, following the scent of food.

Bare-chested and wearing some grey jogging pants, Theo had his back turned to her as he flipped pancakes onto a plate and she slid her arms around his back. He started a little, then pushed the frying pan to the back of the stove and turned the gas off.

‘Hey! You’re up.’ He turned in her arms and kissed her, obviously delighted at seeing her. ‘I missed you. How did you sleep?’

She pressed her mouth against his. ‘Wonderfully, thank you.’

It was true: the first time in months, maybe even a couple of years that she had actually slept right through. Usually, she woke every half-hour or so, listening for any noises, any intruder. Jules was to thank for that: the night he’d broken into her apartment and beaten her badly, and had broken her ribs.

But last night, wrapped in Theo’s big arms, she had felt safe. She knew it was ridiculous but she felt she had known him forever, not just the few hours she had. She smiled up at him now and he smoothed the hair away from her face.

‘Good.’ He bent his head to kiss her slowly, deeply and she sighed, her body relaxing into his. ‘Mmmm. I made you breakfast, but now I’m thinking I should maybe help you work up an appetite.’

Her smile widened, and she arched an eyebrow at him. ‘And how will you do that, sir?’

He laughed, cocking his eyebrow up. ‘I can tell you but I’d rather just show you.’

She kissed him. ‘What did you mean last night…. a new world of pleasure?’

He smiled. ‘Forgive my assumption but something tells me you’ve never been made love to the way a beautiful, exciting woman like you should be. Am I wrong?’

She smiled slightly. ‘Until last night.’

He chuckled, kissing her to thank her for the compliment. His lips moved to her ear. ‘That was nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you, my beautiful Jess.’

Sharp spikes of pleasure jagged through her at his words, her breath catching in her throat as she gazed up at him, into those gorgeous green eyes. She touched his face gently, noticing the strong jaw, the aquiline nose, the dark, thick eyelashes. His expression, she realised, could look so hard, almost dangerous but when he looked at her…

Theo slid his arms under her and lifted her onto the counter, his lips seeking hers. Jess wrapped her legs around his waist as he slid the shirt from her shoulders. Reaching down, she cupped the hard length of his cock through the jogging pants – Christ, he was so big, and under her touch, he growing bigger and harder every moment. He grinned at her, a lazy, love-drunk look in his eyes as she slipped her hands inside his pants and freed his cock, her hands working up and down it. Theo nipped her earlobe with his teeth.

‘Lay back for me, beautiful…’

She did as he asked and felt him push her legs apart, his big fingers spread the lips of her sex, tease her with the tip of his cock. Theo pressed his lips against her belly, his tongue tracing circles around her navel, making her moan with pleasure. She heard his low chuckle.

‘Sensitive belly, huh?’

She nodded, too lost in desire to speak. Theo buried his face in her belly again, just briefly, before pushing her legs open as wide they would go. He slid his cock into her slowly – too slowly – grinning as she gasped with anticipation. He pushed himself into her until their hips ground together and as he began to thrust, he kissed her.

‘I love your belly,’ he told her, ‘it’s the softest, most sensual, most fuckable belly in the world.’

His thumb stroked her belly then dipped into the hollow of her navel and began to mimic the thrust of his cock, finger-fucking her belly-button. Jess groaned at the sweet pain of his thumb pressing into her flesh and Theo smiled triumphant.

‘That’s it, Jessie, let go now… let yourself go.’

He was fucking her so hard that it shook a glass from the counter but neither of them paid any heed to the glass shattering on the floor. Theo groaned as he neared his peak, burying his face in her neck.

‘I’m going to come on that beautiful belly of yours,’ he whispered and she moaned so beautifully that he laughed aloud. ‘You like that, don’t you?’

She nodded and then her body tensed and jerked with her orgasm. Theo pulled out and came, shooting thick streams of cum onto her belly, groaning with his own climax. Not letting her catch her breath – he was getting good at that – he swept her from the counter and carried her back into the bedroom. He lay her on her stomach and covered her body with his. He took her buttocks in his hands, parting them gently. Jess was gasping, shaking, still trying to catch her breath when he whispered in her ear, his voice a sensual purr.

‘May I?’

Breathless, she nodded then moaned as he slowly pushed into her ass. Pain shot through her but unexpected pleasure, a new kind of thrill. Theo moved, slowly, expertly as yet another orgasm shivered through her body and finally he came too, collapsing down on top of her, panting, his body weight heavy on her.

‘God, I could fuck you forever, Jessie,’ he murmured into her ear and deftly flipped her onto her back so he could look at her. Her skin was flushed pink, her dark hair matted to her skin with sweat. Theo looked down at her. ‘Are you in this with me, Jessie?’

Staring up into his eyes, Jessica Wood could do nothing but nod. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Much later, famished, they ate the cold pancakes and took a long, hot shower together. Jess bunched up her underwear and stuffed it in her bag, slipping her dress back on. Theo, dressing, watched her amused. ‘So I’m supposed to think about anything else but the fact you’re naked under there?’

She grinned and flashed him, making him laugh and reach for her. She skipped out of his way and darted into the living room, giggling. Theo, with his pants halfway up his legs stumbled after her, arms outstretched, moaning like a zombie. He caught her and tumbled with her onto the sofa. Jess was laughing uncontrollably, the tears pouring down her face, and he kissed them away.

Jess caught her breath. ‘You are a CEO, Mr Storm, such behaviour is frowned upon.’ Theo grinned, his hands sliding under her dress and she smacked them away playfully. ‘And you are insatiable.’

A cell-phone started squawking from the bedroom, and reluctantly, they both got up to check.

‘Mine,’ said Jess and Theo watched as her lovely face clouded as she noted who was calling. She glanced at him apologetically. ‘I have to take this, it is family.’

Theo nodded. ‘Of course.’ He left the bedroom to her to give her privacy. Whoever it was on the phone – she didn’t really want to talk to them, he guessed. The stricken look on her face when she’d registered who was calling… hell, if anyone dared upset his girl…

Wow. His girl. Theo went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. Really, man, your girl? This fast? Theo clenched his jaw, trying to think straight. She had completely enraptured him; all of his focus in the last – he checked his watch – eighteen hours had been on her and now, yeah, he couldn’t imagine his life without her.

And yet, he knew next to nothing about her except she worked or studied at the college and that she was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman that he’d ever laid his eyes on. That soft honey-colored skin, those deep, deep brown eyes, that full, blush-pink mouth, her low throaty voice…damn.

He heard her talking now, her voice raised and he edge closer to the door, unable to stop himself snooping.

‘No, no, fuck you. You don’t get to run my life, Jules. No…’ She sounded upset now, her voice breaking a little. Theo went to the door of the bedroom. She was turned away from him and he could see her shoulders shaking, her head bent low.

‘It’s none of your business where I am. How the hell did you even know I wasn’t at home? Jesus, why can’t you leave me alone?’

A sob now and her entire body slumped. Theo marched into the room and with one arm, swept her into a hug and with his free hand, took the phone from her.

‘Call her again and I’ll end you, motherfucker.’ Theo shut off the phone and held the trembling Jess in his arms. He heard her sob twice then stop, taking in deep breaths. She pulled away, turning to wipe her face with her hands.

‘I’m so sorry about that,’ she said, her voice trembling.

‘Who was that?’

She tried to smile. ‘My step-brother. He’s… a little bit of a control freak.’

Theo had the feeling that she wasn’t telling him the whole story but studying her, he knew if he pressed her at this moment, she would clam up. There was plenty of time, he decided. She would tell him what she needed to when she needed to and when she did, he would do everything in his powerful to make things right for her.

It was then Theo Storm realised that he’d fallen for this tiny, beautiful mystery of a woman. It took his breath away. She took his breath away.

He stroked the back of his hand down her face. ‘Jessie…would you spend the day with me?’

She hesitated, gazing up at him, the looked away. ‘I would honestly love to but I have to get back to my apartment.’

Theo swallowed his disappointment. ‘Your step-brother?’

She made a disgusted noise. ‘Regardless of what Jules thinks, I’m not at his beck and call. No, I have someone at home I have to care for.’

‘Kid?’

She smiled, shaking her head, amused at the worried look on his face. ‘Dog.’

His expression cleared and he smiled. ‘Please don’t judge me for that. But hey, look, I’ll drive you home. We can still hang out, right?’

Jess smiled but glanced around her surroundings. Her tiny studio was a world away from this place. Theo saw her expression and took her in his arms.

‘Whatever it is that concerns you, please don’t give it another thought. All this is just window dressing. Really, it’s the company’s apartment really. I just use it when I stay in the city. I have a much, much smaller home out on Bainbridge Island.’

Jess nodded. That explained the lack of home comforts, she thought, but still… her place was clean, tidy and as comfortable as she could afford to make it but…

Theo kissed her forehead. ‘Jessie, you could live in a cardboard box with a tin can for a shower and I’d still want to hang out with you.’

She kept her expression blank and said in a monotone. ‘I actually live under a bridge.’

Theo pretended to consider then held out his hand. ‘Well, it’s been good to meet you but this is goodbye.’ He smiled before he reached the end of the sentence and Jess giggled, punching his arm. He pulled her into his arms, kissed her until her head swam. Theo gave a deep sigh and rested his head on the top of hers. ‘Could your dog wait a half hour?’

She giggled and extracted herself, tugging him to his feet. ‘Come on, Casanova, take me home.’

Back in her apartment, Theo had greeted her German Shepard, Stan, like an old friend and was, even now, play-wrestling with the dog on the floor of her tiny studio. She watched them both, grinning widely as they played like puppies. An overexcited Stan backed into the small table holding her some of her books and knocked them over. Theo stopped and both he and the dog looked so guilty that she burst out laughing.

She tugged Theo to his feet and moved to pick her books up. He helped her, reading through the titles as he did, commenting. ‘Loved this. And this. Couldn’t get to grips with this, though,’ he said, holding up a book by the latest literary phenomenon, ‘How about you?’

She shook her head. ‘Turgid. I’ve tried twice now and just…nope.’

Theo smiled and sat down on the sofa bed that took up a great deal of the room. He looked around the small living area, dominated by books and art prints, paper, soft pastels and watercolors in small tubes spread across the table, pencil sketches Jess had been toying around with. He picked up a couple and studied them. Jess watched him nervously. He smiled at her.

‘These are incredibly good. Do you sell your art?’

She shook her head. ‘I just play around, really. My work is mostly in art restoration; not that I’ve been working on anything big, just a few minor pieces at the university. But no, to answer your question, I’m not nearly good enough to sell.’ She patted Stan as she spoke, suddenly shy.

‘I disagree,’ Theo said softly and she flushed.

‘Thank you.’

He took her in his arms. ‘And I love your place. Reminds me of mine on Bainbridge.’

Jess looked askance, disbelieving. ‘Uh-huh okay.’

Theo laughed. ‘I will take you there and you’ll see what I mean. You and Stan. There’s a good-sized garden he can run around to his heart’s content – and he’ll have a pal. I have an English Cocker spaniel. She’s called Monty.’

‘She’s called Monty?’

‘Blame my four-year-old nephew.’ It was the first time he’d mentioned any of his family and Jess wanted to ask him more but then he kissed her, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her down onto the sofa and she forgot everything else.

This time she didn’t stop his hands as they slid under her dress but just as he began to slide two fingers in and out of her, her gasps of pleasure brought a bout of barking from Stan which made them both collapse into laughter but when he’d calmed down, they tried again Instantly the dog started barking. Jess sighed.

‘Moment’s over,’ she giggled as Theo defeated, sat up, shaking his head in mock disgust. Stan, unrepentant, and triumphant went to curl up in his basket, a huge doggy grin on his face. Theo swept a finger down Jess’s cheek.

‘So, you know how I was telling you about my place on Bainbridge… yeah, the bedrooms have doors.’ He pretended to scowl at Stan, which made Jess giggle again. She wrapped her arms around him.

‘Well, Mr Billionaire, if you have fancy things like doors, how can I resist?’

He caught her lips with his, kissing her until her head spun. ‘And when we get there, Miss Wood, I’m going to begin your education in love-making the Storm way…’

She moaned with pleasure as he kissed her throat and Theo chuckled. ‘The sooner we get to my place and I’m inside you the better as far as I’m concerned…’

She gave a breathless laugh. ‘You are a machine, Theodore Storm…’

He sat in the car parked across the street from her apartment and watched her leave with a tall guy he didn’t recognise. Jealousy, rage curled in his gut as Julién Gachet watched his step-sister, his Jessica, as she talked and laughed with this stranger. When the man bent his head to kiss her, Jules’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. Whore. She knew what happened when she dared to defy him, betray him. Jessica had belonged to him the moment that his father had introduced him to her and her mother, back when Jessie was a kid, just a teenager. Jules always got what he wanted and he had wanted her from the start. Her frightened eyes when he crept into her room at night and put a hand over her mouth. Shhh shhh, little Jess…

Now, watching her kiss this other man, this stranger, this bastard, her glorious body against his, Jules’s anger consumed him. She would be reminded, he decided, reminded who she belonged to, who owned every cell in her beautiful body.

And if she would not fall in line, then she would have to die…

Play With Me Part Two

Theo watched her from the door. Christ, she was so beautiful, he couldn’t get enough of just looking at her. There were the times when her hair brushed his arm, or she’d reach up for something and her t-shirt would ride up, revealing a long expanse of her soft belly. His cock would harden and it would all that he could do to stop himself taking her there and then.

Now, though - and he grinned to himself - the other patrons of the coffee house where Jess Wood worked might object to the live sex show.

‘Hey again.’ Her voice broke through his reverie and he realised he had been blocking the door of the coffee shop. He stepped aside to let an elderly couple in. They smiled and nodded their thanks.

Jess smiled at him from behind the counter. She was already fixing his coffee the way she knew he liked it – Americano with an extra shot.

‘Hello to you, beautiful. Thank you.’ He leaned over the counter to kiss her as she slid the cup over to him. He took a sip, the hot liquid burning his tongue. He enjoyed the quick wash of pain. He put the cup down. ‘As always, perfect.’ He smiled. ‘How are you today?’

‘Much the same as yesterday,’ she grinned. ‘Can I persuade you to try a muffin today?’ She always asked and he always politely refused. He liked the fact she was trying to make a joke between them, it felt strangely intimate, even if it was just about baked goods. It was their ‘thing’. Theo chuckled at the thought and told her.

‘Funny,’ she murmured and leaned over to whisper in his ear,’ I thought our thing was fucking each other senseless.’

Theo laughed, caught her mouth with his. ‘You shouldn’t say stuff like that when we’re not alone.’

Jess glanced up at the clock on the wall. Ten of seven. The coffee house would close at seven and then they could go back to his place or her place and get very, very naked.

Theo was watching her, a knowing look in his eyes. For a long moment, their eyes locked, a silent communication.

‘You have no idea what I’m going to do to you tonight, Jessica.’ Theo’s voice was low, steady and he watched as her cheeks grew pink, her eyes wide and excited.

Ten minutes later, she locked the door and pulled down the shades. Theo stood in the middle of the room, watching her. She lowered the shades on all of the windows and turned off all the lamps so that only the glow from the coffee machines lit the room.

‘Stay where you are,’ Theo ordered as she started to move toward him. She did as she was told, smiling, her eyes soft with desire as he stalked around slowly. He circled her once then nodded toward her.

‘Take your shirt off – slowly. Then your bra.’

She pulled the shirt over her head, unhook her bra, dropping them both to the floor, and stood waiting, her hair tumbling over her shoulders. Theo moved to face her, tracing the shape of her lips with the pad of his thumb then running it gently down her body, between her breasts, over her stomach until it rested in her navel. Jess was trembling now and Theo grinned as he saw the arousal in her eyes. His hand drifted down under her denim skirt, brushing her inner thigh. He was gratified at her sharp intake of breath but took his hand away, moving to unbuckle his belt and removed it. He pulled her hands behind her back and bound them with the leather, his lips against her soft throat.

‘Jessie,’ he murmured, ‘If you want me to stop…’

‘No,’ she interrupted him and he chuckled, straightening so he could into her eyes.

‘Let me finish, beautiful,’ he said gently, his clear green eyes locked onto hers. ‘We are going to do some things you might find…. challenging. I’ll promise you two things – I will not hurt you unless you want me to…and if you say stop, we stop. No questions, no guilt. I want you to enjoy what I’m going to do to you.’

She nodded, breathless and he stood back for a moment, admiring her in the soft light, then pulled his own shirt off and dropped to his knees in front of her. Sliding her skirt down, he buried his face in her belly as his fingers wound around the sides of her panties and pulled them down. Jess gave a small moan as Theo’s tongue traced down the midline of her belly and dipped into the hollow of her sex. His tongue lashed around her clit, priming it, the bud hardening and becoming so sensitive that Jess thought that she might explode. Theo gently parted her legs and then his tongue was deep inside her, exploring, tasting. Jess gasped, wanting desperately to touch him but unable to, her bound hands straining against the leather. She heard him chuckle and he stood, kissing her deeply, sliding his hands around her waist to link his fingers into hers. His eyes burned with an intensity that thrilled and scared her in equal measure.

‘Jessica,’ he murmured, rubbing his nose gently against hers, ‘I’m going to fuck you now.’

She barely had time to respond before he swept her onto one of the tables and pressed her body down with his own, her tied hands digging into the small of her back as Theo’s fingers parted the soft lips of her sex and his cock, so thick, so long, thrust into her. Theo hitched her legs around his hips as he fucked her, his strokes rough and deep, almost violent with his desire for her.

Jess lost herself into the delirium of being so expertly screwed by this gorgeous, virile man, not wanting it to ever end. She gasped his name and was rewarded by his triumphant smile.

‘Are you mine?’ He asked and his green eyes seemed darker, more otherworldly than ever as she nodded, breathlessly. ‘Good, because I am yours, my beautiful Jessie…’

The simple declaration made her heart swell and she bucked against him, straining to take him deeper, deeper, and deeper. Theo was merciless, smiling at her gasps of pleasure and pain. She came so hard she thought she might die, lights exploding in her vision, her body liquefying and when, a moment later, Theo pulled out from her and came on her belly, she realised that she could die in this moment and not care.

Theo wasn’t done with her and lifting her to her feet. He pressed her against the wall and took her from behind, his still diamond-hard cock thrusting deep into the slick wetness of her cunt. The wall was cold against her breasts and belly, providing some relief from the inferno raging on her skin. Theo’s lips were at her ear.

‘Do you like to be fucked hard, Jessie?’

‘Yes…’

Say it.’

‘I want to be fucked hard, Theo.’

‘Call me Mr Storm.’

‘Mr Storm, fuck me hard, please…’ she shuddered as an orgasm ripped through her, the pressure of his cock inside her overwhelming. Theo chuckled and pulled out, parting her buttocks and pushing into her ass. Jess groaned, letting her head drop back against his shoulder. His fingers were on her belly, stroking a pattern around her navel that was driving her crazy. She really was his, she realised, all his, forever…

Later, when they’d reluctantly dressed and calmed down, he drove her back to her apartment and they shared a beer on the little balcony overlooking the Seattle streets. Theo sat against the wall, with Jess settled between his legs, his arm wrapped around her, pulling her back against his chest. He was such a huge man, tall and wide, that Jess always felt tiny but safe with him. He nuzzled into her hair, pressing his lips against her temple.

‘You’re quiet,’ he said and although his tone was without reproach, she could sense he was probing her. She waited, a small smile playing around her mouth.

‘Are you okay with what we did?’ He asked finally and she grinned, turning her head so she could kiss him.

‘Very. Very, very okay.’ She studied the relief in his eyes. ‘In fact… if you want to do… more, I would be open to it.’

His surprise was mixed with desire. ‘I’m glad. I want to experience every pleasure with you, Jessie.’

She loved the way he said her name, so tenderly, so intimately. ‘Is there anything you really don’t want to try?’ he continued, stroking a finger down her cheek.

Jess looked away from him and took a long swig of beer before answering. ‘Nothing with knives.’ She hated the way her voice broke when she said it and she felt Theo’s arm tighten around her. When he spoke, there was a note of anger in his voice.

‘I would never… Jessie?’

Dammit. Hot tears started to pour down her cheeks. Oh dammit. She didn’t want to think about what Jules had done to her and she really didn’t want to talk about, not with Theo. She didn’t want any second of her time with him spoiled by her past.

‘Jessica?’

No. No. She couldn’t do this. She pushed away from him and scrambled to her feet, stepping back into the apartment. Theo followed her, his handsome face creased with concern.

‘Was it something I said?’

She shook her head not trusting herself to speak. Theo came to her and pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. She buried her head in his chest, breathing in his clean smell, fresh laundry and man. Theo’s hand stroked her hair gently.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’

She looked up at him. ‘No. I’m sorry…please, let’s change the subject.’

His eyes were still troubled but he nodded. They stood there for a long minute in silence then Theo kissed the top of her head.

‘I’ll never let anyone hurt you, Jessie.’

And in that moment, she desperately wanted to believe him.

Freshman year. Jess had saved every last penny from her job at the coffee house to get a small studio apartment in St Anne’s, not wanting to take anything more from Jules than she had to. Her tuition was covered by the provision in her step-father’s will but Jules still held the purse strings. She hated it but worse was the thought of hundreds of dollars of student debt hanging over her forever. Now, though, she thought she’d found a way out. A scholarship. Well, she reminded herself, a possible scholarship. The company offering it had strict guidelines on who could apply for it – only those students with the most pressing need. Trouble was, her family name was well known in Seattle and her step-brother Jules was known to be one of the richest men in the city. Just because she got nothing from him other than her tuition wouldn’t be enough to convince the board she needed that funding – mostly to escape him. Jules had done interviews lately in his position as a handsome eligible millionaire, raving about his ‘close relationship’ with his step-sister. The interviews had made Jess sick to her stomach. If they only knew…

All which meant she couldn’t plead poverty to the board – unless Jules publicly and notably cut her off.

He was coming over later to discuss it with her – had even been genial about the idea over the phone. She would frame it as a bonus for him. He would save the few hundred thousand dollars that her degree and her masters would cost. She told herself that would be enough.

It wasn’t. Of course, it wasn’t.

Jules listened to her reasoning politely, a supercilious smile on his face and she knew immediately it was no good.

‘Well,’ he said, standing and pacing around the room – between her and the door, she noted uneasily as he turned to smile at her. ‘Obviously, I have no intention of…’disowning’ you, Jessica. Why would I?’

He stood in front of her then, hands deep in his pockets and she could see him stroking himself through the thin material, putting on an exhibition for her. Nausea swept over her and she stood, wanting to push past him.

But then his hand was on her throat, squeezing hard. He grabbed her and slammed her back down on the couch. Jess struggled against him but knew of old, she had no chance against his strength. They’d been in this situation so many times… except this time, Jules’ eyes glowed with malice. He ground his mouth down on hers, his hand burrowing under her skirt.

‘No… no… please st-…’

His hand clamped over her mouth as he tore her panties from her. Jess bucked frantically trying to push him away but then, grinning, Jules had shown her what he had in his hand. She froze.

A knife. Oh god, no…

‘Stop fighting me, Jessica, or I’ll put this into you. I’ll gut you, Princess, without a second thought. You belong to me, Jessica. I say what you do, where you go. Whether you live or die. Do you understand?’

Terrified, she could do nothing but nod, tears streaming down her face, as Jules, triumphant, took her with his knife to her throat.

Jess woke up, panting, trying not to scream. Beside her, Theo slept soundly, his big frame making her bed seem tiny. Jess edged out of the bed and padded silently to the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. She drained the glass and refilled it. Her body was trembling from the nightmare – the memory – of Jules that night.

It hadn’t been the first time he’d raped her, just the first time he’d threatened to kill her and Jess had no doubt he was capable.

She sat down at the kitchen table and laid her head against the cool wood. She hated that he held this power over her. She’d told him she was going to the police, defiant at last, but he’d gotten to them first with his expensive lawyers and limitless influence. She was unstable, he’d told them; her mother had been committed several times in her life before her suicide. Using her mother’s mental illness against her was both evil and genius. However much she protested after that, she could see it in their eyes: Nut job. Attention seeker. Hysteric. As if this was the eighteen hundreds and not the twenty-first century. Jesus.

Jules had punished her of course. Breaking into her apartment and beating her – only where it couldn’t be seen in public, of course. She’d stayed away from college for a week, unable to stand because of her bruised abdomen where he’d kicked her so viciously she couldn’t stand up straight for two days.

After that, she’d almost given up. Buried herself in studying, letting Jules continue to pay for everything, control everything she couldn’t. She moved apartments frequently, whenever her lease was up and never took apartments with longer than a six-month tenure. Jules always, always found her.

The assaults came less and less as long as she obeyed him and she clung to that. She rarely went out, and she never, ever dated. And each year she squirrelled away money so that one day she could just run. Another country, changing identity, to get away from Jules. That had been her plan.

Until she met Theo. Until she remembered what affection felt like. What love felt like.

She walked silently back to the bedroom and lay down beside him. In sleep, the harsh angles of his beautiful face softened, his full mouth curved up slightly in a smile. She pressed her lips gently to kiss and then stroked his face. She studied him for a long minute before closing her own eyes.

Before she fell back to sleep, she kissed him once more and whispered ‘I love you’.

A moment later, Theo opened his eyes and smiled. ‘I love you too, beautiful one.’ But she was already asleep.

Neither of them heard the door to the apartment door creak open. Jules Gachet sneaked through the room until he stood at her bedroom door, staring down at them. The way Jessica was curved around the big man’s body, the protective arm he had wrapped around her. Jules’ gut churned with jealousy, with anger. Fucking whore. He fantasised about having this bastard wake up to find her dead beside him, covered in her blood. Jules grinned nastily to himself. If he could have gotten away with it… but no. Not yet, at least. He moved silently to her side and brushed a fingertip down her soft cheek, pushing a lock of dark brown hair away from her lovely face. If he ended up killing her, he wanted it to be an intimate, unrushed time. He wanted her to die slowly, painfully, looking into his eyes and begging him to spare her life.

He turned his attention to the man sleepily beside her. He was vaguely familiar but Jules couldn’t place him. Never mind, he didn’t matter. Just the thought of this man inside his Jessica made him want to roar, rage and to implode with malevolence.

An idea came to him then and he smiled to himself. If Jessica thought she could be happy with this man… Jules almost laughed aloud. Yes, he was going to enjoy destroying her piece of mind, her security, her new love.

He’d consider it an appetiser to her murder.

Theo Storm glanced up as Max came into his office, grinning. ‘Where have you been and what is her name?’ His best friend had raised eyebrows and amused look on his chubby face.

Theo smiled. ‘Max, buddy…you’ve already lost your dumb bet and you don’t even know it.’

Max started to scoff then, as he saw how serious Theo was.

‘Really?’ He looked sceptical. ‘No. No way, I know you too well. You’re yanking me.’

Theo barked out a laugh. ‘Projecting as usual. No, I’m serious, Max. Here…’

He pulled out his cell phone which already had a ton of photos of Jess. He flicked to them and handed it to Max.

‘Her name is Jessica – Jess. She’s a Ph.D. graduate at UW. Art restoration.’

Max whistled. ‘She’s a beauty, alright. Where’d you meet her?’

Theo told him about the commencement speech then gave him a cleaned up version of the last few days. ‘I really want you to meet her. She’s going to be around a long time.’

Max blinked. ‘Wow. Never seen you like this before. ‘

Theo grinned a little smugly. ‘Now about that bet…’

Max scoffed. ‘Bet schmet. When am I going to meet her?’

Jess choked on her drink – which was a shame because the cocktail was utterly delicious and very expensive – but Theo’s best friend Max was just too funny. He was in the middle of regaling her with stories of his and Theo’s childhood, growing up together, going to an exclusive private school for boys and not behaving as ‘young gentlemen should’ in any way or form.

Max grinned as she wiped her mouth and tried to stop laughing. Theo was shaking his head good-naturedly, pretending to be disgusted with Max’s loose tongue.

‘Seriously, dude, stop trying to kill my girlfriend. Breathe, Jess.’

Jess sucked in a few deep breaths, trying not to be over-excited about the fact Theo had just called her his girlfriend. She felt like a freakin’ teenager but there was no denying the warmth flooding her every nerve and cell when he called her that. Theo chuckled at her and leaned over to kiss her briefly.

‘That’s my cue to get more drinks,’ Max disappeared off to the bar. Theo kissed her again, slower, deeper, his hands cradling her face, his tongue caressing hers. Jess melted into the embrace, sliding her hands around his waist, feeling his muscular body under her fingers. God, she had never wanted anyone this much in her life, wanting to be naked with him all day and all night. Well, she thought a little smugly, she had been for the past few days but tomorrow, she had to get back to work, back to reality. Theo had gone into the office today for an hour or so but had returned just after lunch. She’d been naked and ready for him when he walked into the door – they hadn’t made it to the bedroom before they were tangled in each other and sweating.

After an afternoon of screwing, she could still feel the ache of him, her vagina pulsed with a pleasant soreness, her thighs stretched and her hips felt like liquid still. His lips were on her throat now and she closed her eyes, concentrating on the sensation.

‘At the end of this evening,’ Theo spoke in a low, deep murmur, ’we’ll say goodnight to Max and then I’m going to take you into the alley around the back of this place and fuck you so hard, Jessie, so very hard. Then we’ll go back to my place and do it all over again until you’re helpless in my arms.’

Jess suppressed her moan of desire but her body trembled and she heard him laugh softly. She buried her face in his neck.

‘I want you now.’ She whispered and, moving quickly, he pulled her onto his lap so she was straddling him. Their eyes locked and a silent assent passed between them. Theo reached down and unzipped his fly, freed his already stiffening cock, and pushing her panties to one side, slid into her. She nearly gave them away as she felt his cock fill her, giving a moan which he quickly smothered with a kiss. Rocking gently as if only moving with the kiss, she felt his free hand caressing her sensitive clit, sending shivers of delight through her body. His lips moved against hers as they kissed, tender but firm and Jess wondered how she ever lived before this kind of pleasure. She was glad that they were sitting in a private, secluded booth, that the rest of the club couldn’t see that they were screwing and when Theo started to move in and out of her, the fact they had to be discreet, had to keep the frenzy within was so incredibly erotic, she came quickly. He followed her and for a moment, they stayed connected, breathing hard, gaze locked on the others. Theo looked around then.

‘Max is coming back.’

She slid from his lap and sat, shoving her legs together as Theo tidied himself.

‘’Jeez, you’d think there was a world shortage of bar staff,’ Max was moaning, dispersing their drinks to them, completely unaware that Theo’s semen was still inside her. Jess tried not to giggle at the thought and Theo shot her an amused, conspiratorial look. It had been a quick, dirty, thrilling fuck with adrenaline coursing through them at the fear of being caught and she grinned back at him. God, she would do anything for this man. She wondered what else he had planned for their lovemaking. Being tied up, losing part of the control of the situation had been, ironically, more liberating than she had expected and now there was little she would contemplate letting him do.

Theo watched as Jess and Max fell easily back into conversation. He slid his hand onto the back of Jess’s neck, caressed the muscles there and he was gratified when she squeezed his knee. He let his gaze wander lazily over her body, the full breasts, the slim waist, the almost-flat belly and then her thighs which he noticed she had rammed together, keeping his seed inside of her. She was so beautiful, he could hardly believe it.

‘Yo, Theo? Hey, space cadet!’ Max prodded his shoulder and Theo shook himself. Max grinned at him. ‘I gotta go. You –‘ he grabbed Jess’s hand, ‘are a freaking princess. If I wasn’t gay, I’d be fighting Theo for your hand.’

Jess flushed but Theo noticed the tiniest wince when Max had said ‘princess.’ When Max had gone, Jess leaned back into him and he tipped her chin up so he could kiss her.

‘There’s a lot about you I don’t know yet,’ he murmured, brushing his lips against hers, enjoying the sensation of her soft skin against his mouth.

‘There’s plenty of time for that… our sordid histories.’ She laughed but again, he detected something else, a hesitance, a wound but he decided tonight wasn’t the right time to pursue it. He stroked her face gently.

‘Ready to go?’

On the way out, he nodded to the security man who led them out of the back door. Outside, rain was plummeting down from the storm that rages overhead – Seattle always knew exactly the best time to throw down with the weather. Theo glanced up then shook his head.

‘A literal rain check for our alleyway shenanigan?’

Jess grinned wickedly and shook her head, skipping past him into the darkest part of the alleyway. Theo followed her then watched in amazement as she slipped out of her clothes and stood before him, naked, rain pouring down her glorious curves. She smiled at him and held out her hand.

‘Fuck me, Theo…’

He didn’t need to be told twice. In two strides he was over to her, pulling at his clothes, almost in a frenzy. She helped him, freeing his ramrod cock from his pants then laughing wildly as he picked her up, pushing her back against the cold, wet wall. He thrust into her hard and she moaned, kissing his fiercely.

‘Fuck me hard, Theo …’

Her eyes were alive and his breath quickened in excitement. He rammed himself into her as hard as he could, slamming against the wall so hard he heard her gasp a ‘yes, yes!’. The rain was a monsoon now, covering their hot bodies as they moved together. The feel of being inside her, her softness, her sweet, sweet sex was something he could take anytime, anywhere, even in this filthy weather. He loved that she wanted to fuck in the rain. It spoke to her innate sense of humour, of the sense of adventure he thought that she hid most of the time. It meant she trusted him and that – he thought now as he shuddered to a climax - meant the world to him because he knew, knew that something was broken inside this beautiful girl and he desperately wanted to be the one to fix it.

Jess managed to straighten her soaking wet dress over her body enough so she looked decent. Her skin, her mind felt frenzied with excitement and desire. She was astonished at herself, at the certainty that she wouldn’t have let Theo call off their promised alleyway tryst. She wanted it. Bad. She wanted to do every mad thing with him, experience everything. Everything.

Theo took her hand now and they walked down the alleyway to where his car was parked. As they rounded the corner, suddenly there were flashes of light and people yelling his name, jostling them. Theo cursed and curved his arms protectively around Jess as he hustled them to his car. Inside, Jess turned away from the windows as the paparazzi crowded around the windows and Theo pulled the car away from the curb.

After a minute, they both breathed a sigh of relief as the car sped through the night. Theo turned the heat in the car to high and Jess gave an involuntary shiver as the warm air hit her cold body. Theo looked over at her, gave her a grin.

‘You okay, beauty?’

Jess smiled and nodded, let her hand rest on his thigh. Her clothes – and his – were soaked through but she didn’t care. Theo concentrated on the road for a second before shooting her a curious look.

‘Jessie, last night I told you something and I’m not sure you heard me. So I wanted to say it now, again, when I’ll be sure you’ll hear me.’

Jess’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What’s that?’

Theo smiled. ‘I’m in love with you, Jessica Wood, and I know it’s batshit crazy fast and I’m aware I’m putting it out there when we don’t really know each other as well as I’d like. But I have to be honest here. I love you.’

Jess’s heart swelled in her chest and tears sprang into her eyes. ‘I love you too.’

She watched as Theo’s shoulders relaxed and she heard him exhale slowly. He pulled the car over to the side of the road, released his belt and took her face in his hands. His lips pressed against hers softly, as if for the first time.

‘You are my world,’ he murmured and Jess’s stomach dropped with desire and love. His tongue was exploring hers, caressing and massaging. Jess closed her eyes so she could concentrate on the explosion of sensations his kiss created in her. She felt it all over her body; her belly quivered, a frantic pulse beat between her legs and she moaned as his fingers tangled in her hair.

‘God, Jessie, when you make that sound… we need to get home now.’

They both laughed as they disengaged and Theo started the car. Jess was sure they broke all sorts of laws as Theo drove the car back to her apartment.

They’d barely got in the door before Theo started to peel her dress from her. Jess turned to kiss him, gasping as he pulled her roughly to him, grinding his mouth down on hers with a frenzied need.

‘Theo…’

She gasped his name as he slid two fingers inside of her, grinning wickedly. Barely able to concentrate she stripped him and they tumbled onto her bed, his hand still caressing her, making her wet and unbearable excited.

‘I want to taste you,’ she said and was rewarded by his kiss.

‘Want to try doing it at the same time?’ Theo’s eyes were excited, sultry with his desire for her. She nodded, smiling and he manoeuvred her so he could bury his face in her sex as she took him into her mouth. She heard him moan as her tongue teased the tip of his cock, could feel it jerk. God, he tasted so good, clean and salty and the silky softness of his skin belied the diamond-hard stiffness of him. She felt his tongue sweeping along her cleft, circling her sensitive clit.

Before long, Theo was desperate to be inside of her and he shifted her so she straddled him. He slid into her velvety slickness, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her hips as she moved on top of his, rocking her hips to take him in as far as he would go. She gazed down at him, as they moved, her long hair tumbling in damp strands across her shoulders. Theo cupped her breasts in his hands, teasing the hard nipples with his thumbs, letting his fingers drift down her stomach, stroking her belly with his thumbs. The way he looked at her in these moments was addictive, thrilling and she found herself telling him she loved him over and over and over…

The bubble burst in the morning. The paparazzi had done their job thoroughly and their photo was splashed over the morning’s tabloid – local and national. A billionaire mogul like Theo Storm having a new girlfriend was big news in the gossip columns and the business world.

Jess read the write-ups silently. They’d done their homework and found out who she was – lord knows how but there it was. They’d gone public.

‘You okay?’ Theo had presented her with the papers earlier without comment and now he studied her with a wary look in his eyes.

Jess tried to smile, shrugging her shoulders. ‘Well, we knew it wouldn’t be long before it got out. Shame. I liked it when it was just ours to enjoy.’

She sighed and Theo took her in his arms. ‘I’m sorry but yeah, it was only a matter of time. Doesn’t change anything between us – at least not for me.’

Jess kissed him. ‘Me either.’

He hugged her to him. ‘Still want to go back to work today?’

Jess nodded, smuggling into his big chest. ‘Yeah, I have to. We’ve got big projects coming up and I’ve already stretched Gerry’s goodwill. Not that it wasn’t totally worth it.’

She grinned up at him and Theo smiled.

‘Anyone tell you, you have the most beautiful little face?’ He said and she giggled, flushing.

‘No, you the pretty one,’ she singed at him and he laughed.

‘No you is a purty girl,’ he replied, mimicking her tone then kissed her. ‘How about I come pick you up after work? I could meet your boss, your friends.’

She considered for a moment. ‘That would be good. I’d better get going.’

Theo dropped her off at work – after kissing her thoroughly – and she drifted into her department with a happily dazed smile on her face. Gerry was waiting for her, his arms crossed. She knew from the look on his face he was trying to look stern but she gave him a wide, cheesy grin and he crumpled.

‘You stood me up for dinner,’ he accused as she dumped her bag on the desk and shrugged out of her coat. She smiled at him. He looked like he’d dressed in the dark as always; bedraggled beard, smeary spectacles, food-stained clothes. Jess hugged him fondly.

‘I know. I’ll make it up to you, I promise but I did have a good reason.’

‘I know.’ He waved a copy of the paper. ‘By my reckoning, since I asked you to go to the speech instead of me… you owe me two dinners.’

‘Fair enough.’

Gerry went back to work with a satisfied harrumph and Jess sat down to go through the work piled up on her desk. The morning passed quickly as she deftly dealt with paperwork, delivery notes and emails.

Theo called her at lunchtime. ‘Hey, beautiful.’

Jess smiled down the phone. ‘I missed you.’

‘Me too. Any trouble at work?’

‘None. Gerry’s very easy-going and as yet I’ve not had time to see anyone else. You?’

‘Only Max’s less than subtle jokes. He wants to double-date, by the way. I think you have another admirer. I might get jealous.’

She laughed and as they said goodbye, she felt a warmth settle in her stomach. The fact Theo wanted to involve her as much as he could with their family made her feel good, that she belonged. It was an oddly new feeling.

‘Hey…’ Gerry had stuck his head out of the office. ‘You wanna grab some lunch? We’ve got a whole afternoon of restoration; the museum is sending over ‘Luna Soleil’.’

Jess smiled. ‘Wow. Yes, let’s go grab something, I’m starving.’

Jules stared at the paper’s front page, fury roiling inside him. Fucking, fucking whore. And that rich bastard with her. Now he knew who had threatened him. Theo Storm. A fucking billionaire. So much for Jessica’s holier-than-thou attitude. She’d been screwing a freaking billionaire.

Jules Gachet had never known such anger. After all her crap about money meaning nothing, she’d betrayed him for a fucking meal ticket. He couldn’t – he wouldn’t – let her get away with that, by god, he would make her pay.

He slammed the door on his way out.

***

At a quarter of six, Jess stood upright and stretched. Working on the painting had been all-consuming, inspiring and now she had an evening of food and sex and love and Theo to look forward to. Yes.

Gerry had disappeared somewhere so she was alone in the studio. The main lights were off; only her work lamp, concentrated on the painting was on and she flicked it off and blinked, her eyes adjusting to the dark. She flexed the muscles in her back, her shoulders, let out a long breath, glancing at the lock. Her stomach gave a little flutter as she realised that Theo would be here very soon.

She grabbed her bag and headed to the ladies bathroom to freshen up. There was a shower cubicle and she quickly stripped and let the hot spray of water relax her tired body. After, she dressed, not bothering to slip her panties back on. Theo was in the habit, when they were in his car, of running his hand up her thigh. Today, she almost purred at the idea, his fingers would find her ready for him. Damn, you are turning into a wanton woman, she grinned to herself. The thought of him touching her made a pulse between her legs and she squeezed her thighs together hard to control herself.

She went back to her office and was gathering her things when she felt two hands slide around her waist.

‘How did you manage to slink in so quietly, sir?’ She said, grinning but as she turned she gasped with shock, shoving herself backwards, away. Jules smiled, and it was not a pleasant smile.

‘Waiting for your billionaire, Jessica?’

Her heart beating furiously, Jess’s eyes narrowed. ‘Get out or I’ll call security.’

Jules, in a quick movement, cuffed her so viciously around the face, she tumbled over her desk. He pushed the phone from the table then grabbed Jess, forcing her onto the table. She cast around for anything to help her fight him off, but Jules was stronger, had her at a disadvantage, pressing his forearm against her throat, choking her.

‘Fucking hypocritical little bitch. Why don’t you share the good fortune, huh? Maybe I should take you with me, see how much your rich fuck will pay to get you back alive? Because now Jessica, right now, all I wanna do is break you.’

Jess, barely able to breathe, was losing consciousness, Jules’s arm was cutting off her oxygen supply. Jules smiled and with his free hand, he pried her legs apart. As his hand moved towards her naked sex, Jess summoned all the strength she had left and jerked her knee upwards, hard, into his groin. Jules howled with agonised rage and jerked away from her. She scrambled up and darted towards the door, but he grabbed her hair and threw her to the floor. His face was a mask of uncontrollable rage, and he grabbed something from the desk as he dropped to his knees, straddling her. Jess’s blood froze when she saw it was her paper-knife.

Oh god, no…

Jules put his face next to hers, so angry was he, he spoke and fleck of spittle flew out. ‘Don’t ever forget who you belong to, little girl. Next time he’s fucking you, remember, my cock was in your sweet little cunt first, my hands were on your tits before you even knew him.’ He was pressing the blunt tip of the paperknife hard into the soft flesh of her belly but then he released his grip, pulling her to her feet by bunching his fist in the hair at the nape of her neck. He pulled her against him, put his lips to her ear.

‘I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you, Jessica. Break it off with him or next time…’ He pressed the knife to her belly again.

Jess felt herself shrinking back into the terrified young girl she had been the first time Jules had assaulted her. Destroying her peace of mind. Humiliating Her. Hurting her.

Jules smirked nastily and let her go. ‘I mean it, Jessica. End it with him. You belong to me.’

He flung her paperknife back on her desk and stalked out.

Jess’s legs gave way then and she sank to the floor, hyperventilating, trying to stop the jagged sobs which were forcing themselves out of her. Her mind screamed with pain, terror, heartbreak, fear… shame. Who was she kidding? She must have known that Jules would spoil it, ruin her happiness. Jess curled up into a ball and sat there for she didn’t know how long until she heard footsteps.

Oh god, Theo… She wanted to get up, straighten out her clothes, dry her cheeks but she found she was paralysed, unable to move. Broken.

Theo peered into the dusky light of the room. The security guard, with a knowing smile, had directed him up to the art department, to where he knew Jess worked but now he wasn’t sure he’d found the right place. He had turned to leave, retrace his steps when he heard it. A sob. He darted back into the room and saw her, curled up in a ball on the floor, her hands over her face. His heart began to beat a frenetic, panicked beat.

‘Sweetheart! What is it, what happened?’ He dropped to his knees beside her and gathered her to him. For a moment, she resisted then let him pull her tightly against his chest. His mind whirled with fear and worry. Instinctively – desperately – he knew it had something to do with them – and something to do with the controlling step-brother. Asshole.

He let her cry herself out then just held her as she caught her breath. Eventually, she moved away from him, brushing her tears away with the back of her hand. She gave him a watery smile.

‘I’m so sorry, Theo. You didn’t need to see that.’ She scrambled to her feet and held out her hand to him. He stood, his brows knitted together, the angles of his face sharpened with tension. He watched as she sucked in a couple of deep breaths and let them out.

‘What happened?’

‘Just a row with Jules – that’s my step-brother. He’s not too wild about the idea of you and me.’

Theo made a disgusted noise. ‘What the hell business is it of his?’ Her face was in shadow and he could not read her expression. He reached over her desk and flicked the lamp on. He looked back at her – and his stomach disappeared. Across her throat were dark red welts and bruises.

‘Jesus Christ…’

She looked away and he realised that, unbelievably, she was ashamed. His heart thudded with pain and love for her. Gently, he took her face in his hands, tipping it up so he could kiss her gently. He swept his thumbs over the plains of her cheeks, wiping the moisture from her eyes. Her lovely dark eyes were red and full of pain, and she wouldn’t look at him. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

‘What did he do to you?’ His voice was soft but she winced and pulled away from him.

‘Like I said, an argument. Please, Theo, for me, don’t push this. I’m not ready for you to be dragged into my ridiculous family drama.’

That stung but he nodded, acquiescing. He held his arm out to her. ‘Want to go home?’

She hesitated then nodded, taking his arm. They hadn’t got a few steps, though, before he stopped her.

‘I just want to say: whatever it is, whatever he’s doing to you, it isn’t right. You only have to say the word, Jessie, and I’ll make it all go away.’

Jess closed her eyes and he saw the conflict raging inside her. Finally, she spoke and her voice was a broken thing, low and gruff.

‘Please Theo… I just want to forget.’

He nodded, once, stiffly, and led her down to the car.

***

‘Easy now, careful.’

Theo guided her carefully into the house. She suppressed a smile, ignoring the small tug of irritation.

‘I’m not made of glass, Theo,’ she chided gently. His face was tense and she reached up to smooth the small crease between his eyes. He leaned his face into her hand. ‘You look so tired.’

He sighed. ‘I’m not the one who got assaulted.’

‘I’m fine.’ She pulled away from him and went into the kitchen. Stan trotted up to her and, despite his size, she scooped the dog into her arms, kissing his furry head and burying her face in his fur. ‘He’s growing by the second, I swear.’

‘I hope not, he’s already Godzilla.’ Theo’s tone was fond as he scratched the dog’s ears.

‘He’s still my baby.’

Theo smiled and reached for the kettle. They stood in silence while he prepared the tea, Jess hugging the dog to her for comfort.

The atmosphere was heavy, leaden. The light coming in from the window was a pale blue, ghostly, cold. It leeched the colours from the room.

Jess swallowed and found her throat closed, sore. The adrenaline that raced through her earlier has dissipated and now all she wanted to do was sleep. Fucking Jules. He was a monster but Jess was more disgusted with herself. She didn’t believe Jules would go through with his threat to kill her – he was too much of a coward – but he could make her life very, very difficult. And if he hurt Theo…

She felt tears pricking her eyes. She was lost. Jules’s threats had brought her to the edge – and Theo’s kindness despite his confusion– had pushed her over the edge. She simply could not take it anymore. She was broken.

She dropped the dog gently on the floor and rushed upstairs. In the bathroom, she threw up, great rasping sobs wrenching from her uncontrollably.

Downstairs, Theo listened to her heartbreak with his head in his hands. His chest thumped with despair, with the desperation of a man who didn’t know what to do, how to help, how to reach her. The bruises on her throat would fade soon, horrific as they were but they were simply physical wounds, not these deep chasms of hurt.

There was a knock and he dragged himself up to open the door. Max. He’d called him as soon as they’d gotten back to his place, when Jess had been in the bathroom. He wanted to know everything about Jules Gachet and he knew Max would be a tenacious private detective and besides Jess, Max was the only person he trusted implicitly.

Theo knew despair was etched on his face when he saw Max’s expression.

‘Jesus, you look…’ He stopped when he heard the sobs from upstairs. ‘Row?’

Theo gave short, humourless laugh. ‘I wish, buddy, I really do.’ He stood aside to let Max in and told Max what had happened Max frowned.

‘You got there in time to stop him?’

Theo shook his head. ‘No. I was too late. She was just sitting there, in a ball on the floor. God, you should have seen her, Max, she was terrified. I’ve never seen anyone that… traumatised.’ His shoulders slumped.

Max was silently for a long moment. ‘Theo…I’m going to say this and remember, I adore Jess but you’ve known her what? A week?’

Theo’s face was hard. ‘I love her, Max, I’m in this.’

Max held up his hands in conciliation. ‘Okay, fine by me. So, what’s next?’

‘I need to know everything about this asshole. Stuff Jess won’t or can’t tell me.’ He looked up at Max and his eyes were filled with grief. ‘I never want her to have to feel like she does right now, Max. ever.’

He sighed. ‘She’s pretty beat up emotionally. I hope she can come back from this.’ He winced at the words.

Max shook his head. ‘She just needs time. It’s the violence she’ll have the most problem with coming to terms with. She’ll go through the stages, denial, grief, anger. But she will come out the other side. You both will.’

Theo smiled sadly at him. ‘They teach you that little speech at Harvard?’

Max grinned self-consciously. ‘Something like that.’ They both listened to the sound of the bath being run upstairs. He patted his friend’s shoulder. ‘Anyway, I’m on it now, man.’

‘Yeah.’

Later, when Max had left, Theo took some tea up to Jess. She was wrapped in a towel drying her hair. Theo sucked in a breath at the sight of her bruised neck. She saw him looking at her and wouldn’t meet his eyes. He put the tea down in front of her.

‘Thank you.’ Her voice was soft. He braved trailing a finger along her cheekbone and was gratified when she didn’t pull away.

‘You’re welcome.’ They stayed like that for a few minutes. Theo noticed how wan she looked, her skin, usually so glowing, was yellow and grey. There were deep, navy blue lines under her eyes.

‘I think you should sleep, now, rest a little.’ He cupped her face with his hand, she leaned into his touch.

‘I don’t want to be alone.’

‘Never.’ Theo was surprised though when she pulled him down on the bed next to her, nuzzled his neck. Her arms wound around his neck and her mouth came up to cover his. Theo kissed her deeply, tenderly, pulling at the towel around her. She pulled his t-shirt up over his head and he laid her back on the bed. He stroked her body gently, feeling the soft curves swell under his touch.

He was hesitant at first but when she took his hand and placed it between her legs, he covered her body with his. She fumbled with his belt and zipper before he kicked his pants off and for the first time that night, she gave him a genuine smile. He looked down at her, the long dark lashes sweeping over the pink cheeks, her dark eyes liquid and soft.

‘God, you’re so, so beautiful,’ he murmured and grinned as she reached down to stroke his cock, feeling himself becoming hard as she caressed him. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he guided himself into her, hearing her gasp as he thrust all the way in.

‘Can we just stay like this forever?’ She whispered as they moved together and Theo kissed her, pouring all his love for her into the kiss.

‘For all time, my Jessie…’

***

Later when Theo was asleep, Jessie slid from the bed and wrapped Theo’s robe around her. She went to the window and looked out over the garden, drenched in darkness and silent. They’d made love long into the night and although she was exhausted, she couldn’t sleep, just knowing Jules was out there. She looked back at Theo’s sleeping form. Could she really end things with him? The thought crippled her but if it meant keeping him safe from Jules’ psychotic nature.

She thought back to the moment he had held that knife to her. That was nothing new but today there had been a frenzy in him, a bloodlust. He wanted to hurt her, maybe even kill her. Searching her feeling, she realised she had always known this, that her obvious love for Theo – or for anyone that had come along – would set him off. Could she go to the police now? Would the fact she was with Theo – and boy, would the feminist in her loathe that she need a man, even Theo, to give her credibility – would Theo’s position help convince the police she was telling the truth?

Jess slumped against the wall. She had no proof and Jules would use the best lawyers, use his money to paint her once again as no more than an attention seeker.

She looked back at Theo. There was no doubt in her mind that she loved this man, loved him completely and unconditionally. But did that mean she’d risk her life – and worse, his life – to keep what she wanted?

She imagined losing Theo forever. She knew which one she’d rather take Jules’s violence over and over than risk it. She couldn’t end things with Theo.

She drew in a long shaky breath and closed her eyes. A moment later she felt Theo slid his arms around her waist and felt his kiss on the back of her neck.

‘Can’t sleep?’

She shook her head and turned around to face him. She ran her fingertips over his cheekbones, feeling the tension in his muscles. ‘I love you, Theo Storm, so, so much.’

‘As I love you, Jessie.’

He kissed her then and led her back to bed. ‘I can relax you if you’d like?’ He had a small but teasing smile on his face and she sighed and nodded.

‘Please…’

They made love slowly, their gaze locked on the other’s until both of them were moaning and vibrating with pleasure.

Jules Gachet, sitting in his exclusive private men’s club, was at the point of being too drunk. He didn’t often lose control, didn’t allow himself to but tonight he was celebrating. She was his again, his Jessica. Yeah, she might, even now, be fucking that bastard Storm, but Jules knew, she’d be thinking of him, of that knife pressed against her vulnerable skin.

Yes, he knew he’d gotten to her, unleashed that same terror that bound her to him when she was younger. She’d got revoltingly independent, less afraid of him as she grew up, and that had enraged him.

Jules Gachet had reached his late thirties without ever forming a serious romantic attachment. Why would he? With his French good looks, dark eyes, dark hair, olive skin, he was considered one of the world’s most eligible bachelors. He’d fucked around, taking his pick of supermodels, actresses, socialites, each one thinking they’d won the lottery when they’d met him. He let them think that, for a time, before cutting them dead with an almost gleeful finality. He enjoyed the mind games, the confusion and the humiliation.

Because no-one, no-one, compared to Jessica. That tumbling dark hair, those wide brown eyes, that honey-coloured skin. He got hard now thinking about it. And today, he’d reduced her back to the terrified teenager that she’d been the first time he’d taken her, in the room next to their parents, late at night.

Yes, today she became his Jess and again and not only that, he’d had a revelation, an epiphany. What he really wanted, what he most desired, what his endgame had always been whether he knew it or not.

Her blood on his hands. He was going to kill Jessica one day. He wanted to kill her.

Then he really would possess her entirely.

A brunette wandered into his eye-line. She didn’t compare to Jessica of course, but she was an adequate substitute. He beckoned her over with two fingers and she smiled, drifting over to him through the busy club.

He fucked her in the ladies bathroom, not even bothering to learn her name. She was the usual type, good-looking with that hungry, eager look in her eyes.

‘I’ve seen you here before,’ she said, smiling as he led her to the bathrooms. I was wondering when I’d see you again.’

‘Shh.’

He lifted her up and thrust into her. She winced, not ready for him but stayed silent, enjoying his brutality, his clinical sexuality. She tried to kiss him but he turned his head away. Afterwards, after they dressed, they walked out of the club towards his car. She slipped her hand into his. He dropped it almost immediately. She had trouble keeping up with his stride.

‘Wait.’ She said finally. He stopped and when he turned to look at her, it was with a blank stare, as if he’d only just noticed she was there.

‘Can I come back to your place?’

He laughed in her face. ‘Why the fuck would I want that?’

She baulked and he realised that under that slutty façade, she was just a kid. It made no difference to him.

Amateur. He turned on his heel with a disgusted look on his face and got into his car.

Professor Gerry Land noticed Jess’s pale face and exhausted eyes but discreetly said nothing. For a change, he swept all of the usual paperwork from her desk and told her to concentrate on the ‘Luna Soleil’. Jess was grateful for his kindness.

She was glad to be away from her desk. Every time she looked over at that side of the room, she saw Jules – felt Jules – with his hands on her. She’d thrown her paperknife away, dumping it in one of the cafeteria’s bins. It didn’t make sense but it made her feel better to know it was gone, that it couldn’t be used on her.

Theo had called her every hour, on the hour, just to check in and as soon as she heard his voice, she felt warmth flood through her. How could she give this up? Give him up?

As she worked on the painting, she lost track of all time, lost in what she was doing, lost in dreaming about Theo. She put all thoughts of Jules out of her mind.

The light was already fading by the time she walked out in the cool evening air. She knew Theo had a late meeting so she was surprised when his Mercedes pulled up beside her. Max leaned over and grinned at her.

‘I’m your ride tonight, lady.’

She giggled and got in the car. Max pulled the car around and drove out of the campus. Jess studied him as he drove.

‘It’s nice to see you again, Max,’ she began, ‘but you really didn’t need to do this.’

Max shrugged good-naturedly. ‘Did Theo mention I came over last night?’

She shook her head and he sighed. ‘Okay, well, he told me what happened with your step-brother – or rather that you and he had an argument. Both he and I don’t believe that’s all, by the way,’ – and he grinned over at her to soften his words. ‘Let Theo help you, whatever it is. You won’t betray the sisterhood, I promise.’

His tone was light and she smiled at his words but she could sense his seriousness.

She sighed. ‘Max. It’s not fair to Theo or you. My history with Jules is complicated.’

They drove in silence for a while then Max pulled the car over to the side of the road.

Jess took a deep breath in. ‘Max…’

‘Do you love Theo?’ The question took her by surprise and she realised then that to her and Theo, in their little bubble, their love was overwhelming but to others looking in – especially a concerned best friend, it must seem…

‘Max, I love him more than anyone else in this world. I know you must be concerned, especially given Theo’s position, his wealth. If I were you, I’d be looking at me thinking ‘is she looking for a white knight? Is she here just for his money, his influence? But I don’t care about all of that. I love Theo for him. Nothing more. I just don’t want past horrors to affect our life together.’

Max was studying her intently, listening to every word carefully. There was a long silence then he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

‘I’m sorry, I had to ask. I just don’t like secrets. For the record, I’ve never seen Theo like this. He’s fallen hard.’

Joy rushed through Jess. She poked Max’s shoulder, grinning wickedly. ‘What a sap.’

‘Complete wuss.’ He joined in with her joke and they both laughed. Max shook his head.

‘Man, when you think this all started with a dumb bet…’

Jess smiled, confused. ‘A bet?’

Max laughed. ‘He bet me he would find the love of his life within three months. That was less than a month ago. Quick work even for him.’

Jess’s chest felt tight. ‘A bet?’

Max sensed the change in her tone and looked over at her, a frown on his face. ‘Hey wait, I…’

‘Could you take me home, please, Max?’

‘No, Jess, I didn’t mean… god, it was a stupid joke, I didn’t mean. He…’

‘Please, Max, take me home.’

Theo looked up at Max, as his best friend burst into the room, and his heart began to thud unpleasantly at Max’s expression.

‘Where’s Jess?’

But looking at Max’s stricken face, suddenly Theo didn’t think he wanted the answer…

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Sleep With Me Part Three

Jess opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. How many times in her life had she woken up in this bed, sick to her stomach with nausea and fear? Crippled by guilt. Waiting to face her tormentor over the breakfast table as their parents ate and chatted obliviously.

And yet, last night, she’d come here after Max had dropped her off, wanting to be somewhere familiar. Camilla, the housekeeper, told her Jules was away for the night and the relief she felt was overwhelming. She’d sat with Camilla, shared a supper with her old friend, not wanting to talk or think about Theo Storm.

She was a winning bet. A winning bet, for Christ's sake. She wondered how long Theo would have to pretend that he loved her before Max would concede defeat. She should have known better than to trust a rich man – after all, didn’t she know that they always got what they wanted? Damn you, Theodore Storm. But the pain in her stomach ripped through her when she thought of him. She’d turned her cell phone off so he couldn’t reach her couldn’t talk or kiss his way out of it.

Jess sighed. She needed to get her life back on track which meant getting up, getting showered and getting to work. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and hoisted herself into a standing position. Grabbing her robe, she opened the door and froze. She could hear Jules’ low accented drawl from the end of the hallway.

Shit.

Jess closed her door quietly and scooted back to bed. She rolled onto her side, curling herself up into the foetal position. She tugged the sheet over her shoulders and, closing her eyes, made her breathing steady, regular. She tensed as she heard the door open.

For a few minutes, she stayed still. He must have gone by now, she thought and she let her body relax.

‘I know you’re awake.’

Shock drilled through her at the sound of his voice. She felt her body jerk and silently cursed herself again. She kept up the pretence of being asleep. She heard him laugh softly and she gritted her teeth. Bastard. She felt his body heat then as he leaned over her, she heard him breathing, an inch from her skin. She trembled and he laughed again, soft, intimate. She abandoned the pretence of sleep and looked at him, her eyes hard.

‘Leave me alone.’

Jules smiled and leaned into kiss her. ‘Never.’ His voice was a whisper but it sent blank terror through her body.

He reached down and cupped her breast.

‘So pretty, pretty.’

She hit his hand away and he grabbed her wrist. For a moment, she could see nothing but murder in his eyes. Then he smiled, turned her hand over and kissed it. He dropped her hand and walked out.

Trembling, Jess got up and threw her clothes on, grabbing her purse, skittering down the grand staircase and out to her ancient Gremlin. What the hell had she been thinking? She had to get out of here.

Now.

Theo had slept in his car outside her apartment when it became clear she wasn’t in. He’d left a thousand messages on her voicemail. Her silence was the loudest thing in his life. He woke now, stiff and aching. He opened the door and almost rolled his huge frame out of the car. He stretched and rubbed his hands through his short dark curls. His chest hurt with the fear that he’d lost Jess and for what? A stupid misunderstanding. He didn’t blame Max, it had been a ‘funny story’ to tell, he would have had no way of knowing she would react the way she did. Theo could not get it straight in his head. Why the hell would she think that he had been lying to her all this time? He gave a short bark of laughter. All of this time. What was it, a month?

He sighed and turned, leaning against the car, was about to call her again when a movement caught his eye. He turned his head and saw her, at the end of the street getting out of her car. She looked exhausted. She saw him and froze, her eyes wide and wary. He hesitated for a brief second then walked towards her, afraid she was would skitter away from him.

‘Please. Please, Jess, wait...’

Jess wavered but stayed still and as he reached her, he was shocked by the distress in her eyes, the thick violet circles under her eyes. He reached out to touch her face. She ducked away at first but when he caught her face in his hands, she stiffened and relaxed, seeming to slump into his touch. He tipped her chin up so he could look into those beautiful eyes.

‘Jess… what Max told you, it was a joke. A coincidence. A drunken bet which has nothing, nothing to do with us. Nothing. I love you. I could lose every penny I have, every home or ridiculous extravagance I surround myself with and I’ll still be the richest man on the planet because I had you.’

He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. ‘You are my world, Jessica Wood. I would die for you.’

That got her. She exhaled shakily and leaned against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her tightly for a second then she pulled away. He bent his head to kiss her but she shook her head.

Stung, he drew back but she smiled then. ‘I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.’

He laughed, relieved, and she took his hand and led him into her apartment.

Jess brushed her teeth the minute she got the apartment, with Theo stripping her even as she brushed. She rinsed, reaching in to crank the shower on as Theo shed his own clothes then pulled him under the spray with her. He kissed her finally, his mouth fierce against hers, his fingers tangled in her hair. She pressed her body against his, feeling the hard chest against her nipples, his already stiffening cock against her thigh. God, this is all she wanted, his skin on hers, his mouth against her lips. Theo swept his hands under her buttock and lifted her so he could plunge his cock deep into her and she cried out as the force of his thrust slammed her back against the wall.

‘I’m sorry…’

But she shook her head. ‘No… harder… Theo… please…’

They fucked almost violently, clawing at each other, biting, scratching, wanting consume the other. Theo manoeuvred her so they lay on the bathroom floor, her legs hitched high around his waist, his hips ramming against hers as he drove deeper into her, his lips against her throat, kissing and murmuring his love for her over and over. Jess squeezed her thighs, locking him inside her and Theo trapped her hands under his, forcing them above her head.

Jess felt totally naked and open and vulnerable and she loved every minute, delicious delirium screaming through her brain, through her body. She tilted her hips so he could slam into her as deep as he could and cried out her excitement as he bit down on her shoulder. Her orgasm made her almost demented with passion.

Afterwards, they lay, their limbs entangled, breathless and sated. Theo smoothed the damp hair from her forehead and smiled down at her.

‘Don’t ever run from me again, my Jessie.’

She brushed her lips against his. ‘I promise. I’m sorry that I didn’t give you the chance to explain. I just…I don’t find it easy to trust, especially…’ – and she grinned ruefully – ‘very rich and handsome young men. I’m sorry if that offends you.’

She saw the hurt in his eyes but he nodded. ‘Understood. Then it’s up to me to prove you can trust this one.’

She stroked his cheek. ‘We have time to work this all out. Unless – ‘ and she stuck her tongue into her cheek and grinned, ‘-of course, you need to get married by Christmas, save yourself some money.’

Theo rolled his eyes. ‘Neither Max or I were serious when we made that bet. He just thought I was working too hard.’

‘Were you?’

Theo considered. ‘Maybe – although I’ve certainly made up for that this last month.’ He moved his body on top of hers and she revelled in the weight of him, chest to chest, belly to belly. Her legs, with a mind of their own, twined around his hips. Theo looked down at her, his eyes suddenly serious.

‘Jess…you’re not the only one who’s overwhelmed. I’ve never felt like this before, I didn’t even know it could be like this. We fit so perfectly, it seems, but yeah, we’re gonna find some obstacles, have some misunderstanding, going to disagree on stuff. If you’re not ready to share certain things yet, that’s fine. Let’s just promise to be open, honest. Please just don’t run away without giving me the opportunity to make it right.’

Jess nodded, tears glistening in her eyes. He always seemed to know exactly what to say, she thought and as he kissed her, she found herself with an undefinable ache in the centre of her chest. She wanted to tell him about Jules, what he had done to her, what he still might do to her, feel the protection of Theo’s arms, know it was over forever and she was safe.

But not today. Today she wanted to forget that last night ever happened. She knitted her fingers into Theo’s hair and kissed him back, wanting to taste every part of him. Theo shifted his weight and she drew in a deep, shaky breath as his cock, diamond hard and huge, pushed into her slowly.

Theo’s green eyes burned into hers as he began to move and in and out of her, thrusting harder each time. She lost herself in his gaze, every nerve ending on her skin on fire.

‘Is there something – oh god, that’s good – is there something you want me to do?’ Her voice was low but steady, ‘or something you want to try with me? To me?’

He smiled knowing exactly what she meant. ‘You liked being bound, didn’t you?’

She nodded.

‘Would you like to go further?’

She smiled up at him. ‘I would do anything for you, with you.’

Theo thrust harder and she moaned, heard his low chuckle. ‘You might regret saying that, Jessie…I’m going to fuck you in so many different ways, you’ll beg for more…’

And from him, in this moment, it didn’t sound like a threat.

***

Despite the warm, safe feeling that lingered after he’d dropped her off at work and gone to his office, Jess felt on edge as she walked into her department. She was the first in and she moved around the room, flicking lights on as she went, illuminating ever dark corner. Jules had tainted this place for her now as he’d tainted the family home for so many years. She still remembered the excitement she’d felt when her mother had brought her to the big house when she was nine, that first couple of years when it was just Ma, Erich – her affectionate but stern step-father - and the friendly staff, especially Camilla, housekeeper, nanny and playmate all in one. Camilla was the only reason she ever went back there now, that one last link to her mother.

She’d been twelve when Julien, Erich’s only son had come home from Oxford University. She’d been wary of him straight away, the way that his dark eyes had run all over her fledgling curves, the small buds of her breasts which as yet didn’t need a bra. It was a look of ownership, of possession and it hadn’t been long before Jules started to ‘visit’ her at night. At first, she fought but Jules, with his immense strength honed by racing crew at Oxford, overpowered her easily.

Jess swallowed and pushed the thought away. She knew where this brooding would take her – the first time Jules had raped her.

Jess closed her eyes and started to sing loudly, anything, to distract her mind. It was a technique she’d perfected.

‘Bon Jovi?’

Jess’s eyes flew open and she saw Gerry standing in the doorway, grinning at her. ‘That’s a new one,’ he said, shuffling an arm full of papers down onto her desk. ‘Morning.’

Jess relaxed. Gerry was used to her tuneless singing by now – although he had no idea why she would suddenly burst into song. ‘Heard it on the radio on the way in,’ she said now.

Gerry snickered. ‘Crazy girl. I thought you were warning me I was ‘living on a prayer’ if I gave you this paperwork.’

Jess punched his shoulder lightly. ‘Well, that too.’ She squinted at the stack and quelled a little. ‘Is that all for me?’

Gerry had the grace to look sheepish. ‘Sorry. But seeing as I’m letting you have Luna Soleil all to yourself…’

‘God, okay, okay.’ But she grinned and took the paperwork from him.

It was late morning before her cell phone beeped and she took a moment to re-orientate herself after concentrating on her work before she took the call. She didn’t bother glancing at the caller i.d. then swore silently as Jules’ clipped French accent greeted her. Her stomach dropped and she gritted her teeth.

‘What do you want?’ She didn’t bother to return his faux-friendly greeting. It made her skin crawl.

Jules laughed. ‘Always such civility. As it happens it isn’t something I want, rather, William has asked us to meet him to discuss the estate. You’ll be twenty-five this year.’

‘I’m aware, thank you.’

‘Then you’ll remember the logistics of our arrangement will change. Your allowance will increase - along with your family duties, of course.’

Jess rolled her shoulders, tension and irritation making the muscle cramp painfully. ‘What if I don’t want your money?’

Jules laughed again and she fought the temptation to hang up on him. ‘Jessica, if you weren’t interested in money or status, why are you opening your legs for one of the world’s most eligible, most powerful billionaires? Let’s be adults. William wants us to meet him for dinner next week. You will be there.’ He named the most expensive restaurant in the city.

Jess was silent, seething over what he’d said and Jules sighed impatiently.

‘Tuesday. Eight thirty. Don’t be late and don’t let me down. Your department gets a very generous bursary from this estate, don’t forget. It could easily get cancelled.’

The phone went dead and Jess growled and cussed softly under her breath.

She was tied securely to the chair. The blindfold was as he’d promised, so inky black that no light penetrated and she was utterly blind. With her hands pulled tightly behind her, soft leather wound tightly around her fragile wrists, another band of leather under her breasts to keep her torso from slumping in the chair.

She was naked. Helpless. His.

Theo pulled the clip that held her gorgeous dark hair in a chignon and let the long, long waves tumble down her back. Her skin, in the dim light, was luminous, gold and amber and pink. Her breasts rose and fell with her breath, full and ripe, the dark nipples hardened with her arousal. Theo crouched in front of her. He was fully dressed, an impeccable Saville row suit. He bent his head and pressed his mouth against her belly, smiling when he heard her sharp intake of breath.

‘Quiet.’

Jess closed her perfect rosebud mouth then, utterly submissive to him. He trailed a fingertip across her skin, around her navel and down, stopping just before her sex. She shivered.

‘Open your legs for me.’

Jess did as he asked and he could see the beauty of her sex, already glistening with her honey.

‘Wider.’

She pressed her legs further apart and he sank to his knees between them. He bent his head and ran his tongue along the length of her folds, tasting the sweetness of the soft peachy labia, curling his tongue around the clitoris. Her whole body trembled as he tasted and teased her until she couldn’t help but moan.

Theo stood and bent her head back so he could grind his mouth down on hers, his tongue lashing against hers.

‘Can you taste yourself, Jessica?’

She nodded and he stroked back her hair. ‘Good. I want you to taste me now. What do you say?’

‘Please…’

He smiled and rewarded her by tracing his fingertips across her stomach, cupping each breast, grazing the nipples with his thumbs. He stepped back and freed his cock – already so hard, pulsating and weighty. He traced the outline of her lips with the tip then as she opened her mouth to take him in, he sighed at the feel of her tongue on him, flicking around the tip, drawing him in. Her pretty cheeks hollowed as she sucked at him, the smooth motion of her lips along the shaft making his head swim with desire. She traced the vein with her tongue, grazing him gently with her teeth. God, the feel of her, the sight of her, her flushed face, head thrown back, the long dark mane sweeping along the floor.

‘You have no right to be so fucking beautiful,’ he said, his breath ragged as he neared climax. Her lips curved up around his cock in a smile and he came, shooting violently into her mouth. She swallowed him down, taking his seed deep into her. Theo pushed the blindfold from her eyes and she smiled up at him as he caught his breath.

‘God, I love you,’ he said and with one move, freed the strap under her breasts and pulled her down on top of him so she straddled him. He moved to untie her hands but she shook her head emphatically.

Theo smiled and without a word, spread her labia wide and impaled her onto his cock, rigid and throbbing with desire for her. As she began to ride him, he gripped her hips, digging his fingers deep into the soft flesh there. Jess’s eyes came alive at the pain and he increased his grip until he heard her moan.

‘You like me hurting you, don’t you?’

She nodded and he took her nipples between his finger and thumbs and pinched hard. Hard. She gasped and he felt her honey, hot and slick, cover his cock as he bucked under her. He pressed his finger hard into her navel and she came, throwing her head back and gasping for air.

Theo swiftly moved so he was on top, pressing her hard into the floor, tugging her legs over his shoulders, and ploughing into her roughly, harder and harder until he too climaxed, utterly abandoned and spent.

They caught their breath and then he freed her hands, gently massaging her sore shoulders and wrists. She still hadn’t spoken and he grinned at her.

‘You can speak now, you know.’

She smiled gently at him. ‘I don’t know if I can. That was…’ and she was silent for so long he started to get worried. He propped himself up on his elbow and stroked her face, still damp with sweat.

‘Hey…was that too much? You know, if it ever got too much, you know the safe word right?’

She nodded and placed her hand against his chest. ‘I do. But Theo, damn, that was so intense – in a very, very good way. I love being under your control. Love it.’

He gathered her to him. ‘I know,’ he murmured, his lips to her ear, trailing his lips down her neck. ‘I know what it took you to even consent to this. Even if you won’t tell me everything, I can see it in your eyes. Thank you for trusting me.’

Jess wound her arm around his neck and gave him such a sweet smile, he had to have her again right there, on the floor again and again….

Max was wildly relieved when he got a call from Theo – and he heard Jess call out ‘Love you Max!’ over the phone. To think his big mouth nearly cost Theo the best thing that had ever happened to him. Max had needed no more convincing of Jess’s feelings for his best friend than the heartbreak in her eyes when she thought she was just the punchline of their joke. Max would never forget it. He’d scrambled to make it better and when he couldn’t, he had told Theo everything. Max drained his drink. The bar on 9th was one of his and Josh’s favourites – in fact, it had been exactly six years to the day they had met here, both then with other partners. He’d seen the tall Mexican laughing with his friends and fallen, right there. During the night, he’d manoeuvred and networked so hard they’d ended up talking in the same group. Joshua Ruiz was funny, gorgeous and erudite – and by the end of the night, he had Max’s number. Ten days later, they moved in together.

Josh was making his way back to the bar from the restrooms now, stopping to say hi to friends as he went. Max marvelled again at his husband’s lithe body, weaving so gracefully towards him. Max himself was prone to weight gain – just enough that a few extra pounds added back the puppy fat he’d worked so hard to remove. Josh didn’t care at any rate. Max had never doubted his love for a second, such was their connection.

So he couldn’t really blame Theo for falling so hard, so fast. Max got it. The only thing he took pause over was what Theo had said the day he’d nearly wrecked it for him.

‘I think she’s been damaged, Max. I think it’s why at any sign or perceived slight, Jess’s default reaction is mistrust. She runs.’ Theo had been quiet for a while then had said, almost to himself, ‘I need to put this right.’ He turned to Max. ‘How quietly can we hire an investigator – a discreet one – to look into Jess’s family? Not Jess, you must stress that, under no circumstances must she be followed or investigated – just her family. Especially her step-brother. The story’s there, I’m sure of it.’

Max had assured him he could set it up but when he’d told Josh, his husband had raised an eyebrow.

‘Not sure that’s going to do anything but make matters worse. If he is mistreating Jess, Theo might rush in. Things could get very nasty and that girl could be caught in the crosshairs.’

But Max had done as he asked and now, burning hot in his bag – well, that’s what it felt like – was the investigator’s preliminary report. Max had glanced at it quickly and had not liked what he’d read.

The investigator had talked to people from where Jules had gone to school, his college tutors. All of them were reticent to speak about Jules – no-one had a bad word to say about him – but neither did they say anything good. They were scared, the investigator had surmised. Frustrated, he’d finally been put in contact with a local police chief, Bud Clermont, who’d had plenty to say on the subject of Julien Gachet.

‘Is he in trouble with the law?’

The investigator assured him he wasn’t.

Clermont gave a frustrated hiss. ‘Damn, I was hoping you were gonna tell me he fucked up. Finally got what was coming to him. Well, I can’t tell you anything that’ll hold up in a court of law, just that he’s a piece of work. ‘

‘I can tell you what I saw, what I think. Knew it from the second I met him, something wrong in that kid’s eyes. They were dead, blank. First and only time a kid scared the shit out of me. Kept an eye on him as he got older, seems to me, someone like that, they’re gonna escalate from petty crime. Of course, his family’s money made that all go away. Something big happened too, only it was all hushed up and grunts like me never got to know what. Something to do with the step-sister. He was obsessed with her. Pretty disgusting – she was only twelve, I believe. Julien liked to play with knives, loved the sight of blood. I believe he was kept away from home as much as possible. I kept my eye on him. There were complaints from some of the female students – girls who looked just like the sister. Like I said – obsessed.’

Max felt another wave of nausea flood through him. He hadn’t told Theo anything yet and he thought again about Josh’s words of caution. The last thing he wanted was to put Jess in more danger – if that was what she was in.

Josh headed back then and started to talk to him but Max barely listened. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was coming, something very bad indeed…

***

Theo hooked a leg around Jess’s hips and pulled her back down onto the bed. She protested, giggling, but as soon as he started to kiss her stomach, she gave up.

‘I have to go soon,’ she said gently, stroking her fingers through his dark curls. Theo, his lips against her belly, shook her head and she laughed. ‘That tickles.’

He lifted his head and grinned. ‘Why is this dinner so important?’

Jess sighed and sat up. ‘It’s to do with the estate. If it were just me that was affected by the changes in the estate, I’d tell Jules to go to hell but…’

‘But?’

She rubbed her face roughly. ‘When I was younger – and so freaking naive that I believed Jules – he set up several trusts for projects I cared about. Called it an eighteenth birthday present. He’s managed to make it so that if he withdraws that funding – like from my art department – the project will suffer, or even have to close.’

Theo was appalled. ‘Jess… that’s blackmail.’

She nodded. ‘I know. But what can I do? Tell him to screw it, I don’t want his money anymore so screw everyone else? Not an option.’

She climbed off the bed and started to dress. ‘It’s not as if he’s…’ and she swallowed hard before looking away from him ‘…using it to do anything untoward to me. He just wants me to be a part of his family.’

‘Paying you to be his sister?’ Theo’s voice was harsh and she winced.

‘If you want to put it like that. Makes him sound pathetic when you say it like that.’ She considered and a small smile played around her mouth. ‘Actually, he is pathetic.’ She turned and leaning over, kiss Theo on the mouth. ‘And he’s not your problem.’

Theo caught her face between his hands. ‘Let me come with you.’

Jess shook her head. ‘It’s an hour, or two, and it’s not even as if it’s at the house. It’s a restaurant with people, he can’t…’ She broke off, realising she’d said too much. She grabbed her clothes as Theo stood, tugging his jeans on.

‘He can’t what, Jessica?’ Theo’s voice was hard.

She could look at him. ‘I have to get dressed.’

‘Jess…’

‘No. No, Theo. I have to get dressed.’ She turned and walked out of the room, leaving Theo to stare after her.

***

Jess walked into the restaurant at precisely eight-twenty-nine to find Malcolm, Jules’s bodyguard and driver waiting for her. He said nothing but handed her a cell-phone.

‘Jessica, change of plan. William has come to the house instead. Malcolm will bring you here.’

Son-of-a-bitch. Jess handed Malcolm the phone, and he guided her out to the car. She couldn’t believe she’d been conned by Jules again. Asshole asshole asshole. She couldn’t protest, not without making a scene and she wouldn’t put it past Malcolm to drag her by the hair to the waiting limo. He’d always scared her, his smug expression, the way he looked he looked at her make her feel sick. He was perfect for Jules, she thought, grimly, settling in the back seat, as far away from the driver as possible.

They drove through the rain-slicked streets and out of the city, towards the place she dreaded. Jess pulled her cell phone from her bag and flicked to Theo’s number – and stopped. No. She wasn’t the little princess in need of a white knight. She would handle this herself. She glanced up to find Malcolm smirking at her in the rear view mirror. She narrowed her eyes at him and he chuckled darkly and looked away. Why must everything in her life be filled with dread and menace? Jess sighed and leaned her forehead against the cold glass of the car window.

Everything except for Theo. He made everything okay. She glanced back down at her phone then, on impulse, sent him a message.

‘Mr Storm, later this evening, I have a feeling I may need disciplining.’

Her phone bleeped straight away. ‘Miss Wood, I concur. Present yourself to my room, stripped and ready to be chastised. Thoroughly.’

She giggled, a hot rush of desire flooding through her, a pulse beating between her legs. God, he could make her wet just by thinking about him. She closed her eyes and visualised trailing her lips against his strong jaw, pressing them into the hollow behind his earlobe, breathing him in.

Then the car stopped and reality came screeching back. Jules opened the car door and smiled down at her coldly. ‘Jessica, my darling. Welcome home.’

Max waited until Josh was asleep before sliding out of bed and into the living room. He grabbed his phone and called Theo.

‘Yup?’

‘It’s me.’

Theo laughed softly. ‘I guessed that from the caller i.d., buddy.’

Max was silent for a beat and Theo cleared his throat. ‘You okay, Max?’

Max drew in a long breath. ‘I got the preliminary report on Jules Gachet. It’s not good, Theo.’

It was Theo’s turn to be silent for a moment. ‘Tell me.’

Max related everything to him, including what Bud Clermont had told him. When he was finished he waited, listening to Theo cuss softly.

‘What do you think he’s doing to her?’ Theo’s voice broke.

Max really – really – didn’t want to answer that, didn’t want to speculate. ‘I don’t know.’

Theo sighed heavily and told him what Jess had relayed earlier to him.

‘Fucking manipulative creep.’

‘I pray that’s all he’s…’ But Theo couldn’t finish the sentence and both men knew without a doubt, that it wasn’t the full story.

‘What do you want me to do, Theo?’

Silence. ‘Nothing. Jess would freak if I told her what we’d done. I realised today, our relationship is balanced on a tightrope. Until we both can entirely be honest with each other… god.’ Theo sighed. ‘I’ll just have to protect her as much as I can until she’s ready to confide in me.’

After Max had hung up, he sat in the cool darkness of his apartment for a while then went back to bed. As he slid into bed next to his sleeping love, he felt a weight pressing down on him. Guilt. His love was here, safe in his arms, absolutely no secrets between them, complete love, complete trust.

Max prayed that Theo and Jess would one day get there. He prayed they would be free to love without limits, without the threat that hung over them.

Because Max had no trouble believing that Jules Gachet was, if nothing else, evil.

Jess reasoned that at least, Jules had only partially lied to her about the evening. William Corcoran, the kindly family lawyer was waiting for them at the house, and over dinner, discussed the financial status of their family estate. Jess didn’t listen to most of it, certainly she had no idea that William was discussing her until Jules tapped her shoulder rudely and nodded at William.

‘I’m sorry, William, what did you say?’ She liked the old man very much and smiled at him now.

He flushed with pleasure. ‘Jessica, you are twenty-five in October and as you know, you are due to receive the balance of your trust fund your father set up.’

Step-father, she corrected silently but nodded. ‘Yes. I already discussed with you what I want to do with the bulk of it. The projects, the college, the art societies. You still have my outline for how to split the money, correct?’

William looked embarrassed and glanced at Jules. Jess looked between the two of them, her heart sinking. What now?

‘Jessica, Julien has informed me that he wishes to continue funding your projects indefinitely. In fact, the trust board had indicated that this is the only way they will agree to disperse the money. They feel that if you were given such a large amount, that, due to the history of mental illness in your family lineage, that you could be a danger to yourself. Drugs. Alcohol. Jules has informed me of your… episodes.’

Jess was speechless. More than that, she was sure she was having a nightmare. ‘What episodes? What the hell, Jules?’

Her step-brother put his hands on her shoulders. A warning. ‘You know how you can get, Jessica. It’s just better this way.’

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Are you insane? That money is legally mine…’

‘If –‘ Jules smiled widely, ‘you remain under the conservatorship of the Trust. Father was very clear. After your mother’s suicide, he made sure that if you were to suffer a breakdown like her, then you would be cared for.’

He had her. With a few simple lies to the police all those years ago, her ‘hysteria’ was on record and if she tried to run, everything she cared about would be gone. The art department would close, a women’s shelter…

Jess felt if she would scream. She stood, unsteadily. ‘I need to use the bathroom.’

In the restroom, she sank to the floor, dragging deep breaths into her lungs. She would never be free of him. He owned her. Jess muffled the sobs that forced themselves out of her throat.

She had to get out of here. Too late, she realised she had left her cell phone in her bag in the drawing room.

She clambered to her feet. She would ask William to drop her home but when she got back to the drawing room, Jules was alone. He smiled without warmth, offering her a glass of scotch. She shook her head.

‘William had to leave suddenly,’ Jules explained and Jess knew he had asked the older man to go so they could be alone.

There was a long silence then Jules smirked. ‘So it just leaves us, Jessica.’ His meaning was revolting clear and Jess lost her temper.

‘There is no ‘us’ Jules!’ Anger rippled through her, overwhelming the fear. ‘Why don’t you get that? Stop trying to tell me what to do with my life.’

She got up but he was beside her immediately, gripping her arms and pulling him to her. ‘Fucking ungrateful little whore.’

She wrenched her arm from his grip. ‘I’m sick of people trying to tell me what they think I should do with my life, especially you.’

‘If I was Theo Storm, it would be a different story. You let him climb all over that beautiful body of yours, fuck you senseless. Do you think I can’t see it on you? Smell him on you?’ Jules’s voice was bitter but underneath that there was something else, something that made her blood pump. A menace. She turned to face him, wary now.

‘I love him. He loves me. He knows me, Jules, he wants to know me. He doesn’t just take and take. We’re not even blood, me and you. Who do you think you are?’

Jules’s eyes narrowed and he stepped towards her. ‘I’m your family, Jessica. Your only family. Don’t you have any loyalty?’

‘Loyalty to whom?’ Jess laughed without humour. ‘You? The man who molested me constantly before I was able to get away? When I was a child? The man who continues to threaten and control my life.’

Jules put his head on the side, a small smile playing around his mouth. ‘Did I threaten you, Jess? Or was it just your imagination? Or your desire?’

Jess sighed. ‘I’m not playing these games anymore, Jules. I’m tired.’

‘I’m the only family you have now, Jessica.’

Jess’s chin lifted. ‘It doesn’t give you the right to lay claim to me. Let me just go home, Jules. Please. I have to get back.’

‘What if I won’t?’

Her gaze was cold. ‘Won’t what?’

‘Let you go home.’ The terror came screeching back. His smile was humourless, his eyes fixed on hers. Jess’s hands flexed, she took a deep breath, trying to stop the fear from overwhelming her. In its place was a fire, something burning inside of her, something that overpowered everything else. Anger. Suddenly, she wanted to goad him, pick a fight. Adrenaline surge through her, she could taste metal in her mouth. Reckless. She ignored that thought and returned his cold smile.

‘What do you imagine will happen if you don’t? What do you have planned, Jules? More knife games? More threats?’ She got into his face, ignoring the fear that spiked in her gut. ‘More rape?’ Her voice was a whisper but she hissed the word at him.

He moved too quickly then, slamming her back against the wall. She yelped in pain and he covered her mouth with his hand. ‘If you like, Jessica,’ he hissed, his mouth an inch from her face. He tugged up her skirt and desperate, she struggled with him. She managed to drive her knee into his groin and as hr groaned, she darted away. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground, spread-eagling himself over her.

The knife in his hand seemed to come from nowhere. Jess felt him press the tip against the thin cotton of her dress and for once, she was furious rather than scared. She looked him straight in the eye, a grim smile on her face.

‘Do it,’ she said, challenging him, ‘Kill me. Run me through. Stab me to death. I’d rather that a million times over than your revolting prick inside me ever again.’

The pressure increased and she felt the nick of steel in her skin. Jules was breathing heavily, his eyes crazed, sweat pouring down his contorted face. Time stopped for a long moment then with a roar, Jules cast the knife aside and started to push her dress up past her hips, tugging at her panties. Jess screamed – no, no, no, no – but Jules was unrelenting.

Then someone else screamed. Jules stopped and Jess, sobbing, pushed him away and clambered over to the shell-shocked, deathly pale Camilla, who stood in the doorway. The older woman enveloped Jess in her arms, staring at Jules as if he was the devil.

‘You will never, ever, touch her again or I’ll go to the police, I swear to God, I will.’

Jules wiped his mouth, smirking. ‘Get out. Take that whore with you and get out.’

Camilla raised herself up to her full height and stared him down. ‘Your father would be ashamed of you, boy.’

Jess was astonished to see Jules’s armour crack a little at the housekeeper’s words and the little boy beneath show in his eyes. Camilla had been with the family since before Jules had been born and her words carried weight. Jules turned away from them and Camilla half carried Jess out of the room.

Theo re-dialled her number again. ‘Pick up Jess. Pick up, please.’ He half expected the same voicemail message he’d gotten the previous seven times but when it was picked up and a strange voice greeted him, his heart seized. The woman sounded older, kind but tired.

‘Jess’s fine, she’s okay but…hang on…’ There was a rustling then his heart leapt as Jess spoke.

‘Hello my love, I’m fine. Just the…usual crap. I’m getting a cab to yours now.’

He suddenly felt dumb.

‘Theo?’

‘I’m here, honey. Just get here as soon as you – scrub that, I’m coming to get you.’

‘No, no, please, Theo, the cab is already here. Honestly – ‘ and she lowered her voice, ‘I’m really fine. Just tired.’

‘Come home to me.’

‘I am. I’m on my way.’

Jules kicked his way back into his bedroom, picked up the nearest object, a book, and threw it across the room, opened his mouth and screamed his frustration, a primal sound. The rage burned through him. Fucking bitch. He walked to the bathroom, stripping, leaving his clothes where they dropped and cranked the shower onto the coolest setting. He stood under the water, letting it prick his skin, his eyes wide and staring. It was coming, the end, he could feel it, it was time.

Jules reached down and began to masturbate. He leaned his head against the cold tile as he thought about the day. He’d been so close to killing her. When she’d called his bluff, he’d wanted to drive the knife into her again and again, feel the blessed, blessed relief, the sensation of her warm, viscous blood on his hands, the pain, the horror, the life in her eyes fading away, the feel of her last breath on his face. Jules came, shouting and grunting as he imagined Jessica’s life slipping away.

Jess went into work the next day as if nothing had happened. Lying in Theo’s arms that night – their schedule of S&M put on hold for the night – she’d spent a sleepless night going over everything in her mind. She couldn’t allow Jules to continue to control her life this way. Theo had grilled her and she’d fudged the details, telling him about the ‘inheritance with conditions’ and he’d been suitably outraged.

‘I’ll fund your projects. We’ve been thinking about setting up a foundation just for this – you could run it.’

She’d protested but the offer was so tempting, so full of love she’d promised she would consider it. It was a way out. An easy fix. But something didn’t sit right with her – bailed out by another rich man? It made her uneasy, even if she did trust Theo meant well.

By the time she got to work, the exhaustion had caught up with her and she didn’t see the figure waiting in the corner of her office until it was too late. Jess suddenly looked around and gasped in shock.

Jules said nothing but stalked across the room and ground his mouth onto hers. Jess squirmed away from him but his hand was tight around her throat, squeezing, squeezing hard and she began to gasp for air as Jules started to strangle her. His face was a red mask of hatred and lust.

‘You don’t get to go home to him again. This way, you’re mine forever.’

Theo’s blood ran cold when he saw them and in a blur, he dragged Jules from Jess, throwing the smaller man across the room. He bent to pick up his stricken love, his heart thumping at the terrified expression on her lovely face but then Jules launched himself into them. Jess was thrown from his arms and Theo slammed into the wall. Jules was a feral whirlwind of rage, raining blows down on his. His fist caught Theo a glancing blow across the temple and he reeled, black spots crowding into his sight. He staggered back but then saw Jess behind Jules, coming at him with a heavy box file. She crashed it over Jules’s head but he turned and drove his fist into her stomach, making her double up. Adrenaline coursed through Theo then and he grabbed Jules, throwing him into the other room.

‘You’ll never ever fucking touch her again,’ he growled, following his quarry. Jules, clambering to his feet, sneering.

‘She belongs to me, Storm, she always has, she always will.’

Theo charged at him and grabbed him throwing him across the room just as Jess, staggering and breathless, screamed ‘No!’

Jules’s whole body slammed into and destroyed The Luna Soleil.

Theo opened the door and stood aside to let her in. She moved slowly, almost catatonic, into his apartment. He locked the door behind them, double locked it. After Jules – after they – had destroyed the painting, he and Jess had stood frozen while Jules scrambled up and disappeared. The noise of the fight had brought others who got there in time to see Jules clambering from the wreckage of The Luna Soleil. Theo, in disbelief, had turned to see Jess, shell-shocked, staring at the remains of the priceless artwork. Her knees had given out and he caught her as she collapsed. Everything after that was a blur of police interviews, photographs. Gerry had been there, and the dean and after the police had finished, the dean took Jess into his office and shut the door. Theo and Gerry waited anxiously but when Jess came out, she said nothing, just gathered her things, kissed Gerry’s cheek and walked out, Theo following. In the car she had been silent, just stared out of the window but now she looked at him, and he saw the depth of her pain.

‘I resigned,’ she said softly. ‘There was nothing else to do. The

Dean accepted it, he would’ve had to fire me anyway. This way, at least, I get to keep my dignity…except not really…’ and she started to sob. Theo took her in her arms, letting her cry herself out. He carried her to the bedroom and lay down beside her, stroking her face, kissing her tears away. As her tears shuddered to a stop, she fell into an uneasy sleep.

Theo pulled the comforter over her and went into the living room. The dean answered the phone on the first ring. Theo apologised for the late hour.

‘I wanted to say, let me have the details of the owner and I’ll pay for the damage.’

The dean was silent for a beat. ‘Mr Storm…. the painting was destroyed.’

Theo cleared his throat. ‘I know. I’ll pay for it. Dean Roberts…he was trying to kill her. Something infinitely more precious than a painting would have been destroyed. What happened was the result of Gachet’s violent behaviour. Please don’t punish Jess – she was the victim here.’

The dean sighed. ‘I do know that, Mr Storm. Look…. I can’t say what is going to happen except this will be big news. I don’t know how we can keep your name out of it.’

‘That’s fine, I don’t expect miracles but tell the truth. Don’t let them crucify Jess.’

He ended the call and rubbed his hands over his face.

‘Thank you.’

He looked up at the sound of her voice. She was standing in the doorway, barefoot, her hair tumbling down her back. Her beautiful face was drawn, her eyes tired but she had the sweetest smile on her face.

He got up and went to her, sliding his arms around her, kissing her softly. ‘You don’t need to thank me for anything.’

‘You saved my life.’

He stroked her face. ‘I love you. I’d never let anything happen to you.’ She leaned into his touch.

He looked into her eyes and saw a lifetime of hurt and abuse and fear.

‘I want to take care of you – as long as you want me to.’ He kissed her again. ‘So I’m going to ask you this and I want you to think about seriously. Move in with me. Let me look after you. In exchange, you can look after me. A partnership, a forever thing. Live with me, Jessie…’

Live With Me Part Four

Jess pulled her clothes from her drawers and shoved them into her old and battered suitcase. She looked around her bedroom, with its now bare walls and stripped down queen-sized bed. A palpable sadness had settled in her chest but she knew now she couldn’t stay here. Jules was out of control and Theo had offered her safe harbor. She’d be a fool to turn that down.

Theo poked his head into the bedroom and smiled at her. ‘That ready to go?’ He nodded at her suitcase.

‘I’ll be just a minute.’

Theo came into the room then, took her shoulders and made her look at him. She knew what he was seeing; wounded eyes, black and purple marks on her neck, defeat. She moved to hold him, wanting to reassure him.

She looked at Theo’s anxious face. ‘I’m okay.’ He smiled at her but she could see he wasn’t convinced. She let him go and he watched as she walked over to the suitcase and locking it.

‘Thanks for doing all this,’ she smiled at him. ‘I don’t know where I’d be without you. Probably dead.’ She tried to smile but regretted her words when she saw the pain in his face. ‘Sorry. It’s just everything is… I’m finding it difficult to believe any of this is real. At the same time…’ She touched her bruised throat and gave a short laugh.

Theo stayed silent. Jess sighed.

‘Come on, baby. Let’s get out of here.’

She moved into the living room, towards the door but, as she passed him, she stumbled a little. Theo saw her legs give way and caught her. She was shaking badly but dry-eyed as he held her.

‘Jesus, Jesus…’ she whispered. Theo buried his face in her hair but she pulled away and looked up at him.

For a moment, she thought about the attack and a brief flash of fear cross her face. Theo saw it.

He bent down and kissed her gently.

‘I won’t let him anywhere near you, don’t worry.’

‘It’s not just me I’m worried about.’

He frowned. Jess smiled at him but her eyes were serious.

‘He hates you, Theo, if he hurt you…’

Theo turned his nose up. ‘He’s a coward, Jess. And a misogynist. He sees women as inferior, weaker, easily manipulated.’

She nodded, her face somber. Theo smoothed her hair back from her face.

‘You okay?’

She nodded but her face was tight and she suddenly pulled away from him, her face flushing a deep scarlet. Angry.

‘I’m mad, Theo. Just mad. Who the hell does that bastard think he is telling me who I can love, deciding whether I live or die? Asshole. Who the fuck gave him the right?’

Her voice was rising with each word and her eyes were wild. She moved away from him, casting around for something, anything that would help her feel better. She gave a short laugh. She picked up a mug; a nondescript red coffee cup shoved into a cardboard box and showed it to Theo.

‘He drank from this.’ She hurled the cup at the wall, her face set in a grim smile as the ceramic smashed. She whirled around and scooped up a plate.

‘Call me a whore, motherfucker?’ And she flung the plate against the wall.

‘This is for every time he hurt me.’ Her hair flew around as she grabbed more and more plates and launched them at the wall.

Theo sat, a smile spreading across his face as he watched her smash her way through an entire cupboard of crockery, yelling, cussing, screaming all her anger, her rage. Theo started to smile. By the time she had finished, out of breath, they were both laughing helplessly.

‘Feel better?’

She grinned at him, tears of laughter in her eyes. ‘So much better.’

He stood and slid his arms around her waist. ‘Good.’ He kissed her and she sighed happily.

‘Okay then. Let’s get out of here and start our new life together.’

He needed to back away for a while, to stay away from her. Jules Gachet’s cheek muscles hurt from being clenched in anger and he stretched out his mouth to loosen them. He dragged his hand through his hair, long overdue for a cut, and glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Hard-bodied and fit, but he’d stood no chance against Theo Storm’s huge strength and now Jess was under Storm’s protection.

No. He had to be careful, plan his next movement, and be patient. Jessica would pay for her betrayal of him, would suffer the worst of his fantasies before he killed her. Attacking her at the college had been a mistake: too many witnesses. He’d been expecting a visit from the police since that day but nothing. She hadn’t pressed charges. Maybe she thinks I should be grateful enough for that, he mused, smirking. Not a chance, bitch.

He dressed quickly and strode down the hallway. Camilla was talking to a delivery man at the front door and Jules rolled his eyes as he pushed past her. He’d only been half-serious when he’d told her to get out the other day; anger made him forget just how well she ran the estate, took most of the toil from him so he could continue playing the way he wanted to. He knew she thought he was disgusting; what on earth would she say if she ever found out what he used to do to Jessica when she was a kid? Jules smirked as he jumped into his car. Who cared what that old spinster thought? Jessica was his, had always been his and would always be his.

Even after she was dead.

Her possessions looked pathetic next to the opulence of Theo’s home and she felt somewhat ashamed of what her life added up to. Few clothes, more books, and art supplies. Theo had unpacked her books and had lined up the battered paperbacks and textbooks next to his on his shelves and now she was in his bedroom – their bedroom, she supposed now – procrastinating over unpacking her clothes.

She didn’t hear Theo come into the bedroom behind her and started as he slid his arms around her waist and pressed his lips to her neck.

‘Hey, beautiful…’

She turned in his arms and tilted her head up so he could kiss her mouth. Theo moaned slightly as his lips moved against hers. ‘God, you taste so good.’ His hold on her tightened and Jess felt her pulse quicken. God, would she ever not want this man?

Theo slowly drew the straps of her dress down her shoulders, trailing his lips across her skin. The dress fell to the floor and she sighed as he picked her and laid her down on the bed, stripping off his sweater. Her hands went to the zipper on his pants and soon they were both naked, kissing, caressing. Theo moved down her body, the tip of his tongue circling her nipples, dipping into the deep hollow of her navel. Jess gasped as his teeth grazed her clit, his strong fingers spread the folds of her labia apart so he could taste her. She closed her eyes as he bit the tender flesh of her inner thighs, and his fingers slid inside her, one by one until only his thumb remained to stroke her clitoris with increasing pressure. Theo shifted so that he could kiss her mouth as he penetrated her, his fingers probing and stroking her until she was shivering with pleasure.

‘You like that?’ Theo asked her softly but his eyes were intense on hers and she nodded, unable to speak, her fingernails digging into the smooth hard skin of his back. He chuckled softly, dipping his head to take her nipple into his mouth, flicking the tongue around the sensitive nub before gently biting down on it. Jess gasped out ‘This is too much, too much…’ But she pressed herself into his touch, grinding herself down onto his hand, still buried deep in her. Theo teased her nipples with his mouth then pressed his lips into the valley between her breasts.

‘Come for me, Jessie…. that’s it, give yourself to me…’ The pressure on her clit became almost unbearable and her back arched upwards violently as she climaxed, only Theo’s sheer weight keeping her from bucking herself off the bed. Theo didn’t give her time to recover before plowing his diamond hard cock into her and Jess thought she might die from the explosion of sensations ripping through her body. Theo clamped her hands above her head and began to thrust mercilessly, fucking her hard, ever thrust going deeper and deeper. Her hips screeched with pain and Theo forced them wider to gain access to her. Their eyes locked on the others as they slammed against each other and she was coming again and again as she felt Theo shudder and spasm, his cum shooting hard into her. Jess was on the verge of passing out but she never wanted it to stop.

Theo flipped her over and before she could catch her breath, his cock was pushing deep into her ass, so slowly and deliciously that she gave a long, delirious moan.

‘God, when you make that sound, Jessie… you make a man almost want to…’ Theo didn’t finish his sentence but she felt him bite down hard on her shoulder and she cried out with pleasure. His lips were at her ear then. ‘You like it when I hurt you, don’t you?’

She nodded and shivered through another orgasm as Theo gave a low, almost dangerous chuckle.

‘Jessie… I’m going to take you away somewhere, somewhere private and we’re going to try some things that you’ll like, and I’m going to have complete command over your glorious body.’

He pulled out and turned her to face him. His green eyes were dark with passion and danger and her breath quickened under his gaze. He bent his head to kiss her neck, her breasts before shifting to bury his face in her belly. For a second she just felt his hot breath on her skin then he looked up at her, a wicked grin on his face.

‘I’m going to fuck you in so many different ways, Jessica Wood, until you beg me to stop.’

She smiled, her skin damp with sweat and glowing. ‘I’ll never want to stop.’

Theo smiled. ‘Good. Because this body is mine. These breasts –‘ He nipped at her nipples with his teeth making her squirm with pleasure, ‘this belly…’ He traced a circle around her navel and she felt her eyes roll back into their sockets from the sensation.

‘Theo…’ Her words were a sigh and then he was kissing her mouth tenderly, lovingly.

‘You are my life,’ he said and the softness, the truth in his voice made tears roll down her cheeks and she pulled his head down to kiss him.

Jess looked out of the small airplane window down at the island. Theo’s island, she thought to herself and shook her head, grinning. My boyfriend owns an island. She didn’t know why this shocked her but because she had always insisted on going Dutch with him when they went out, and of course, from the obvious opulence of his homes, she’d never been this aware of his great wealth until now. Something about it bothered her, she could feel it but she pushed that thought away. For once, just don’t overanalyze, just enjoy, sister. She smiled and turned to Theo. She took a moment to take him in as he tapped away on his laptop next to her. That face – all fierce angles that were so quickly softened by his boyish smile, the way his eyes would almost disappear when he laughed. She loved it all, the way his dark hair curled slightly around his ears, the hint of five o’clock shadow.

Theo sensed her scrutiny and looked up with a smile. ‘Okay, baby?’

‘Very, very okay. I love you, Theodore Storm.’

Theo smiled and closed his laptop, shoving it to one side. In one movement he had pulled her onto his lap, winding his arms around her waist, pressing his lips to hers. ‘And I you, beautiful. Excited?’

There was something burning in his eyes and she smiled enjoying the double meaning in his words. She nuzzled his neck. ‘God, yes…’ she whispered and felt his chuckle rumble through his chest.

‘Not long now…’

Jess stroked his face and then glanced around the private jet’s cabin. ‘We’re all alone now…’

Theo said nothing, but a small smile played on his mouth. Jess slid from his lap and knelt between his legs. She reached for his fly, freeing his cock and stroking it gently.

‘Put your head back, Theo, relax…’

She took him in her mouth, her soft lips parting and gliding over the wide crest of him, the soft skin of his cock feeling like silk against her tongue. She traced the delicate veins with her tongue and traced tiny circles around the tip, feeling it harden and Theo drew in a sharp breath. Jess moved slowly, drawing the shaft in and out of her mouth, teasing him. Theo closed his eyes and leaned his head back, sucking in air between his teeth as she worked.

‘Jessie…’ He tangled his fingers in her hair and began to massage her scalp, sending shivers of pleasure down her body. She hollowed her cheeks, sucking gently on him, feeling his cock quiver and swell. Theo groaned and she could taste salty pre-cum. She smiled – quite a feat considering his cock was now so huge in her mouth she had to stretch it so wide it started to hurt.

Then he was groaning and coming, shooting into her mouth over and over and he collapsed back into his seat, pulling her into his arms.

‘Do it. Kill me. Run me through. Stab me to death. I’d rather that a million times over than your revolting prick inside me ever again.’ Jules sighed. She was calling his bluff. Wrong move, Jessica. Very, very wrong. ‘Oh, why must you make me do this?’ He turned and thrust the blade into her belly. She gasped, shock, terror. He stabbed her again. ‘Ungrateful little bitch. Don’t you know what I’ve done for you?’ He twisted the blade, feeling her hot blood pumping over his skin. ‘This could have all been so different.’ Jules smiled, caught her as she fell, laid her on the floor. ’No, no, please…’ She was staring at him, her beautiful eyes wide with disbelief as he brought the knife down again and again and again…

Jules’s fingers twitched on the steering wheel as he drove towards the city. The consuming rage when Jess had challenged him still flowed through his body, making his skin itch, his fingers pulse with every heartbeat. Disobedience, the ingratitude. It always started like that, the resistance, the arguments until he was forced into disciplining her. Sometimes he had dealt with her quickly, taken her violently, letting her know he was, in every way, her superior. He had decided, however, he would try again with her. She was special. He would give her one more chance to come to him and be his forever. But if she resisted, he decided, he would devise a punishment for her that would be beyond comprehension, something unimaginable.

But first, he wanted to know everything about the prick that had his hands on her now, Theo Storm. He imagined the devastation on that bastard’s handsome face when he found the love of his life stabbed to death, slaughtered by her one true master. Maybe he would make him watch her die. Whatever, he would destroy both of them, psychologically and emotionally before finally killing Jessica. He would make them learn about loss. I will give them a world beyond pain, he thought and with a grim smile, he hit the gas and sped into the city.

Theo drove the hire car along the island’s coast road. Jess was already overawed with the beauty of the island, heavy with colorful and fragrant flora; hibiscus, bougainvillea, mandevilla as well as lush green grasses. The air was heavy with heat but along the road, through the open windows, Jess could feel a cool breeze coming from the salt water.

Theo looked over at her and she smiled at him. He grinned, sliding his free hand onto her belly. ‘Not far now, gorgeous.’

She put her hand over his, enjoying the feel of his skin on hers. Theo turned down a sandy track, almost overgrown with vines and creepers. A ways down the track, he nodded in front of them. A sprawling single level home lay in front of them, wood and glass, the windows wall to ceiling.

They got out of the car and Theo opened the door for her. He led her hand-in-hand through the silent house, pulling open the large glass doors and now she could see that outside the largest, outside the living room was the beach, silky white sand and the azure, teal, turquoise ocean crashing waves gently onto it.

Jess realized she had been holding her breath. ‘I think I’m in a dream,’ she breathed and Theo laughed, wrapping his arms around her.

‘All very real, my love, and we have it all to ourselves as long as we want it.’ He brushed his lips against hers. ‘Are you tired?’

She shook her head, meeting his gaze. ‘No…’

He grinned, kissed her and then said, ‘I bet you’re hungry, though…’

Jess groaned and laughed. ‘Well, now I am…’

In the kitchen, they found the refrigerator almost overflowing with good food and soon they were enjoying soft bread and fresh cream cheese, succulent peaches which dripped juice down their fingers. Theo opened a bottle of champagne and Jess swooned at the heavenly taste of their feast.

‘I could get used to this.’ She caught a dribble of juice that ran down her hand and Theo leaned over to kiss the juice from her mouth.

‘Tastes like you,’ he murmured then took another peach from the bowl, splitting it into two with his long fingers. Keeping his eyes on her, he ran his tongue along the soft flesh and Jess’s stomach dissolved with desire. Theo knew exactly what he was doing, she knew, but she didn’t care.

Theo casually reached over to her and started to unbutton the bodice of her dress. She watched him lazily, spaced out with desire. He ran the peach down her skin, leaving a trail of juice down her belly then followed it with his tongue. Jess felt drunk and she was floppy in his arms as he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. He stripped her of the rest of her clothes then stood.

‘One second,’ he said before disappearing. He was back in an instant with the half empty bottle of champagne. ‘Lie still for me, beautiful.’

She gasped at the cold liquid as he poured champagne into her navel and then she giggled as he chased it with his tongue .as it dripped down her sides. Theo put his mouth over her navel and drank the champagne from it, his tongue delving deeply into the hollow of her belly. He took a swig from the bottle then and pushed her legs apart. Jess gasped as he took her clit into his mouth, the champagne bubbles bursting against it. She moaned at the feel of it, and of him as he traced every part of her sex as if it were that same peach, biting gently down on the soft folds of her labia then his tongue was deep inside of her. Theo poured more champagne onto her skin as he pleasured her and Jess knew she would do anything for this incredible man, her insatiable, skilled lover…

Jules tied her to the chair, the bindings biting into her skin. Jess knew now it was hopeless. Jules was going to kill her, now, today, in the next few minutes and she would never see Theo again. Was it really only hours ago they had been in his bed, delirious with happiness, making love with careless abandon?

And now she was about to be murdered. Stabbed to death by her own step-brother. Her tormentor. Her rapist. Now he was about to become her killer.

Jules smiled down at her as he cut her thin shirt away from her body. ‘You can scream if you like. No-one will hear you here.’ He threw the scraps of material away then ran his fingers down her belly.

‘Christ, you are perfect,’ he said, almost tenderly. He leaned over and kissed her and she felt the cold steel against her. ‘Oh, Jessica…my love, my love…’

The blade slid through her flesh like butter.

Jess screamed – not the sudden awakening from sleep in a shock type of scream, but a deeply visceral, desiccating howl of agonizing terror. She felt hands on her and incredibly the panic increased, a berserk fear ripping through her.

‘Sweetheart, sweetheart it’s me…’

Jess struggled to regain her countenance, make sense of the world she had awoken to.

‘Theo?’ Her voice cracked.

‘Yes, darling, it’s me, it’s me…you’re okay, you’re okay. You just had a nightmare…’

All the adrenaline left her body and she slumped into his arms, weeping. ‘Sorrysorrysorry…’ she was babbling she knew but the dream had so real. She still felt the pain of the knife, of her skin being torn open, her insides cut to pieces, her blood gushing out of her…

‘Sssh.’ Theo was rocking her and for the next few minutes, he just held her while she calmed down. Eventually, she wiped her eyes and smiled weakly at him.

‘Sorry. Stupid dream.’

His eyes were concerned as he brushed the damp hair away from her forehead. ‘Tell me.’

Jess drew in a couple of lungfuls of breath. ‘He had a knife.’

She knew she didn’t have to say any more than that. Theo’s arms tightened around her and he pressed his lips to her temple.

‘I will never, ever, let him hurt you again.’

She so desperately wanted to believe him.

Max had dinner done ready for when Josh came home – it was his turn and he’d missed the last few. So it was his turn and lord knew he wanted a quiet evening in with Josh after the day he’d just had. He poured himself a glass of wine, checking the chili was bubbling away nicely and headed into the living room. He flicked on the television, putting a comedy show on for background noise.

Max watched it for a couple of minutes, knowing he wasn’t taking it in then, sighing, he lifted the heavy file from his bag. The file on Julien Gachet. Since he heard what the old cop had said about Jules’ history, he hadn’t been able to get it out of his head. Max wasn’t stupid – he’d guessed that Gachet’s preoccupation with Jess hid something far more insidious, far more disturbing. He’d talked a psychologist friend of his who had run several ideas past him. The one he couldn’t get out of his head was that Jules had made Jess his sexual obsession.

‘Not when she was a kid?’ Max had asked his friend, appalled. His friend had nodded, his eyes angry and sad.

‘Probably. Has she said anything of the kind to you or Theo?’

But he couldn’t ask Theo. Theo had expressly forbidden him to look into Jess’s background but without doing so, he wouldn’t have found out so much about that son-of-a-bitch Gachet. Max felt a roiling hatred inside of him for the Frenchman. How dare he treat Jess like that? He had to find out their family dynamic before he would risk going to Theo. He opened his laptop and found the map to Jules’ home. The house where Jess grew up.

Max decided then and there to go there – and find out just what sort of childhood his friend had… and what Jules had done to her.

The room was dark, just lit by the warm, flickering candlelight. The glass doors to the beach were open and a hot breeze blew the delicate white drapes into the room. Soft music played in the background, Lana Del Rey playing her Video Games and Theo and Jess danced slowly to the slow, sensual tune. Jess’s head was on Theo’s shoulder, his arm wrapped securely around her, his other hand in hers as they moved. A day of sightseeing, glorious sunshine and sea and delicious food and now the inky night outside had lulled them both into a sensuous fog of desire. Theo stepped away from her for a moment and picked up his tie. He wound it around her eyes gently.

‘Ready?’ He whispered and she nodded and smiled. He ran his tongue gently along her lush bottom lip then kissed her. He stepped away from her and she continued to sway gently to the beat.

Theo watched her, his eyes blazing with desire. The red silk shift dress she was wearing clung to every curve of her, and as she moved, the silk embraced the full breasts, her soft belly, the long strands of the pearl necklace she was wearing moving counter wise to her dancing.

‘Jessie…’

‘Yes?’ Her voice was soft, dreamy, waiting to be commanded.

‘Jessie, run your fingers up the inside of your thighs for me and touch yourself. Let me see you.’

Still dancing, she did as he asked, sweeping his hands gracefully under the hem of her dress, pushing it up, tracing her fingers over the soft skin of her thighs. Theo watched as she stroked her hand into her sex, her movements rhythmic with the music. He watched her masturbate herself and thought it the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. His cock strained against the fabric of his pants and silently, he stripped off, moving so he could cup her buttocks his hand. Blindfold, she started slightly at his touch but then started to grind gently back into his hands. He let her push herself against him, his cock ramrod erect. He let it lay on her skin and she moaned at the feel of its warm length. Theo took the strands of pearls from her neck and wound it around her hands, binding them behind her. He pressed his lips down onto her shoulder.

‘Are you mine?’ He whispered, his lips at her ear, his teeth nipping gently on her ear lobe.

‘Yes, sir.’

A thrill went through him but he kept his stern tone. ‘Correct answer, woman. But still I think you need to be punished.’

He heard her breath quicken, watched a scarlet flush cross her cheeks. He tightened the binding on her hands until he could see it was uncomfortable. He stood behind her, reaching around to run his fingers up and down her belly as he moved her towards the sofa.

‘Bend over and open your legs, girl…’

She did so and he thrust into her sharply from behind, feeling the soft moistness of her stretch and envelop his cock, which by now was so diamond hard he thought he might explode. Jess gasped at his force and he smiled.

‘Ask me…’

‘Fuck me, please sir, fuck me…’

He slammed into her, hearing her moan. He gripped her hips, digging his fingers deep into the soft flesh of them.

‘Ask me again.’

‘Please, sir, fuck me, fuck me harder…yes…god…’

Theo did as she asked, ramming his cock as hard as he could into her deliciously wet cunt. Jess moaned and he could feel her whole body trembling. He pulled out, flipped her and pushed her down onto the couch. He wanted to look at her… her lips, her breasts, her belly… as he fucked her. Her golden skin shimmered with sweat and heat as he plunged into her again. He lifted her legs over his shoulders and pushed the blindfold from her eyes. He had to see the love in her eyes and now there was a fire too, a new fire, one of being possessed and wanting to be possessed. By him alone. She was his.

Theo came, his cum pumping into her so forcefully he shuddered at the release. Jess was panting beneath him and he lifted her into his arms. She leaned into his embrace and they were kissing. He released her hands and she wound her arms around his neck. Neither of them spoke – there was no need for words. Their kissing was tender, loving, tasting each other. Jess gathered her necklace into her hands and cupped his cock, running the pearls over his skin, stroking them against his sac until he was half-crazed with arousal. Jess straddled him and guided him into her, riding him slowly, teasingly, taking more of him into her every time she moved until their bellies touched. He felt himself swell and fill her entirely and then she was trailing her fingernails up and down his back. God, he wanted to consume her, be inside every part of her. He reached over to where he’d left the toys they had bought with them and grabbed a dildo, some lube. He covered the toy and his hands with lube and reached around her to part her buttocks gently. Looking into his eyes, Jess nodded, smiling and he began to push the dildo slowly into her ass as she rode him. Soon their rhythm matched and Theo felt an elation he’d never felt before. They were one person now.

‘I love you…’ He whispered and felt her clench her vaginal muscles around him. She was moaning now, and he felt the hot rush of her orgasm flood over his cock. He swiftly moved so that she was under him, pulling out and ejaculating on her belly.

Finally, near exhaustion, they lay on the couch, wrapped in each other. Skin on skin, sated and delirious, they fell asleep in the others’ arms.

Max sat in his car outside the big house, waiting for any sign that Jules Gachet would be leaving for the day. He didn’t have to wait long. Jules’ gray Audi R8 sped out of the gates just after nine a.m. and Max wasted no time.

The woman at the door had a kind face and a rounded, well-fed body. Max wanted to hug her immediately. He told her he was a friend of Jess’ from college. The woman – Camilla – had squinted at him doubtfully but invited him in anyway. He soon found he couldn’t lie to her for long, and gave a shrug of his shoulders.

‘I’m Theo Storm’s best friend – so that makes me a good friend of Jess too.’ He gave her the woman a grin and she smiled back, won over.

‘That’s better. There're too many lies in the world and definitely too many in this house.’

She ushered him into the kitchen. ‘Have you had breakfast?’

She made him a huge stack of the most heavenly blueberry pancakes and sat down with him, a huge cup of coffee in her hand. ‘So, Mr…?’

‘Max. To tell you the truth, I’m not supposed to be here. Well, Theo would kill me. But he’s worried. We both are. There have been incidents between your employer and Jess that have left her scared and bruised. It has to stop but she won’t press charges. It would help to know how to help her if I knew something of her upbringing… what the dynamic here was.’

Camilla was silent for a moment, looking out of the window, then she sighed. ‘Jess came here fifteen years ago when Mr. Gachet Sr. married her mother. Julien was away then but he came back a couple of years later. He claimed Jess straight away, was possessive, drove her friends away, was always with her. We just didn’t realize how bad his fixation was. When the parents died and Jules was left to run the estate, that’s when things got really bad. He tried to control every part of her life and she had to move out. He still never leaves her alone. He uses money to control her – which makes it worse and the other day, I found him…’

She fell silent and Max waited, patting her hand. The woman struggled to speak for a time.

‘Camilla?’ Max’s voice was gentle. ‘Do you think he abused her? Sexually? Physically?’

Camilla burst into tears. ‘I should have protected her… I should have…’ She was sobbing now and Max put his arms around her to comfort her.

Driving away from the house a short time later, Max’s heart was thumping unpleasantly against his ribs and he felt guilty about invading Jess’ privacy. But Julien Gachet was a sick and twisted fuck that she’d been forced to live with and who was still trying to control her. Max was betting that once Theo Storm – international billionaire came along – Jules had panicked at the thought of losing Jess to someone who could help her gain freedom from him. He smirked humorlessly. Jules was exactly the kind of misogynistic asshole who would think Jess would find ‘someone better’ just for the money. Max may not have known her long but he knew for sure that Jess loved Theo despite his great wealth.

Max decided he would try and warn Julien Gachet off. If he’d learned anything growing up a fat gay Jewish kid, was that bullies were ultimately the worst kind of coward. Theo’s wealth and influence far outstripped this little piece of human crap.

I owe you, Theo, Max thought, this one’s on me. He pressed his hands-free on the dash. His assistant answered.

‘Jenny? I need you to arrange a meeting.’

They ate breakfast in a comfortable silence, Theo lacing his fingers with hers as they sat at a little table on the deck outside. The ocean crashed sedately onto the white sand a few feet away and Jess sat back, shaking her head slightly and smiling.

‘What?’ Theo grinned at her expression.

She turned to him, her eyes shining. ‘This week has been heaven. Actual heaven. You know something? I never wanted money, it wasn’t something that we ever had before Mom married my stepfather. She didn’t marry him for it, she fell in love and it actually took him three attempts to get her to say yes. She was worried we’d get too attached to the good life, that it would make me lazy and unambitious as far as my education went. It didn’t, of course, she’d raised me right and despite our new wealth, we didn’t do over-the-top stuff. I mean we got to travel and I’m so grateful for that but today, here with you, I can see how having money can give you little peeks at what the good life could be. Of course, if we came here too often, it would ruin it.’ She glanced back at Theo and grinned. ‘Sorry, I’m rambling. What I meant to say was thank you. Without you, it would mean nothing.’

Theo was moved beyond words so he leaned over and kissed her. ‘Want to go for a cheesy romantic walk on the beach?’

‘Hell yes, I do.’

Theo laughed and stood, offering her his hand. ‘Come on then.’

They walked for miles along the bright white sand, Jess taking in the wild beauty of the hills that rose in the center of the island, seeing tiny houses dotted occasionally amidst the palm trees.

‘Is there a town here?’

Theo nodded. ‘A small one but it’s pretty lively. They have a great little music venue of you feel like dancing…again.’

She laughed and hugged him. ‘Always…in fact…’ She grinned wickedly and skip away from his reach.

Theo gave her a bemused smile. ‘What?’

She kissed him. ‘Take me dancing tonight and you’ll see…’

Jules Gachet waited at the restaurant of Theo Storm’s new boutique hotel, feeling edgy and irritated. Camilla had given him the message quickly then made herself scarce without explaining who had called and why.

But it piqued his interest. ‘Your presence has been requested for lunch at the Stormfront Seattle Private Restaurant at 1pm, Thursday. I look forward to meeting you. Maximillian Zeigler, Vice President, The Stormfront Corporation.’ For a second he’d been confused until he remembered it was that bastard’s company, the one who was screwing his Jessica. Still, it was free lunch and he’d listen to whatever empty threats Storm’s muscle made and then ignore them. He’d punish Jessica for the threats when she returned from wherever she’d gone with that asshole. Maybe his goon he was meeting would tell him where.

Max Zeigler was impeccably dressed in a suit that was tailored to fit his slightly rotund body. His face was soft, doughy but there was no mistaking the steel in his dark gray eyes. He shook Jules’ hand very briefly then gestured for him to sit.

Jules smirked, picking up the glass of Lagavulin he’d ordered and draining it. ‘So, how I can I help you, Mr. Zeigler.’

Max’s smile was chilly. ‘Mr. Gachet, I’m not one to mince my words so here it is. You will end each and every claim you think you have to Jessica Wood. You will not contact her at any time in the future. You will continue to honor the commitments you have made to Jessica’s chosen projects.’

Jules was almost speechless then he burst out laughing. ‘Did that actually just happen? Or is this some elaborate joke? What possible business is my relationship with Jessica Wood of yours? I mean, apart from the fact your boss is screwing her. What on earth makes you think you can tell me what to do?’

Max leaned forward and the anger in his face made Jules rock back a little. Max cleared his throat. ‘Because, Mr. Gachet, if you don’t then I will have no option than to ask the police to investigate you. You, Mr. Gachet, are an abuser, a manipulator and I’m pretty certain you’re a pedophile. You have repeatedly assaulted Jessica over God knows how many years. I believe it began when Jessica was twelve years old? Statutory rape would give you twenty-five to life. Attempted murder – sorry, I mean repeated attempted murder, man, you would never see the outside world again.’

Jules stared at the man in front of him, barely believing what was happening. That fucking bitch. He gritted his teeth.

‘Whatever Jessica has told you…’

‘She has told me nothing. Mr. Storm asked me to have you investigated after the last time you tried to kill Jess.’

‘’Jess’ now is it? You screwing that whore too?’

Max went dangerously quiet and Jules noticed his fingers tapping the table. For once in his life, Jules was actually scared. ‘Fine,’ he said, standing. ‘You get your way. She’s pretty much all used up now anyways,’ he added spitefully and was gratified to see Max’s expression of disgust.

He stalked out of the restaurant, snapped at the valet to bring his car around. He’d never felt this kind of smoldering white hot rage before. Of course Jessica had told Storm everything; she clearly had some sort of death wish. I’m going to help you out with that real soon, Jessica…

Whatever. Right now, he wanted to get trashed and laid and forget everything about this afternoon’s humiliation. There would be plenty of time to plan his revenge.

Max needed three showers to get the lunch meeting off of him. He dried himself off, listening to the television from the other room. He’d just grunted at Josh when he got home, his mind still whirling, and now he felt guilty.

His husband was sprawled on the couch and Max bent over and kissed him.

‘Sorry.’

‘Forget about it. I ordered pizza, come sit with me and chill. You look like Frodo at Mount Doom.’

Max snorted with laughter and slumped into the couch. Josh threw his arm across his shoulders and studied him.

‘What’s up?’

Max was silent for a minute then grabbed the t.v. remote, muting the sound. ‘I need to talk this out with someone but I need to know it won’t go any further until I say it can.’

Josh, his usually merry eyes flat and worried, nodded. ‘You have my word, babe, always.’

Max drew in a long breath and told him everything from Theo telling him of the attacks on Jess to the meeting with Jules Gachet this afternoon. Josh listened with obvious horror in his expression. When Max finished, he got up and grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge, pouring them each a glass. After a moment, Josh looked at Max.

‘You have to tell Theo. Even if you did overstep the mark. Jess could be in serious trouble if this asshole decides to punish her for involving you and Theo.’

Max rubbed his hand over his face. ‘I know, I know, it’s just… crap, Josh, should Theo really be dragged into something for a girl he’s known for so little time? No, don’t answer that. The bottom line is he loves Jess – hell, I love Jess and unless this asshole is removed from her life once and for all, I can’t see them being able to live happily…’

‘Ever after…’ Josh finished but he wasn’t smiling. ‘Look, they’re still away. Let’s give it a few days and see what this jerk does. But, Max, if he’s really as dangerous as you say…’

Max leaned back, staring up at the ceiling and wondered what it was he had started.

As they walked the mile from town to their little island haven, Theo and Jess were laughing so much they had to keep stopping. The night in the sweaty, sensual club, dancing and drinking and kissing had been an incredible turn on. Jess wore a silky gold dress which ended six inches above her knees and showed off her beautiful tawny skin

In the dimly lit club, they’d found an unlocked back room and as soon as they were inside, they were on each other, kissing, biting, clawing at each other. Theo pushed her back against the wall as she freed his diamond-hard cock from his pants and he ripped her panties from her. Jess gasped as he scooped her up and plunged into her, using his entire body to thrust, making her scream. The unlocked door and the thrill of being caught were exhilarating, Theo grinning as Jess entreated him to screw her hard, please. It was a dirty and quick and sweaty white-knuckle fuck and they’d come together and returned to their booth, giggling, kissing.

Theo looked at his love, the pale light of the moon making her flimsy dress almost silver, her skin glow. Jess grinned back at him, pulling him along by the hand, down onto the sand.

‘It would terribly wrong if we didn’t skinny dip at least once.’

She pulled her dress over her head in one quick move and beckoned him on. Theo didn’t hesitate, stripping down and chasing her into the warm waters. Jess shrieked with laughter as he caught her around the waist and spun her around in the waves, splashing the waves. They fooled around, kissing until Jess was shivering. Theo wrapped his shirt around her as they hurried home but barely got in the door before he was sweeping her legs from under her. He laid her on the edge of the bed and lifted her ankles over his shoulders.

‘Tilt your hips up, baby,’ he whispered and she complied, moaning as he slid into her, oh-so-slowly.

‘Christ, you make me so hard when you make that sound, beautiful…’ He thrust deep, rubbing her clit as he did, feeling her damp thighs quiver, her body damp with sweat. So turned on were they both, that they came quickly and collapsed together, dragging great lungfuls of air into their exhausted bodies.

Jess grinned at him. ‘Man, you’re really good at that.’

Theo laughed. ‘I’m only good ‘because you make me good, woman.’

Jess rolled onto her side and looked down at him. ‘I have a confession.’ She tried to keep her voice light but Theo could see something else in her eyes. He reached up to cup her cheek in his palm.

‘You can tell me anything.’

Jess hesitated. ‘I wasn’t a virgin when we met but… I’ve never had sex with a man I loved… before you.’

That floored and horrified him at the same time. She was telling him what Jules had done to her. She was confirming it. His chest began to hurt.

‘I wasn’t sure I would ever want to be physical with someone… until that day at Commencement. As soon as I saw you, I got this rush of feelings I never knew I was capable of.’

He studied her face. ‘Are you okay?’

She nodded. ‘Yeah. I think I am.’

‘Don’t be scared, baby.’

She smiled at him. ‘I’m not. I’m mad. I’m pissed that I was denied this for so long.’

He grinned. ‘Good.’ He moved his body onto her hers. ‘Gotta tell ya, woman, you’re hot when you’re angry. Sorta like the anti-Hulk.’

‘Smooth.’

He laughed and starting kissing her neck. She ran her hands over his arms, down his back, over his buttocks. She tightened her arms around him, wrapped her legs around his hips.

‘Theo?’

‘Yeah, darlin’?’

In the moonlight he looked so much younger, his big green eyes on hers, his easy smile. She thought he had never been so handsome as he was this night. She smoothed his cheeks with her thumbs.

‘I love you.’

He kissed her, crushing his mouth against his. ‘I love you too, baby. Just me and you now. For all time.’

She smiled but her eyes were sad. ‘Make the world go away, Theo.’

He pressed his lips to her forehead, kissing away the crease and ran his hand down her stomach. ‘Anything for you, darlin’. Anything.’

He gathered her to him and they made love for the rest of the night.

The girl he’d picked up at the club unzipped his pants and bent over him.

Jules leaned back and relaxed while she worked on him, touched her red hair as her mouth enveloped his cock. He closed his eyes and imagined darker hair, darker skin, a sweeter touch. When he was almost there, he pushed the girl back to the floor and thrust into her, ignoring her little cry of pain. She had Jessica’s face and he was fucking her hard, punishing, a raging hatred and lust inside him. He wanted to kill her for sharing their little secret with that fucker. Scratch that, he just wanted to kill her, period.

But an idea had come to him earlier, as he drank one drink after another, and now he was certain it hadn’t been Jessica who blabbed to Storm or Max Zeigler. It was someone else, someone who he’d thought would never betray him or the memory of his father. Someone who should know better.

Jules had gotten drunker when he realised what he had to do and now, fucking this girl whose name he hadn’t bothered to learn, he forgot about that and instead imagined he was Theo, with Jessica in his arms, and as he imagined her skin against his, he came, grunting and sobbing until he was exhausted.

‘I refuse to go. I say to thee, sir, I refuse.’

Theo started laughing as Jess pouted on as Theo started to pack. It was their last full day before flying back to Seattle at an ungodly hour the next morning. He leaned over and kissed her.

‘Beautiful, nothing would make me happier than to stay here forever with you. However, to pay for this haven, I have to work. We still have tonight to enjoy.’

Jess sighed and dragged her case over to the bed. ‘And I have to look for another job.’

They packed in silence for a while before Theo, with uncharacteristic shyness, spoke.

‘You don’t have to. Work, I mean. I’m not trying to be… but, you know, you could finish your Ph.D., concentrate on that, take some time to figure out what you want to do next. You have a big brain, you could do anything.’

Jess’s face was blank. ‘Theo, I have to pay my way. I love you but unless it is occasional treats like this place, I wouldn’t feel right. It’s my responsibility, not yours.’

Theo felt stung. ‘Jess, I never want you to think I’m trying to run your life for you. I’m not Jules.’

Distress crossed her lovely face and tears sprung to her eyes. She dashed them away impatiently. ‘I know that.’ Her voice was thick and he wanted to reach for her, but her body had tensed and he felt the distance between them.

‘Jess… I’m just saying, take some breathing space. You deserve it.’

‘Can we talk about this later?’

Theo sighed inwardly. God, the damage Jules had done to her that she couldn’t accept any kindness. ‘Sure.’

They packed a little more, in silence, then Jess slipped from the room.

He found her looking out at the ocean. He slid his arms around her, relieved when she leaned into his embrace.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly, ‘I’m an idiot. I know you were trying to help and it’s incredibly generous. I just don’t want to be one of ‘those’ women.’

He turned her to him and took her face in his hands. ‘You will never be that kind of woman, you will never be the type of woman who sees men like me as a meal ticket. It’s not in you. I do get it, you know, I really do. Can we talk about this seriously, as a business venture for both of us, when we get back?’

Jess hesitated then nodded.

‘Good.’ He pressed his lips to hers. ‘Now…let’s change the subject.’ He dropped to his knees and pushed her dress up to her waist, bunching the fabric at her hip with one hand, pulling her panties down with the other. He lifted one of her golden brown legs over his shoulder and began to kiss her belly, moving down to her sex. Jess leaned back against the wall and sighed, knotting her fingers in his hair.

He made her come twice before standing, and she reached for him immediately, freeing his cock and dropping gently to her knees. She smiled up at him.

‘My turn…and Theo?’

‘Yes, baby?’

‘I need some dirty talk…’ Theo chuckled at her wicked grin and as she took him into her mouth, the lush velvety softness of her hot mouth, her gentle lips around his cock felt so good that he had no trouble telling her what he wanted.

‘You feel so good baby, your beautiful mouth on me, you make me want to come and come, to fill you with my cock….’

She began to stroke her hands up and down his shaft, pulling gently down on the skin so her tongue could get to all the sensitive points on his cock. Theo’s eyes closed, experiencing every second of pleasure.

‘After I’ve come, beautiful, I’m going to take you into my bed and fuck you for hours and hours until you’re so exhausted, you’ll beg me to stop. I’ll fuck your angel mouth, your heavenly cunt, so juicy and wet for me…’

He could tell by her breathing that she was hot for him, her breasts heaving. ‘God, I want to taste you so bad right now…’

Jess sucked him, her hands on his buttocks, her nails digging into him and he came, shouting his love for her as he pumped into her eager mouth. He scooped her into his arms as he struggled to catch his breath and she kissed him, her eyes wild with arousal.

‘Fuck me against the wall… from behind… hard,’ she ordered and he almost slammed her against the wall, parting her legs with his foot and thrusting into her ready, sodden cunt, pressing her hands above her against the wall.

‘You wanna be fucked all night, pretty girl?’ he murmured in her ear as he screwed her almost violently and she nodded, her skin glowing with sweat. His hand reached around to rub her clit, feeling it harden and pulse against his fingertips. ‘You’re all mine tonight, and I’m going to fuck you mercilessly.’

She came quickly, moaning breathlessly. ‘Fuck me in the ass, Theo, please…’

Pushing into her soft, tight ass, Theo struggled to control his own orgasm. His free hand circled her belly. He knew that drove her wild. God, this woman. They were made for each other, he knew that without a shadow of a doubt. She was his and he was hers…

‘This is forever, Jessie… you and me…’

Shuddering and vibrating with pleasure they made love for the rest of the day into the early hours of the morning, falling asleep sated and delirious with happiness, and with the certainty that nothing, nothing would touch them now.

A week later and Theo was wondering why Max was avoiding him. He tracked his best friend down to the cafeteria of the Stormfront HQ and cornered him just as Max was attacking a salad and looking very morose about it.

Theo grinned, pulling a chair out opposite his friend. ‘Josh put you on another diet?’

Max rolled his eyes. ‘He’s on it too, and making it look easy. He found my stash of Ding-dongs,’ he added with more than a little outrage, ‘and threw them out. Threw them out!’

Theo laughed and took a long sip of his coffee. ‘Where’ve you been? I’ve hardly seen you since Jess and I got back. She wants to double-date and meet Josh, by the way.’

Max nodded. ‘Sure, sounds good.’ There was a pause. ‘How is she?’

Max’s question was obviously loaded and Theo squinted at his friend. ‘She’s good. Why are you asking?’

‘Just wondering if she’s had any more trouble with that asshole step-brother?’

‘Not that I know of. Max, what are you hiding?’

Max sighed and shrugged. ‘I wasn’t sure if I should tell you but I met with Gachet.’

Theo’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What? Max…’

‘He’s toxic, Theo, he’s dangerous. I spoke to the housekeeper at the Gachet mansion, the place Jess grew up. She more or less told me that Jules had been molesting Jess from when she was young. Very young. I didn’t want to ruin your holiday or bring up painful memories for Jess so I arrange to meet him.’ The words were flooding out of Max now. ‘Something need to be done, something to try and stop what he’s doing, something to let him know that Jess is protected now.’

‘What happened?’

‘When?’

‘When you met Gachet.’

Max looked Theo dead in the eye, his gaze confident. ‘I threatened him. Told him if he knew what was good for him, he’d renounce all claim on Jess and her rightful inheritance. Told him his manipulation and bullying of her stops now or we would go to the authorities.’

Theo got the feeling Max wasn’t telling him everything but instead of being angry, he was grateful for his friend. Unbelievably moved that his very best friend would go to bat for the woman he loved. Theo nodded, smiled and could see the relief in Max’s eyes.

‘Thank you, buddy,’ Theo said softly, ‘I mean it. Well, we’ll see what his next move is. He won’t get near Jess again, that’s for damn sure.’

‘How is she, really?’

Theo hesitated. ‘Best if we don’t tell her about this. For now. Keep this between the two of us.’

Max nodded. ‘Deal.’ The two men silent for a long moment then Max shook his head. ‘Man, the things men do to women.’

Theo had no answer to that.

Camilla tugged her coat around her as the Seattle skies opened with a vengeance. The car was parked all the way over on Fifth and now she wished she’d ordered her clothes from the internet rather than go shopping in this monsoon. The evening had crept up on her, her much-longed-for day off was coming to an end and she was exhausted. She walked quickly to the parking garage and got the lift to her level.

He grabbed her as soon as she exited the lift. Camilla felt her body being lifted and slammed down to the hard concrete of the floor and a man bent over her. In the dim light and through her fear, she couldn’t make out who it was – until he spoke.

‘You shouldn’t have opened your big mouth, Camilla. It won’t save Jessica and it won’t save you.’

Camilla had no time to scream before her killer cut her throat.

Jess was waiting for him when he got back to the apartment and Theo realized how much he loved that she was there. She had an old t-shirt on and raggedy jeans and looked about nineteen.

‘Hey pretty girl,’ Theo pulled his tie off as she came to him, standing on her tip-toes to kiss him hello.

‘Hey, gorgeous. I hope you’re hungry, I’ve been making my signature mac-and-cheese.’

‘From the box?’

‘You bet your ass,’ and she laughed. Theo tightened his arms around her, nuzzling her neck.

‘You smell so good,’ he murmured and felt her chuckle.

‘If cheese sauce is your thing,’ she replied but kissed him tenderly. ‘Why don’t you grab a shower, dinner will be about twenty minutes.’

‘Twenty minutes huh?’ and she grinned, knowing what he wanted. She pulled her t-shirt over her head.

‘Fuck me quick then, soldier,’ and she skipped away from him, laughing. Theo shook his head in mock disapproval.

‘I’ve turned you into a wanton woman, Jessica Wood,’ but within seconds they were naked in his shower, and he was lifting her so he could plunge inside her.

After, they ate their pasta in front the television with Jess in her underwear, Theo in just a pair of jog pants. Theo grinned over at her as she dropped her food.

‘You have mac-and-cheese.on your belly,’ he waggled his eyebrows, ‘lucky mac-and-cheese.’ He leaned over and scooped up the food with his mouth, kissing the soft skin of her stomach, making her giggle.

‘Loon,’ she swiped her hand at his head then started as her cell-phone rang. She grinned at him as she answered the call.

‘Yes? This is she?’

Theo watched the expression on her lovely face changed from happiness to confusion to horror. Jess drew in a shaky breath and she looked away from Theo. He frowned, wondering if Jules was up to his old tricks again. She’d changed her number but who knew how far Jules would go to hound her.

‘When?’ Jess’ voice broke and immediately Theo took her in his arms. Jess was trembling violently.

‘Yes. Yes, of course, I’ll be here, please come over as soon as you can.’

Not Jules then, Theo realized with relief but the look on Jess’s face haunted him. Despair. Disbelief. Grief.

She ended the call and gazed at him with eyes full of bottomless horror and sorrow.

‘What is it, love? What’s wrong?’

‘That was the police. They’re coming over to interview me. God, Theo… it’s Camilla… they found her in a parking lot on Fifth an hour ago,’ she said in a broken voice and Theo’s heart broke for her. ‘She’s dead, Theo. She’s been murdered. Oh god, oh god, please, no…’

Theo held her tightly as she sobbed, aching for her but in his head, a voice repeating the same four words over and over. This is your fault.

Oh god, he thought, Max, what have we done…?

Fight With Me Part Five

Jessica Wood nodded once at the medical examiner’s aide. ‘Yes, that’s Camilla Amotte.’ She couldn’t take her eyes off the dead woman’s face, so peaceful and serene showing no signs of the violence of her death. The coroner had deliberately covered her neck, the deep horrific gash, but Jess could still see bruising. She felt numb. After the past few days when she felt like screaming day and night, now she was exhausted, resigned. Camilla, her beloved, lovely Camilla, was gone and Jess knew, without a doubt, that Jules had killed her.

The police had told her there was no physical evidence to go on and Jules had provided them with a seemingly watertight alibi.

‘It’s my fault,’ she’d said to Theo that first night when he’d held her as she sobbed her heart out.

‘No, no, no…’ He’d rocked her gently as he reassured her but she would not be told otherwise.

Now, as she took a waiting Theo’s hand and they walked out of the antiseptic stink of the morgue into bright Seattle sunshine, she turned to him, leaned against him.

‘Theo, I feel like I need to go away for a while. Out of the city, clear my head.’

Theo stroked her face. ‘We can go anywhere you want, sweetheart. Just ask.’

She pulled away slightly. ‘I meant… on my own. No,’ she added quickly after seeing the hurt on his face, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be hurtful, just for a few days.’ She gave him a weak smile. ‘I really do need to clear my head and you, Theo Storm, are a big distraction. I need to figure out what to do workwise and how I can go forward. I know you’ve told me not to worry about money but it wouldn’t sit right with me, living off you. It’s just not me.’

Theo was silent for a moment, his eyes intense on hers then they softened and he smiled slightly. ‘I get it. But look, just so I don’t go crazy wondering if you’re safe, I have a cabin down in Oregon, on the Santiam River. It’s secluded but not isolated. Very chill.’

Jess nodded gratefully. ‘That would be heaven, thank you. And maybe after a few days, if you can spare the time…?’

Theo pulled her into his arms. ‘Always for you, Jessie.’

At breakfast, Jules Gachet looked through the resumes of the new housekeeper candidates. He was bored with this process but hey, he realised, it’s all of your doing. He could imagine Jessica’s grief, her guilt and it made him smile.

The police had come to question him, no doubt on Jessica’s say-so, but he’d had a watertight alibi. Malcolm, his driver, a man as full as special proclivities as himself. They’d covered for each other. He didn’t know if the policeman who was investigating the murder entirely believed him but who cared? Without proof, they had nothing. Jules narrowed his eyes – things wouldn’t be so simple when he murdered Jessica. Theo Storm, crazed with grief, would make sure of it. Jules shrugged. He’d already decided that once Jessica was dead, he himself would have nothing left and would down a bottle of the best scotch and a handful of pills. He wanted the world – and especially Theo Storm - to know that he was Jessica’s killer, that at the end of her life, she had belonged to him entirely. Another idea, another strand of delicious revenge occurred to him then and he grinned to himself. Oh yes, that would be the coup de grace. Jules Gachet flung the resumes down onto the table and headed to the shower where he jerked off and imagined the hot water flooding over his body was Jessica’s blood.

Jess gazed around her at the wood frame cabin, nestled on the river bank, and grinned happily at Theo. He raised his eyebrows and she nodded. ‘It’s perfect, Theo. Just perfect.’

Her small suitcase, a stack of books and her art materials sat in the corner of the tiny living room. Theo dug out the remote and handed it to her.

‘WIFI password’s MyJessieLove.’ His cheeks flushed a little as she grinned at him.

‘Sweet boy.’

He took her in his arms. ‘You’ll call me every day? Ollie, your nearest neighbor’s a good guy, a family friend. If you get scared or lonely, call him. His number’s on the breakfast bar. The farmer’s market is a mile down the lane and…’

‘Theo… stop. I’ll be fine. It’s just a week and then you’ll be here.’ She kissed him gently. ‘Before you go… wanna give me a tour of the bedroom?’

Theo grinned and swept her up the wooden staircase into a room with the softest bed, draped in white mosquito netting. He undid her shirt slowly, kissing the skin he reveal with each button. When his fingers reached the fastening of her jeans, she groaned to hurry him. Theo grinned up at her.

‘I’ll be without you for a week, missy, I’m taking my time.’ He slid his hand into her panties, felt her body relax as he began to stroke her. He pressed his lips to hers, taking his time to taste her, his tongue gently massaging hers. Jess reached inside his pants for his cock, let her fingertips drift up and down the stiffening shaft.

‘Damn, that feels so good,’ Theo murmured and the air shifted, became charged as he slipped a finger inside of her, their kiss becoming hungrier, their breathing ragged. Theo kicked off his pants and hitched her legs around his hips. He held her wrists in one hand, forcing them above her head. Jess arched her back so their bellies touched as he drove himself hard into her, slamming his hips against hers. Her lovely face flushed scarlet as he fucked her, a dewy sheen of sweat making her glow. So fucking beautiful, was all he could think now. How could he leave her here alone, how could he be without her for an entire week?

Jess tightened her legs around his waist, wanting him to plough her hard into the bed, her hips burning with the pain of being forced so rough apart. She clenched her pelvic muscles, grinning as Theo groaned as she gripped him, gave him the tightness, the friction he wanted, that made him shudder with pleasure. Theo’s mouth was on her throat, her neck as he thrust, not caring if he hurt her. The intense ache in her back, her legs, her hips twined around the absolute pleasure of him ravaging her body, owning it, leaving her in ruins.

Afterwards, hey lay, their limbs tangled, gazing at the other. Theo let the back of his fingers drift down her face.

‘No matter what happens,’ he said softly, ‘it’s you and me forever. Fuck anything and anyone else. Whatever comes our way, as long as we’re together, we can beat it.’

She kissed him softly. ‘I love you, Theodore Storm.’

He left after supper and she grinned at his chagrin at having to leave her. When he’d gone, she double-locked the door and tugging her hair out of its messy ponytail, went to run a bath. As the tub filled, she made herself some tea and chose a book from the stack she’d brought with her.

For a moment, she stopped and just listened. Aside from the running water upstairs, the evening was utterly silent. It was comforting. Jess slowly went upstairs and undressed, slipping into the hot water with a sigh. It felt an age since she had been alone anywhere - not that she complaining, she loved Theo more than anything but it felt good to clear her head. She had some serious decisions to make, she thought now, letting the hot water soothe her aching body. She wanted Theo to come get her in seven days with her future somewhat planned.

The only thing she was sure of was her future lay with Theo Storm and she would anything to protect that.

Even if it meant breaking free of Jules forever – whatever that took.

Max smiled at Theo as his boss and best friend wandered into his office and flopped into the chair opposite. Max chuckled at his woebegone face.

‘Seriously, dude… you’re useless without Jess. It’s only a week – not even that now – six days. You’re letting the ‘Bro’ crew down.’

Theo laughed then. ‘Just can’t settle to anything. Oh, except I want to talk to you about setting up a foundation – the Stormfront Foundation for the Arts.’

Max grinned. ‘Oh ‘for the Arts’? Nothing to do with your girlfriend being an artist, of course.’

‘Of course.’

‘Joking aside, it’s a great idea – I assume you want Jess to run it?’

Theo nodded. ‘Well, I’m going to try and persuade her that it isn’t a handout, that it’s something that we were planning to do anyway.’

Max gave him an amused look. ‘Good luck with that. Have you broached the subject at all yet?’

Theo grinned sheepishly. ‘She said it was a great idea then when I told her I wanted her to run it she said ‘Why yes, of course you want a twenty-four-year-old to run a multi-million dollar charity.’’

Max laughed. ‘God I love that girl, she has you all figured out.’ His smile faded. ‘Is she doing okay? Really? I got a call today from the M.E. They’re releasing Camilla’s body next week.’

Theo nodded. ‘Jess told me to let her handle the funeral. Apparently Camilla didn’t have any family.’

The men were silent for a long moment. ‘What a mess.’ Max sighed and leaned back in his chair. ‘It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have….’

‘No,’ said Theo roughly. ‘The killer is to blame. You sound like Jess.’

‘She’s blaming herself?’ Max put his hands on the desk, leaned forward. ‘We should tell her, then, tell her what I…’

‘No. No way. She’ll only feel worse that we were trying to protect her. No. We wait.’

Max nodded unhappily then locked his gaze on his friend. ‘You think it was Gachet?’

Theo stared back evenly. ‘There’s no doubt in my mind.’

Jess opened one eye to look at the clock. Seven a.m. And that was definitely someone knocking at the front door. She clambered out of bed and fell over, the duvet tangled around her legs. She cursed and stumbled down the stairs. Pausing at the mirror in the hallway, she took in her ragged appearance, hair sticking up, old t-shirt hanging to just below her knees. She grimaced and opened the door.

A good-looking dark haired man stood outside, smiling at her. For a second she gaped at him, trying to place him and then it clicked. Her neighbor – or rather Theo’s neighbor – Ollie.

‘Hi.’

‘I’m sorry did I wake you?

She smiled. ‘No, I’m sorry. Come in, please.’ As he passed her, she rubbed her eyes, trying to wake her brain up. She led him into the kitchen.

‘I am sorry for coming so early. You must think me very rude.’

‘Not at all, it’s really good to see you again’ She snagged two coffee cups from the cupboard then realised that the t-shirt she was wearing was riding up her thighs and giving Ollie a free show. She snuck a look at him but he was gazing discreetly out of the window.

‘You know… I could make the coffee if you want to…’ He said, still not looking at her and Jess smiled gratefully.

‘That would be good, thank you, I’ll be two seconds.’

She darted upstairs and tugged on a pair of jeans, went to the bathroom to quickly brush her teeth. When she got back downstairs, Ollie was putting two mugs of steaming coffee on the table. He grinned at her and she started laughing, then, shaking her head.

‘Sorry again,’ he said but she put a hand up to halt his apology.

‘Please. You’re very kind, my brain’s not fully engaged in the mornings. So… hello, I’m Jess.’

Chuckling he shook her hand. ‘Ollie Barnes. Theo said you might need a lift to the farmer’s market…’ He looked down and laughed, once. ‘Okay. I’ll start again.’

Jess frowned, nonplussed by his seeming confusion. He smiled at her.

‘I’m snooping, I admit. I’ve known Theo for years – since we were kids – but I’ve never seen him bring anyone out here since Kelly.’

Jess looked up sharply. ‘Kelly?’

Ollie nodded, not noticing her tone. ‘My sister. Before she died, she and Theo used to come back here to get some space…. Jess, are you okay?’

She could feel the blood drain from her face, her skin cold. For a second she struggled to talk, to form the words then she shook herself. Theo was allowed to have secrets, wasn’t he? She had enough of her own. She touched Ollie’s arm.

‘I’m sorry, Ollie, please go on. I’m so sorry about your sister.’

Ollie was studying her. ‘He didn’t tell you, did he?’

She shook her head but smiled. ‘No, he didn’t.’

Ollie’s breath hissed out between his teeth and he seemed to be considering something before he gave her a little grin. ‘What a jerk wad.’

She laughed, grateful for his saving her – again. ‘Total dill hole.’

They both laughed. ‘Tell me about Kelly – if it’s not too painful.’

Ollie looked out of the window. The sun was streaming in and Jess could see the dust motes swirling in the beams hitting the kitchen floor. ‘Feel like a walk?’

They strolled along the riverbank, the air so fresh and with a slight bite still from the early morning.

‘Kelly and Theo were off and on for years in their teens,’ Ollie explained. ‘When Theo graduated from college, they got back together. About a year later, Theo came home from work one day and she’d slit her wrists in the bath. He couldn’t save her. Kelly had always suffered from depression and over the years, she’d become an expert at hiding it. She thought if she told him about it, he’d leave her.’ Ollie sighed. ‘He wouldn’t have, he has a white-knight complex.’

‘That I know,’ Jess muttered. ‘God, Ollie, that’s so sad, so – why didn’t he tell me?’

‘Theo blamed himself for not seeing the signs – we all did but Theo took it the hardest.’ Ollie looked at her. ‘Should I be telling you this?’

Jess shrugged. ‘I don’t know, honestly. I won’t say anything to Theo if you don’t want me to. If he and I go the distance, I’m sure he’ll tell me himself eventually.’

She wasn’t sure of that at all and later when Ollie had gone, she thought about what he’d said. It made her wonder how much they really knew about each other. Theo knew loss as much she had. It made her sad that he hadn’t shared that with her yet. Her thoughts drifted to Camilla and the heavy feeling in her chest came back. Fucking Jules… she wanted to rip him limb from limb for what he’d done. In the days after the murder, she’d considered going to the police but the cops who had visited Theo’s apartment had obviously looked back in their files and their attitude to her had been colored by Jules’ remarks all those years ago.

‘They don’t take me seriously,’ she’d said bleakly to Theo who couldn’t help agree with her. She saw the anger in his eyes and he’d begged her to let him tell them about the attacks on her. She couldn’t face it though and there was something else. She wanted to make Jules pay. She wanted him to lose everything. She wanted him to hurt.

She wanted revenge.

He was waiting in the shadow of the alleyway when Jules Gachet walked out of the restaurant. With one hand, he clamped down on the other man’s shoulder and pulled him backwards. Max slammed the smaller man against the brick wall of the building, getting in his face, and was gratified to see a flicker of fear in his eyes.

‘Get your homo arms off of me,’ Jules puffed himself up, a sneer on his face, Max smiled grimly.

‘Oh, so you’ve done your homework, Gachet? Good. Then you know who you’re dealing with.’ Max searched the other man’s face. ‘You enjoy hurting women, Gachet?’

The other man chuckled darkly. ‘Where’d you get that idea?’

Max looked at him in disgust. ‘I won’t wait forever, Gachet. Draw up the papers to transfer Jess’s inheritance to her by the end of the week.’

Jules nodded once and walked towards his car. Max watched him as he opened the door and then turned, smirking.

‘Shame about Camilla…,’ his smile widened, ‘…tell Jess to take extra care, won’t you?’

Jess opened the door to the cabin and flew into his arms. Theo, laughing, picked her up and twirled her around joyfully. He pressed his lips to hers. ‘It’s been a very long week, Miss Wood.’

Jess kissed him, her hands on his face. ‘Agreed, way too long. Come inside and say hello properly.’

She opened a bottle of wine she’d bought at the Farmer’s Market as she cooked pasta for them and Theo filled her in on his week. When he brought up the idea of the charity again, she smiled at him.

‘I’ve been thinking about that too. I have a proposal for you, something I’ve been thinking about all week.’

Theo nodded. ‘Go on.’

She sipped her wine before speaking. ‘We rushed into everything so fast, you and I. We’re living together, you want me to go into business with you and as for sex… I’ve done things with you, I never imagined I would. But I don’t know your mom’s name. I don’t know why you went into property. Hell, I don’t know your shirt size. The minutiae of a person’s life – surely these are the things we need to know about each other. You don’t know that I can play the piano or that I once went on a date with a man who swore he could ‘make me a movie star’.

She pulled a face at that and he laughed. ‘Second date?’ Theo raised his eyebrows in amusement.

‘God no. But do you see what I mean? Your generosity in giving me a home, offering me a huge promotion in terms of my career – don’t think I’m not grateful because I am. But all I want is you. If you want me to run this charity, I will, but I don’t want any special favors just because we sleep together. I’ll take them if we mean something more than that.’

Theo chewed his lip, pondering her words and frowned. ‘Jess, surely you know by now… you are the love of my life. Hands down. If what you want to is to know me, then I’ll tell you everything you want to know.’

She nodded. ‘So I propose… we start over. Now, today. We tell each other everything, we get to know the other as well as possibly could. You are the only person in the world I trust implicitly. I hope I’m right to do so.’

She waited, willing him to tell her about Kelly, about that wound in his past. When he was silent, she felt a little pull in her chest but brushed it aside. There was time.

She leaned over to kiss him and he pulled her into his arms.

‘Anything you want, you just have to ask,’ he murmured as he kissed her. She kissed him back, melting at his touch then as she pulled back, she gave him a wicked grin.

‘Maybe… we should just go to first base, you know if we’re starting over.’

Theo chuckled. ‘Yeah, good luck with that.’ He slid his hands under her t-shirt, stroking her belly, cupping her breasts and she grinned.

‘I missed your hands.’ She kissed him. Theo smiled lazily at her.

‘Oh yeah? Let me show you what they can do.’ He slipped his fingers into the back of her jeans and stroked her buttocks. She sighed.

‘Yeah, that’s the stuff.’ She kissed his neck.

Theo grinned. ‘You know what else they can do?’

He cradled her in his arms and rolled her onto the floor. She giggled. He undid her jeans and pulled them off.

‘I’m quite sure this goes against our new rule.’ But she wriggled with pleasure. Theo shook his head, a mock serious expression on his face.

‘No, no. We’re just making out, that’s all like you said. But I should tell you since we last did this,’ he kissed her, ‘Times have changed. There’s a new definition of ‘making out’.’

‘Is there…. oh lordy…’ She gasped as his mouth found her sex, his tongue curling around her clit and lashing against the deep cleft of her. Theo looked up at her.

‘Man, you taste so good…’

She sucked in a deep breath as her body began to quiver until Theo brought her to a pitch of excitement she could not hold back and moaned as her orgasm shuddered through her. Theo propped himself up on his elbow and let his fingers drift gently down her body as she caught her breath. He smiled at her shining eyes, so deep and warm and full of love for him.

Jess chuckled at his satisfied smile.. ‘Wow. Theo, I think I like your new definition of making out.’ She pushed him onto his back and stroked his face. ‘I think maybe it’s my turn to add a new definition.’

‘You do, huh?’

‘Oh yeah.’ And grinning, she moved down his body.

Jules watched Theo bring her to orgasm and the rage he felt was all consuming. He waited outside Theo’s apartment the entire week in the hope he would lead him to wherever Jess had gone but now he wished he hadn’t seen them together like this. Defiling her, defiling his Jessica.

He stood at the side of the window, watching them, watching her as she repaid her lover’s generosity. Theo had pulled her t-shirt off and Jules admired the smooth skin, the way her back curved. Jules felt in his pocket. The gun. He had never used a gun before, not to deal with any of his… problems. But Jess was special. And having that rich asshole around had presented a whole new set of complications. A gun was necessary.

He felt the cold steel with his fingers. He imagined putting a bullet into that beautiful curve in the small of her back. The thought excited him. Jules grunted and froze. Theo had looked towards the window. He could see him sit up, looking concerned. Jules ducked down and darted back into the trees.

‘What is it?’ Jess looked scared.

‘Thought I heard something.’ Theo got up and headed towards the door. He looked back at her and smiled. ‘Don’t worry, I’m just going to check around the house.’ He winked at her. ‘If you hear anything, lock the door. Don’t be scared, baby.’ He went out into the night. Jess felt a cold fear settle around her. But seconds later, Theo came back. He grinned wryly. ‘Sorry sweetheart, I didn’t mean to scare you. Guess I’m just jumpy after everything that’s happened.’

He locked the door behind him and took her in his arms. ‘I want you to know I heard what you said earlier and I’m on board. Completely. Except for the first base business… I don’t think we should deprive ourselves…’ He grinned wickedly and she chuckled.

‘You may have a point,’ and she slid her hand down his groin, cupped the long shape of his cock through the denim of his jeans. She glanced around and then grinned up at him. ‘Wanna fuck me on the stairs, soldier?’

Theo growled and scooped her up roughly, and then they were clawing at the remains of the other’s clothes. Theo tugged her legs around him, his cock so ramrod hard he had no trouble thrusting deep into her ready sex. He clamped her hands above her head as they fucked, brutally, desperately, their mouths hungry for the others.

They made it to the bedroom and much, much later they fell asleep in the other’s arms. Neither of them woke when the door to the cabin creaked open. Jules moved silently through the house, up the stairs.

Jess lay on her back, naked, Theo’s arm across her stomach, his face buried in the curve of her neck. Her long dark lashes swept down onto the smooth skin of her cheeks, the flush of lovemaking still pink. Christ, she was beautiful. Jules pulled the gun from his jacket and aimed it at her belly. An inch away, just one inch. His finger twitched on the trigger as he imagined the bullet smashing into the soft silky flesh, her gasp of shock and agony, Theo Storm’s horror as she bled out in his arms. He’d let him watch her die before he shot him too. Jules smirked to himself. It was a nice fantasy but no…not yet. He pocketed the gun and slipped back down the stairs, through the woods to where he’d left his car. He downed a bottle of water before starting the engine, lost in thought. It was good to know that they had no idea the lengths he would go to – stupid fuckers. Hadn’t Camilla been enough to terrify them?

What he’d done to Camilla was nothing to what he would do to Jess. Nothing at all.

The sky was heavy with snow a week later and Seattle was gearing up for a bad winter storm. Camilla was laid to rest in a small cemetery just outside the city and afterwards, Theo held Jess’s hand tightly in the car back home. Her head rested on his shoulder but he was surprised she hadn’t cried. Instead, he saw a slow burning anger behind her eyes. Good, he thought, that would keep her vigilant, keep her safe. He hadn’t told he that he’d found footprints and evidence of an intruder at the cabin that day.

He kissed her temple. ‘Hey, what say we grab some lunch then go over the paperwork Max sent over? Get a jump start on your new job?’

Max had gotten together a bunch of information – in record time, Theo grinned to himself – and if Jess was up for it, then the Stormfront Foundation would soon be a reality.

Jess looked up and smiled gratefully. ‘That sounds good to me, I could do with a new focus…apart from you, that is.’

Jess looked around the wide spacious office with views across the city and her jaw dropped. Max smirked at Theo, who put a hand on Jess’s shoulder. ‘Don’t get freaked out. We have a ton of advisors ready to help you. We just thought you could get up to speed at your own pace.’

‘And in one of the best offices in the city,’ she managed to choke out. Theo laughed and opened his hands in apology.

‘I can’t help it, I want you to have the best.’

Jess nodded but chewed on her lip. Max cleared his throat. ‘We have a press conference coming up – no, don’t panic…’ He shook his head at the panic on Jess’s face. Theo wrapped his arms around her. ‘It’s just to announce the Foundation’s formation – we need to get the word out if we’re going to be helping people. I’ll be there to do most of the talking, Max too. We’ll introduce you as the president of the foundation…’

‘Much to the amusement of the local art world,’ Jess said. She looked at him evenly. ‘Do you honestly think people won’t say it’s you finding a job for your feckless girlfriend?’

Theo took a deep breath. ‘To begin with, maybe. We have to be realistic, they’re gonna have their opinions. But when the foundation – when you - start making a real difference to young and exciting artists, they’ll change their minds. We just have to ride the wave of skepticism.’

‘Including yours,’ Max said with a grin and Jess couldn’t help but laugh.

‘In that case, I think I can handle it.’

The press conference went off without a hitch and suddenly the realization that she was the head of a charity made Jess more determined than ever to prove herself. In the weeks that followed, she worked late into the night with Theo’s advisors and even some picks of her own to source the most suitable projects to fund. She called up her old boss Gerry who was delighted to hear from her and she took him to lunch to pick his brains.

Gerry grinned happily at her. ‘You were always too good to be someone’s assistant, anyway, Jess. I was selfish to hold you back.’

She protested but his words meant the world, gave her confidence.

It was a Wednesday night, towards the end of November when Theo came looking for her in her office. She was sprawled out on the floor in her bare feet, looking through applications and samples, engrossed in her work when he knocked on the doorframe. She looked up and grinned.

‘Hey, sexy.’

Theo smiled and lifted her to her feet to kiss her. She wound her arms around his neck and sank into the kiss. ‘Man, I needed that… what time is it?’

‘Past eleven.’

She looked appalled. ‘God, I’m sorry, honey, I just lost track.’

‘You never have to apologize for being as committed as you are to this. I hope this doesn’t sound patronizing but I’m so proud.’

She kissed him again, a light brush of the lips. ‘Not patronizing at all, thank you for believing in me. This can wait until tomorrow.’

‘Not tomorrow, Norma Rae. It’s Thanksgiving.’

Her eyes opened wide. ‘Jeez, I totally forgot. We haven’t got any food in the apartment.’

He smiled at her. ‘Max and Josh have invited us to go to their place for dinner. Josh is expert in stuffing us to the gills. I honestly think it’s why Max married him.’

Jess laughed. ‘It’s a good as a reason as any, and that sounds good. About time I met Josh.’

Theo felt warmth flood through him. Without saying anything, she had made it sound like a family. His arms tightened around her. ‘Wanna go home?’

She hesitated but he saw fire in her eyes. ‘Actually…’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘What?’

She pulled away from his arms and shut the door behind him, shut off the light. She started to unbutton her shirt. ‘I was admiring the view from the windows today. The panoramic views and it occurred to me. I didn’t know who could see in here. No-one I think, but what if we gave them something to look at?’

She stepped out of her skirt, unhooked her bra and drew her panties slowly down her legs. Theo’s groin was almost painful, watching her sensual striptease. He yanked his own clothes off, grabbing her roughly and ground his mouth down onto hers. She moaned slightly, the soft sound of it making his cock diamond hard, and then he pushed her against the window, her breasts and belly hard against the glass as he stroked her clit, bit down on her neck.

‘I’m going to fuck you so hard, beautiful girl, so – he thrust his cock deep inside her and she gasped – ‘fucking’ – harder – ‘hard.’

She turned her face so her cheek rested against the cool glass and tightened her muscles around his cock as it rammed so brutally into her. Theo’s teeth nipped at her earlobe, his fevered breathing. His arms were wrapped around her waist, lifting her so he could fuck her as deeply and as savagely as they both wanted, as she entreated him to. She screamed her orgasm into the glass and he came, pumping hot semen into her ready sex, then, still ramrod stiff, he turned her to face him and entered her again, feeling the damp warmth of her envelope him. This time, they moved slowly, eyes locked, lips brushing. Theo angled her so that he would rub against her clit as he thrust; she cupped his balls gently, massaging them. She bit down on his nipples as they neared the climax and as they came they both tumbled to the floor, moaning their love for each other. As they shuddered to a halt, torchlight swept over the window of the office door and giggling, they hushed each other as the security guard tested the locked door. After a few minutes, they got up and still laughing, dressed.

‘Consider this office well and truly christened,’ Jess grinned at Theo who nodded.

‘Which reminds me. My office needs a good rebirth.’

‘Later, babe, if we’ve got to be social tomorrow, I need some sleep. Well, some, at least.’

‘That, young lady,’ said Josh to her the following day as she sprawled out on his and Max’s couch, groaning and holding her belly, ‘is a food baby.’ He tapped her stomach lightly and she giggled. Max and Theo were washing the dishes from the magnificent Thanksgiving dinner Josh and prepared and now he and Jess had decamped to the couch to gossip. They had gotten along as soon as Max had proudly introduced his husband and now Jess studied the handsome Mexican.

‘I keep thinking we should have met before but then I remember, it’s only been a couple of months since I met Theo.’ Her eyes popped in wonder. ‘Wow.’

Josh smiled. ‘He’s a changed man.’

‘Really?’

‘Really. He’s crazy about you. Never seen him like this.’

Jess glanced over to the kitchen door. ‘Not even with Kelly?’ She lowered her voice when she asked the question and saw understanding in Josh’s eyes. He leaned in and whispered back.

‘Not even then. Does he know you know?’

She shook her head – a mistake, she realised. She’d had a couple of glasses of wine which had gone to her head. She felt giddy with food and love and laughter.

‘No. I want him to tell me in his own time. So, please don’t’…’

‘Of course not. But yeah, he’s all in, I can promise you that.’ He studied her for a second. ‘I get the impression that it’s a new feeling for you, being loved the right way.’

Jess blinked at him in confusion but Max and Theo came back into the room then and she didn’t have the chance to ask Josh what he meant.

Later Jess and Theo took a cab home, her head resting on his shoulder, His arm tight around her waist. She wanted to ask Theo about what Josh had said but now, in a sleepy haze of love, she didn’t want to break the mood.

In the bedroom, they slowly undressed each other, lingering over the feel of skin on skin as they held each other. The outside world was silent as a blanket of snow fell across the city and in their own little haven, Theo and Jess made love gently until they were both sated. Jess fell asleep in Theo’s arms but Theo found himself exhausted but unable to find sleep.

While they were doing the dishes, Max had told him about the second confrontation with Jules and now Theo couldn’t stop worrying that his friend had overstepped the mark; angered Gachet to a point where he could hurt someone, hurt Jess. After Camilla’s murder, Theo was taking nothing on chance. Carefully, surreptitiously, he’d increased the security around Jess, around Max and Josh, around anyone who could be at risk from Gachet. Not wanting to scare any of them, he’d made sure the protection was discreet and maintained a certain distance but still. The thought of anything happening to Jess now…

Theo sighed. The scar, the wound, the hurt of Kelly’s suicide had forever marked him and even though Jess had healed his broken heart, the terror of losing her was still palpable. Eventually, he fell into an uneasy sleep, racked with nightmares; knives, blood and a pale and lifeless Jess in his arms.

Jess’ head pounded with a headache that had been bugging her all day. Theo had apologized but he’d be at work late so she went home alone, soaked in a bubble bath for an hour before ordering pizza. After a couple of slices, though, she felt sick and curling up on the sofa, closed her eyes. It took the reception two tries before she realised the entrance phone was buzzing.

‘Yes?’

‘Miss Wood, there’s a Julien Gachet here to see you.’

Fuck. She sighed then an idea came to her. She would confront him about Camilla. She would know, for sure, that he had killed her, by his reaction. It was worth a shot.

‘Send him up.’

Jules had obviously taken a lot of trouble with his appearance but she stared at him with hatred and impatience.

‘What now, Jules? Another murder attempt? More threats?’

He smiled snakily and it made her stomach lurch queasily. He sat down on the couch – their couch, hers and Theo’s – without being asked. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I just came by to see how you are. After Camilla and everything.’

She stared at him in disbelief. ‘After you killed her, you mean?’

Jules smirked. ‘As if. Camilla was an important member of our family, I’m as devastated as you are.’

‘Funny you missed her funeral then.’

Jules raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Well if you’re not going to tell me when it is…’

He got up, moved towards her and Jess edged away from him to the other side of Theo’s large desk. Her hand went to hover over the small red panic button he’d had installed under it. Jules watched her amused and mocking.

‘Something wrong, Jessica?’

She met his gaze. ‘Nothing that won’t be solved by the two huge security guards I can call in an instant.’

Jules laughed. ‘Paranoia doesn’t suit you, Jessica. Well, I just wanted to the ivory tower he’s got you in. Oh, that reminds me. Congratulations on the new job. I have no doubts as to how you earned it.’

He made a crude gesture with his fingers and Jess, her temper exploding, forgot the panic button, forgot about the threat and stalked over to him. Using all of her strength, she slapped him hard, watching his head snap to the side. ‘Get out of my home. Now.’

He grabbed her, his eyes raging, and crushed his lips against hers. Jess struggled, desperately but she was no match for his strength. Jules pulled her tightly against him, grinding his groin against her.

‘Don’t let this fool you. You belong to me. Every minute you deny it, someone else could get very hurt. What will happen when you run out of people to protect you?’

‘Fuck you,’ she hissed, the red mist descending, and spat in his face.

He pushed her away and wiped his face in disgust. ‘Stupid whore.’

‘Get out.’

‘I haven’t finished with you yet.’

She walked to the front door and opened it. ‘Get. Out. Now.’

He moved as if to leave but paused when he reached her. The simmering violence in the air was making her tremble but she held his gaze. He smirked coldly.

‘Your choice, Jess. Live with the consequences or should I say…,’ he leaned into her and whispered, ‘…for as long as I allow you to live.’ He mimicked stabbing her and she jerked back reflexively. Jules laughed and behind him, Jess saw Theo’s security man step into the hall, his eyes fixed on Jules. She held her hand up to him as Jules smirked, and as he left, the security guy, Alan, turned to her.

‘You okay, Miss Wood?’

‘Call me Jess, would you? And I’m fine, Alan. Do me a favor. Don’t tell Theo about this. It really was nothing.’

Alan looked unhappy but nodded.

She closed the door, double locked it and leaned back against it. She recalled what she’d said to Alan. It was nothing. How fucked up was her relationship with Jules that a promise to kill her was nothing? That she took it for granted now? She really had had enough this particular day. In the bathroom, she opened the cabinet above the sink and took out the small bottle of Tylenol PM. She hesitated and then swallowed two with a handful of water from the faucet and fell into an uneasy sleep.

Theo left the office just past midnight and had just stepped into his Mercedes to drive home when his cell phone buzzed. Max.

‘Hey, buddy.’

There was silence on the end of the phone then he heard a sob. His heart leapt into his chest. Jesus. ‘Max, what is it? Are you okay?’

Max sobbed louder now. ‘I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it…’

Theo waited for his sobs to calm before telling him, ‘I’m coming over now, Max, right now.’

When he got to Max’s apartment, there were cop cars parked outside. He gave his name to the uniform at Max’s door and then he was in. Max fell apart when he saw him and Theo looked around for Josh. He had a bad, bad feeling about this.

He grabbed his friend by the shoulders and hugged him. ‘What is it, Max? What’s wrong?’

He wasn’t sure he wanted the answer.

She pointed the gun at Jules and he laughed. ‘Really, Jess, do you think you could kill me? Try, go on, baby girl, take your shot.’ She pulled the trigger and the bullet smashed into his forehead. He stopped.

Then to her horror, the gaping hole sealed itself up and Jules sneered at her. ‘My turn.’ He grabbed the gun and although she struggled, he was too strong, unnaturally strong and turned it so the gun was pressed hard into her belly.

‘It’s a shame,’ he whispered, his voice intimate, ‘You really are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. If you’d only realised you belong to me but it’s too late now.’

He smiled, kissed her tenderly and pulled the trigger.

It was almost dawn when Theo woke her from her nightmare. Groggily she looked up into his drawn face and quelled at the pain in his handsome face.

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

Theo gazed down at her, sorrow etched deep in his eyes. ‘It’s Josh… he’s been murdered.’

The official story was that Josh had been hit by a car on his way back from work. It could have so easily been an accident except that the driver had backed up over Josh’s prone body – twice. It had all been caught on CCTV but the car, a plain black RV had blacked out windows and no plates. The police had no leads but Jess had an overwhelming sense of foreboding and when finally she, Theo and Max were alone, after Josh’s cremation, Max said what they had all been thinking.

‘Fucking Gachet did this.’

Max looked terrible as if he’d been smoking six packs a day and drinking straight bourbon. Jess closed her eyes for a moment, trying to quell the nausea that threatened.

‘I don’t understand. Why would Jules kill Josh? How would Jules even know Josh?’ Her voice was scratchy and low. Max wouldn’t look at her and she felt the heavy weight of guilt settle over her.

Theo and Max exchanged a look then Theo nodded, once, brief, stiff. Max sat down opposite Jess and took her hands. ‘We were trying to make things better… for you…. I…’

‘I asked Max to look into Jules’ background,’ Theo interrupted his friend, ‘He’d hurt you, had threatened your life. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but there you have it. It was for the best.’

Jess pulled away from Max’s hands. ‘You were investigating me?’

‘Jules, not you. But obviously, there was some overlap. After Max talked to Camilla, we realised exactly what he’d been doing to you. We had to do something/?’

Jess had gone very still. ‘You talked to Camilla? Did Jules know?’

The room echoed with their silence. ‘Oh Jesus…’ Jess sank to the floor, curling her knees up to her chest. Theo bent to touch her but she shied away from him.

For a long time no-one said anything then Theo looked at Max, who nodded and left the room. Jess got up and paced around the room while Theo watched in silence. Finally, she turned to him.

‘This is my fault. My fault. He told me he would hurt people I cared about and I dismissed it as…why? It’s my fault Camilla and Josh are dead. I should just have let him kill me.’

‘Stop it!’ Theo was furious as she had ever seen him. ‘None of this is your fault. It’s him, it’s Gachet.’

‘Who is my problem, Theo. I did this. I tried to escape from him and…’

‘You shouldn’t have had to ‘escape’ from anyone. What you went through… he’s a monster. How old were you when he first raped you?’

The question, so simple, so straightforward, made her crumple. Theo gathered her to him as she sobbed. ‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,’ his voice was gentle,’ but please, put it out of your mind that it’s your fault. We need to go to the police, tell them everything.’

Her sobs subsided but she sighed, defeated. ‘They won’t believe me. They didn’t then and I got punished.’

Theo was silent for a long moment. ‘Then we need to break that cycle.’

Jess was quiet for a long time before she pulled away from him. ‘I can stop this by… I can’t let anyone else get hurt because I fell in love with you. I need to take responsibility for that. I need to make this right. I need to go.’

Dread was flooding through Theo’s body as he took in what she was saying.

‘Wait, Jess. You can’t be serious? Are you ending this? Us? No, no, we can’t let him win, please.’

He reached for her but she ducked away.

‘No, Theo please, don’t, I can’t bear it. I love you, god, so, so much but we need to take so time to figure out everything. People have died, there’s so much damage.’ She was brushing her tears from her face and it broke his heart. ‘Please, just…. let me go. Give me time to figure how I can make it stop, make him stop.’

Theo nodded, trying to hide his heartbreak. He picked up her coat and draped it around her shoulders. Tipping up her face to his, he kissed her tenderly. ‘Okay…. okay, Jess you can have all the time you need, all the time. But know this. I’ll wait forever. I love you.’

Fresh tears poured her cheeks and he kissed them away. ‘I love you too,’ she whispered, ‘You are my heart.’

His gut twisted as he kissed her mouth then, tasting her lips, lingering, not knowing when he would kiss them again – if he would kiss them again.

Eventually, she broke away from him and picked up her bag. ‘I have to go.’

Hand-in-hand, they walked to the door and he opened it for her, and – his heart shattering into a million pieces - watched the love of his life walk out of it.

He called down to the limo driver. ‘Make sure she gets where she wants to go safely.’

Then he hung up the phone and as Max came back into the room, he looked at his friend and knew he shared his pain.

‘She’s gone, Max. I had to let her go.’ And he began to sob.

Jules, parked in the shadows away from the gaze of the security guards, sat up as he saw her walk out of Storm’s apartment building. He smiled when he saw she was crying.

‘Don’t worry, my Jessica,’ he whispered to himself, ‘You’ll be dead soon.

So very, very soon.’

Hurt With Me Part Six

It was so much worse that she’d imagined. Jess bent over at the waist then when that wouldn’t quell the nausea, she darted to the small bathroom in her hotel room and threw up and up. When she finally stood, rinsed her mouth at the sink then went out to the suite, the papers were still there, the television reports were still on the t.v. and the photographs of her and Jules, young and apparently care-free, assaulted her vision.

‘Theo Storm’s Girlfriend’s Secret Shame’. Every word battered her, the lies, the hideous twisting of facts that made her a temptress who seduced every rich man she could – even her own step-brother, even as she was a young teen. Some asshole in the police department – more than likely with a kick-back from Jules - had leaked the police interviews where she’d been branded a fantasist, a liar. Everything, everything, was twisted and wrong and so evil she could barely breathe. She wanted to feel angry, searched for that feeling in the melee of emotions that overcame her but all she could feel was shame. Humiliation. Hopelessness.

The frantic rapping at the motel room door made her jump and she quelled, her entire body trembling as she stared at the thin wood frame rattling.

‘Jess? It’s me, sweetheart.’

She flew to the door, yanking it open and falling, sobbing into Theo’s arms. He gathered up into his arms and kicked the door shut behind then. Carrying her, he sat down on the bed and rocked her until her sobs turned into sniffs and shivers. He pressed his lips to her temple.

‘I’m so sorry, baby,’ he murmured. ‘For all of it. I’d ask why Jules would do this but I already know. We’ll get through this and I’ll make that fucker pay, I promise you I will.’

Jess said nothing but nuzzled closer to him, her lips pressed against his neck. He tilted her chin up and kissed her, his arms tightening around her protectively.

‘I miss you,’ she whispered and Theo groaned and pulled onto the bed, his hands slipping under her t-shirt and pulling it over her head. Feverishly, Jess kicked her jeans off and unbuttoned Theo’s shirt. He’d obviously just come from the office and he was wearing the blue shirt that she loved on him, the one that brought out his green eyes and complimented his dark hair perfectly.

‘It’s been hell without you, Jess, actual hell…’

She was straddling him and he gazed up at her, his eyes soft with the relief of being with her. It made her heart jolt to see the hurt on his face. I did this. I hurt him. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry….

Jess ran her hands over his hard chest and leaned down to press her lips against his. ‘For me too. I’m so sorry, Theo.’

With one quick move, he flipped her onto her back and gazed down at her. ‘Stop apologizing. You and me, that’s all that matters.’

She coiled her legs around his waist and she could feel the hot length of his cock nudging against her damp sex. ‘I want you inside me, Theo, now, forever.’

He smiled, though his eyes were still tired and anxious. He trailed his lips along her jaw, pressed them to the hollow of her throat. ‘Jess, you are my life…’

His cock slid into her welcoming cunt, filling her, and as he began to slide in and out, she tensed her muscles to grip him, keep him locked inside of her, her body taking control and cleaving to him, skin to skin. She rocked her hips against him as his thrusts became ever harder and faster, gasping out her pleasure, calling his name.

What began as tender lovemaking suddenly became something else, abandoned, uncontrolled, brutal. Their desperate need to erase everything that had happened lately, just to get back to the feral desire that had driven their entire relationship. Jess begged Theo to please, fuck her harder, harder and Theo responded, his kisses rough and greedy, biting down on her shoulders hard enough to leave teeth marks, his immense strength and size having complete command over her body. They both lost themselves in the storm of sensations that raged through them and when, finally, they both came, crying out and shouting their love over and over, it seemed as if the rest of the world had simply melted away.

Jess lay, locked in Theo’s protective arms, stroking his damp face, drinking him in. Neither of them spoke for a long time, not wanting to break the spell.

Finally, Theo traced the shape of her lips with his forefinger. ‘Jess… my Jessie… I know this is all unbelievably horrific, what Jules has been doing. But I want you to know, there’s nothing I won’t do to keep you safe, nothing I won’t do to make this better for you. I only ask this – please don’t shut me out again. Whatever happens from now on, we do together. Promise me.’

She gazed up into his impossibly handsome face and smiled, her body relaxing as she let herself believe that everything would be okay as long as they were together.

‘I promise you, Theodore Storm.’

The smiled and took her left hand in his. ‘There’s just one other thing.’

She smiled and brushed her lips against his. ‘What’s that?’

‘Jessica Wood, would you do me the great honor of marrying me?’

Jules sat in front of the pile of newspapers running the story and could have laughed. Two birds with one stone – destroy Jess and Storm’s reputations. Well, he thought, destroy may be an overstatement. Sullied. That was better, he liked that. I sullied their reputations as sure as I sullied Jessica a long time ago. He could still remember that first time, the complete trust of the naïve, the unlocked bedroom door of the twelve-year-old Jess. Her long dark hair spread across her pillow.

‘Boss?’

Jules looked up. A smug-looking Malcolm stood in the doorway. Jules smiled at him. His partner-in-crime.

‘What’s up, Malccy? Have a seat, buddy.’

Malcolm grinned at the nickname and sat down opposite Jules, pulling out a sheaf of papers and handing them to him. Jules ran his eyes down the documents and smiled. ‘Perfect.’

‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

Jules nodded. ‘Oh yes. Keep them wrong-footed, confused. Jess won’t be alive long enough to enjoy it anyways.’

‘I wanted to talk to you about that,’ Malcolm took a deep breath in. ‘I’m prepared to do Jessica for you, boss, I’m prepared to take the rap. Just say the word and I’ll stick my knife in her. It would be my pleasure.’

Jules grinned at Malcolm, gratified that he would do that for him, excited by the other man’s bloodlust. He enjoyed killing as much as Jules did – it was what bound them together, what made Malcolm so loyal. He’d killed that homo’s husband without being asked twice, came home and they both enjoyed the retelling of it.

‘Thank you, Malcolm, but she’s mine. I’ll be the one to kill Jessica.’ He considered for a moment. ‘You can kill Storm if you like – but not until he’s had time to grieve Jess. I want him to feel that pain, Malccy.’

Malcolm laughed. ‘Deal.’ Jules could see the calculations begin in his mind, how he would do it, the pleasure he would take.

‘Until then, however…. this.’ He waved the documents in front of Malcolm. ‘I’m going to enjoy this. They’ll never see me coming.’

Jess looked up as her assistant Molly tapped on the door. She’d been back at work for weeks now but still came in early so she could miss everybody’s curious stares, barricading herself in her office with a pile of paperwork. Occasionally someone would walk past her office and she would look away from their gaze. Now, though, she saw that Molly wore a smile and no pity and she was glad.

‘Can I order you some lunch, Jess? I was just going to get a sandwich but I can order out if you’d like?’

Jess smiled at her. ‘Thanks, Mols, ham on rye will be fine. Has anyone called?’

Molly rolled her eyes. ‘Press, mostly. Don’t worry,’ she added seeing Jess’s face pale, ‘I dealt with them.’ She pretended to wield a baseball bat, patting it into her palm.

Jess laughed. Molly Che might be five foot nothing and tiny but she could be fierce when it was needed. Jess had liked her immediately when they’d met and when Theo assigned Molly as her assistant, Jess and the young woman quickly became firm friends. Jess realized it had been a while since she’d had a really good girlfriend. The few she’d had always been scared off by Jules’s creepy come-ons. Jess was suddenly amused by the thought of Molly ‘dealing’ with Jules. Hell, she might buy her an assistant a real baseball bat, just in case.

‘You rock, Mols. When lunch comes, why don’t you come in and eat with me? I could do with a good gossip.’

‘You’re on. Jess?’

‘Yes?’

Molly shifted her weight and leaned against the doorframe. ‘In case you were worried, no one believes that crap in the papers. Not one person. They’re all on your side.’

Jess felt tears prickle in her eyes. ‘Thank you, Molly. That means the world to me.’

Molly grinned. ‘You’re family. No one messes with our family.’

She left Jess alone then. Jess dashed away the tears that had settled on her cheeks. Family. That word had been a source of pain for so long now she hardly recognized it. Grow a thicker skin, she told herself fiercely. Her phone rang then and even without looking at the screen, she knew who it was. She answered the call with a smile in her voice.

‘Hello, beautiful man.’

Theo laughed and she enjoyed the rich sound of it. ‘That’s a nice way to be greeted. How’re things, sweetheart?’

He was in New York, a continent away, for a meeting he couldn’t reschedule. Anyway, she had told him, they weren’t going to be dictated to by anyone else’s agenda. She’d insisted he go, telling him she had Max, Molly and Alan and a whole squad of security. Now, though, hearing his voice, she wished she’d gone with him.

‘Good, except I miss you.’

‘Me too, darling. I’ll try to be back as soon as I can but this meeting’s running late already. You staying with Max tonight?’

‘Sure am – I think he’s doing better. At least, that’s the impression he’s trying to give. God, Theo, I feel so guilty – ‘

‘Stop it. Max doesn’t blame you, no-one blames you. You being there is good for him. He loves you, y’know. You’re his family now.’

There was that word again. Every time she heard it, it made her a bit braver, hardened her heart against Jules’ machinations.

‘I love you, Mr. Storm.’ Her voice was soft, full of love and she heard him sigh happily.

‘Love you too, almost-Mrs. Storm.’

She smiled. ‘Call me later.’

After he’d said goodbye, she held her left hand up, enjoying the glint from the solitaire diamond she now wore on it. Mrs. Storm. She could get used to that. Jessica Storm. She’s said yes to Theo without hesitation the day he’d proposed, the day of the scandal, the newspapers. In that hotel room. She didn’t have any doubts, even now, a few weeks later. They were meant to be together. For as long as I allow you to live. Jules’ words came back to her then, a body-slam and she bent over, trying to quell the nausea that hit her.

‘You okay?’

Molly was at the door again, her dark eyes filled with concern. Jess tried to smile. ‘I’m fine, just a little nausea.’

Molly handed her a brown paper bag with a sandwich in then sat down opposite her. Studying her. ‘You’re not pregnant, are you?’

Jess shook her head. ‘Definitely not.’ Then, a wave of amusement came over her. ‘Nope, no little gold-digger spawn for me just yet.’

Molly laughed, clearly relieved that she was okay. ‘Shame, though. You and Theo will have the most beautiful babies.’

Jess flushed with pleasure. ‘Thank you, but woah horsey. We’ve never talked about kids, let’s just be happily engaged for a bit.’

Molly pouted then laughed. They chatted through lunch and by the time Molly went back to her own desk, Jess was feeling good again. She glanced once more at her engagement before shoving everything to the back of her mind and getting on with her work.

Theo shook the hands of his colleagues and went to find an empty office. He switched on his laptop, and as he was waiting for it to fire up, he switched his phone back on. A text from Jess…

Pretty sure Max has soundproof walls… wake me when you get in tonight, I’ll make it worth your while. I love you, J xx.

Theo grinned and shot her a reply.

I look forward to it, beautiful. I love you.

Then he flicked through his call log. Three missed calls. Same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that. Theo sighed. Time to bite the bullet. He pressed the call button and let it ring.

She answered on the third ring.

‘Theodore Storm, where the hell have you been?’

Theo let a long breath and cleared his throat.

‘Hi, Mom, how have you been?’

At almost five, Molly knocked on her door again. Jess blinked, trying to get her head out of the file she was looking at. Molly was frowning.

‘Jess, there’s a guy here who says he’s your family lawyer. William Corcoran?’

Jess’s eyebrows shot up and she got up and walked into the outer office. ‘William?’

The older man smiled kindly at her and she embraced him, ushering him into her office. They sat together on one of the long couches. William looked around approvingly. ‘This is very impressive, Jessica, your parents would be proud.’

Jess grinned wryly. ‘You mean they wouldn’t believe I slept my way to the top?’

William frowned, shaking his head. ‘No one who matters would believe that. Does believe that.’

Jess thanked him. ‘Why are you here, William? Not that isn’t always lovely to see you.’

‘Sweet girl. Well, I come bearing gifts, though I hardly believe it myself. Julien has released your inheritance. The board has agreed and I have the paperwork here.’

Jess was speechless for a long moment. ‘What’s the catch?’

William looked at her, understanding in his old eyes. ‘None that I can see.’

Another long pause then Jess shook her head. ‘I don’t understand. After all this time, Jules would just give in. I don’t trust it, I don’t trust him.’

‘I understand, Jessica, believe me, I do. But, legally, as far as the transfer is concerned, it’s all above board.’

No, no. There was something very wrong here. Jules wouldn’t just give up his only way to control her, not this easily. She sat back, running through every eventuality in her mind. Did Theo or Max have something to do with this? Did they find evidence of Jules’ involvement in Camilla and Josh’s deaths? If they did, she would insist they go to the police, not use it to blackmail Jules into releasing her. No, that couldn’t be it. No matter how loyal Max was, he’d never let Josh’s killer go free to protect Theo, to protect her. Nor would she. Theo…she wasn’t sure. He loved her more than life, she knew that. She would have to talk to him.

‘Jessica? Jess?’ William was speaking to her and it took a moment before she responded, so lost in thought was she. She smiled at him. He patted her hand.

‘Congratulations.’ He nodded towards her engagement ring and she smiled.

‘We haven’t announced it, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. We just kept it low key.’

‘I understand.’

The elderly man stood and kissed her cheek. ‘Jessica, marry Storm, he is a good man. It doesn’t take much to see that. Julien is nothing more than a spoilt little brat. I think this is his way of admitting defeat.’

Jess wished more than anything she could believe him.

Theo let himself into Max’s apartment a little after one a.m. He glanced at the bottom of Max’s bedroom door and saw his light was out. Pushing the door of the guest bedroom open, he stopped in the doorway and just watched her sleep. She lay on her stomach, naked under the sheet, her face turned toward the bedside lamp so the soft glow fell across her honey-colored skin. Her dark hair clouded around her on the pillow, her long dark lashes swept down onto the faintly flushed cheeks. So beautiful. Theo closed the bedroom door and stripped quickly, dropping his clothes onto the floor then slipped under the sheet. Jess murmured and smiled as he pressed his lips to hers. Her body was so warm next to his and he sighed as she reached down for his cock, cupping it in her warm hand. She smiled sleepily at him.

‘Hey baby…’

She moved slowly down the bed, tracing a line down his body with her tongue, grazing his nipples with her teeth. Theo stroked her hair with his big hands gently pulling the soft silky strands through his fingers. As he felt her soft lush mouth envelop his cock, he felt it respond, blood rushing to fill it, her tongue tracing the pulsating veins. He grew harder as she sucked at him, her fingers tracing a line between his balls and his anus, pressing the sweet spot there. Theo’s breathing was coming in ragged gasps now as she worked on him, his cock quivering and swelling under her touch.

‘Christ… .Jessie, I’m going to cum…’

He felt her lips curve up in a smile and then as he shot into her mouth. She swallowed his seed, again and again, massaging his balls, prolonging his pleasure. As soon as he shuddered to a halt, he pulled her up into his arms and kissed her so thoroughly they were both breathless by the time they broke away from it. He hitched her legs around his hips and plunged his titanium-hard cock into her, gratified at the gasp she gave. He molded his hands over her soft breasts, teasing her nipples with his thumbs until they were hard and quivered under his touch. As he thrust, he enjoyed the undulation of her soft belly, the way she flung her head back as she neared her orgasm, the scarlet blush of her skin. He caught her waist with hands and thrust harder, driving her onward. God, he wanted to consume every part of her, bury himself inside her and his head spun as he shot thick creamy semen into her. She tensed and shivered through orgasm after orgasm and eventually, as they collapsed back on the bed, he traced a line between her breasts down to her navel, rimming the deep hollow and making Jess moan with pleasure. He caught her mouth with his, tasting her sweetness alongside his own salty tang.

‘Hello, beautiful…’

She smiled up at him, awake now, her hands tracing a pattern on his chest. ‘Hey, you. I missed you so much.’

He pulled into the cocoon of his arms. ‘A second would be too long without you, lovely one.’

She stroked his face. ‘You look exhausted.’ He leaned his face into her palm.

‘I admit I am…but in a good way.’

‘You’re home, handsome, sleep.’ She pulled his head down to her chest and curled her arms around him. ‘Sleep…’

Theo woke to an empty bed and the sound of laughter. Pulling on his jeans, he wandered out into the kitchen to find Jess and Max demolishing a stack of blueberry pancakes. His body relaxed at the sight of his two favorite people. Max still looked drawn and thin but at least some of his color had returned and the dark circles under his eyes were starting to fade. Jess was good for him, for them, Theo realized now. For all her dark past, the woman he loved was a light in their lives, someone from whom love shone and warmed everything she touched. She looked up and her face lit up at the sight of him.

‘Hey, sleepy boy is up.’ She hopped off the bar stool and came to him, sliding her arms around his waist, tipping her face up for a kiss. Theo, grinning and obliged until Max protested and they broke off, chuckling at Max’s mock-horror. Theo nodded at the remnants of their breakfast. ‘Saved any of that for me? I’m starving.’

‘Of course…,’ Max faked annoyance, ‘…as if I’d deprive you of my famous pancakes.’ He pulled out a stack that he’d kept warming in the oven. Jess grinned at Theo.

‘If I’d known those were in there, I would have totally deprived you.’

Theo mussed her hair. ‘Food demon.’

Max leaned on the breakfast bar. ‘Saturday with my homies,’ he said softly. ‘Almost perfect.’

Jess squeezed his hand. ‘There’ll always be four of us here, Maxie. Always.’

Max looked at her gratefully. ‘I know.’ He was silent for a moment then shook himself. ‘I like having you both here. If it doesn’t cramp your style.’

Theo and Jess looked at each other, then Theo patted Max on the shoulder. ‘We’d be happy to stay as long as you want.’

‘Seconded.’ Jess grinned at him, nodding her ascent. Max visibly relaxed.

‘Thanks, dudes. I appreciate it. I also appreciate that the walls are so thick,’ he grinned and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

‘You should be,’ Jess dead-panned. ‘I’m quite the screamer.’

Theo nearly choked on his coffee as Max laughed out loud.

Later, they had decamped to their favorite coffee house and Jess told them both about William Corcoran’s visit and Jules’ seeming relinquishment of his financial control of her. Both Theo and Max were as skeptical as she was.

‘It makes no sense,’ Theo was scowling, ‘Why trash you in the press to just give up like that? I don’t trust this.’

‘Me either.’ Jess looked at Max who nodded his agreement.

‘It’s a trick, sweetheart. He’s an evil motherfucker. If he thought he was losing an inch of control over you…’

‘He’s fooling himself thinking he has any control over me anyways. Not now, not ever again. As far as I’m concerned he can drop dead. I wish he would.’

The three of them sat for a while, quiet, a silent assessment and the same question on each of their minds. Could I kill another person? When Jess met both their gazes, she knew the answer. Yes, if that person was Jules. They each had reason to end Julien Gachet.

A part of her wanted Jules’ gesture to be genuine contrition so that none of them would have to consider taking drastic action but…

‘What are you thinking, Jess?’ Theo’s voice was low, full of pain and she turned to look at him. His green eyes were troubled. She smiled at him, touched his face.

‘Nothing worth saying out loud.’ She turned to Max. ‘Hey, you, I wanted to ask you something. I’ve talked to Theo about this and we wanted to run something past you.’

Max sipped his coffee. ‘Hit me with it.’

Jess and Theo exchanged a glance. ‘Well, it’s about our wedding. You’re Theo’s best man, of course, but we, well, I was, wondering…’ She stopped and cleared her throat, feeling tears prickle in her eyes. Theo’s arm tightened around her shoulders and he gave her a reassuring nod. Max looked bemused.

‘What is it, Jess?’

Jess drew in a breath. ‘Max, I wondered if you would mind double-duty. I wonder if you would please walk me down the aisle?’

Max’s eyebrows shot up and Jess was amazed to see tears in his eyes. ‘Jess, I would be honored. Truly honored.’ He stood and pulled Jess into a hug. ‘Thank you,’ he murmured into her ear, ‘thank you.’

Outside, Jules watched them through the blacked out windows of his car. They looked more relaxed than he’d expected. Good. He wanted them to be as unprepared as possible for his next move.

Jess peeked into Max’s room to see him passed out on his bed with an adoring Stan and Monty curled up next to him. The dogs looked up as Jess made a face at them. ‘Doggy sluts,’ she muttered and blew them a kiss. She pulled the door to and wandered out into the living room. Theo was flicking through the t.v. channels, not even looking up as she curled into his side. His arm looped automatically around her shoulders, pulling her close. She watched the t.v. with him for a few moments before turning her head to kiss his cheek.

‘I know this is a weird thing to say, given everything that’s happened, but right here, right now, I feel happy. Safe.’

Theo pressed his lips against her temple. ‘Damn right you’re safe. Always with me, Jessie. Always.’ He clicked the television off and pulled her onto her lap, smoothing the hair away from her face, studying it with such a look of love she felt her insides melt. He kissed her, quick, soft as if he was a shy teenager and she smiled.

‘Mushy,’ she whispered and he grinned – a definitely unshy grin. He maneuvered her onto the floor and lay above her, his fingers knotting in her dark, soft hair.

‘Mrs. Storm…’

She grinned but pretended to frown at him. ‘Not yet, big boy, don’t get cocky.’

Theo snorted with laughter and ground his hips against hers so she would feel the hard length of him. She grinned and lightly nipped his earlobe with her teeth. ‘That would be so much better off inside me…’

Theo was already pushing up her dress, his long fingers sliding into her panties and pulling them down. She moaned softly as his tongue found her clit, flicking around it until she was half crazed.

Suddenly he stopped and looked up. ‘Shit, my mom.’

For a beat, Jess looked down at him askance. ‘If your mom’s in my crotch, I think I’d know about it.’

They both lost it. Jess buried her face in her hands to hush her laughter, Theo pressed his face into her belly, his whole body shaking with mirth.

‘Sssh, sssshhhhh,’ Jess waved her hands towards Max’s open bedroom door. She pushed him off of her and hitched her underwear up. ‘Moment’s over, chuckles.’ She pulled him to his feet. ‘Let’s go get pizza before we wake the kids.’

In the restaurant, they shared pizza and beers. ‘So, what about your mom?’ Jess teased him. ’When she’s not hanging out in my groin, that is.’

Theo snorted. ‘That’s just wrong. She called me. Actually, she stalked me via phone when the news stories came out.’

All trace of humor left Jess’s face. ‘I see.’

Theo leaned over to touch her cheek. ‘Hey, it’s okay. She wants to meet you, is all.’

Jess didn’t relax and she pushed her pizza away, rubbing her forehead to ease the sudden tension. ‘So the fact that she reached out after her son’s girlfriend was outed as a nympho gold-digger shouldn’t bother me?’

Theo gave her a wry grin. ‘Well, when you put it like that…’

‘God, Theo.’

‘Hey, listen. She and I talked, I told her what a bunch of crap it was. I’m her son, she believes me over some damn tabloid assholes. It is fine, she just thought it was about time she met the love of my life.’

Jess smiled then, stroked his face. ‘What did she say when you told her we were engaged?’

Theo’s expression gave him away. ‘Um…’

‘Theo!’ The tension was back. ‘You didn’t tell her?’

He shrugged good-naturedly. ‘I thought we were keeping it low key.’

‘Not from your family. Jeez.’

‘He rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to relax her. ‘We’ll tell her together. This weekend.’

She gaped at him and he gave her a cheesy grin. ‘Sorry. I meant to tell you earlier.’

Jess sighed and her head slumped onto the table. ‘Kill me now.’

Theo winced and she was sorry. Suddenly she realized – meeting her fiancé’s mother was nothing to what they had been going through lately. She sat up and kissed him. ‘It’s okay. It is about time I met your family.’

He nodded and she could see he was happy. ‘I do have another motive,’ he said, ‘-and it’s one you’ll like. A few years ago, I bought a house out on Whidbey Island, mostly as an investment. It was far too big for just me so I’ve been renting it out as a holiday let for the past few years. But now, it’s perfect for a family home, Jessie. It’s secluded but not isolated and has its own private beach. I want to take you there, see what you think. If you don’t like it – or you think it’s too close to Mom – then fine, we’ll find something else.’

Jess listened to him and couldn’t help feeling excited. She suppressed a grin. ‘Just how close is your Mom?’

Theo smiled widely. ‘Way over on the other side of the island, and it’s a big ass island.’

She laughed. ‘Then, I can’t wait.’

Theo kissed her. ‘We can go over on Sunday.’

‘We’re staying at your mom’s all weekend?’

Theo grinned nonchalantly and she swiped his shoulder with her hand. ‘There’s no way you’re getting laid tonight.’

He leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. ‘Yes, I am,’ he murmured, his green eyes glittering, sliding one hand onto the nape of her neck and the other to her stomach. Jess sank into his embrace and nodded her assent.

‘Yeah, you so are…’

Theo glanced over at her as they stood on the deck of the ferry out to the island. Jess was dressed in a simple white cotton dress that the breeze from the Sound was whipping up, showing a tempting amount of honey-skinned thigh. Her long hair was pulled into a messy bun at the nape of her neck, and her face, touched by the lightest makeup, was beautiful but a little tense.

Strike that, Theo corrected himself, a lot tense. He wrapped his arms around her, felt her lean back into him. ‘Stop worrying, it’s just my mom and maybe a couple of my irritating kid brothers. Nothing to worry about, I promise.’

Jess smiled at that. Theo had one older sister, Milly, married and living in Portland, and three much younger brothers who adored their older brother. One of them, Alex, was at Harvard, the younger two, Seb and Tom, were identical twins. Theo’s mom, Amelia, she didn’t know much about, telling Theo that she’d rather not build up a picture of a formidable woman. Theo had rolled his eyes.

‘She’s just my mom, Jessie.’

But he knew that Jess’s own family situation had been tainted so much by Jules that she couldn’t reconcile family as being happy with her own experience. He kissed her temple.

‘I know a way you could relax…’

She turned in his arms and studied his face, a small smile playing around her lips. ‘Do you indeed,’ she raised her eyebrows at him. ‘This is a public place, you know.’

His eyes were dancing. ‘All the better.’

He took her hand and led her along the ferries’ deck until they came to a small alcove, hidden away from the sight of the other passengers and the crew. Theo pushed her against the cool steel of the ferry, his gaze intense, burning. He slid his hands under her dress and she gasped at the shock of him yanking her panties from her, ripping the delicate material easily. Theo ground his mouth down onto hers as she reached for his zipper, easing her hand into his pants to free his diamond-hard cock. Theo lifted her and she wrapped her legs around him, perfect trust in him, as he entered her, thrusting with deep, even strokes, kissing her lush mouth as he fucked her. Jess’s lips were at his ear, telling him how much she loved him and when he came, so turned on he couldn’t wait, he felt the violent furious spasm of his cock inside her, filling her as she buried her head in his shoulder and muffled her cry of ecstasy. They caught their breath, staring at the other, completely oblivious to the cool breeze, the roiling of the dark waters of the Sound, the possibility of being caught. Neither said a word, neither needed to say what they were feeling; it was in the sensation skin-on-skin, the deep, abiding understanding in their eyes. Theo lowered her gently to her feet and straightened out her dress while she ran her hand through his dark curls, tidied him up. Their fingers entwined, they walked slowly back to the passenger lounge, never taking their eyes from each other.

Amelia Storm opened the door to the large house and walked down the stairs, smiling. Jess, her heart hammering frantically, smoothed her dress down and smiled tentatively, looking to Theo to make the introduction. She needn’t have worried.

‘Jessica, dear, it’s wonderful to meet you at last.’ The older woman, stately and graceful, her gray hair swept up into a chignon, kissed Jess’s cheek and slid a friendly arm around her shoulders. ‘I told Theodore that he’s very bad, keeping you a secret all this time.’ She mock-scowled at her son, who grinned good-naturedly and rounded the car to hug her.

‘Don’t scare Jess off right away, mom. At least feed us first.’

Amelia looked at Jess and Jess saw she had the same wicked gleam in her eyes as her son. ‘Always thinking with his stomach. What about you, Jess? Shall I scare you first or are you hungry?’ Her smile was the same as Theo’s too and Jess relaxed, grinning back at her.

‘It’s a tough choice but…’

Amelia laughed. ‘Come on in then, both of you. Theo, leave the bags until we’ve had a drink.’

Theo dutifully followed the women into the house. ‘Where are the demon spawn?’

‘Down at the beach. I told them a pod of orcas was spotted in the bay.’

Jess grinned excitedly but Theo squinted at his mother suspiciously. ‘Were there?’

Amelia grinned wickedly. ‘Nope, the suckers. But it’s a good way to get rid of them for an hour.’

Jess and Theo laughed. Amelia, smirking, went to the refrigerator and pulled out a jug, waving it at them.

‘Iced tea?’

Theo leaned over to Jess, with a stage whisper of ‘Don’t trust it.’ He straightened up and fixed his mother with a stare. ‘Iced tea…? Regular or Long Island.’

His mom made a face at him. ‘It might have a couple of shots in it. Let’s take it out to the deck, shall we?’

An hour and a half later, Jess knew two things. One: she was very, very drunk and two: she had fallen madly in love with Theo’s mom.

‘I’m thinking of leaving you for your mom,’ she told a grinning Theo, who was clearly enjoying her drunken state.

‘Quite right too,’ Amelia toasted her with an empty glass. ‘I was thinking of experimenting with my sexuality and you, Jessie, are a very beautiful girl. What say we cuckold Theo here?’

Jess clanked her glass clumsily against Amelia’s. ‘Ho’s before bro’s.’

Theo chuckled, shaking his head. ‘The state of you both…’ Amelia smiled and raised her glass to him.

‘Yep, but at least, Jess isn’t scared anymore.’

Jess looked between the two of them. ‘Oh, so this was a scheme?’

Amelia nodded while Theo tried to look innocent. Jess mumbled to herself and giggled.

‘Dude!’ Two lanky and impossibly handsome boys appeared from nowhere and threw themselves onto Theo, who wrestled them to the ground easily enough but soon lost out to the puppy-dog strength of his brothers. Jess watched them, grinning while Amelia rolled her eyes.

WWF-session over, Theo extracted himself from the melee and the boys, who Jess could not tell apart, stood and smiled at her. Theo beamed as he introduced them and they stuck out their hands to shake hers.

‘I’m Seb,’ said one of them, ‘you can tell us apart by this mole just under my eye, see?’ He stuck his face close to hers and when she leaned in to look, planted a kiss full on her mouth. She burst out laughing as did Amelia, Theo pretended to be enraged and Seb and Tom high-fived each other.

Tom nodded at the now empty jug of alcohol. ‘You getting drunk again, mother?’

Amelia peered at him over her spectacles. ‘I gave you life, child, I can just as easily beat you senseless.’

The twins started to tease their mother and Jess sat back. This, this was a family, the teasing, the joking around, the lack of judgment, the absence of malice…suddenly she felt tears swept over her vision and realized she felt more at home with these three strangers than she ever had at home once her mother had married Eric. She could feel Theo watching and when his hand covered hers and squeezed it gently, she knew he understood. He bent his head towards hers, his lips at her ear.

‘Are you okay?’

Jess nodded, leaning her forehead against his. ‘You know what? I really think I am now. Truly.’

And in that moment, she felt like everything would be okay.

Amelia had cooked a wonderful roast chicken and over dinner she and Theo talked about the house, getting Jess even more excited about seeing it. Later that evening, she and Theo undressed slowly in his old room and made love slowly, quietly and tenderly. Laying wrapped in his arms, Jess was nearly asleep when she heard him whisper. ‘Mom really loves you, y’know.’

Jess turned her face up to his. ‘And I love her too. I love your brothers, your home, everything about this family. I love you most of all. Thank you for showing me what happiness is.’

She could tell from his expression that her words had gotten to him and it was a moment before he could speak again and when he did, his voice was thick with emotion.

‘I want to marry you, Jessica Wood. Soon. Very soon. I need to be your husband, yours and yours alone.’

Tears fell down her cheek and she smiled through them. ‘I’ll marry you as soon as we can make it happen.’

He kissed her. ‘Mom wants me to announce it to the press and tell all those assholes to go to hell. They want the real story, it’s there on your finger. It’s in that big brain of yours, that heart which holds so much love for everyone.’

It was Jess’s turn to be speechless and she kissed him fiercely. ‘You and me, forever.’

‘Forever,’ he agreed and pulled her into his arms.

Theo dug through his pockets to find the key and opened the door. Jess hopped from foot to foot beside him, like an excited puppy. As they had driven up to the house, she had gasped and covered her mouth. ‘God, it’s perfect.’

The lodge was painted a light blue with a porch surrounding the ground floor. Huge picture windows, thick wood walls surrounded by trees. Jess ‘s eyes were shining as Theo parked the car and she hopped out, running to the edge of the house to look down to the beach. Her eyes were shining as she grinned back at him and he knew she was already won over. A picture came into his mind; Jess, her belly rounded and ripe with pregnancy, holding the hand of a beautiful child with dark curls and her mother’s eyes walking along the sandy path to the beach, laughing and singing. The vision made his heart swell with love.

Now, as he led her into the house, she clutched his hand, trying not to get too overexcited. The lodge was big but homely, the living room cost with large fireplace, the kitchen big enough to fit couches as well as tables, a hub for the family. They moved from room to room and began to talk about their future in each room, how they’d redecorate, which rooms would be reserved for the guests, which for their children.

Theo led her into a large room at the back of the property, its large arched windows overlooking the blue waters of Puget Sound.

‘This is our room,’ Theo said and smiled as her face shone with pleasure.

‘It is perfect,’ she murmured and slid her arms around his waist. Theo kissed her.

‘So, I take it…’

‘Theo, it’s more than I could ever have hoped for. Yes, yes please,’ Jess laughed as he picked her up and swung her around. ‘Is anyone living here at the moment?’

Theo shook his head. ‘I have a confession. The last tenants moved out a couple of months ago and I’ve been fending off new inquiries ever since I met you because I just had this feeling. This is our place. Yours, mine, our children.’

‘Stan and Monty’s too,’ she reminded him, ‘Can’t forget our furry kids.’

Theo kissed her then, slowly, his tongue massaging hers. As they kissed, he drew her towards the king-sized bed and pulled her down on top of him. There were no sheets or pillows but they didn’t even notice, tearing at the other’s clothes. Theo’s cock was pulsing, rigid with the need to be inside of her and he tugged her ankles over his shoulders. Jess grinned up at him, a sheen of sweat already sticking her hair to her forehead.

‘Nail me to the bed, soldier,’ she told him and cried out as he drove his cock so hard, so deep into her that the bed moved with the force of it.

‘I’m going fuck you so hard, so long, beautiful,’ Theo held her hands above head as he thrust, ’I’m going to fuck you for the rest of my life.’

Their lovemaking was almost savage, brutal, not caring if they hurt or were hurt by the other. The quiet of the big house was broken by their cries, their love, their laughter.

Shattered and sated, they lay together, their naked bodies tangled up, in a pool of sunlight that drenched the afternoon. Jess pressed her lips to his jaw. ‘Theo?’

He looked down at her lovely face and smiled. ‘Yes?’

‘I don’t want to leave here. Not ever again.’

They moved in the next week, hiring movers to take their stuff over to the island as soon as possible while Theo and Jess worked out the logistics of living and working between the island and the city. They decided that Jess should work from the lodge three days a week so she could look after the dogs and Theo would do the rest of the week – or more if he could get away with it. Jess grinned at that, as they were packing the last of their belongings at Theo’s apartment.

‘Afternoon delights don’t make for good work practice,’ she said, pretending to disapprove. Theo shrugged, a wicked gleam in his eyes.

‘I disagree. How else will I build my porn empire?’

Jess laughed and took his hand, pressing it against her warm sex. ‘Start building, Hef…’

The pizza they’d forgotten they’d ordered arrived ten minutes later and Jess shrieked with laughter as Theo, sporting a newspaper and only a newspaper, answered the door to a bemused and embarrassed delivery man.

Finally, surrounded by boxes, Theo locked the door to the lodge and, grabbing a bottle of champagne, went to join Jess in the living room. She was curled up on the couches and as he sat, she moved to tuck herself into his arms. He handed her a flute of champagne.

‘To our new home.’

She clinked her glass, took a sip and then kissed him. ‘To us.’

Theo smiled. ‘To us, baby. I love you.’

The engagement is announced between Miss Jessica Eleanor Wood of King County, Seattle, Washington, and Mr. Theodore Flynn Storm, also of King County, Seattle, Washington. The marriage is expected to take place within the next month and will be a private occasion.

Jules read the announcement. He’d never felt such anger. Rage. Rage.

Theo pressed his temples, trying to ease a headache that was building. The meeting had gone on too late and now he was desperate to get out of there. He glanced at Max who shrugged apologetically and mouthed ‘Sorry, boss.’

The investor was too important to the company to blow off so Theo smiled at him. ‘I’m so sorry, do you mind if I make a quick call?’

Alone in his office, he called Jess and the tension eased the second he heard her voice. He apologized for being so late.

‘I’m going to take the ‘copter out the island as soon as I can,’ he promised.

‘I’ll wait up for you and make it worth your while.’ He loved the soft tone in her voice. How had he ever existed without this woman?

‘I hate leaving you alone at night.’

Jess made a noise. ‘I’m not living on tenterhooks anymore, Theo. Besides, I have the dogs.’

‘And the gun.’

‘And that.’

Theo sighed. ‘Okay, well, I’ll be home soon.’

He returned to his meeting and with a jolt of annoyance found himself soon dragged back into the dull conversation. At the back of his mind, there was a constant chant, a constant pleading.

Just keep her safe until I get there. Just let her safe, please. Please.

At home, Jess let Stan and Monty outside to pee. The land behind the house, woodland lit by Theo’s floodlights, was an eerie green in the artificial light but she knew, just before midnight, the lights would snap off and the house, the wood, everything would descend into an inky black. Inside, she flitted around tidying, keeping busy, trying not to think about being alone this late. She loved being here, and to her surprise, loved doing the ordinary things a homemaker would do. The sisterhood will have my head, she grinned to herself. In the kitchen, she heard the dryer click off. Folding the clothes, she hugged the warm stack to her as she went upstairs. She put the clothes away and moved over to close the drapes.

She jerked back from the window in shock. A figure, silhouetted against the floodlights, was standing at the edge of the woods, watching the house. Jess edged to the window to see if she had been imagining it. No. There was someone there but she couldn’t see his – or her - features. As she gazed down, the person lifted their hand and gave a languid wave. Jolted, she went downstairs. She grabbed her phone and went to the front door, peering out, her heart thudding. The dogs started barking and she ran to get the gun Theo had made her practice with before he would leave her alone. Angry now as well as scared, she opened the back door and the dogs skittered in, their tails wagging. That made her feel better at least. She clicked the safety off and stepped onto the porch.

There was no one there. She scanned the trees. Nothing. She blew out her breath, relieved. The fog had started to roll in from the water and it seeped around the house, hanging like gossamer across the floodlit wood. The floodlights clicked off. Midnight.

Come home, Theo, she begged silently. She went back inside and turned to close the door just as Jules stepped into her eye line, less than a foot away.

Before she had time to react, he was on her, clamping a hand over her mouth, dragging her back into the kitchen, kicking the back door shut. His arm was across her throat, pressing down, making it hard to breathe. He slammed her into the wall, her ribs taking the force, knocking the breath from her body.

He threw her to the floor, pushing up her skirt grabbing, grasping hands, tearing at her underwear. She used all of her force to kick and punch and try to get free and he slapped her, hard enough to make her ears ring. She fought against him, shouting, ‘No, no, no!’ as he ripped the delicate fabric down her thighs. His hand came up to clamp over her mouth, but she bit him, hard, bucking with all of her energy to get him off of her.

His hands were around her throat, squeezing, unremitting. She jammed the heel of her hand up, trying to slam it into his nose – she made contact, not hard but enough to make him release his grip.

She scrambled away from him, trying to grab her gun which had clattered to the floor, but he grabbed her ankle and pulled her back to him. Her body fell hard against the stone floor.

He grabbed her head between his hands and bounced it viciously off the stone. Dazed, she let her guard down for a split second – then he was in her, thrusting, grunting, tearing. He pinned her hands above her head. She was sobbing now, in anger, raging at him, at herself. She could feel the blood from the back of her head smearing across the floor, soaking her hair. He continued to force himself into her and she cried out with pain as he pushed her legs further apart. He pinned her arms to the floor, his breath heavy on her face. With effort, she brought her knee up and pushed with all her strength. With a frustrated yell, he pulled away, enough for her to kick him between the legs as hard as she could.

He jerked away, groaning in pain and she was up, scrambling away from him, clambering through the blood on the floor.

He rocked back, knees to chest, clasping his groin. ‘Bitch!’ She had darted into the hall, making for the front door but her feet, slick from the blood, slid out from beneath her. She skidded across the floor until her legs slammed into the base of the antique mirror. With a groan, it toppled forward.

She put her arm over her face as the glass smashed into her. The heavy frame made contact with her head with a sickening crunch and she slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Jules recovered himself and, limping, followed the sound of the shattering glass. She was so still, so vulnerable, lying there amongst the slivers of the mirror, some sticking into her skin, little pools of blood. A large gash along her hairline was spilling blood onto the floor beneath her. He bent over her, avoiding the shards around him, and placed two fingers against her throat, the delicate artery that pulsed against his fingertips. Alive. Good. He didn’t want her dead, not yet, at least. He’d wait until she woke up. He wanted her awake for the next part, the part where she would beg him for her life…

The fifth time Theo got her voicemail, he started to panic. He grabbed his jacket and strode out of the office, ignoring the surprised look of his secretary.

‘I’m going home,’ he barked back at her then he was at the elevator, punching the button up to the rooftop helipad.

He strapped himself into the little helicopter, thanking god he’d learned to pilot it a long time ago.. He cussed himself out of buying a house so remote and isolated now – what had he been thinking? Why had he thought to be away from the city, with the police and emergency services, would be safer? Fucking, fucking idiot. He prayed as he propelled the helicopter to its maximum speed.

Please, let her be okay, let her be safe…

A cough, a sharp noise in the quiet of the house. She started and gave a gasp of terror. Jules sat on the staircase, in his hands, a lethal shard of mirror glass. He turned it over and over; it glinted in the moonlight. She tried to get up but her body held no strength. She managed to pull herself into a sitting position, bracing herself against the wall. She could feel blood trickling down her face, it burned as it rolled into her eyes. Her would-be killer laughed at her struggles.

He moved suddenly, pulling her down, straddling her body. She cried out as the glass on the floor cut into her body. She could smell sex on him, stale sweat. Rape… Her head spun, pounding with pain, nausea rising up inside her. He showed her the glass shard and laughed.

‘Who’s the fairest of them all?’ He laughed.

Her eyes whirled around, panicked, she sought out anything, anything that would help her. Her arms scraped around, feeling, anything to help, the glass slashing her skin.

But he pressed down hard on her, grabbing each hand and kneeling on them, hard, grinding them into the broken glass on the floor. She couldn’t move, couldn’t fight.

He’s going to kill me, she thought, he’s going to kill me and I’ll never see Theo again. Oh God, Theo…

He tore open the bodice of her dress. Her eyes widened in terror as her assailant raised the shard of glass above his head. Time slowed down as she waited for the pain, for the weapon to be driven into her. As she waited to die. From somewhere, somewhere far away, maybe in her imagination, there was the sound of helicopter blades.

And then an explosion of pain as Jules began to stab her to death. Theo… oh god, Theo…

Theo waited, antsy while the chopper blades slowed and stopped. He unbelted and stepped out of the cabin and just listened. The weather had worsened, and all he could hear was the wind in the trees. The house was in darkness. Theo took a deep breath in. Was he overreacting? He had no proof she was in danger, any danger at all. Theo hesitated then walked towards the house and listened again. Nothing. He took a step onto the porch.

Jules looked up at the sound of the chopper. Damn it, he would have to rush this and he wanted to enjoy every second. Jess had started to struggle was but was obviously still dazed and he easily pushed her down with one hand. Their eyes locked and Jules smiled at her tenderly. This is it. The end of everything.

He loved the way her lovely eyes opened wide, in horror, in terror. ‘Goodbye, Jessica…’ and he raised the weapon to kill her.

Theo put his key in the lock… and nothing happened. He tried again. The door wouldn’t open. Had Jess put the deadbolt on? He cupped his hands around his eyes and gazed into the dark hallway. He saw something glittering on the wood floor but couldn’t make out what it was. Then he heard a noise that made his heart freeze, his legs quiver. An anguished cry that was strangled off, a gasp, a noise of someone in agony. God, no, no…

Jules drove the shard of glass into Jess’ belly, feeling the soft, vulnerable flesh give way under the weapon and Jess cried out in agony and tried to fight back, tearing her fingernails across his face, trying to gouge his eyes out. It just made him angrier, more vicious and, as he stabbed her again and again, he felt her becoming weaker. Dying. Jessica was dying and it was exactly as he had dreamed. She coughed a fountain of blood up and her body went limp. He was about to stab her for the fifth time when he heard the banging on the door. Storm’s voice, panicked, desperate.

‘Jess! Jess, let me in! Jess!’

Jules took one last moment to gaze at Jess, so beautiful, so damaged, so ruined. She was unconsciousness, the pain too much for her, her torn belly spilling blood in a dark pool around her, her thin dress soaking it up. She couldn’t last much longer, she was losing too much blood. She’s bleeding out. Jules smiled, then, as he heard Theo shout again and he took flight.

A sudden movement caught his eye. In the hallway. He got closer and saw someone running through the dark house. Jules. He’d know that profile anywhere. His stomach disappeared and he darted to the window. Whoever it was had gone out of the back. Theo sprinted around to the back door and his stomach dropped as he saw it swinging open. The figure he’d seen was nowhere. Theo walked into the kitchen, listening.

‘Jess? Honey, it’s me, it’s Theo.’

The house was silent. Theo walked through the dark kitchen and into the hall. It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at, what he was hearing. Labored breathing. Gasps for air. Painful, rattle gurgles of a throat too full of blood. Blood. Too much blood. A woman’s body, a woman who had been stabbed viciously, brutally, mercilessly, her clothes drenched. Ghastly, unimaginable stab wounds in soft flesh. Theo’s mind could not make the connection between the woman and Jess. It couldn’t be her. There was no way.

Because the broken and bloodied dying girl on the floor looked nothing like the women he loved. In a second, she was in his arms, his hands pressing down on the wounds in her belly, desperate to keep the blood inside her, keep her alive. He pulled his cell phone and called the emergency services, not taking his eyes from her face, amazed he could speak to the operator so calmly. All he could feel was abject terror. Jules had gotten to her. He, Theo, had failed to protect her, had broken his promise to her. She was dying and he didn’t know how to stop it, didn’t know how to do this. He couldn’t take his eyes from the vicious stab wounds in her abdomen. So much hatred. So much violence. This couldn’t be the way they ended, couldn’t be the way she ended. Jules didn’t get to win, he didn’t get to win.

‘Please, Jess, stay with me…breathe, breathe…I love you so much.’

Jess came round and wished that she was still unconscious. The pain of her wounds was nothing to the raw terror and hurt in Theo’s voice. She concentrated on the feel of his arms holding her, trying to keep her alive. Jules had done what he’d always promised and she didn’t know how to fight the pain, the blood loss. She stared up into those green eyes, those terrified, desperate green eyes so full of love for her that she tried to smile at him, to reassure him.

‘Jessie, my Jessie, I’ve got you’

His voice was so tender and caring, after the violence of earlier, that she opened her eyes.

‘I love you,’ she whispered, ‘I love you so much…’

‘I love you, god, I love you,’ Theo was sobbing now, ‘Please hang on, help is coming, help is coming.’

She felt his arms holding her, tight, safe, comfort. She didn’t know why he was crying. Her brain was hazy. Her eyes whirled, trying to focus on him. Nothing made sense. At the corners of her eyes, little black spots growing larger and larger. No, I want to see his face, his beautiful face… She could hear him talking to her but he was getting further away, so far away…

‘No, no, sweetheart, stay with me, stay with me, oh God, no, no, please…’

The darkness came.

Stay With Me Part Seven

Sirens.

She was so beautiful, her dark hair clouding around her shoulders as her robe slipped from her shoulders, revealing her heavenly body. Theo let out a fevered sigh as he saw that under her robe, she was wearing nothing but a harness, the supple leather straps crisscrossing her lush body, her dark red nipples hard and ready for him. She straddled him on the bed and he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.

Flashing lights, voices shouting. In here, in here…. please…

His mouth sought her nipple greedily as his hands slipped between her legs to find her sex pulsing and wet. His cock, already rigid and engorged, strained to find her pussy. She lowered herself onto him, grinning and gasping as he clamped his hands on her hips and impaled her onto his swollen cock, ramming his hips upwards, wanting to take her, take her hard…

Rust and salt and fear. Blood, her blood, everywhere. Please, Jess, breathe….

Don’t ever stop fucking me. Her lips were at his ear and he flipped her onto the floor, towering over her, taking control. He bit down on her nipples, buried his face in her pillowy breasts as he drove harder into her. Her legs were clamped tightly around him and she smiled up at him. I love you so much…

She’s dying. They’re telling me she’s dying. She won’t wake up.

She won’t wake up…

Amelia was breathing hard as she ran down the hospital corridor. She nearly screamed when she saw the abject despair on Theo’s face. For a long terrifying moment, she thought Jess was dead. But then he gave her a ghost of a smile. She hugged her stricken son.

‘How is she?’

Theo shook his head. ‘She’s in surgery…Mom, it doesn’t look good. She’s lost so much blood.’

He sat down heavily on one of the chairs. Amelia was horrified.

‘Oh my God. Theo.’ She sat down beside him, appalled. ‘I thought you said the mirror fell on her.’

Theo looked at his mother. He’d told her the very minimum, knowing that if she knew the truth, she would panic and his mom’s driving was erratic at the best. ‘It did. But I think she crashed into it trying to get away from… she was stabbed, Mom. He knifed her in the belly, repeatedly, brutally. And he raped her.’

Amelia gazed at her son in disbelief. ‘Who?’ She asked, weakly, her face pale.

Theo’s own face hardened. ‘Her step-brother. He’s tried to kill her before. Christ, Mom, this is just the latest in a lifetime of abuse and assault she’s had to live with.’

‘No, are you sure? I mean…’ She searched Theo’s face and saw the utter desolation in his eyes. He nodded.

‘Yes. She was raped. There was so much blood, Mom. All over the kitchen, the hallway. When I saw her, I thought she was… she was so still, covered with blood. Someone had had their hands on her. There're bruises on her neck, finger marks, her dress had been ripped open. He stabbed her. Jesus, he really stabbed her…’ He choked on his final words.

Amelia started to cry and Theo rubbed her back. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, silent tears coursing down his face.

‘Mr. Storm?’ The surgeon who stood in front of them had kind eyes but all Theo could see was regret in them. His heart clenched tightly in his chest. Theo introduced him to Amelia.

‘Mr. Storm, Jessica is stable but still critical. She lost a lot of blood, as I’m sure you realize and we had to repair her liver and remove her spleen. Her abdominal injuries are…,’ the doctor seemed to struggle, ‘…well, they’re amongst the worst I’ve seen in my thirty-year career. The worst. The stabbing was brutal, merciless . Her assailant aimed to end her life in the most painful, savage way possible, of that I have no doubt. He or she used something other than a knife so the wounds were jagged, hard to repair cleanly, she will have scarring. We’ll know more in the next few hours.’

Theo thought about the lethal shards of glass that had been scattered around her body. Jules had used one of them to stab her, he was sure. Nausea threatened to overwhelm him, and, the strain etched on his face, he cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice cracked. ‘Doc?’

The doctor nodded. ‘Yes, she was raped.’ Theo slumped. ‘I’m so sorry. We’ve sealed the evidence and sent it to the county.’

‘Can we see her?’

The doctor hesitated. ‘I think it’s okay if you sit with her. She’ll need friendly faces when she wakes up.’ He studied Theo’s desolate face. ‘She will wake up, don’t worry, but her recovery will take some considerable time. Now, I must go give my statement to the police, please excuse me.’

He smiled at them both and moved away. Theo stood to go into Jess’s room when he saw Max approaching them. Max’s face was drawn, angry, but he bent to kiss Amelia’s cheek before rubbing his face.

‘Max?’ Theo’s voice was heavy with grief.

‘We arrested Gachet. He’s denying everything, of course. And Theo, considering what you told me happened, there’s not a mark on him. No scratches, no bruises. Nothing. He let us do a strip search, take swabs. Willingly gave up his DNA.’

Theo shook his head. ‘No, he did this, I know he did this. Does he have an alibi?’

‘Says he was asleep at home. Yes, no-one can back that up but we can’t prove otherwise. How’s Jess?’

‘Still unconscious.’ Amelia said, strain evident in her voice. ‘Doctor says she’s stable but still critical. We just have to wait.’

‘When she wakes up, she’ll be able to tell us more. I don’t know when she’s come back from surgery but the doc’s just been here.’ Theo sat and made a growling noise. ‘Dammit, I know Gachet did this.’

Mike gave them a sympathetic smile. ‘Unless Jess formally identifies him as her attacker…’

‘Her rapist. Her almost-murderer.’ Theo spat. ‘He wanted to murder her and nearly succeeded.’ The weight of what he had said sank in. ‘Oh Jesus.’

‘I’m so sorry.’ Mike put his hand on Theo’s shoulder. ‘I hope she can identify him. Any physical evidence?

‘They’re sending it to the police.’

‘They’re at the house too, they told me. But, Theo, until they’ve got something concrete –‘

‘They had to let him go.’ Resigned.

Max looked at Theo and his mom, his face a mask of determination. ‘We’ll make this right, I swear to god, we will.’

She opened her eyes and stared at the blank ceiling tiles above her. Everything in her body screamed with pain but fresh air, precious, fresh air filled her lungs. She was alive. Jess drew in a few grateful breaths, taking in the medicinal scent of a hospital, hearing the beeps of machinery. She could feel heavy bandaging on her abdomen, the sting of the central line needle in her arm, the blood pressure monitor on her finger. Her body ached, but she managed to move her stiff neck, turning her head and saw him.

Theodore Storm. My love. He was asleep, his head resting on the bed next to her hand. He looked older, tired, shattered but to her, he was the most beautiful sight in the world. She gingerly reached out to stroke his dark hair, feel his skin. He woke, startled by her touch and she smiled down at him. His eyes widened when he saw her awake. He stood, leaned over to her, took her face in his hands, as if not believing she was alive. His green eyes filled with tears.

‘Oh god, Jessie, thank you, thank you for staying with me.’ His tears fell onto her cheeks and he kissed her gently as if he couldn’t believe she was still alive.

‘Theo…’ Her voice was soft, gruff but she kissed him back as hard as she could. ‘I love you so much.’

‘I love you, God, I love you, my Jessie.’ Theo stroked her face, wiping away the tears with his thumbs. ‘Jessie, I’m sorry he did this to you. I’ll never leave you alone again.’

Jess frowned, her head fuzzy. ‘Theo, I can’t… I can’t remember it. I don’t what happened to me. Theo, why can’t I remember?’

Theo stared at her in horror.

‘So this really happens, not just in the movies?’ Theo squeeze Jess’s hand as the neurosurgeon shone a light into her eyes. She winced at the brightness.

Dr. Napier smiled. ‘You’ve had a serious head injury and suffered a severe concussion, on top of your other injuries. Plus, and this isn’t unusual, you’ve gone through just about the worst trauma a person can. Sometimes the brain just shuts out what it can’t cope with.’

Jess nodded. ‘Okay.’ She looked over at Theo, perched on the side of her bed. He smiled and squeezed her hand. Jess tried to smile. ‘When can I go home, doctor?’

‘Jessica – can I call you Jess? – Jess, you’re all hopped up on morphine at the moment so I doubt you can feel the extent of your injuries.’ He sat on the edge of the bed and patted her hand. ‘It’s going to take a while. At the moment, your belly is still in trauma from the stabbing, from the surgery we had to perform. Your liver needs to heal itself, your body needs to adjust to your new reality. If all goes well, you might be able to go home in a month or so. On the understanding that you give yourself time to recover.’ He added with a meaningful look at Theo.

Theo nodded and she knew she’d be under house arrest when she got home. A month. God. She looked up at the doctor.

‘Thank you, really, for everything.’ The doctor smiled at her and Theo.

‘My pleasure. Call me if you need anything.’

Alone, Theo sat on the edge of the bed, his arms around his love. She leaned against him and they sat in silence for a few minutes.

He tightened his grip on her and buried his face in her hair. ‘Jess?’

‘Yes?’

He thought for a moment then moved so he could see her face. ‘I want to ask you a question and it’s going to be rough but I have to. You can just nod or shake your head and when it’s over, I’m gonna hold you and never let you go.’ He smiled, a crooked, worried expression.

Jess took a deep breath and nodded. He took her hands.

‘Jess. We don’t ever have to go back to that place, you know, I can sell…’

‘No,’ she interrupted, ‘no. That’s our home, that’s the place where we’ll make our family. I know it in my bones.’

Theo was tense. ‘I thought after you nearly died there. You were nearly murdered there.’

Jess pulled his lips to hers then smiled up at him, her eyes soft. ‘It’s also the place where I survived. Where you saved me. He doesn’t get to take our home away from us.’

Theo kissed her then was silent for a long time. She could feel the question hovering in the air.

‘Jess, it was Jules, wasn’t it?’

She stared at him for a long moment, tears filling her eyes. Then, slowly, she nodded.

‘I want to tell the police I’m positive, Theo, I do but I can’t remember anything.’ Her face crumpled and Theo kept his promise and held her while she sobbed.

The hospital was quiet, much later, the middle of the night when Jess woke. She saw Theo had gone down to get coffee, was relieved he was taking a break. The dark circles etched under his eyes, the pain in his eyes… it scared her.

A headache screeched around her skull, and she tried to sleep but the pain in her head was too much. She turned in the bed and gasped. Jules, silent, watchful, sat forward from the shadows. He smiled.

‘How are you feeling, Jessica?’ His voice was a caress.

‘What are you doing here?’ Her voice cracked and he smiled.

He raised his hands, shrugging. ‘Well, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, Jessica. Nowhere.’ Again that tone, intimate, tender. It scared her. She turned away, pretending to reach for the cup of water on her nightstand, wanting to grab the call button. She winced as the sudden movement jerked on the I.V. in her hand. Jules stood.

‘Allow me.’

He leaned across her and she caught his scent. As she breathed it in, a jolt, a rush of nausea, of terror. She gasped, a torrent of memories crashing back. Jules’s head snapped around and their eyes locked. In that moment, he realized she knew.

‘Oh, Jessica, this would have been much easier if you’d just died when you were supposed to. Because now you’ve made it so much harder for everyone.’

He stroked her face but she jerked away from his touch, ready to scream for help. He clamped his hand over her mouth.

‘Don’t scream. You know why you’ve made it harder? Because it won’t be just you I kill now, Jessica. I’ll kill everyone you care about. Then I’ll make Theo watch when I carve you up.’

Every cell in her body willed her to scream, scream for help, for Theo now, right now. But she believed Jules in that moment. In her eyes, in her broken, beaten mind, he had grown into a mythical creature, a daemon, an unstoppable force.

Come back, Theo, please, I need you.

Jules leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth. She tried to pull away and his face grew hard, his smile cold, his eyes dead.

‘And then I’ll kill him.’

And he smiled. He picked up the call button, he pressed it and placed it back on her nightstand.

‘There now.’ Without warning, he clamped his hand over her mouth and pressed down hard on her belly. The pain was searing and she moaned in agony.

Jules smiled, released her, leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth. She tried to pull away and his face grew hard, his smile cold, his eyes dead.

‘Get some sleep. I’ll come and see you again. I’ll always come to see you, Jess. I will finish what I started.’

The nurse came in. ‘Do you want a sedative, honey?’

Jules smiled at her. ‘I think she does. She was just saying she couldn’t sleep.’

Jess couldn’t speak. The nurse slipped a needle into her I.V. and she felt herself going under. Jules stroked her hair.

‘Sleep now, sweetheart, I’ll be here when you wake.’

As she closed her eyes, a tear dropped down her face.

When they told him at reception that Jess ’s brother was in the hospital and asking where she was, his heart had stopped. He knew, he knew that it was Jules who was responsible for raping and stabbing her. Who else could it be? And now he was in the hospital

Jess. Oh God, Jess.

When he got to her room, he sighed in relief. She was alone. Asleep, she looked as young as when he’d first met her but the cuts, the bruises made his stomach twist with pain. He bent down and kissed her cheek.

Not wanting to disturb her, he went back to the corridor and sat down. Leaning his head against the wall, he closed his eyes and sighed.

‘She seems fine.’

Theo opened his eyes and turned towards the voice. His voice. The bastard who stabbed her. Theo was off his chair, launching himself into Gachet.

‘Motherfucker!’

Jules fought back but was no match for the bigger man’s strength and skill. Theo twisted the man’s arm behind his back and got him on the floor, kicking out the back of his knee. Jules’s face banged against the hard floor and Theo was gratified to see blood, but then security got hold of him, ramming him against a wall.

‘Okay, okay.’ He yelled. They let him go. Jules was still on the floor, his nose pouring with blood.

‘Get up.’ Theo waved the security off. ‘I’m cool, I’m cool.’

Jules got to his feet. ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ He brushed himself down, wiped his bloody nose on his sleeve. A sly grin belied his apparent outrage. Theo shook his head, anger radiating from him.

‘I know you’re responsible for this, Gachet. I know.’

Jules smirked. ‘Responsible for what, Mr. Storm? I was at home alone when Jess had her unfortunate accident.’

‘It wasn’t an accident. You know damn well it wasn’t.’ Theo glanced around, checking they were alone. ‘You raped her and then you knifed her. You tried to murder her.’

Jules raised his eyebrows. ‘Murder? That’s a horrific accusation. And where’s your proof?’

‘Interesting you don’t deny it.’

‘Your proof, Storm?’

Theo paused and Jules leaped on his hesitation.

‘I thought not. Careful, Storm, I think that counts as slander. Now, I would like to wait and see my sister, if that’s all right with you.’

‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ Theo stepped in front of Jess’s door. ‘You’re not going anywhere near her, not ever again.’

Jules smirked. ‘I think you’ll find, that as her only family, I count as next of kin. You can’t stop me.’

It was Theo’s turn to smile then. ‘Oh but you see, as of earlier this evening, I am legally her next of kin. As her future husband, Jess wanted to give me power of attorney while she’s in here. She had a lawyer come in to see her.’

Jules was silent for a long moment. ‘Please tell Jess I hope she recovers soon. I look forward to concluding our business.’ He grinned at Theo’s anger, turned and strode down the corridor.

‘Motherfucker.’ Theo repeated to himself. He turned and went back into her room. She stirred as he bent down to kiss her and whispered his name, smiling even in her sleep.

‘I love you,’ he whispered, his eyes searching her face, drinking in every feature, her soft skin, her beautiful mouth. He leaned his forehead against hers. ‘God, Jessie, I promise you, if it is the last thing I do, I will make this fucker suffer for what he’s done to you. I promise. I promise.’

It had been the longest ten weeks of Jess’s life but now, as Theo flew them back to the house on Whidbey, she felt a tense band tighten across her chest. She had insisted they do this. That they forge ahead with the life they had planned. Fuck Jules had become her mantra. But now, the panic was starting to build. What if she couldn’t cope? What if she freaked out? Theo wouldn’t need much persuasion to burn the house down if it scared her but she was desperate not to be run out of another home by Jules. He couldn’t win this.

Theo reached over and took her hand. ‘Okay, my love?’ The soft, tender timbre of his voice was like opium flooding through her veins, soothing, loving and she grinned suddenly, and told him that.

Theo laughed and she realized how long it had been since she heard the sound. ‘Opium, huh?’

‘You have the ‘voice crack’,’ she nodded, continuing the joke. Theo chuckled again.

‘That makes no sense but thanks anyway. If you like, I give you some serious dirty talk with my ‘crack’ voice…’

He waggled his eyebrows suggestively but she knew he wasn’t serious. She sighed. The lack of sex over the past couple of months was beginning to get to her but the doctor had told her – after repeated badgering – to take things easy.

And the last thing she wanted to with Theo was to ‘take it easy’. She wanted him to fuck her senseless, to suck his cock, bite down on his nipples… She shook herself. You are a nympho, Wood. But she knew Theo was feeling it too. She caught him looking at her last night, his eyes raking over her body as they shared a bath. The red raw scars on her belly were a stark reminder of why they couldn’t rush the sex thing and he’d traced them gently with his finger.

‘Does it still hurt?’

She shook her head. It wasn’t a complete lie – it was just sometimes when she’d move awkwardly, the healing muscles inside her would screech and she’d curse softly. But, god, she wanted him so badly. She had felt, all this time in hospital that she had become this sexless thing. Someone who smelled of antiseptic and medication, someone as alluring as a bedpan. She’d told Theo that one night when she’d gotten upset, overtired and in pain. He had held her all too gently and told her she was the most beautiful thing in the world.

If only she could believe him. She looked over at him, saw the stress etched on his gorgeous face even when he was smiling, the smile never quite reached his eyes.

‘We’re nearly there,’ he said, obviously sensed her scrutiny.

The tension in chest became almost crushing but she kept it inside as Theo expertly landed the helicopter and helped her out of the cabin.

Theo took her hand and they walked slowly towards the house. His mother had been here, after the crime scene investigators and had cleaned up the blood. Jess’s blood. Amelia hadn’t said much to him but Seb, his usual exuberance missing, had told him that she’d gone home and immediately taken a long bath. The twins had heard her heart-broken, stricken sobbing through the silent house. His mother, Seb, and Tom had been frequent visitors to Jess’s bedside when she was in hospital, and even his sister, Milly, had flown into meet her. Jess was their family now. It had helped him immeasurably.

Now, he unlocked the door and turned to Jess. He could feel her trembling and took her into his arms. ‘Jessie…’

‘It’s okay,’ she said, looking up into his eyes, ‘I’m ready.’

She was okay right up until she saw the blood on the floor. Her hand flexed, tightened in Theo’s. As she took in the place where she nearly died – no, she thought, was almost murdered - she drew in a shaky breath and closed her eyes.

‘Jess?’

She shook her head, put her hand up to silence him. She felt his arms go around her, his lips on her hair. They stood like that for what seemed an age. She opened her eyes finally.

‘Okay.’ She whispered. The wall looked bare without the huge mirror. Her stomach roiled when she remembered him, with that lethal shard of mirror raised above his head stab her to death. The indescribable agony when he’d plunged it into her belly. The smell of her own blood. She gagged.

‘Honey? It’s okay, it’s okay.’

She nodded.

Theo stroked her face. ‘Let’s go.’ He kissed her, ‘We don’t have to do this today. ‘

She smiled at him but shook her head. ‘No. I want to. However hard it is. Until I do, I can’t move forward. And I won’t let him dictate my life in any way. In any way, Theo.’

He nodded, understanding. She took his hand and walked into the kitchen. Her legs shook. The bloodstains weren’t so bad in here, the stone floor less porous than the wood of the hallway. Where Jules had stabbed her. Jess kept saying it in her head so that she could accept it. Jules stabbed me. Jules stabbed me. It worked. Every time she said it, she became less scared, angrier.

She nodded at Theo. ‘Okay. I’m good.’ He smiled at her but she could see he wasn’t convinced. She put her arms around his neck.

‘This was a place of horror. For one hour. One night. He doesn’t get to sully all the good times we’re going to have here. With you. Our family. With all of us together.’ She kissed him and felt him respond. He ran his hands down her back, pulling her to him. She pressed her body into his, hearing his intake of breath. He picked her up and carried her into the living room, laid her on the couch. She took his face in her hands as he moved on top of her.

‘You are the most wonderful man, Theo Storm. Have you missed this as much as me?’

He nodded, his smile filled with desire. She took his hand and guided it, under her dress, between her legs.

‘Make this is a place of joy again, Theo. Please.’

He slid his hand into her panties and grinned down at her. ‘My pleasure, ma’am.’ He kissed her as she unzipped his pants and touched him. ‘God, I love you.’

She laughed, gasping at his caress. ‘I love you, Theo, so, so much.’

He started to unbutton her dress, kissing her from her neck, between her breasts. He pressed his lips to every scar, every bruise on her stomach. He hooked his fingers into the side of her panties and pulled them down. He smiled up at her.

‘You’re beautiful, baby.’ Then his mouth was on her, his tongue caressing her. She moaned with pleasure.

‘Theo.’ she whispered,

‘Yes, baby?’ He looked up and saw she had tears in her eyes. ‘What is it?’ He moved up her body, concerned.

She kissed him. ‘I want you,’ she murmured, ‘I want you inside me.’

Theo frowned. ‘Jessie, I don’t think…’

‘Sssh….’ She pushed him onto his back and straddled him, wincing slightly. Theo held her waist, still concerned.

‘Jess, we should…’

‘Sssh….’ She moved lower and took his cock into her mouth, feeling it quiver and thicken as she sucked, tongued and teased it. She felt his fingers stroke through her long hair, massage her scalp, heard his moan of longing.

When his cock was rigid, pulsating and hard, she moved up and gently lowered herself onto him, closing her eyes as she felt him fill her entirely, moaning softly. Theo’s hands clasped her hips as she began to rock gently, slowly, taking him in deeper, deeper, deeper…

Theo gazed up at her as she moved. God, she was so beautiful that it hurt. His cock was being squeezed and massaged by her soft, wet cunt and his head swam with desire, longing, desperate love. His fingers bit into the tender flesh of hips as they fucked but he was aware of not hurting her still healing body. He slipped his hand between her legs and stroked her clit, feeling the small bud harden and pulse against his fingers and was gratified by her gasps of pleasure, the soft moans as she moved on top of him.

They made love slowly, gently, each experiencing a mellow climax that seemed to linger and afterward, they lay together naked, skin against skin and held each other and listened to the peace of the evening together.

Theo turned to kiss her temple. ‘You okay, Jessie?’ He felt her arms tighten around him, felt her press a kiss to his chest.

‘I am good, very good,’ she lifted her chin to kiss him, ‘I love you, Theodore Storm. I feel like we’re on the way to reclaiming our lives.’

Theo sighed and closed his eyes. He wanted to feel hopeful, wanted to feel happy in this moment but he slide his hand down to her belly and stroked it. He would never forget that night, the torn skin, the blood. ‘Are you sure we didn’t go too fast? Are you hurting?’

‘No,’ but when he raised his eyebrows at her, she smiled sheepishly, ‘…okay, I do ache a little but no more than a regular stomach ache.’

‘Aspirin and a hot bath then.’ Theo started to get up but she moaned and pulled him back down beside her. He didn’t protest – her skin was so soft, so warm next to his and she smelled so good. She burrowed into his chest. ‘Theo?’

‘What’s up, beautiful?’

‘I have to talk to you about something.’

He looked down at her. ‘Oh yeah?’

She hesitated for a moment, her brown eyes wary then she took a breath in. ‘I know about Kelly.’

For some reason, Theo wasn’t shocked or surprised. He nodded. ‘I somehow knew you did. Don’t ask me how.’

‘How come you never mentioned her?’

‘Honestly? I have no idea. Possibly because we have so much else to think about since we met that there was no good time. Ollie tell you?’

She nodded. ‘It’s a big piece of your past, is all. I thought we said no secrets.’

‘We did. I’m sorry, Jess, it was stupid and thoughtless of me. Kelly was troubled for a long time. Before I knew her even. I was too young to see the signs and we lost her.’

He sat up then and she moved to sit beside him, her hand resting on his chest. ‘You know you can talk about it, you know? With me?’

He smiled. ‘I do know, and I’m kind of glad you know. But I have to say something about that. I found her. I found her dead and it was awful, horrific, devastating. But, Jess, even that paled to what I felt when I found you that night. My heart was ripped out. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think, it was as if everything human in me disappeared.’

Jess looked stricken and he realized that underneath the distress was something else: guilt. He cupped her face in his palms, made her look at him. ‘None of this is your fault. None of it. It just is what it is. God, I hate that expression, but in this case, if I had to swap everything’s that’s happened for a life without you? Never.’ He kissed her gently. ‘I’m going make Jules’s life a living hell, I swear I am. He doesn’t get to do what he’s done and get away with it.

Jess hesitated but then met his gaze. ‘Do you love me?’

He looked confused. ‘You know I do.’

‘Then just promise me two things. One, you’ll let me help you bring him down. Yes.’ She added as Theo gave her an incredulous look. ‘Don’t let me be a victim. That’s not what is going to happen. You’re already my white knight. That’s a done deal. This is a partnership. Agreed?’

Theo nodded. ‘I get it. Yes, agreed. With reservations.’

‘Which are?’

‘You never put yourself in harm’s way. I never let you out of my sight. I’m the boss when it comes to anything less than legal. You agree to be naked at least seventy-five percent of the time. That last one depends on the situation.’

She laughed, grateful for his effort to lighten the atmosphere. ‘Done, done, as much as possible. You’re the boss and I will if you will.’

He coughed out a throaty laugh and she joined in.

‘What was the other promise?’

Her smile faded. ‘That you promise, promise, you won’t put yourself in any danger. Promise me. Because if anything happened to you then he might as well get his way. I don’t want to live in a world without you in it. I mean it, Theo’

Theo moaned at her words and she tightened her arms around him.

‘Okay. You got it.’

She rested her face against his, feeling his stubble graze her skin. ‘You and me now.’ He buried his face in her hair and locked his arms around her.

‘I’ll never let him hurt you again. I’ll never let anyone hurt you.’

Jess wanted to believe him, she knew he meant it with all his heart. But something in her that said that Jules would stop at nothing. Jess knew that at the end of all of this, someone would be dead. One thing was certain, she would never let that person be Theo.

Even if it cost her own life.

Max arrived with the dogs the next day and both Theo and Jess hugged him tightly. Jess was cooking, periodically disappearing into the kitchen from where they sat on the porch. When she had gone to check on the food, Theo looked over at Max. It seemed to him that they had both aged a million years in a few months. The loss, the grief, the horror they had been through had made Theo even more aware of how much Max was a brother to him – even if the guilt of Josh’s murder would never leave him. As much as he tried to reassure Jess, Theo’s own guilt kept him up at night: Because I fell in love, Max lost his own love. Max, knowing Theo’s mind, had constantly reassured him but it didn’t make Theo feel any better.

‘So, Gachet has disappeared.’ Max was the one who was in constant contact with the police whilst Jess recovered and he kept Theo updated with every detail.

Theo nodded. ‘Doesn’t surprise me. Well, we know now why he release Jess’s inheritance. To fund his own escape.’ They’d discovered Jess’s account drained the day after she’d been released from the hospital, although no-one knew exactly how he’d done it. ‘Jesus, how long has he planned to kill her?’

Max shrugged. ‘I really don’t want to think about that. The main thing is she’s safe now.’ He raised an eyebrow at the shadowy figures moving around the perimeter of the property. ‘What’s it like living in Fort Knox?’

Theo gave him a wry smile. ‘Better than not sleeping.’ He sighed and leaned back in his chair. ‘So, we got any leads?’

‘Not on Jules. His driver – or ex-driver is still in the city – why I’m not sure. The son-of-a-bitch may be here to spy for Jules. Pretty sure he knows more than he’s telling the police anyways.’

Theo’s face hardened. ‘Maybe I should speak directly to him.’ His words were heavy with meaning and when Max turned to look at him, he could see his own anger reflected in his friend’s eyes.

‘That might an idea,’ Max said slowly. ‘Then if he won’t talk, then what? The police?’

There was a long silence. ‘Oh, I think it’s gone way past the police, don’t you?’ Theo felt a calm settle over him as he spoke the words and he watched Max nod once, firmly. ‘Yeah, this is all us from now on. He’s not going to know what hit him.’

Jules Gachet sat back in his chair, admired the slim, brown legs of the woman that strolled past him. Paris was as beautiful as it had ever been but, even with the beautiful woman and delicious spring sunshine, he found it hard to concentrate.

She’s alive. It haunted him, the fact that he’d failed. When he’d left her that night, broken and bleeding out, he’d felt sure she couldn’t have possibly had a chance. None.

Jules signaled to the waiter for another pastis. The fake passports Malcolm had procured for him long before his attempt to kill Jessica had more than proven their worth but yes, he was taking a risk coming here, back to the place of his birth. Soon he would go deep into the French countryside, change his name, appearance and lay low until the American police – and Jessica – thought he was gone forever. Malcolm was arranging things back in Seattle and when it was safe, he, Jules, would return and finish what he promised Jess he would. Kill her. Make Storm watch as he took her life, once and for all.

Spring drifted lazily into summer and Jess found herself swept along with the plans for the wedding. Despite her and Theo’s wishes for a quick, small wedding, Theo’s mother had other ideas and Jess couldn’t bear to disappoint her. Amelia’s kindness had no limit, it seemed, and neither did her creativity.

The wedding was set for early September at Amelia’s sprawling estate on the island. Jess and Theo dutifully followed Amelia’s arrangements for their wedding attire, telling each other that if it made Amelia happy, then it was worth it.

But they lived for the times when they were alone. As Jess got healthier, their sex life got back on track and even became a deeper thing, a closeness between them that seemed anchored in complete trust.

Jess, waiting for Theo to return home one Friday night, soaked in a long bath, feeling horny as hell and sexy for the first time in an age. Her scars were fading into pink lines and she traced the path of them. It still didn’t feel real, but she remembered the agony all too well. She pushed that thought aside and got out of the bath, slowly drying herself and massaging lotion into her skin. She padded, nude, to the dressing room and was about to slip into her usual shorts and tee, when she saw it, peeking out of a box on the floor. The leather bondage harness they had only used once, the night before she was stabbed.

Jess started to grin and pulled the harness out. The leather was so buttery soft, the fastenings cool steel. She slipped her robe off her shoulders and stepped into the harness, enjoying the feel of the leather as she strapped it onto her body. The inch-wide straps crisscrossed her breasts, framing them and swept between her legs and around her thighs, leaving her cunt, her buttocks exposed. Even putting it on made her so aroused she could feel herself getting wet, and grabbing her robe, she darted downstairs to prepare Theo’s very special homecoming.

Theo left the office just after eight, and, as had become his habit, flew the chopper back to the island. He hated the commute via car and ferry boat now – when he was done with work, he wanted to get to her now. Hell, all day at work, he thought about nothing but Jess, working from home, the safest place she could be. He called her a dozen times a day and she was always glad to hear his voice. My girl.

There was a storm brewing over the island as he arrived home and the sky was dark, heavy with rain. After landing, he checked in with his head of security and then headed into the house.

Theo opened the front door. The house was dimly lit and as he moved into the house, he saw candles guttering on the tables.

‘Welcome home.’

He turned to see Jess sitting halfway up the stairs and his breath caught in his lungs as he saw the harness crisscrossing her body. Her dark tumbled down to her shoulders and in the candlelight, her skin glowed. She smiled lazily at him and slowly, tantalizingly spread her legs wide. He could see she was already wet, the dark red folds of her sex glistening with her arousal, plump and ripe. His breath hitched and caught at the sight of her.

‘I’ve been thinking about you all day, my love.’

Her smile widened and as he watched, her hand slipped between her legs and she began to masturbate for him. ‘And I, you. Strip for me, Theo.’

He grinned and pulled his clothes off, his cock already thickening and trembling. He fisted the root of it and began to stroke. Jess, moaning softly, nodded to a side table. An open bottle of champagne. Theo snagged it as he made his way up the stairs to her, putting it down by her head then grabbing both of her hands and binding them with his tie. Jess capitulated happily as Theo began to pour the champagne, first into the hollow of her throat then down her body. Jess arched her back as the liquid flowed over her body, down to her navel, snaking into her sex. Theo bent down and ran his tongue from her clit, over her belly. He bit down onto her nipples, teasing them into hard peaks and finally, taking a swig of champagne, covering her mouth with his and kissing her, their tongues caressing, the liquid dribbling down their faces. Jess dissolved into giggles as they both gasped for air and Theo swept her upstairs into their bedroom.

Jess had set up a video camera and a screen, and Theo raised his eyebrows. She kissed him. ‘I want to watch us fuck,’ she murmured, trailing her lips along his jaw, ‘I want to see your cock plunging in and out of me again and again and again…’

He pushed her down onto the bed, his senses frenzied with desire, turned on by her whispers, her obvious lust for him. He hooked one of her ankles of his shoulders and angled the camera down onto her swollen cunt.

‘Christ, Jessie, look how beautiful you are.’ He spread her labia with his long fingers, rubbing her rock-hard clit with his thumb and smiled down at her. ‘Do you want my cock, now, Jessie?’

She nodded, gasping as he placed the head of it against her and pushed in – stopping when he was an inch in. ‘Are you ready, Jessie?’

She moaned with frustration and he laughed. He poured some champagne over his cock then drove himself into her as hard as he could. Jessie screamed and came almost at once and Theo, incredibly turned on, had to slow down to prolong her pleasure. ‘Jessie, I love to fuck you, you know that? Your cunt is always ready for me, always hungry for me and I want to fill you, drive so deep into you. Look at us, my love.’

He turned her head so she could see the screen, the sight of his huge cock plowing into her, slower now, thick and rigid, the shaft pulsing with blood and arousal. They were both entranced by the sight of it, their bodies merging, moving as one. Theo watched her lovely face as she watched them. ‘God, Jessie, how the hell did I exist before you?’ He began to thrust hard and she looked back into his eyes, her legs clamped around his hips.

‘I love you,’ she was breathless as their fucking became almost delirious, overwhelming. She arched her back as she came violently, moaning so beautifully that he came too, shuddering as his cock pumped thick streams of cum deep inside of her. They barely took a breath before Jess, her hands still bound, made her way down his body and took his still ramrod cock in her mouth. She sucked him hard, drawing her mouth over the wide crest of his cock, hollowing her cheeks as she teased the head with her tongue, tracing patterns on the sensitive numb. Theo felt his entire body tense as she drove him towards a shattering climax.

Afterward, they lay naked, limbs tangled, and drank the rest of the champagne straight from the bottle.

‘We’re all class,’ Jess smirked up at him. Theo pressed his lips to hers.

‘You could never be anything else and F.Y.I., being greeted by you in that get-up? Best welcome ever.’

She grinned. ‘I found it today…you know we have a whole box of fun toys we haven’t even used yet?’

Theo shook his head and sighed in mock-regret. ‘What have I turned you into?’

She pulled his lips down for another kiss. ‘Someone who loves and is loved, trusts and is trusted.’

‘Mushy.’

‘You bet your sweet ass. Now, Storm, fuck me again.’

Later, he was about to fall asleep when his phone beeped. Theo stole a look at Jess, sleeping on her stomach, her head on the pillow turned towards him. For a second he watched as she breathed, the silky skin of her back glowing in the dim light of his reading lamp.

His phone beeped again. Max. Call me now. Urgent. Keep it quiet.

Theo eased out of bed and padded down to his study, closing the door behind him. Max answered on the first ring.

‘We need to meet. Now. Tonight. Drive to the ferry terminal. Alan is waiting. ‘

‘What the hell, Max?’

Max took a deep breath in. ‘We’ve got Malcolm.’

He hated, hated, leaving Jess alone in the house, waking up the security guard outside the house to make sure he was alert but this could mean the difference between Jess being safe for the rest of her life – or not. If Malcolm knew where Gachet was…Theo and Max had talked around the subject for so long and now it was within reach. No, they wouldn’t bring the police in. Theo wanted to end it. For good. When Max asked him, point blank, if he would cross that line, Theo had met his gaze evenly.

‘For her? No question.’

Alan was waiting at the ferry terminal in a black-out sedan that he didn’t recognize. He slipped inside.

‘Max says to stay inside until he opens the door. Plausible deniability and all that.’

Shit. Max was taking a lot of the weight of this when maybe he didn’t need to. Now Alan was involved too. Theo’s face must have registered his frustration because Alan turned around in his seat.

‘Boss, whatever you’re thinking, we’re grown men and we’re just as invested. We all love Miss Wood, you know.’

Theo smiled tightly and nodded. ‘You’re a good man, Alan.’

Two hours later, Max opened the car door. As Theo got out, he saw that they were in abandoned junk yard. Max nodded silently to an empty barn and Theo followed him in. Inside, a bare lightbulb lit the vast, echoing space. Malcolm was tied to a chair, his eyes wheeling around in his head, a bloody welt above his eye. Max just shrugged when Theo looked at him questioningly.

Malcolm focused on Theo. ‘Well, look who it is. Mr. Billionaire. How’s the fiancé? Can she still fuck as well after her little accident?’

Theo’s response was purely physical. His fist connected with Malcolm’s jaw so fast the other man’s head snapped back. Spitting blood, Malcolm cursed at him. Theo bent down and got in his face.

‘Where is Julien Gachet?’

Malcolm merely smirked. Theo repeated the question, calmly but with enough menace that the bound man’s eyes became wary.

‘How should I know? I’m not his keeper.’

Theo and Max just looked at each other and Malcolm found his smile again.

‘Wherever he is, he’s probably just working out how he’s going to finish what he started.’

Max’s head dipped just a little then Alan, unseen behind Malcolm, wrapped a chain around Malcolm’s neck and began to squeeze. Shocked, Malcolm choked. ‘Fuck you, fuck you all. That little whore’s not worth jail time.’

Theo stepped towards him. ‘You don’t speak about her again. Do you understand me?’

Malcolm smirked. ‘My pleasure. I don’t waste my time on trashy little cunts like Jessica Wood.’

Theo launched himself at him, raining blows, wild, uncontrolled, frenzied blows. Max and Alan dragged him away. Malcolm’s face was a bloody pulp, his nose, gushing blood, was bent at an impossible angle.

‘You fucker, I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you…’ he raged at Theo, held back now by his friends. Theo spat in the man’s face.

‘Tell me where he is!’ Theo’s voice was a roar, his whole body tensed to spring again. Max narrowed his eyes at Malcolm.

‘Tell us or we’ll let him have you.’

Malcolm started to laugh, his mouth a tangled mess of broken teeth and blood. ‘He’s going to kill her, you know. You can’t stop him.’

Theo suddenly went very still. His friends, taken aback, let him go. Malcolm grinned at him. ‘Don’t blame him. If I had a chance to gut that fucking beautiful bitch, I’d do her myself.’

In one fluid movement, before anyone could stop him, Theo stepped towards the laughing man, and with a violent jerk of his hands, broke his neck.

Run With Me Part Eight

Jess stirred as Theo slipped back in the bed and snuggled into his arms, her eyes still closed.

‘Cold,’ she complained at the touch of his cool skin. Theo wrapped his arms around her, needing her warmth, her hot blood to try to help the frozen heart of him.

He was a murderer. A killer.

The way Max had stared at him after he’d snapped Malcolm’s neck was something he’d never forget. He knew it reflected his own emotions. When Malcolm had threatened Jess – again – he’d exploded, all the pain, the loss, the terror of losing her overwhelmed him. Only one course of action had seemed possible in that moment.

Afterward, he’d tried to calm himself, dragging lungfuls of air into his body. Alan stayed back, letting the two friends adjust. Max had put a tentative a hand on his shoulder.

‘Theo…’ The love in his friend’s voice had broken the final wall and Theo bent over and sobbed.

‘Jesus, Max…. what have I done?’

Max couldn’t answer him, just hugged his friend. After Theo had calmed down, he turned back to Malcolm’s body. ‘No-one knows. No one except you, me and Alan. Let’s keep it that way. We’ll get rid of the body – no-one except Jules will miss this asshole anyway. He deserved what he got.’

Theo looked at Max, the hardness in his friend something he’d never seen. ‘Max, I can’t do that, I have to tell the police.’

‘Not an option.’ Alan spoke up and his voice was firm. ‘Listen, I’ll bring the car around.’

Max nodded. ‘Good, Theo, you’re going home. Alan and I will deal with this.’

Theo almost laughed. ‘Are you kidding me? This is my responsibility.’

Max stared at him. ‘Theo, if this had been Jules instead if Malcolm, would you be feeling this way?’

Theo slowly shook his head. ‘I guess not. But still, we’ve no idea where Gachet is and I hate that.’

Max sighed. ‘There’s something else. If Malcolm was in contact with him, Julien will know something has happened. It could make him angrier, more vengeful.’

‘I think ‘vengeful’ was over a long time ago. He’s psychotic. He won’t stop until he’s killed Jess.’

Max rubbed his eyes, looked back at Malcolm’s corpse. ‘Look, go home to Jess. Remind yourself why this…’ He kicked the dead man’s leg. ‘…is no great loss to anyone. Yeah, Jules will know but it might just flush him out. Just make sure Jess is fully protected. If I’ve learned one thing about Jules, it is that he’s a coward. He won’t try to get to her through a damn army.’

Alan had driven Theo back to the office and Theo grabbed a pool car from the parking garage, drove to the ferry. He couldn’t get Malcolm’s dead face out of his head. He’d seen two women he loved, one dead, one dying, and both had seemed more human than the wide stare of the dead man. Maybe it was because, in his mind, Malcolm was merely an extension of Jules – and Jules was a monster.

Now, with Jess in his arms, the frozen heart of him began to thaw. She nuzzled his neck, pressing her lips against his throat.

‘I’m sorry I had to go out, baby…’ he murmured into her hair then as she opened her eyes wide and smiled at him, he kissed her , his lips firm against hers. She reached down to stroke his cock and he felt it jerk to life under her gentle touch. Adrenaline coursed through his veins then and he pushed her onto her back and covered her body with his hitching her legs around his hips. He took first one then the other nipple into his mouth teasing them until they peaked up, hard and sensitive. Jess sighed happily, pressing her groin against the hot length of his cock and then gave a surprised squeak as he rammed the entire length of it into her, clamping her hands roughly to the bed and grinding his mouth onto hers so ferociously he could taste blood. He just wanted to consume her, possess her, fucking nail her to the bed. His cock, ramrod hard and relentless, pounded into her and he could see by the excitement in her eyes that she was feeling it too.

They hadn’t fucked like this since before she had been stabbed and the wild abandon of it absolved every other thought from his mind. This was what he lived for, being with her, looking at her as her lovely face shone with sweat, flushed a perfect scarlet, her pink mouth open and moaning for him, calling his name. Her sleek thighs moved against his waist, the soft flesh belying the strength of the muscles clamped around him. Her tight little cunt flexing and welcoming his cock, her gently undulating belly against his, her nipples brushing his chest. He breathed in every part of her, her clean, soap-and-gardenia perfume mixing with the heady scent of their lovemaking. His brains was a flash flood of emotion, love, rage, pain, hurt, desire, Jess, Jess, Jess….

She cried out as she came, her body vibrating and quivering, her legs wrapped around him pulling him deeper. Theo nearly growled with his need to keep driving himself into her ferociously. He never wanted to stop but when at last, he peaked with a carnal roar, his semen pumping violently into her, he collapsed down onto her and she wrapped her arm around his neck.

‘Theo, Theo, Theo…’ Her voice was a whisper, breathy and a balm to his bruised senses. She was the only thing that made any sense in his world, the only thing…

Half a world away, Jules Gachet called Malcolm’s cell for the twelfth time. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

Jess woke a little after eleven a.m. The sun streamed in through the window and soaked the bed in a blissful warmth. She stretched out her naked body and felt her muscles ache pleasantly. She had been thoroughly and expertly fucked last night and she felt glorious. Theo hadn’t let her go, giving her orgasm after orgasm and exhausting her until she fell asleep wrapped in his arms.

Now she was alone in the bed and wondered where he’d gone. After brushing her teeth, she padded through the house, downstairs and eventually found him out on the deck, sipping coffee, an uneaten bagel in front of him.

She bent to kiss him and he pulled her onto his lap. He kissed her and she ran her hands through his hair, studying his face, the dark circles under his eyes and the strange look in his eyes. She frowned. ‘What is it, Theo?’

Theo stared back at her, seeming to struggle what to say then he smiled ruefully. ‘Nothing to worry about. Hey, how about we take a break? Get away from the city for a while. We both could do with that.’

Jess half-smiled but wasn’t fooled by his change of demeanor. ‘Okay, but why now? Haven’t we got a lot of work on? What about the Freeman commission?’

‘That’s why I hire excellent staff,’ he said lightly but she narrowed her eyes at him.

‘I know you, Theo, what’s going on?’ Then she paled. ‘Is… he… in the city? Is that why you’re keen to get away?’

Theo shook his head. ‘No, I promise, Jules is nowhere near here. If he steps back into the country, we’ll know about it.’

She didn’t entirely believe that. She knew how tricky Jules could be when he wanted, but she didn’t want to argue with him. She snuggled into his chest so he couldn’t see her eyes. ‘Where were you thinking of going?’

‘Wherever you want, beautiful.’

She kissed his neck. ‘Anywhere?’

‘Anywhere.’

‘Mmm that’s quite an offer, might take a bit of thinking… but I know where I’d like to go right now…’ She slid her hands down the front of his pants and cupped his cock, grinning when she felt it respond. Theo chuckled and kissed her temple.

‘I clearly did not exhaust you enough last night, you wanton hussy.’

She giggled and pressed her lips to his ear. ‘You see those security guards over there by the fence?’

‘Yeah, I see them,’ he looked bemused. She smiled and her eyes were heavy with desire.

‘Remember that time in the club, when we fucked in that booth…?’

Theo grinned, understanding. ‘You are quite the exhibitionist, Miss Wood…’ But his hand were sliding under her robe, and he slipped a finger inside her. ‘Man, you’re wet, baby.’

She drew in a shaky breath. ‘I want your cock inside me, Theo.’

He wrapped his huge arms around her tiny waist and lifted her onto his rigid cock, both sighing as it sank deep into her. Theo caressed her clit, rocking her back and forth so his cock slid in and out, the friction making them both crazy. They locked eyes and when they heard the crackle of a radio, the monotone of a guard reporting back to his boss, they grinned at each other. This was such a rush, the imminent threat of discovery.

Jess nibbled at his ear. ‘Come in me, Theo, I want to feel your seed inside me…’ Her voice was a low whisper, but deep, gruff, the sound of it made the blood rush to his head and he did as she asked, grunting softly into her hair. Jess tensed her muscles around his cock, closing her eyes as a mellow climax shuddered through her body. They stayed connected for a few moments, reveling in their closeness and in the intimacy of their lovemaking.

Upstairs they showered together and as they dressed, Theo couldn’t take his eyes from her delicious body, the curves of her, the way her breasts trembled as she towel-dried her hair. She grinned at him.

‘Like what you see, sailor?’

‘Hell yes. You didn’t answer my question so let’s do this… clear your mind and when I say go, name the first place you’ve always wanted to go to.’

She chuckled and nodded. ‘Okay… ready.’

‘Three… two… one… go.’

‘The Maldives… oh, that was unexpected. I was going to suggest… oh, to hell with it, The Maldives, please. One of those little huts on the ocean.’ She looked like an excited kid.

Theo grinned. ‘You got it, beautiful.’

She hugged him, kissing him quickly. ‘Think of all that private time.’

His hold on her tightened. ‘We should take that box of toys you say we haven’t used yet.’

‘Oh, you are a genius, Theodore Storm.’ She grinned then laughed as her stomach growled. ‘Yep, I need food. Brunch? I could make some omelets?’

‘Sounds good to me.’

When she’d disappeared downstairs, Theo sat on the edge of the bed and finally let himself drop the happy act. Not that Jess wasn’t the best distraction but…Malcolm’s face kept coming back to him.

The idea to go away had come to him when he’d awoken. Turning to stare at Jess’s peaceful, sleeping face, he knew he wanted to wake up to that face forever, to have her look that relaxed, carefree forever. And the truth was that he wanted to run. Not from the police, he had no worries about that, but from worrying what Gachet would do next. Being a billionaire had its perks. He would tell Max and Alan to take a long vacation while they were away. He grinned wryly to himself. He knew Max would never leave the business while Theo was out of contact. When he and Jess returned then maybe he could persuade him to take a break. He owed Max. Big.

Jess called up to him and he went down to see her flipping a perfectly cooked omelet onto a plate. She looked so happy. Happier than he’d seen in a month now that he couldn’t bear to ruin it. He, Max and Alan had vowed not to tell her about Malcolm but Theo had harbored doubts – he didn’t want any secrets from Jess.

He just didn’t want to see the look in her eye when she realized the man she loved was a murderer.

It had been two weeks now and no Malcolm. Jules had no doubt what had happened – Storm had gotten to him, and had probably killed him. Damn. This changed everything. He would have to go back to the States now, to do his own spying. He’d had it all planned: Malcolm would report on her every movement, see the weak spots in the protection that Storm had set up, and found the opportunity. Then if he could, Jules would return, kill her and Storm and then would flee down to South America. If not, Malcolm, a trained sniper, would take Jessica out with a bullet, Storm too. Quick, easy but not nearly the drawn out, agonizing death she deserved.

Now, he had to do it all himself. Fuck. Malcolm had put him in touch with some people who could get him travel documents, passports, but there was no-one he could talk to, no-one who would understand his passion for killing Jessica. Malcolm had understood.

The Parisian spring was leeching into summer and endless tourists filled the streets. Maybe it was time to go. Jules started to smile.

I’m coming for you, Jessica.

By the next day a blonde and bearded Jules – or rather Patrick Moreau according to the flawlessly produced passport – was on the way back to the States.

The flowing, delicate white dress Jess wore fell gently to the floor as Theo ran his fingers under the tiny straps and slid them down her slender arms. He cupped her full, ripe breasts as she tilted her head up for a kiss. His thumbs stroked a maddeningly erotic rhythm over her nipples as she slowly unbuttoned his shirt. The heat was tamed by a breeze from the ocean that swirled clear and blue underneath their private villa.

They had been in the Maldives less than two hours now but neither was tired from the journey. Jess had exclaimed over the beauty of the island paradise, the white sand and the crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean. Their villa was bigger than she expected but then again, Theo would want the best and it showed. The bedroom was draped in fine white cottons and voiles, a ceiling fan keeping a decent breeze flowing through the villa. A large, private deck with an infinity pool, a little kitchen stocked with everything they could need.

Jess slid her hands under his shirt and pulled it off, her hands immediately going to his fly. She could feel his cock straining to be free, and she cupped it through his pants, feeling how hard, how hot it was, how it quivered under her touch. Theo buried his face in her neck.

‘God, I want you so bad…’ He slipped a hand into her panties, finding her already wet for him, slipping his finger deep inside her, caressing her clit with his thumb. Jess moaned and nearly his pants from him.

‘I want to fuck in every room,’ she murmured with a grin and Theo chuckled.

‘You got it, beautiful, but let’s start right here…’ He tore her panties off and lifted her up, pressing her back against the wall of the villa. His cock nudged at her entrance and she groaned in frustration as he teased her with it. He laughed.

‘Impatient girl. Jess, this holiday, we’re going to do everything you’ve ever dreamed of and much more.’

She nipped at his ear. ‘Put that cock in me now, soldier, fucking nail me to this wall. Now.’

Theo grinned. ‘Whatever you say, Mistress.’

He plunged his diamond-hard cock into her soft, welcoming cunt so hard she screamed with pleasure, thrusting, slamming her back against the wall, his mouth grinding down on hers, her fingers tangled in his hair, pulling on it almost to the point of pain. They were animals, tearing, clawing, and biting at the other. Theo came quickly, unable to stop it, god she was amazing, and he felt his semen explode from him in a torrent, filling her. He rubbed her clit to bring her an orgasm then, withdrawing, quickly laid her on the bed, flat on her belly and parted her legs again. He could feel her slick with his creamy cum as he parted her butt cheeks and pushed into her ass. Jess gave a long, delirious moan as he moved in gentle but firm strokes, taking his time this time to enjoy the tightness of her, the extra friction on his prick. His hands massaged her round butt, the silky skin soft beneath his fingers. Her head was turned to the side on the pillow so he could watch her face flame with scarlet arousal, her mouth as she gasped for air, whispering his name over and over.

Afterward, they lazed in the pool, watching as evening fell over the resort, candle light and flaming torches on the beach across the water. Jess rested her arms on the side of the pool and sighed happily. ‘This is actual heaven,’ she said and Theo smiled, kissing her temple.

‘I’m glad you think so. You know that we can stay as long as you want. Forever would suit me.’

She half-smiled at him. ‘I think your family and Max might object. Also your business colleagues.’

Theo shrugged. ‘I could sell the business.’

Her eyebrows shot up. ‘You’re not serious.’

‘Deadly.’

She pushed away from the side of the pool and face him, studying his eyes. ‘Theo, you’re being crazy. You’d get bored and that’s no good for any relationship. You’d get so tired of me around all the time.’

It was his turn to look startled. ‘Would never happen.’

She touched his arm. ‘It’s a lovely gesture but unrealistic. We need to build a life from what we have, not start over. We’d always be waiting for it to start. You have your work and when we get back, I want to start back at the Foundation full-time. We have the wedding soon too. Let’s just enjoy this as the vacation we planned.’

He was quiet for a time then nodded. ‘You’re right.’ He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him, pressing his lips against her shoulder. Jess nuzzled his neck but a thread of anxiousness was spiraling through her stomach. She wasn’t imagining it, the thing that had been bothering her ever since the morning they had decided to come here.

Theo was different. Changed. And it felt, despite everything he said, everything he did, like he was slipping away from her.

Jules had no trouble getting back into the country, the documents he held superbly and expensively forged. He stayed overnight in a city motel as he figured there was no need to draw attention to himself. The next day, he went out to Whidbey Island and rented a house two miles from Jess and Theo’s home and dressing in his new persona, flannel and jeans, set out to explore the area. He found that he could walk to the perimeter of Storm’s property unseen through the woods but as he neared the fence, he could see a security guard pacing around. Jules did a wide circuit of the house. One security guard? That was Storm’s idea of protection? Jules was about to sneer when he realized: they weren’t there. Shit. That meant he’d have to be on the island longer and every day brought him closer to discovery.

Later he drove into town to the small diner and ordered a big lunch. He was halfway through it when he heard his voice. That goddamn fag, Max. He turned halfway to see him walk in with a much older woman with silver hair. They sat immediately behind Jules, which amused him greatly, despite the risk of Max seeing him. They chatted a while of nothing much then the woman cleared her throat and spoke in a soft voice.

‘You know, dear, you don’t have to keep coming to the island. I can easily keep an eye on the house whilst they’re away – unless,’ and she chuckled, ‘…you’re worried Theo has something he really doesn’t want his mother to see.’

Max laughed. ‘You are incorrigible, Amelia. What would that be?’

‘Oh, I don’t know, a sex dungeon?’

Max laughed loudly and Amelia joined in. ‘Well, I know what you’ve been reading lately.’ Max said. Jules heard the clink of a coffee cup being out down. ‘But seriously,’ Max continued, ‘It’s no trouble. I’d rather see things for myself, and it’s a good excuse to see you.’

‘Flatterer but I do like seeing you too. I don’t see enough of Theo and Jess – don’t get me wrong, they’re always inviting me over – but I somehow feel that they’d rather be alone. They do seem wrapped up in each other, especially now, after the stabbing.’

Jules grinned into his cup of coffee. Yeah, talk more about that, you fools, if you only knew the man who stabbed your beloved Jess is right behind you.

Max shrugged. ‘Understandable.’

Amelia gave a frustrated sigh. ‘Max darling, be honest, do you think they’re too…I don’t want to use the word obsessed but…’

‘No, I don’t. I swear, Amelia, if you knew what being truly obsessed is… obsessed is what got Jess stabbed and nearly killed, obsessed is being raped over and over by your creep of a step-brother, obsessed is living in fear of your life for almost half your life. Theo and Jess have that kind of love that most of us are lucky to see. I had it, you had it once too.’

Amelia muttered her ascent but Jules, his fingers gripping his cup tightly, calmed himself at Max’s words. Fucking bastard. What the hell did he know?

‘When are they back?’

‘Next week, Tuesday, I think. Jess says she wants to go back to work but we have a wedding to plan so I’m hoping to persuade her to stay home for a month or so.’

Max laughed. ‘Good luck with that.’

Later, as they left, Jules was outside waiting in his car. He watched as Amelia Storm got into her Mercedes and, leaving a reasonable distance, followed her across the island. After an hour, she pulled up to an impressive house. A man nodded to her and got into her car as Amelia ascended the stairs to the front door.

Jules watched the house for a while not knowing why he had followed the woman. She’d given him enough good information in the diner. Theo and Jess were away as he’d thought, and he would bet a million bucks that whatever Theo and his cronies had done to Malcolm, Jess didn’t know about it.

Maybe it was time that she did.

There were dark clouds over the islands and at first Jess couldn’t understand where they’d come from. She was standing on the deck of the villa and the breeze was cold against her bare skin, making her shiver.

‘I can make you warm, baby…’

She turned at the sound of his voice, smiling but the joy turned to horror. Theo aimed a gun at her. Confusion.

‘Theo? What are you doing…?’

The first bullet made a whooshing sound and smashed into her belly, right through her navel. She gasped at the pain, looking down to see blood start to pour from the wound when a second, an inch higher, hit her. ‘No, no….’

Theo was laughing. ‘I told you I’d make you warm, hot…’ He shot her again, walking towards her. Jess wondered why she didn’t fall or clutch at her wounds but she just stood there, taking one bullet after another. When Theo reached her, he pressed the cold muzzle against her skin, pulling the trigger so many time it was impossible…no gun would hold that many bullets….is this a dream? Am I dead? God, someone help me, wake me….

Cold. Something slimy passed over her skin. A fist was being jammed down her throat and she tried to cough, tried to gasp for air but the pressure in her chest, her lungs was unrelenting. She opened her eyes and saw blackness, a flicker of light but mostly dark, oily darkness. She realized what the slimy thing was, what the blackness was. Water.

She was drowning.

She struggled, tried to make her arms move, to propel her body upwards, out of the water but something seemed to be holding her down. Her mouth, her nose filled with water and now she began to panic, her lungs, her stomach filling with choking water. She pushed up desperately and managed to break the surface. The full moon was the only light in the dark night. The black spots in her eyes were back and they swept over her sight, blinding her again. She struggled, wrenched her body upwards but unconsciousness was threatening. She struggled but then one thought kept replaying itself in her mind.

Oblivion took her as, exhausted, shattered and broken, she finally stopped struggling and gave up.

She opened her eye to bright whiteness and a clean, antiseptic smell. Unfamiliar surroundings. A hospital. She moved her head and saw Theo at the window. Jess struggled into a sitting position before saying his name. He looked around, strain obvious in his eyes.

‘How do you feel?’ Clipped, distant.

‘Theo, what am I doing here?’

Theo sat on the bed and sighed. ‘You decided to go for a little midnight swim. I think you were sleepwalking, so do the docs, because I know, I know, you’re not stupid enough to swim in the ocean alone at night.’

She raised her eyebrows at his harsh tone. ‘Theo… of course not. Why the hell would you think that?’

His eyes were hard. ‘And it wasn’t… anything else?’

She was getting irritated now. ‘Like what?’ Then she realized and her whole body relaxed. ‘God, Theo, no. It wasn’t on purpose if that’s what you mean.’ She reached out to him but he drew away, not looking at her.

‘You were just floating there. You’d given up. I thought… Jesus, Jess, I thought I’d lost you. Again.’

She slid out of bed and went to hold him, pulling his head onto her chest. ‘Theo… never. I would never do that.’ She tilted his head up so he could see her and tried to smile. ‘Too many other people are trying to kill me, why would I do it myself? That’s just poor time management.’

‘Don’t joke. I thought you were dead.’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened, I had a nightmare…’

She trailed off as the nightmare came screeching back. Theo. Shooting her. Theo. She shivered and then it was his turn to tighten his grip. ‘What? What is it?’

She tried to swallow the stone that seemed lodged in her throat. ‘Nothing. Stupid subconscious. Never gives me dreams about a threesome with you and Beyonce, does it?’

Theo smiled then. ‘Nice to know who I can expect a threesome with.’

She nodded sagely. ‘No woman would turn down Beyonce, straight or gay. It is writ.’

He laughed. ‘’It is writ’?

She grinned and looked around the room. ‘Where are we?’

‘Medical centre on Male.’

Jess sighed. ‘I honestly feel fine. Can we go?’

Theo hesitated. ‘Maybe we should wait for the doctor.’

Jess flexed her shoulders in irritation. ‘You know what, let’s not. She slid out of the bed and grabbed the bag of her stuff Theo had obviously brought with him. She went into the little bathroom to dress, closing the door behind her. She couldn’t figure why she was so irritated. She dressed quickly, avoiding her reflection in the mirror over the sink.

Scratch that, she did know. It was all the crap followed them everywhere. All she had done was slept-walked for Christ's sake and Theo was acting… god. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. No. This was an accident. She didn’t want the rest of their vacation to be tainted, like everything else, by fear, stress, a tense atmosphere.

She pulled open the door and smiled brightly at Theo. ‘Ready when you are.’

Theo gazed at her for a long moment with an expression that she couldn’t read them, eventually, held out his hand to her.

‘Let’s go home.’

Jules stood on the bridge, staring down at Deception Pass, glinting with the last rays of the sun. He’d walked across the island in the hope it would alleviate some of his frustration at having to wait for Jessica to return home. His fingers, his hands, all of his limbs ached to be touching her, hurting her. He would sometimes, late at night, open his mouth as wide as it would go and scream, silently, into the darkness.

He looked down at the cold waters below. Sometimes he wanted to jump, no, no not even that that, fall, freefall into the depths, tumble. Let his limbs go weak, let the filthy water stream through his nostrils, his mouth, batter his eyes from their sockets. Dissolve. Even when he hit the bottom, to suck up the bed, bore into the earth. Disappear. So easy, so final. But then she would be left here, in the world and he could not let that happen. She would be with him soon and he would finally be at peace, bathing in her blood, watching her breathe her last breath. This time, she would not survive. And afterward, hell, he didn’t care if he never escaped. He’d rather die alongside her. The thought was strangely freeing.

He flexed his hands. He needed to feel something, needed a release. Not here. He turned around and walked back to his house. The evening was falling as he changed clothes and drove down to the ferry terminal. He would spend the night in the city, find an alternative, a Jess-like victim and he would sate his thirst.

Jess woke up later than usual, fuzzy-headed. She got up, went into the bathroom to splash water on her face. Yesterday had been tense, strained. They'd barely spoken, retreating into their own spaces and for the first time they hadn’t made love before falling asleep. She was still annoyed with him. She loathed it when he treated her like some precious little child who could not look after herself. Deep inside, she knew, and understood, why he behaved like that but it still irritated her. It was times like this when she cursed her lack of independence. She felt guilty at the thought. She shook her head and swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there for a few minutes, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, trying to ignore a headache banging around the back of her skull. She grabbed her kimono from the bottom of the bed and wrapping it around herself, padded barefoot out of the bedroom.

She walked through the villa, peeking into each room until she found Theo, out on the deck. She stood and watched him for a while, his intense stare locked somewhere in the middle distance, his jaw flexing with tension. He wore the navy blue t-shirt she loved on him, khaki shorts. His dark short hair was damp; he must have been swimming. She walked silently behind him and ran her arms down his, kissing his temple.

‘Hey handsome.’

He’d started a little when she’d touched him but now he pulled her onto his lap, smoothing his hands over her face, drawing her hair back away from it. She smiled and kissed him, felt his hands slip into her robe and onto her bare belly. His eyes, so often troubled nowadays, were softer, heavy with desire.

‘You know, I kinda wish this wasn’t our last day here,’ he said, stroking his hands up and down her bare skin, ‘I could get used to this.’

She silenced him with a kiss. Her mouth against his, her hands snaking down the front of his shorts to stroke his cock, her feather-light touch on the sensitive skin making Theo groan. She grinned and slid to her knees, taking his cock into her mouth, pushing his shorts away so she could fist her hand around the base of it, pulling gently, urging the blood to fill it as her tongue flicked around the ultra-sensitive tip. She was gratified by the sharp hiss Theo sucked through his teeth as she teased him, could taste the sharp salty tang of his pre-ejaculate on her tongue.

‘Jesus, Jess…’ He was breathless but she didn’t relent, stroking and sucking until his cock was so ramrod hard, she felt him tangle his fingers in her hair, pulling at it as he groaned and bucked under her, his semen rushing in hot, long spurts into her welcoming mouth. She’d barely finished tonguing him when he lifted her and bent her backward over the table, knocking his coffee cup to the decking with a crash. Jess grinned up at him as he used his knee to spread her legs then rammed his cock deep into her cunt. Theo bit down on her neck, her shoulders, squeezing her breasts, biting down on the small pink nipples until she was panting and writhing beneath him.

‘Tell me what you want, Jessie… tell me how you want it…’

‘Hard… harder… more… fucking rip me in two, Theo.’ She arched her body up and he picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist, still impaled on his cock and carried her inside. They didn’t make it to the bedroom, instead tumbling to the wooden floor.

Jess clawed and fought with him as he fucked her, both of them laughing and growling in equal measure. Plowing deep into her soft, warm wetness, Theo drove himself until he heard her cry of pain then her don’t stop, don’t stop…. please….

He pulled out and came on her belly, the thick white streams of cum streaking over her beautiful body. She shuddered and came as he massaged the sticky fluid into her skin, feeling her whole body vibrating with pleasure. Looking up, he saw the little box of toys they had brought with them. He caught Jess’s eye and she smiled, nodded and he reached over and grabbed the box, pushing the top off.

‘Hmm, what can I do you to you now, wife to be?’

Jess, her gorgeous body still undulating as she caught her breath, looked at him, a wicked smile playing around that lush, bruised mouth. ‘What if we switch it up?’ Without even looking, she stuck her hand into the box and pulled out the dildo - the strap-on-dildo.

Theo raised his eyebrows. ‘You want to fuck me, baby girl?’

Jess grinned. ‘Hell, yes. I do… get on your stomach, boy, I’m in charge now.’

‘Fair’s fair,’ Theo said and kissed her before laying down flat on his belly, his trust in her absolute, no doubt in his mind. How many times had she trusted him to go there? It wasn’t something he’d experienced with anyone else but then again, there were a lot of things he’d experienced with Jess that he never had before. He grinned and told her what he was thinking.

Jess laughed. ‘You bet your sweet ass. In fact, you are betting your sweet ass.’ Theo chuckled then sucked in a breath as she reached down between his legs and massaged his balls gently, pressing the tip of her middle finger deep against his perineum. ‘Damn, Jessie…. before we go any further, can I persuade you to slip into that little leather harness?’

He felt her kiss his ear. ‘You got it.’ It took her less than thirty seconds and then he felt her weight on the back of his thighs again, her hand on his cock. She kissed the back of his neck then ran her tongue down the length of his spine to the top of his ass. He felt a warm liquid against his skin – oil, he guessed, because she moved her hands up and down his back, working his muscles. She was trying to relax him, he knew, and he leaned his head on his arms and closed his eyes, letting himself feel every sensation. Her hands worked up and down until, at last, one hand slipped into his crack, working massage oil into the deep crevice and caressing his cock and balls which pulsed and quivered under her touch. When, at last, he felt the tip of the dildo push into his anus, he was so relaxed that as she slid into him so slowly, so gently, all he felt was immense pleasure as the dildo massaged him and he felt Jess rocking gently above him, softly moaning, obviously enjoying it as much as he was.

He came with a slowly, shuddering groan, his cock, tight against the floor and his belly, pumping hard. Jess withdrew and, removing the strap-on, lay down, her belly against his back, her lips against the back of his neck. She linked her fingers with his and they lay together, closer than they’d ever felt before.

‘Jessie,’ he mumbled eventually,’ Jessie…. you are my world, you know that.’ He shifted onto his back and wound his arms around her, kissing her tenderly. She smiled down at him.

‘And you are mine, Theodore Storm. Forever.’ She stroked his face. ‘Theo?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Whatever it is that’s been bothering you lately… whatever it is… you know you can tell me, right?’

He gazed back at her. She knew him so well, he was stupid to thinks he wouldn’t know something was up. Could he tell her about Malcolm? He looked into those lovely deep, warm eyes and couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

‘Jess… it’s just been… overwhelming and I think I’m rocking back a little from it all. I love you so much, god, so much and I’m not saying I’d change a single thing about us...I wouldn’t. But you, of all people know, it leaves scars.’ He touched the scars on her belly but she grabbed his hand and kissed it.

‘We’ll get through this, you know. Me and you together, we can beat anything.’

‘Never leave me.’

‘Never. Hell, if and when I die – don’t make that face – it’ll be old age or illness and not some asshole who likes to slice and dice. Theo, I promise you, I’ll fight to the end. And if you’re really lucky, if I go first…I’ll come back and ghost fuck you.’ She crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him and Theo started to laugh.

‘You are a nutball, you know that?’

‘Your nutball.’

Theo smiled and pressed his lips to hers. ‘Damn right.’

He'd come across her in a shop Downtown She was arguing with the insolent-looking cashier. He'd helped her out. Followed her home. Arranged to bump into her. She'd been grateful, invited him in for a drink, looking at him with interest. So easy. An hour later, she had been slumped in her chair, looking at him again, this time in confusion as he removed her shirt. He knew she thought he was going to rape her, and looked down at her in disgust. Whore. He told her then, exactly what he was going to do to her, that she wasn't worthy. He wouldn't sully himself on her. She tried to move, tried to scream as he raised the knife. And then, there was only pain, resignation.

He threw a long swig of beer down his throat and looked around the room. It was a curious mix of the minimal and cluttered. One side of the huge room was stuffed with sofas, cushions, tables, books shoved in a jumble onto the shelves, the coffee table literature looked like it was actually read, rather than just for show. The space near the huge windows and the kitchen area, however, were sparse, clean lines. He nodded. It was a good place. She had taste. Pity.

The release Jules Gachet craved came later and later now. Glancing down, he took in skin, torn flesh. He realized he could not remember her name. He crouched down and listened carefully. No breath. No longer a presence, just a torn and twisted tangle of bloodied limbs. A pretty woman, he stared at her face, now peaceful, no longer etched with the terror he had inflicted on her. He could summon up no feeling for her, pity or otherwise. As he’d killed her, she had worn Jess’s face, her screams were Jess’s screams, her blood, Jess’s blood. He relived the night he’d stabbed Jess, that wonderful, terrible night when he hadn’t been able to complete his mission. The night that somehow, incredibly, Jessica had survived.

He stood, lit a cigarette, slumped into an old squashy armchair beside the girl’s body. He imagined that in a few hours, homicide cops and crimes scenes officers, dressed head to toe in plastic moved around the room like ghosts, hoping to retrieve anything, any clue. Everything was sharper in his mind, sounds, sights, smells. The faint scent of honeysuckle pervading the air, the feel of the worn fabric of the chair through his light clothing. The girl's arm, flung above her head, the wrist curved around the chair leg, the fingers splayed, pointing accusing. He felt no guilt and yet still no release and he knew it was time

Olive skin, dark eyes.

As outside a shower streaked its way across the city, he thought only of her, his unending wait and how he would teach her, no, no teach them about loss. The longing grew stronger and stronger within him until his mouth opened, stretched wider and wider, and the rage flew from him, wrenching, twisting into a silent howl.

He almost staggered to the nearest bar, ordered a double on the rocks. His stomach was churning his excitement. He watched the people go back and forth past the windows of the bar and pitied them.

Every one of you, he wanted to scream out, every one of you will know my name.

‘Darlings!’ Amelia flew out of the house and gathered them into her arms. Theo grinned at Jess over his mother’s shoulder. After traveling for nearly twenty-four hours, all either of them had talked about was getting home, going straight to bed – to sleep. Theo’s mother clearly had other ideas.

‘Let’s look at you.’ Amelia pushed them both away and looked over the critically. ‘I expected you to have better tans…too busy screwing, eh?’

Jess snorted out a laugh as Theo cringed. ‘Mom…god.’ He glared in amusement at a giggling Jess. ‘Don’t encourage her.’

Jess shrugged as Amelia tucked a conspiratorial hand under her arm. ‘She’s right, though.’

Theo rolled his eyes as the two women cracked up and, leaving them to it, grabbed the suitcases and took them inside. Amelia and Jess followed him and greeted the two excited dogs.

Amelia made coffee and Jess and Theo dutifully sat with her while she chatted excitedly. ‘Loves, I know this is not the time really, but I want to throw you an engagement party. Max agrees it would be a good thing.’

‘How is Max?’

Amelia gave them a half-smile. ‘He’s doing better, I think. He seems…. what’s the word? Fiercer. I don’t know but he’s rallying. About this party – ‘

‘Mom,’ She interrupted her with a hand on hers, ‘We just flew halfway around the world. Can we please discuss this tomorrow?’

After Amelia left, Jess and Theo, really dragging now, shared a decidedly chaste shower then fell gratefully into bed. They didn’t even bother to push the two dogs off the bed where they’d snuggled in with them.

In the morning, Theo awoke, opening his eyes to see Jess’s lovely face half-buried in the comforter. He brushed her lips with his, feather-light so to not wake her, but a lazy smile spread across her face. She opened those deep, warmth chocolate eyes, soft with sleep.

‘Hey handsome.’

‘I didn’t mean to wake you.’

She made a cute noise and stretched, wriggling next to him and reaching for his cock. Theo grinned. Even half asleep, she knew how to turn him on.

‘Morning breath?’

‘Don’t care.’

Theo pushed the grumbling dogs off the bed and covered her body with his, already rock-hard for her. He slipped a hand between her legs and stroked, feeling her dampen and swell for him. As he entered her, slowly, tenderly, he kissed her throat, felt her moan against his lips. This was one of their favorite times to make love when they were all soft and dreamy from sleep. Theo moved slowly at first as her legs wrapped around him, her limbs malleable, her eyes liquid silk as she smiled up at him, lifting her lips to his to kiss him.

After they’d come, Theo kissed her and slipped out of the bed into the shower. The jetlag was starting to hit and a headache was beginning to pound the back of his skull.

When he came out, rubbing his hair dry, Jess had obviously fallen back into a deep sleep and was sprawled diagonally across the bed. He dressed quickly and went downstairs. He grabbed a bagel from the pantry, a bottle of water from the refrigerator and went outside to the porch. The bright-white morning sun seared his eyes and he winced, sitting on the swing chair they had always had out there. He alternated gulps of water with air and felt a bit better. He thanked god it was Saturday and he could leave business to Monday. For the next two days, he wanted to settle back into a routine, hang out with Jess and whichever family members decided to interrupt their weekend. Theo smiled to himself wryly – he knew his mom would be back. Once she had a project in mind, there was no stopping her. That she and Jess got along so well was something Theo treasured; Amelia had like Kelly a lot and Kelly had been a sweet girl but she didn’t have the wicked sense of humor that his Mom and Jess shared.

‘Sir?’

Theo looked up to see the head of his security team, Mike, smiling at him.

‘Welcome back, sir. Good holiday?’

Theo shook his hand.

‘Wonderful, thanks. How have things been here?’

‘Non-eventful, thank goodness. No sign of any intruders or snoopers. I’ve put a report on your desk but it’ll be a dull read.’

Theo smiled gratefully. ‘Good, thanks, Mike.’

When Mike had gone back to his post, Theo leaned back and closed his eyes. Jeez, this headache. He felt a wet nose pushing into his hand. Monty or Stan? He looked down. His beloved spaniel was pushing her head under his hand, wanting to be fussed. He picked the wriggling dog up and settled her onto his lap. Stan trotted out of the house and flopped down at his feet. The morning was almost silent except for the breeze through the trees, the wash of water from the beach at the end of the garden. Perfect he thought, ignoring the leaden weight in his stomach. Almost perfect. He wondered if telling Jess about Malcolm would ease that weight – then shook himself. Why should she have to bear his guilt as well as everything else? He could handle anything as long as he had Jess. Still, he reminded himself to call Max and Alan later – he had a responsibility to them.

‘Theo?’ Jess’s voice from inside the house.

‘Out here.’

Her hair was wet from the shower, and in her simple white shirt and Daisy Dukes, even as tired as she still obviously was, she looked so gorgeous that he forgot anything else. He held out his hand and pulled her onto his lap, burying his face in her neck, breathing in the scent of her shampoo and soap. She smelled of home.

‘I just got a text from your mom,’ Jess kissed his forehead. ‘She’s going into town, wants me to go with her, do some wedding shopping.’

She rolled her eyes as Theo laughed. ‘Good luck with that. Want Mike to drive you?’

She smiled. ‘Your mom’s picking me up. We’ll be fine. Can you imagine going up against her? She’s like a ninja.’

Theo chuckled. ‘God, I love you, you absolute nut.’

She stroked his face. ‘Damn. Why didn’t I tell your mom to give an hour instead a half hour?’

Jules had been browsing around a flea market on one of the islands when he found it, the small ornate weapon. The blade was old, dirty but salvageable, the handle metal, encrusted with amethyst and rose quartz. He'd nodded to the stall owner, watched him wrap it in growing excitement. Now, at home, he had cleaned, polished and sharpened the long thin blade. Holding it up, he bounced the light from it into his eyes. And smiled. He imagining it tearing through Jess’s skin, slicing through the arteries and veins that held the precious blood inside of her.

He poured himself a cup of too strong black coffee, gulped it back, savoring the feel of the harsh taste on the back of his throat. He was impatient for all the things he had planned. He wanted them to happen right now. He thought of her, what she might be doing. Maybe fucking that bastard, all trembling honey-skinned limbs, perfect mouth, happy, alive, so far removed from him as was possible. Still belonging to someone else. He smirked: the new friendship he’d made would help with that. Theodore Storm’s mamma. He’d struck up a conversation with her at the Farmer’s Market, helped her with her groceries. Easy, too easy. With his hair bleached so it was almost white, his beard too and colored contacts, he looked nothing like the suave Frenchman everyone was looking for. Fools. He knew she would know him though. His Jessica.

With a familiar ache in his groin, he went and took a shower, jerking off with long, angry strokes. He forced himself to focus, made a conscious switch in his mind. He could not let anything interfere. The next days were to be his greatest achievement and for himself, well, he would receive the greatest prize for the moment the knife slid into her body, she would be his. As his orgasm shattered through him, he sobbed out his longing and his rage until he was utterly spent.

Whidbey Island Farmer’s Market was busy, even for a Saturday morning, but Jess didn’t care. The amount of fresh produce and arts and crafts meant that Jess and Amelia didn’t even notice the time flying by. Amelia was impressed with Jess’s knowledge of cookery and produce and in turn, Jess found herself enjoying the older woman’s company. Afterward, they grabbed a bite to eat in a little bar Amelia used.

‘So… a party,’ She prompted Amelia then took a huge bite of her club BLT sandwich, moaning with delight as the juices from the tomato mixed with the mayonnaise, dripping from her fingers. Amelia smiled indulgently at her. She had become very fond of her future daughter-in-law, her humor, her intelligence, her love for Theo. And thank god, she actually enjoyed her food. Most of the friends Amelia dined with picked at a plate of asparagus. With Jess, Amelia could indulge once in a while.

‘Yes, I thought it would be nice – and seeing as you’re not letting me have my over-the-top society wedding, then I thought we could make the party a little formal, invite some names from the business world.’

Jess sighed inwardly but smiled her agreement. She knew entering Theo’s society world would involve this kind of glad-handing and she couldn’t complain. Up until now, he’d kept things low key. She couldn’t let Amelia down.

‘Of course, that sounds great.’

Amelia chuckled and Jess thought suddenly how Theo resembled her, the fine cheeks bones, the face that could go from haughtily aloof to crumpled and filled with laughter in an instant.

‘Sat that like you mean it, kid. Seriously, though, you don’t have to worry about anything, I’ll arrange it all. All you have to do is turn up and look stunning, which shouldn’t be too hard for you.’

Jess raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, I don’t know, I mean you can take the girl out of the trailer park…’

Amelia laughed but made a moue with her mouth. ‘You do that a lot, Jessie, put yourself down. We Storms don’t do that and you are one of us now.’

Jess flushed and grinned. ‘You are too good to me, Amelia.’

‘Mom.’

‘Mom,’ Jess said shyly and laughed. ‘I’ll have to get used to that.’

After lunch, they headed down to Amelia’s favorite whole foods store and wandered leisurely through the aisles, chatting. Neither of them paid any attention to the blond man with the cap following them.

Jules got as close as he could to them without her noticing. Every time Jessica half turned to speak to Amelia Storm, he would duck back into another aisle but so far, he’d been able to keep up with them. He enjoyed the secrecy, the thrill of discovery. The knife he’d bought at the flea market was in his pocket, newly sharpened. Even knowing it was there was making him hard.

‘Hey, buddy.’

He turned, thankfully out of sight of the women, to face the boy who’d called him. The kid was seventeen at the most, insolently chewing gum. He stank of weed and dried spunk – typical teenager. Jules turned away but the kid grabbed his arm.

‘Ain’t I seen you somewhere?’

Jules smiled coolly. ‘In the fresh produce aisle.’

The sarcasm didn’t bother the kid who laughed as if Jules had made the funniest joke ever. As high as fuck.

‘Nah, man. I mean, on the t.v.’

Fuck. ‘Nope. Never been on t.v.’

‘You sure?’

‘Pretty sure, guy.’

The kid lost interest. ‘Okay, well, sorry to bother you.’

Jules turned back, away from him – and straight into the eye-line of Amelia Storm. She smiled brightly.

‘Clem! How lovely to see you again.’

‘You too, Ms. Storm.’ Ugh. Pretending to be subservient to this rich bitch made him want to throw up. His eyes darted quickly from side to side. Where the hell was Jessica? If she saw him now… he fingered the knife in his pocket.

No. It wasn’t going to be rushed this time. ‘Sorry, I can’t stay and talk today, gotta run.’

He was flattered that she looked disappointed. ‘Oh, I don’t want to keep you then. I would have liked to introduce to my daughter-in-law, well, soon-to-be anyway but she seems to have wandered off…’

Jules tipped his cap to her and said goodbye, walking briskly towards the front of the store. As he strode down one of the empty aisles, he saw her. She turned into it, not even glancing up at him.

God. This was the first time he’d seen her since the night he’d stabbed her when she’d bled for him. He’d forgotten just how fucking beautiful she was, even in a simple sundress with no makeup. Her hair, a dark brown cloud, hung almost to her waist, was soft and messy. She took his breath away. He glanced around. No-one else was around.

A hand over her mouth, push her back against the wall, put the knife in her…

He recalled the feel of that first spurt of blood, her hot blood that had covered his hands that night. Her gasp of agony, of shock. He stared at her now. How the hell did you survive?

She looked up then and he stuck his face low into his collar, slouched down like an old man, and started to walk toward her. Everything in his body was telling him to do it, kill her now but he balled his fists up in his pocket. When he passed her, he slowed, pretending to study something on the other side of the aisle. He turned to make sure she wasn’t looking at him then stepped immediately behind her. He breathed in, the fresh soapy scent of her skin filling his nostrils. Jesus, he was hard, so fucking hard, she smelled so good and…

‘Jess?’

Jules turned and stalked off at the sound of Amelia Storm’s voice. So close, so close… But at least, finally she was back. Jessica was home and now he could see the end of this all.

She was home.

Jess felt frozen inside. The guy in the store, harmless as he may have been, had creeped her out and when he’d stepped behind her, she could have sworn he was going to touch her. She heard his inhalation and her fists had balled, ready to fight. But then Amelia had called her and the guy had gone.

She felt sick. On the way home, Amelia hadn’t noticed a thing but Theo, as soon as he’d seen her face had asked her what was wrong. She just shrugged, told him she had a headache and went upstairs. She sat on the edge of the bath now, nausea roiling around in her stomach. She tried to think why a lone creepy guy could make her feel this scared, this bad.

She knew, of course, she did. It was that he’d reminded her of Jules, that sneaky, stealthy way of his. Jesus. Was she that paranoid now? A wave of sickness hit her and she threw up into the toilet, retching again and again until she was dry heaving.

‘Well, goddamn Miss Wood, you’re beautiful.’ Amelia put on her best Southern-Belle accent as she opened the door to Jess and Theo on the night of their engagement party.

Jess had gone against all of her natural instincts and had poured herself into a long gold shift dress that clung to every curve. The color radiated against her olive skin, setting it aglow, and her tawny mane rippled down her back. Amelia hugged her proudly, her eyes shining. ‘I knew you’d scrub up well, even if you are trailer trash.’

‘Mom!’ Theo was shocked but the two women dissolved into giggles.

‘Told you that would get him,’ Jess nudged her future mother-in-law and Theo sighed.

‘Oh so this is how the rest of my life is going to be, my mom and my wife ganging up on me.’

‘Yep, pretty much.’

‘Live with it, son.’ Amelia squeezed Jess’s arm. ‘You do look absolutely stunning, though.’

Jess's face flushed at Amelia's words. Theo's reaction had been similar, but far more physical and considering that Jess had just got redressed in five minutes flat, she was absurdly pleased with the result.

‘Come on, circulate, there is a lot of people for you to meet.’

Two hours later, Jess was exhausted. All of Amelia’s friends were utterly charming but she could see in their eyes, they were all curious. Not about her, but about what had happened to her. Sex and death sells she thought wryly, searching for Theo. He was nowhere to be seen and, excusing herself, she went to look for him.

Pushing open the door of the study, she heard Max’s voice. She slipped inside quietly, not wanting to interrupt.

‘Theo… you should tell her. You promised each other no more secrets. Jess is tougher than you think she is. God knows, hasn’t she proved that? How many other people would have come back from such a violent past to be the person she is? She can handle this.’

‘She shouldn’t have to! Dammit, Max, how do I tell her what I’ve done, I can hardly believe it myself.’

‘You did what you had to do, Theo.’

‘Did I? I had a choice, Max.’

Max sighed then as he glanced up, he saw Jess, frozen. He paled and glanced at Theo.

‘Theo...’ He nodded towards Jess and Theo stood, his face a mask of distress.

‘Sweetheart…’ He came to her immediately but she backed away, his eyes full of pain.

‘What did you do, Theo? Tell me.’

She gazed up at the man she loved and waited for him to break her heart…

Love With Me Part Nine

Seconds felt like hours.

Theo Storm watched Jess’s face as she took in what he had told her. ‘I killed Malcolm. I broke his neck. We covered it up’. Eleven words. Eleven words that could finally, inexorably rip them apart.

For the first time, he wished Jess’s eyes weren’t such a deep, deep brown. He couldn’t read them. Jess turned to look at Max, who gave a short nod, unsmiling, obviously worried about her reaction. Jess turned back to Theo.

‘I would have done the same.’

Theo had to grab the top of a chair to stop his legs collapsing with relief. Relief and astonishment. He saw Max’s whole body slump. Jess reached out and put her hands on his face.

‘I love you and I know you. Malcolm was a monster, as much as Jules is. He gave Jules an alibi for Josh’s murder – that, or he was the one who killed him. I’m glad he’s dead. I’m fucking over-the-moon he’s dead. I wish you had told me sooner, is all, but I get why you didn’t.’

He couldn’t help himself then and pulled her into his arms and kissed her fiercely. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Max put his hand on his heart, smile and then slip out. Jess started to giggle as the kiss went on and finally they broke apart.

‘Dude, just sometimes, I do need oxygen.’

He grinned down at her, so lovely in the gold dress which clung to her soft curves, molded to her high, rounded breasts. ‘Damn, Jess, how’d I get so lucky to find you?’

She answered him by pressing her body into his, cupping his cock through his trousers. At her touch, it responded immediately and then he was lifting her onto the desk, pushing the silk of her dress up to her waist as she unzipped his pants. She pulled his shirt open and teased his nipples with her tongue as he tugged her legs around his waist and plunged into her, lifting her easily into his arms. Jess shook her hair back from her face and grinned at him.

‘You wanna fuck against the bookcase, big boy?’

God, he loved it when she was playful. He felt his cock thicken inside her, her soft vagina clenching around him, urging him on. He pressed her back against the books and thrust harder, finding the rhythm as they kissed, and bit, and sucked at each other. Jess dug her nails into his butt as she came, muffling her cries by burying her face in his neck. Theo came and came, his entire groin jerking hard as his semen pumped into her.

Catching their breath, they kissed tenderly but didn’t speak. There was no need. Tidying themselves up, smoothing down their clothes, Jess giggling while she shoved a handful of tissue between her legs, they kissed again and nodded. ‘Time to get back to the party, beautiful.’

He held the door open and as she passed, he ran a fingertip gently down her bare back. She shivered with pleasure and turned to smile at him. Something had changed in that room. A deeper connection had been forged.

Theo couldn’t help but feel good about that.

The party had gone on until the early hours and the sun was coming up when Theo and Jess finally made their way home. It was another hour until they made it to the bedroom and then they fell onto the bed, exhausted, exhilarated and slept, locked in each other’s arms.

Jess moved through the house, ethereal and weightless in her wedding gown, her long hair tumbling to the center of her back. Every room was bathed in a soft, gold glow and she drifted through the house, calling for Theo. She wanted to see him, touch him, see his face when he saw her in the dress, and know she was his for all time…

Then he was there, at the end of the hallway, smiling at her. She moved toward him only to realize he wasn’t smiling… it was a rictus, there were too many teeth and his face wasn’t Theo’s handsome face but a contorted parody of it.

‘Come here, Jessica.’ Jules. It was Jules. She tried to turn away but the Theo/Jules monster was pulling her to him, closer, closer, his hands were metal, his fingers knives and he slashed at her, spattering hot blood across the dress, cutting her open and the pain, the pain…

Jess woke up, shaking. Theo slept beside her, his own face creased with stress. She moved closer to him and he stirred and locked his arms around her. She lay there, unable to sleep. A plan was forming in her mind. Something she in her life would never have dreamed she would have considered.

Killing another human being.

‘Hey, Mrs. Storm.’

Amelia turned and smiled. She really was a stunning woman, graceful, patrician. Her hair hung in a smooth bob around her face, a face untouched by a plastic surgeon.

‘Clem! How many times have I asked you to call me Amelia? Good to see you.’

She kissed him on the cheek and Jules felt his junk tighten. Really, dude? They were standing at the edge of the harbor, watching the ferries slink in and out of the terminus. It was a clear Washington day and Mt. Rainier rose over the Evergreen state. The weather was warm as Jules and Amelia walked slowly back into town.

‘I’ve got a lead on those champagnes you wanted for your son’s wedding,’ Jules mentioned casually and Amelia grasped his arm.

‘Oh, you are kind. Clem, can I treat you to lunch? I’m so grateful for all your help, really, I can’t believe how quickly the wedding day is coming.’

They walked down to a small family restaurant where Amelia had parked her car and they ordered a crab salad each. As they ate, Jules studied her with a smile on his face.

‘So the wedding of the year is almost upon us, hey?’

Amelia rolled her eyes. ‘For a wedding that the bride and groom wanted to be small and private. It’s entirely my own fault. I love Jessie like a daughter and after everything they’ve been through, I just want it to be perfect.’

‘I’m sure they’ll love it, whatever you’ve planned. Tell me more about Jessica.’ Go on, tell me how much better you know her than I do. I dare you.

Amelia smiled, a doting look on her voice, and she leaned forward conspiratorially. ‘I can’t tell you how right she is for Theo. I was beginning to despair that he’d ever find the right woman for him but as soon as I saw them together. She’s had a very traumatic past, did you know? Her step-brother is a monster, there’s no other word for it.’ Her face had hardened.

Jules was suddenly aware he was clutching the table in anger. He released his hand and put it over hers. ‘Tell me, Amelia. You know you can always confide in me.’

Amelia smiled and Jules could see something shut down in her. ‘I don’t want to talk about it all of a sudden. When I think of her tiny body in that hospital bed… would you excuse me, Clem? I need to go use the bathroom.’

After lunch, he walked her to her car. ‘Thank you for lunch. Next time, my treat.’

She smiled at him. ‘You’re on. Look, I have to get to Theo’s but I’ll catch up with you soon.

‘Look forward to it.’ He weighted the words with meaning, and was gratified by her deep flush.’

She got into the car and tried the ignition. Nothing. He rearranged his face to register confusion. ‘Pop the hood for me, Amelia.’

A minute later. ‘Sorry, I can’t see why it won’t start. Why don’t I give you a ride?’

Ten minutes later, he pulled the car into Theo’s driveway.

‘Thank you, Clem, you’re a lifesaver. If I missed this delivery guy one more time, they’ll give up and Jessie will have to get married naked.’

The familiar tug of his groin when he thought of Jessica’s smooth skin, her curves. He tried to smile. ‘No problem.’

The security guy gave him the once over but Jules could see that he didn’t recognize him. Good. Amelia led the way into the house and Jules couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face. Last time he had been here, Jess had been helpless under his knife as he stabbed her over and over. In the hallway, the wooden floorboards were still stained with her blood. Amelia must have seen him staring at the large stain.

‘Jess won’t let Theo replace the floorboards. She says it’s a reminder of the night she survived. I don’t get that, but it’s not my house.’

From the set of her mouth, he could see that she disapproved. He touched her arm, stroked it gently. ‘Don’t think about it. She’s fine now, right?’

Amelia sighed and went into the kitchen. He followed her and sat at the kitchen table while she made them coffee. He breathed in the scents of the room: wood, fresh air, newly laundered linen and faintly of Jess’ gardenia perfume. He was almost giddy with glee at the thought that later, she’d be here, in this room, completely unaware he’d been here.

‘Something funny?’

He shook his head. ‘No, just, you know… it’s a beautiful place.’

Amelia smiled, handing him a cup of coffee. ‘Isn’t it? Look, Clem, I’d like to invite you to the wedding, as my guest.’

He put his hands up. ‘Oh, no, thank you, that’s kind but I don’t know anyone here, really I’d feel awkward.’ And besides, there will be no wedding – not when the bride-to-be is found dead.

She argued with him for a moment but seeing his mind was set, gave up. He smiled. ‘I’m sorry but how about, to make it up to you, I take you out sometime?’

Amelia’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Are you asking me out, Clem? Because I’m old enough to be your mother.’

He smiled his best, most perfect charming smile. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. And yes, I am asking you out.’ The idea had come to him just then and he congratulated himself.

What could it hurt? Or rather whom?

Jess was in the middle of a humongous yawn when she suddenly noticed Theo, leaning against her office door, grinning that smile that made his eyes crinkle. Hurriedly she covered her mouth.

‘Too late, I saw it.’ He squatted down on the floor where she was sitting surrounded by papers. He looked through a couple. ‘You know when we talked about taking it easy your first few days back?’

Jess smiled ruefully. ‘I got immersed. They really did a great job whilst I was away. I’m not even sure they needed me to come back in, telling them what to do.’ She looked a little tired. ‘Maybe I should take a step back.’

Theo leaned over to kiss her, cup her cheek in his hand. ‘You just need to get your confidence back. They were always going to run the day-to-day stuff smoothly, you put together a great team. It’s the stuff that goes above and beyond that you’re here for, the creative side, they what-else-can-we-do, the difference between this and other art foundations. That’s your calling, Jessie.’

She shook her head, laughing. ‘See? You always know exactly how to make everything alright. I love you.’ She kissed him, wriggling across the floor so she could slide her arms into his jacket and pull it off. Theo gently pulled a spaghetti strap from her shoulder, kissing the silky skin there, trailing his lips across her collarbone to her throat, pressing his lips to the hollow. Jess sighed happily and Theo pushed her onto the floor, covering her body with his.

‘Everyone’s gone home, Jessie. It’s past eight…’ He used his finger to pull the strap down further, exposing her breast. His mouth covered her nipple, sucking and pulling at it as his tongue flicked and teased the small bud. She moaned softly, closing her eyes at his touch.

‘That’s it, Jessie,’ he murmured, ‘I’m in charge now, just relax.’

She felt him pull her dress down to her waist, his mouth warm and soft on her breasts, her stomach. She stroked his hair as his tongue traced a pattern, his lips against her belly, kissing her scars as his fingers pulled down her panties. God, she would never get tired of this man’s mouth on her, his tongue tracing a pattern up and down her sex, flicking and lashing around her clit. He bit down gently on the swollen bud as she shivered through an orgasm, then another as he slid two fingers inside her, then a third until he was filling her, watching her face flush and change as he caressed her, his thumb stroking a maddening pattern across her clit. He kissed her deeply, feeling her breathless and excited, her mouth soft and warm, as pink as a berry, hungry for him. She tensed and sigh, coming again and again under his touch. Only after she’d come for the fifth time did he release her, allowing her to unzip his pants and reach for his cock. She wiggled down his body and he sucked in a breath as her mouth closed over the wide head, circling the sensitive tip until he was half-crazed then sucking and teasing it until it was engorged and so hard that all he could think about was getting inside of her.

Jess straddled him and he slid his hands between her legs and spread the soft peachy folds of her sex. She gripped his cock, sliding the tip up and down her wet sex before guiding him inside and lowering herself onto him, moaning as he filled her, the muscles of her cunt gripping and squeezing him as they moved. Jess thrust her hips against his and they both watched his cock slide in and out of her. She smiled down at him, her eyes sleepy with desire.

‘Remember that time we fucked in that alley?’

Theo stroked her thighs. ‘Of course, I do. How about the ferry?’

‘The nightclub?’

They both laughed. ‘God, I love you, Miss Wood,’ Theo laced his fingers through hers.

‘I can’t wait to be your wife, Mr. Storm.’

In one movement he moved so she was beneath him, gazing up at him with adoring eyes as he trust his cock deep inside of her, feeling his climax build. Jess arched her back, pressing her belly onto his as she came, a beautiful pink blush sweeping up her golden body. There really was nothing to compare to Jessica Wood’s beauty when she reached orgasm, Theo grinned to himself, as he came, his cock pumping hard spurts of come inside her. He loved that his seed would be inside her for a few days, that she would carry him with her. The fantasy he’d had months ago, about Jess pregnant with his child, came back to him. They’d never discussed kids – hell, he’d never wanted them until he’d met her. Now he couldn’t think of anything better than a bunch of mini-Jess’s running around.

After Jules is dead.

That thought came unbidden now but it obsessed him. What was he turning into? But he knew, he knew, Jess was thinking the same thing. There was a new fierceness to her, a resilience that he loved. She kept surprising him.

‘What are you thinking, big guy? Your face has gone all… wookie.’

Theo bust out laughing. ‘Wookie?’

She giggled. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t think of the right word.’

He was still laughing. ‘So you went with Wookie?’

She snuggled deeper into his arms. ‘Tell me.’

‘I was thinking that I would anything to keep you safe. Forever safe, not just right now safe. Safe.’

‘Wookie Safe.’

He chuckled. ‘Wookie Safe.’

She kissed his jaw. ‘I trust you completely, Theo. I trust in you, in us. Just know I’m in this too. I would do anything to keep you safe. Wookie safe.’

He looked down at her lovely face, so earnest, so strong. ‘Always.’

‘Always.’

Amelia had told the security guard that ‘Clem’ would be going in out of the property to deliver the wine and champagne for the wedding and to expect him. She couldn’t have made it easier for him. The mini-cameras and microphones had been in their bedroom for good forty-eight hours now. Trouble was… Theo and Jessica hadn’t been. He’d taken Amelia to lunch earlier and he discovered that they were away at a conference until tomorrow night.

Patience. Patience. This is the long game. But he was getting antsy. He needed blood on his hands.

The girl had given the tiniest squeak before his hand went over her mouth. He dragged her into the trees, away from the tourist trails of the Gazzam Lake Preserve on Bainbridge Island. There were signs everywhere telling people not come here at night. Clearly these kids took no notice. He’d watched her separate from her friends, lag behind them as she checked her phone. Her black hair swung to her shoulders, her face sweet and plump. She was young, this one. She reminded him of the girl at the private school he’d been sent away to. Hannah. His first. He smiled at the memory. She’d complained about him to the faculty, asked them to make him stay away. He had stayed away, respected her wishes. Right up to the moment that he’d plunged his knife into her.

‘Please don’t….. don’t…’

The girl he’d taken had now fainted. He pushed up her shirt and waited. She stirred and opened her eyes. She looked at the knife in terror, disbelief. His hand was still clamped on her face and she shook her head wildly to free her mouth, to scream, to beg him.

Jessica hadn’t begged. He wanted her to plead with him to spare her. He needed her to do that.

Hannah had begged him just as he had shown her the blade and smiled tenderly at her.

And then she, like this girl, had bled for him.

Max was waiting for them in Jess’s office as they arrived back, hand-in-hand, in the Seattle office. He hugged them both and shut the door behind them, chatting easily about their conference. He grinned at Jess.

‘You, lady, are a star.’

She looked at Theo, who was equally confused. Max handed her a magazine, one of the top glossies. She saw her name on the cover and looked up in amazement. Max nodded.

‘They’ve done a feature. A good one, Jess, before you make that face.’

‘But I didn’t give an interview or even have pictures taken…’

He took the magazine back and flipped to the centrefold. He held it up. The full page photo of Jess was of her laughing with Theo at some event they’d attended; the smaller photo was taken from her previous life at the college, working with Gerry. The headline read ‘Fighting Back: The woman who tamed Theo Storm and survived a psychopath’

Jess took the magazine from Max and read the article, Theo leaning over her shoulder to read it. It was a puff-piece but a well-written one and very positive about Jess and the Stormfront Foundation. Still, Jess looked uncomfortable and Max leaned forward.

‘I know you don’t like this sort of thing, Jess, but in this case, I think it’s a good thing. Your name is out there anyway, it has been since you and Theo met and with the attempted murder…it’s time you controlled the narrative. You’re the head of one of the largest arts foundations in the world. Yeah, okay, some are going to say it’s because of Theo but no-one can argue you haven’t made it a success. If it hadn’t been for the… well, your leave of absence, then we would be even bigger. This time next year, under your direction, we will be.’

Max’s words brought tears to her eyes and, embarrassed, she looked at Theo who nodded. He moved to sit next to her, picked up her hand. ‘Max’s right. And from a security point of view, your visibility will make it even hard for anyone who wishes you harm to get near you.’

Jess nodded slowly. ‘Okay. Okay then, well, what…?’

‘We’ve been getting requests, interviews – print media and t.v., photoshoots.’

‘Oh god.’

Both Theo and Max chuckled at her expression. ‘Listen, my idea is this. A press junket. One big t.v. interview. One photo shoot and interview with one top magazine. That’s it.’

Jess sighed. ‘All they want to know will be how it felt to be stabbed by my rapey step-brother.’

Theo nodded. ‘Because that’s all they know. You give them a glimpse of you, Jess Wood, I promise it’ll change the story.’

‘I feel like you’re both biased. I’m not that interesting.’

She couldn’t help but giggle at the synchronized eye-rolling of the two men. ‘Fine, fine, but you have to help me prepare.’

Max grinned and Theo kissed her cheek. ‘I think a charity event would be appropriate to make the most of the publicity.’

‘Now you’re talking.’ Jess leaned into Theo’s big body. ‘You sure the exposure will be okay? Security wise?’

Theo slid his arms around her waist and kissed her temple. ‘Wookie safe, I promise.’

Max looked askance at them and Jess grinned. ‘Long story.’

Max was collecting up his papers. ‘Okay, I’ll go start the ball rolling. See you two later.’ He headed for the door then stopped, and turned back. ‘And by the way, stop screwing in your office. You’re corrupting the security staff.’

With a wide grin, he waved and disappeared while Jess buried her head in her hands and Theo started laughing. ‘So much for your latent exhibitionism. To be fair, the security team are probably all in love with you anyways.’ He pulled her, still blushing furiously, to her feet and kissed her softly.

She rubbed the tip of her nose against his. ‘You’re presuming they’re straight, Mr. Storm, they could just as easy be enjoying your perfect body.’ She pulled his shirt out of his pants and ran her hands underneath it. Theo grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corner, obviously enjoying the feel of her hands on his chest.

‘I’m not sure this is quite what Max meant, but I’m okay with it,’ he said, then pressed his lips against hers. She kissed him back then pulled away, closing his office door and locking it.

‘Technically,’ she said with a grin, ‘This is my office and he didn’t say anything about not screwing in here.’ She closed the blinds, then in one easy fluid movement, peeled her dress off, over her head, shaking out her long dark hair. The dark red burgundy underwear she wore was glorious against her honey-colored skin.

Theo was at her side in two long strides, scooping her up into his arms and laying her on the desk. He freed his already ramrod hard cock as she wriggled out of her panties and reached for him. He hitched her legs around his waist and thrust into her hard as she gasped. She was already so wet for him that they moved together easily and he held her hands above her head as he fucked her, urged on her cries of pleasure. It was a quick, hard fuck and soon they were coming, and laughing and kissing, dressing quickly as they heard other people moving around in the hallway outside. Theo kissed her deeply then disappeared to his own office.

Jess sat at her desk, catching her breath, grinning to herself. She opened her laptop and logged onto her email system, glancing through the subject lines to see if anything was urgent. She might have missed it if she hadn’t accidently clicked on the spam email above it. She deleted the spam and the next email showed up automatically. Her heart froze.

You look so beautiful when he’s fucking you. Make the most of the time you have left, Jessica.

I’m coming for you.

They were back. Jules grinned to himself as he watched the footage taken from their bedroom. He wasn’t disappointed, they screwed each other long into the night – not that he paid any attention to Theo Storm. All his attention was on Jessica as she fucked and was fucked, her beautiful, golden body all fluid limbs and soft curves. The camera he had installed was high definition and he enjoyed the fact he could still the see the vivid scars on her belly, the marks of his weapon. I did that. He closed his eyes, reliving the feeling of tearing through that tender flesh.

It was the way they were with each other after they’d made love that got him. Angered him. They were tender, intimate, fun-loving, best friends. Julien Gachet hadn’t had any friends to share that kind of closeness with - certainly not women. To him, they were just something to fuck. But not Jessica. He found himself enraged by the obvious closeness, the trust between Jessica and Theo Storm. Why couldn’t that have been him?

Because you raped and terrorized her. All that mattered to you was possession.

He shook himself. Jessica was his, despite what he could see was between her and Storm. She would die by his, Jules’ hand, and soon. She would never become Mrs. Storm, he was determined.

He shut off the video and sat back in his chair. Going incognito was frustrating; he wanted Jessica to feel that fear of him every day, be cowed and cornered by him. To live in terror. Happiness ruined. He smiled to himself. He would have a little fun. Jules Gachet may not be a good businessman but he did know about computers.

Time to let Jessica know he was still waiting, still watching. Let he know he was still coming to kill her.

Amelia Storm looked over her glasses at her future daughter-in-law and frowned. Jess was quiet, staring blankly at the menu of the seafood place Amelia had chosen for lunch. Amelia could tell she was zoned out, her dark eyes sad and tired. The waiter arrived to take their order and Amelia put her hand over Jess’ and the younger woman started then smiled ruefully.

‘Sorry, I’m Ms. Space-cakes today.’ Jess shifted in her chair and blinked. ‘I’ll just have a club sandwich, I think, please.’

Amelia ordered the same and the waiter, casting an admitting glance in Jess’s direction, disappeared.

‘What’s up, Jessie?’ Amelia kept her tone light, knowing that if something was worrying Jess, then it probably had to do with her asshole of a step-brother. Jess sighed and rubbed her eyes.

‘Jules. He’s been sending me messages. Threats. Nothing I haven’t heard before but, stupidly, I was beginning to think he’d made his escape and was staying away. God, I’m so stupid.’

Her whole body slumped. Amelia studied her. ‘Have you told Theo?’

Jess nodded. ‘We have no secrets, not anymore. He’s mad, of course, but Jules used an untraceable I.P. address to send the emails so…’

Amelia sipped her water. ‘Have you ever talked about the night you were stabbed? To anyone? Theo, or a psychologist?’

Jess shook her head. ‘No. I thought it would be better not to. I don’t want Theo to see me like that, broken and dying. I mean, I know he found me but I want him to focus on the fact I survived. And no, I’m afraid I’ve gone for the head-in-the-sand method of coping.’

Amelia nodded. ‘Understandable but I wonder, if you talked about it, if you named it, it would become less of a terror for you. You could talk to me, you know that.’

Jess chewed on her lip. ‘Possibly. But would I say? Jules stabbed me, it was painful and terrifying and I thought I was dead. He was brutal, merciless. All I could do was lay there and take it, I was so concussed from the mirror hitting me. He used a piece of the mirror to stab me, I assume, because he knew it would be more painful…. see, that,’ she broke off and pointed at Amelia’s face, which had paled and turned green so sickened was she, ‘That right there is why I don’t talk about it, Amelia. It just horrible and sickening and it won’t ever leave me. It might even happen again and I…’

‘Stop. Stop.’ Amelia held her hands up. ‘It will not happen again, Jessie. I won’t permit it. Nor Theo nor any of us. You are loved, you are protected.’ She cut her eyes at the huge bodyguard sitting a few chairs away. ‘If he steps foot on the island, or even in Seattle, we will know.’

The waiter brought their food then and they thanked him, the strain in both of their voices obviously. They ate in silence for a time then Jess put her sandwich down.

‘I’m sorry, Amelia, I shouldn’t have told you all of that.’

‘I think you needed to. I think you’ve been keeping it all in for too long to protect the rest of us. You are my daughter, Jess, and I love you. Let me carry some of the weight.’

Jess had tears in her eyes and she dashed them away impatiently. ‘I love you too. And I’d love to change the subject now. What’s happening with you?’

Amelia smiled. ‘I think I’m seeing someone.’

Jess gaped at her. ‘What? You kept that quiet. Who is it?’

Amelia grinned her wicked smile. ‘He’s a younger man. Yes, I’m a cougar or whatever they call it.’

Jess looked impressed, grinning at her friend. ‘Have you…’

‘Jessica Wood, you are a nymphomaniac. No, we haven’t, we’re just dating for now.’

‘Will he be your plus one?’

‘To the wedding?’

‘No to the circus. Of course to the wedding.’

She rolled her eyes at Jess’s wide grin. ‘You are a pain in the butt, girl. I don’t know. I mean, I enjoy Clem’s company but…’

‘His name is Clem?’ There was a catch in Jess’s voice and Amelia’s eyebrows shot up.

‘Problem?’

Jess shook her head. ‘Sorry, it’s just, it reminded me, Clement is Jules’ middle name.’

Amelia patted her hand. ‘And about a million other men’s first name. Anyway, Clem is a blue-eyed blonde.’

‘Does he live on the island?’

Amelia nodded. ‘I actually ran into him a few weeks ago, the day we went to the farmer’s market. I had hoped to introduce you but he said he had to go.’

‘Next time.’

Amelia dropped Jess off at home and she walked through the house, looking for Theo. He was in the garden playing with the dogs. Jess stood at the French windows watching them, smiling. Dressed in a simple vintage tee and jeans, Theo looked like a catalog model but acted like a kid, teasing the two barking dogs, throwing their toys for them to fetch.

Oh, you are my love, she thought, watching his athletic body as he twisted and ran with the animals. He looked up and saw her, and the biggest smile stretched across his face, it made her weak. He jogged over to her and kissed her hello.

‘So much for spending the morning working,’ she grinned at him. He shrugged good-naturedly.

‘What’s the use of being the big boss unless you can blow off work once in a while?’

He followed her inside, watched as she grabbed a pitcher of cold lemonade from the chiller. She smiled at him, pulling an errant leaf from his hair.

‘Big kid. Talking of which, your mom has a new boyfriend.’

Theo nodded. ‘She told me.’

‘And you didn’t mention him?’

Theo shrugged, pulling her to him. ‘Seen it all before. I wouldn’t say my mom’s mercenary about her love life but she’s not interested in candy and flowers. Very few people make the cut after the third date.’

‘She seems pretty keen. Even mentioned double dating.’

He rolled his eyes. ‘God, please no.’ Jess laughed.

‘I thinks she was kidding. Anyway…’

‘Anyway?’

She slipped her arms around his waist and relaxed against his hard body. ‘I’m actually really tired.’

‘You sick?’ His hand went automatically to her forehead but she shook her head.

‘Nope, just tired. I think everything is catching up with me.’

He stroked his big hands down her back. ‘Wanna go nap?’

Upstairs, she changed into her sweats and curled up on the bed. It wasn’t more than a few minutes later when Theo and the dogs were snuggled up with her and she smiled to herself. This right here is all that matters. Their family.

She fell asleep smiling but the nightmares still returned. Ever since the messages had started to arrive, she’d had at least one a week and it was always the same.

You look so beautiful when he’s fucking you.

Jules forcing his way into her bed, into her body.

Make the most of the time you have left, Jessica.

Knives. Cutting. Hurting. Killing.

I’m going to kill you, baby girl.

Blood. So much blood.

I’m going to stab you until the light in your eyes goes out. You won’t survive the next time, Jessica.

I’m coming for you.

She’d learned how to wake herself from these nightmares without the screaming, without scaring Theo. Stan whimpered a little as she slid quietly out of bed and padded quickly to the bathroom down the hallway.

She just about made it before she threw up.

Sunday morning, Max came over from the mainland. Since Josh’s death, he’d been more or less a homebody but seeing Theo, Jess and Amelia more than made up for it. He and Theo – already like brothers – had grown even closer and he loved Jess like a sister. There was not one part of him that blamed either Theo or Jess for what had happened – lord knows they’d been through enough themselves.

But he missed Josh. He missed the fun, the love, the sex. There had been no doubt in his mind that he and Josh would grow old together. None. And now…

Amelia prodded him. ‘Hey, you still with me? I need you to decide some of this. Which champagne?’

They were at a little store which sold artisanal wines and champagnes. He looked over what Amelia was holding out to him.

‘Amelia, how do I know? I know nothing about champagne.’

‘Sacrilege.’ The owner of the deep, resonant voice stepped out of the backroom. Tall, broad and with a wide gap-toothed grin, he greeted Amelia like an old friend. Amelia turned to Max.

‘Max, this is my good friend, Seth. Seth, this is Max. He’s single, and handsome and knows nothing about champagne. I have to go grab something from another store. I’ll be back in ten.’

And just like that, she was gone. Max blinked at Seth. ‘Did that just happen?’

Seth laughed, a deep rumble from the center of his big chest. ‘I find, with Amelia, the best thing to do is just go with it.’

Max looked at this huge lumberjack of a man and a slow smile spread across his face. He was silent for a long moment then said. ‘You know what? I think you’re right.’

He saw Seth’s shoulders slump with relief and realized he was just as nervous as Max – even if he had been in it with Amelia. Seth nodded.

‘Good. So… you really know nothing about champagne?’

It was paranoia. Plain, simple paranoia. She was at home, safe, guarded, enclosed. And yet she felt watched, observed. Hunted.

Jess reasoned with herself. Yeah, okay, Jules was still threatening her life but all the emails had gone to her work email, Theo’s private security team and the detective had reported no sightings in Seattle. You’re wigging, girl.

But the fatigue she was experiencing wasn’t helping. She had no idea where it had come from and now, feeling too emotional, the paranoia was really starting to get to her. There was something else bugging her and it was Amelia. Well, not Amelia, but her new paramour. Clem. Amelia had tried, twice now, to arrange a double date but Clem had canceled both times, pleading work. Clem… Clement… Julien Clement Gachet… Oh wow, you really need to get out, girl.

She went to find Mike, Theo’s head of security. She liked the man, he was no nonsense and commit to his role but he also had a great sense of humor. They had long chats about his wife and kids before and Jess counted on him as a friend.

‘Hey Mikey,’ she smiled at him now. ‘Do you have some time, I could really do with going into town, getting some air?’

‘Sure thing.’

She drove them into the town, parked next to the bookstore and was about to get out when she saw Amelia on the far side of the street, talking to a blonde man with a cap pulled low over his eyes.

Jess’s skin prickled and itched. The guy was the same creep that had made her feel so uncomfortable in the store all those weeks ago. She tried to reason with herself: maybe he’d been about to say hello and was shy. Then why did he walk off when Amelia had called you?

It wasn’t just that: his build, the shape of his body, the way he stood. He was dressed like a good old boy but that posture was too perfect, too studied.

‘Jess?’

She’d forgotten that Mike was beside her in the car. She turned to him. ‘Sorry, I was miles away.’

Mike nodded to Amelia. ‘You want to go say hello?’

Jess looked across the street again, saw Amelia kiss the guy on the mouth. She looked so happy. Just go over, introduce yourself, put your fears to rest. It’s not Jules, of course, it isn’t. Amelia had seen photos of Jules, hell, the whole of America had. She shook her head.

‘No, I think she’s busy. I just want to go grab a book or two then go home. That okay?’

She could tell Mike didn’t believe her. His eyes narrowed slightly, studying her, searching for anything he could help her with. She gave him a wan smile.

‘Everything’s cool, Mike, I’m just not feeling myself lately.’

Mike discreetly checked out the bookstore before nodding that it was safe. Jess got out of the car and went in. She felt a bit embarrassed at the fuss but no one in the bookstore seemed to care. They chatted with her, friendly and knowledgeable about the books she wanted. She wandered down the aisles, breathing in the smell of books and a calm settled over her. She was being paranoid.

She was nose-deep in an art history book when it happened. The feeling. She was being watched. She looked up in time to see the retreating figure of a man disappearing around the corner of the aisle. The cap he was wearing, she recognized immediately. She threw the book down and rushed after the guy.

‘Hey… wait!’

But he was heading out of the door. She rushed after him, down the street.

‘Hey! Clem!’ She was screeching now but she didn’t care about the stares people on the street were giving her. She had to know. Now.

‘Clem’ didn’t turn at her call, just headed around the corner. Jess cursed to herself and anger roiled through her. ‘Hey! Jules! Come and get me, you cowardly son-of-a-bitch.’

She was almost running when two strong arms curled around her. She struggled furiously.

‘Jess! Calm down. Calm. Down.’ Mike’s arms were too strong and she gave up and slumped. Mike wrangled her back to the car and locked the doors.

‘What the hell do you think you were doing? You never run off like that, I just…. god.’ Mike had never raised his voice to her before and Jess suddenly came down from her frenzy and stared at him, ashamed, humbled. His face was red but his eyes were scared. The adrenaline left her body and then tears started to drop down her cheeks.

‘Oh god, Mike, I’m so sorry… I just got it into my head that…. Jesus, Mike, I don’t know what’s happening to me, I’m so sorry….’

And she began to sob in earnest. Mike patted her hand awkwardly. When the sobs turned to gasps and sniffs, he made her look at him.

‘Given everything you’ve gone through,’ he started, his voice calm, reasonable,’ It wouldn’t be a surprise if you rocked back a little. Hell, a lot. No-one should ever have to go through what you did and god knows, Mr. Storm, his mother, me, we are all here for you, Jess. But look, I think you should talk to someone. A professional.’ He sighed. ‘I’m sorry if I’m overstepping but I think sometimes it helps to hear it from someone outside your family. Did you really think that guy was Jules?’

Jess was sucking in great lungfuls of breath. ‘I don’t know, Mike. It’s like I’m losing all reason.’ She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘You’re right, though. I should see someone.’

Mike was quiet for a moment. ‘You want me to tell Mr. Storm about this?’

Jess shook her head. ‘No, but I will. We promised no secrets.’

At home, Jess called her doctor and made an appointment. Her brain felt like it was on a spin cycle, so much happening in such a short time. Her stomach roiled and the pain in her chest became an overwhelming, searing sadness.

Her cell phone beeped. A text.

I miss you. I love you. I’ll be home soon. T x.

She wanted to feel soothed, feel loved but she just felt cold and sick. She went around the house, locking all the doors and windows. She made some tea and took it to bed with her, locking her bedroom door. Blockade. Her whole body ached from tension but she felt hollow. She sat on the edge of the bed, numb. Should she report the incident to the police? What would she say? Amelia looked so happy. Embarrassment flooded through as she realized that people on the island had witnessed her breakdown, would be talking about the crazy lady. Was that all her life would be remembered for? The lady who got stabbed and went crazy?

But Jules was still out there. He still wanted to kill her, and she knew, he wouldn’t care if it was the last thing he did. She read the message from Theo again, trying to feel something but then she turned her phone off, put it in the drawer of the nightstand. She went over to the window, checked it was locked. When she got into bed, fully dressed, she slid her hand under the pillow, felt the cold, reassuring presence of the knife she had brought up from the kitchen. As soon as she turned out the light, the tears came and she sobbed until, exhausted, she fell asleep.

‘She’s different.’ Theo’s handsome face was wan, dark circles under his eyes. ‘I really think she might be sick.’

He was sitting with Max in the bar down the street from the Stormfront building. It was late afternoon and Seattle was having a pretty comprehensive monsoon. Theo watched the rain lash against the windows of the bar. Jess was at her doctor’s appointment and Theo tried not to feel hurt when she told him she needed to go alone. She had told him about the breakdown and he had seen the raw pain in her eyes. He wanted to try to reach her but she’d told him firmly that this was something she needed to do herself.

Max looked at him in sympathy. Theo made a frustrated sound. ‘The thing is… what if she isn’t paranoid? What if Jules is on the island, biding his time, waiting for that one second when she’s not protected? She could be taken from me in a heartbeat and… Jesus, I’m sorry.’

He looked appalled but Max shook his head. ‘It’s okay. I understand that it’s the part about having to live knowing the person you love could be killed any moment. Josh was a total shock. No-one expected it. In your situation, you’re living with the fact this madman wants to murder Jess and is out there somewhere. I don’t know how either of you live like that.’

Theo felt his body slump, both terrified and comforted by Max’s words. ‘It’s hell. It’s actual hell. Maybe it’s payback from the universe for getting to love someone as amazing as Jess. In that case, I wouldn’t change a thing except I wish it was me taking the physical brunt of it all. How…’ His voice broke and he looked away from his friend. ‘How could anyone do that to her? He ripped her apart, Max.’

Max put an arm around his shoulders. ‘Maybe you should go get some help too.’

Theo shook his head. ‘All I need is Jess. And you. And my mom, but don’t tell her that.’

Max smirked. ‘That’ll cost you. But seriously, dude, anytime, you know that. We’re doing everything we can to protect her. Did she really think your mom’s new boyfriend was Jules?’

‘She says not now. She thinks she was being paranoid.’

‘Couldn’t hurt to check it out.’

‘Nope but then we don’t want to upset my mom either. That’s what Jess is worried about.’

Theo signaled for more drinks then looked at his friend, a wan smile on his face. ‘Give me some good news, dude.’

He was surprised to see Max color, a shy smile on his face. ‘I have a date.’

That floored Theo and a broad smile crossed his face. ‘Dude…that’s so cool. Where’d you meet him?’

Max colored some more then gave it up. ‘Your mom introduced us.’

A beat then they busted up. ‘Dude, god, I’m never letting you forget that my mom gets your dates for you, never.’

Ten minutes later, in the car, Theo was still laughing. God, it felt good to just laugh. He swung the car into the parking lot of the doctor’s office. At the reception, the receptionist told him that Ms. Wood was still in with the doctor.

‘She shouldn’t be too long, have a seat.’ She was beaming, swinging from left to right on her chair, her eyes shining hopefully at him.

Theo nodded, gave her a tight smile and dropped into one of the overstuffed chairs. He picked up one of the glossy magazines, the gossipy kind who pander to the celebrities. In the ‘Sightings’ section, there was a picture of him and Jess, leaving a restaurant a month previously. God, look at her, he thought, so freaking beautiful….and she’s mine. You’re a lucky s.o.b., Storm. Jess was smiling at him in the picture, her long hair tucked into a messy bun at the nape of her neck, the dark red dress she was wearing playing up the red on her lips. He smiled down at the picture. How he’d love to see that smile again. He looked up as the doctor’s office door opened and Jess came out. She looked tired – exhausted – and when she gave him a wan smile, his chest began to tighten with tension. Jess thanked the doctor then followed Theo out to the car. He waited and she put her hand on his, linked her fingers but didn’t say anything.

Finally, he couldn’t bear the tension. ‘What did he say, Jess? Did he prescribe you something, arrange some counseling?’

She shook her head and in her eyes, there was some emotion he couldn’t understand.

‘No,’ she said, her voice cracking, ‘No, no, he didn’t prescribe me anything. He said he couldn’t risk it, Theo. Because he told me that I’m pregnant…’

Forever With Me Part Ten

The woman in the exquisite designer suit leaned over and patted Jess’s hand kindly. ‘Don’t worry, Jess, this will be easy.

Jess tried to smile at her, this legendary newswoman who was interviewing her and Theo to tell their story when she didn’t know if there was any future. They’d barely spoken since that day. The day she’d told him she was pregnant.

He’d turned to her with joy and delight in his eyes only for the happiness to fade when he saw her cold face.

‘You don’t want it,’ he stated in a dead, flat voice.

‘I can’t want it,’ she’d replied, ‘Not now. Not like this.’

His eyes had grown distant, cold. ‘You’re giving up. You promised me you wouldn’t. You promised me, Jess.’

And a chasm had ripped between them.

At dinner the following night, the distance between them felt like a dead weight. Amelia looked between them, her serene face creased with worry. Eventually, the weight of claustrophobia bearing down on her, Jess escaped to the kitchen, dragging long breaths into her tight chest. She didn’t hear Theo enter the kitchen behind her and as he slid his hands around her waist, she yelped in alarm and skittered away from him. She’d never forget the hurt in his eyes.

‘I came to see if you were okay.’ That dead voice again. ‘I’ll leave you alone.’

She reached out after him as he turned. ‘No, wait…I…’ But he stalked out.

She looked at Theo now, so still, so silent and upright beside her. He turned, aware of her scrutiny, and for a second, his green eyes were cold, accusing. Then his mouth hitched up a little and his eyes softened. He winked at her and Jess felt his hand cover hers. He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

‘I love you,’ he murmured, burying his face in her hair for a second. Jess felt tears prick her eyes.

‘I love you, so much,’ she whispered back and felt his fingers lace between hers, squeeze them. He stroked a finger down her face.

‘Everything’s going to be okay, Jessie, I promise.’

The floor manager called for silence then and Jess took a deep breath in. As the interviewer – Diane – began her introduction, Jess straightened her back as Diane introduced them. Theo’s words gave her strength, gave her hope that it would be okay. She pressed a hand briefly to her belly, where their child still grew.

Because Jess desperately wanted this child – desperately. She just couldn’t live with it being murdered along with her. She glanced back at Theo’s handsome face. Maybe you should tell him that. I will, she decided, after, when we are home, when all this was over. As Diane asked her first question, Jess started to smile.

Max glanced at his watch and wondered for the millionth time how Theo and Jess were getting on. Seth rolled his eyes and handed him a champagne flute. ‘Try this one.’ They were sitting on the porch out the back of Seth’s store. It was late afternoon, a sultry day, and too hot to sit inside. Seth listened out for the store’s doorbell and customers but it had been quiet. The porch overlooked the Sound, and a cool breeze picked up from it, cooling hot skin.

‘You trying to get me drunk?’

‘Obviously. That and educate you, you philistine. Taste.’

Max grinned. He’d been dating Seth now for a few weeks and he knew he was falling for him. The big man, taller even than Theo, was a bundle of fun to be with, erudite, kind and made Max feel safe. Max tried not to compare him to Josh but both men shared the same easy-going nature coupled with a quiet strength. But whereas Josh had been model-handsome, Seth was a man of the land, a man who built houses before going into fine wines. He had Max his dream of one day owning a vineyard, building a ranch-style home for himself, his dogs and, if he wanted, Max. Max thought it sounded divine and told him so. Seth admitted he could see them both there but was worried about scaring Max off, maybe it was too soon to talk about that.

But Max wasn’t scared. For the second time in his life, he knew it was right. ‘I didn’t think it was possible to find two great loves in one lifetime,’ he’d told Seth simply and Seth had kissed him until both their heads spun.

He thought about that now and sighed. Seth nudged him.

‘What are you thinking?’

‘That I’m a lucky s.o.b. That I can love again after losing Josh. I didn’t think that was possible. But here you are.’ He grinned at Seth, who chuckled.

‘Damn straight. But why the sigh?’

Max shifted in his chair. ‘I am lucky… but if Theo lost Jess… he’d never even try to find love again. If Jules kills her, Theo would feel dead as well. I know him.’

Seth watched him carefully. ‘Then we better make sure nothing happens to her. There’s an army around her now, Max, she’s not that scared little girl anymore.’

Max had told Seth everything, and when Seth had met Jess for the first time, he gathered her in a hug that conveyed more than friendship, it was a promise. Max had fallen in love with him at that moment. With one gesture, Seth had made himself family. He reached over to grab Seth’s hand.

‘I love you, big guy.’

Seth grinned shyly. ‘Right back at cha.’

Max leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, soaking up the late afternoon sun. Happiness. He’d missed it.

The store’s doorbell rang and Seth levered himself out of his chair with a sigh. ‘Business calls.’

A minute later, Max followed him into the building to use the bathroom. Washing his hands, he could hear Seth talking to a customer. Something about the man’s voice seemed strangely familiar and Max frowned, trying to place it. He walked into the store just as the man, a tall blonde-haired guy, was walking out. Seth was writing something down and Max, trying to be nonchalant, peered over his shoulder. His eyebrows shot up.

‘Order for the Storm/Wedding? Who was that guy?’

Seth grinned. ‘Amelia’s boyfriend, Clem. He’s arranging the pick-up for the wedding. Not long now, huh?’

Not long at all – two weeks and Theo and Jess would be married. Max couldn’t shake the feeling. ‘So who is this guy? Jess was pretty freaked out by him.’

‘Is she okay?’

‘She says it was just a panic attack.’

Seth studied him. ‘You’re not sure.’

Max scrubbed his hands over his face. ‘I don’t know. His voice sounded familiar is all.’ He glanced at the invoice Seth was filling out. ‘That his address?’

Seth made a face at him. ‘You shouldn’t be seeing that but yes. Why?’ He looked at Max, frowning. ‘You’re not thinking of going over there?’

Max shook his head. ‘Oh no. Just wondered how long he’s been on the island.’

‘Now you’re sounding paranoid.’

Max sighed. ‘Yeah I know, but it couldn’t hurt to confirm or deny he’s not who he says he is. Just to be on the safe side.’

Seth rolled his eyes. ‘Look, next time he comes in, I’ll call you.’

Sensing Seth wasn’t happy about this line of thinking, Max agreed. But inside her was planning – if Seth wouldn’t condone his snooping, he knew someone who would. The one person who had the most reason to make sure Amelia’s boyfriend wasn’t the man who was trying to kill Jess.

Jess herself.

Theo slid a hand over Jess’s belly as they were driven away from the television studio. She smiled at his dancing eyes, his obvious joy. It had been a complete spur of the moment thing: Diane, the interviewer, had been fair and persuasive, but her journalistic instincts had made for some uncomfortable questions. It was when she had asked Theo what his dream was and he’d replied.

‘Me and Jess. The two of us, together, forever.’

It just seemed the right, the true thing to add... ‘The three of us. Theo and I and our child.’

Theo had been stunned then his smile was breath-taking and she knew she’d done the right thing. Diane had congratulated them effusively and it was all Theo could do to stay in his seat and not take Jess in his arms. She could see his body relaxing and smiled at him. ‘I love you,’ she mouthed at him, not caring if the camera saw her.

Now, as Theo wrapped his arms around her, she leaned into him. ‘I’m sorry I put you through the last few days,’ she said, ‘I really was scared. But today, I just realized… I’ll never put the little bean in danger. I won’t permit it. This is our family.’

Theo kissed her, his mouth rough on hers. ‘Miss Wood, when we get home, I’m going to strip every last piece of clothing from your gorgeous body and fuck you all night long.’

She laughed, tangling her fingers in his short hair. ‘Why wait until we get home? That’s what a privacy screen is for.’

Deftly, she straddled him, rubbing her hand between his legs, feeling his cock stiffen against the movement of her fingers. Theo sighed happily as he unbuttoned her dress, scooping her plump breasts into his hands, taking her nipples in turn and sucking on them, drawing the tiny bud as it hardened. Theo slid his hands into the bodice of her dress, stroking the velvety smooth skin as he trailed his lips across her collarbone, to the hollow at the base of her throat.

‘God, you are so beautiful,’ he murmured as he felt her hand free his stiff cock from his trousers. Kissing him, she moved the crest against her damp sex, up and down until he was half-crazed with desire then guided him inside, rolling her hips along the length of him. They rocked together, oblivious to the movement of the car, their focus unshifting. Jess thrust herself hard onto him, wanting to take him as far she could, Theo sucking on her nipples, hands gripping her hips hard keeping her impaled on him.

‘Fuck me, gorgeous,’ he whispered and she grinned at him, slamming against him as her excitement built. His fingers dug into her flesh as she rode his cock, her muscles gripping him, hitting every sensitive point , driving him insane. She threw her head back and his lips moved to her throat, hungry to taste her skin, feel the pulse of her blood. He bit down on her shoulder as he neared his peak and he felt her cunt tightened around his cock, her thighs around his hips. She came to a shuddering climax a second before he shot into her, hard, groaning, grinding his hips up into her.

They caught their breath for a few moments before they reluctantly disconnected. Jess’s face had that flush that he loved so much and to him, now, pregnant with his child, she had never looked so achingly lovely. He pulled her into the crook of his arms and she snuggled into him. She tilted her head up for a kiss.

‘We should go tell your mom she’s going to be a grandmother. I know the interview’s not shown until Friday, but these days, it’s bound to leak.’

He rested his forehead against hers. ‘You’re right. We should head over there but I may need to change first.’

She grinned. ‘And that could take an hour…’

Three hours later, Theo drove them both to his mother’s house. Jess looked up at the impressive mansion.

‘Can you believe in less than two weeks, we’re getting married here?’

Theo took her hand as they walked up the stone steps. ‘I can’t wait.’

Amelia was, predictably, over the moon about the news. ‘I have some news of a kind too,’ she said, grinning. ‘I think I’ve finally persuaded my friend Clem to be my plus one – I hope that’s okay?’

She looked at Jess, her eyes searching the younger woman’s reaction. Jess’s heart gave a sickening thump but she kept her smile steady. ‘Of course it is. Whatever makes you happy.’

Later, in bed, Theo’s head on her chest, she listened to the steady rise and fall of his breathing as he slept. She had talked herself down from thinking Clem was Jules in disguise mostly. She still thought it strange that Amelia’s new beau had avoided every effort to meet her and Theo – but, she reasoned, plenty of people were shy, or socially awkward and meeting the girlfriend’s grown up, superstar son was bound to make anyone nervous.

Jess felt better, her fingers stroking gently into Theo’s hair, she gazed down at him. ‘I love you, funny face,’ she whispered. Unconsciously, Theo’s arms tightened around her and she closed her eyes, allowing sleep to wash over her. For the first time in weeks, she slept soundly without the nightmares that had plagued her.

Max, however, couldn’t get the plan out of his mind but it wasn’t for a couple of days before he got Jess on her own. Thinking back, he pondered he probably have opened the conversation with something better than ‘I think you’re right about Clem.’

Jess’s face had paled, turned green and she’d shot a look at Theo. They were in the garden and Theo was playing with the dogs. Seb and Tom were home from school and ganging up on their older brother as they teased and revved the dogs up into a frenzy. As fit as Theo was, the twenty-year age difference between him and the twins was beginning to show. Jess and Max were giggling at his exhausted demeanor and Max decided to broach the subject then and there.

Jess looked at him and he could see tears shining in her eyes. ‘Max, don’t.’

He immediately felt sorry, especially seeing how her hand fluttered protectively over the tiniest bump on her belly. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have blurted it out like that. What I mean is, there’s something off about the guy. I’m not saying it’s…. him… I’m just saying there’s something about him we should maybe check out. You and me. I have his address on the island. You up for a little B&E?’

Jess studied him for a beat then a small smile crept over her face.

‘Like Scooby Doo?’

Max laughed. ‘Just like Scooby Doo. You can be Daphne. I’ll be Freddy.’

Jess scoffed. ‘If anything, you’re Scooby.’

‘That makes you Shaggy.’

‘I can live with that.’

They chuckled then Jess nodded, her face suddenly serious. ‘I would love to put my mind at rest once and for all. If he’s Jules, I’ll know immediately. I know him too well – even if it’s him, there’ll be some things he can’t do without. He’s too spoilt.’

‘Good. Then we’ll have to plan it for when… well, I don’t think we should tell Theo.’

‘Agreed. Well, he’s got a meeting Monday evening. Come over and pick me up as if we’re having dinner. I’ll clear it with Mike.’

Max sat back in his chair, studying his friend. Even for her damage, maybe even because of it, Jess was a badass. She wanted this over. For a second, Max wondered if he’d done the right thing. Putting Jess in danger again? Theo would kill him if he knew.

This time, though, he would be prepared. Max thought of the little .22 he’d kept in his car ever since Josh was killed.

He was ready to use it if he needed to.

On Friday, Jess and Theo shut the world out and set up camp in the living room, switching on the big flat screen. Theo grinned when Jess cringed at the first sight of them on the screen.

‘Camera loves you, beautiful,’ he pulled her to him and kissed her temple.

‘Who’s looking at me when a god is sitting next to me?’ She laughed as he rolled his eyes at her. The program went into an introductory package. Theo was studying Jess’ face.

‘Yeah, you’re joking around but you, nervous?’

She nodded. ‘Sure, I’m worried about the edit. Too many times people have twisted my words or make me seem frivolous, hysterical or worse, a liar.’

His arms tightened around her. ‘Not this time.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yep. You know why? Because you are none of those things, Jessie. Not even close.’

She pressed her lips to his firmly. ‘I love you.’

To her great relief, the interview was pretty much verbatim to what they had told Diane in the studio. There were more photos, video of Jess at work at the foundation and to her surprise and delight, interviews with both Gerry, her old boss at the college and the Dean, who spoke seriously about the painting Jules had destroyed and that he was sad that Jess had taken the blame for it.

‘My regret is I made Jess a scapegoat when clearly, I should have supported her against the man who has hurt, terrorized and damaged Jess her whole life. I regret that decision greatly and would welcome Jess back as an associate anytime she would like.’

Jess flushed pleasantly at that but the glow faded quickly as the interview went into her relationship with Jules, and her stabbing. There was a brief clip of her being loaded into an ambulance, bloodied and broken, barely alive and worse, Theo, his beautiful face contorted with bottomless grief. She gasped, a brief intake of breath, a horrified sound and closed her eyes. Never again.

‘Are you okay?’ Theo’s voice broke in the middle of his sentence and she hugged him as hard as she could.

‘I’m so sorry, Theo…’

‘It’s not your fault.’

But she felt like it was. She could have been stronger with Jules at the start, told her Mom, her step-dad. Would they have believed her? Then, she would have never thought they would, but now, looking back, maybe she had misjudged them. Her step-father had sent Jules away to school for a reason. Jesus, what a fucking mess of a family.

Jules watched the interview in a quiet bar in town. He stared at Jess’s beautiful face, her smile, the way she looked at Storm, her voice – soft but with a new undercurrent of something else – strength. And then she’d said the words. The three of us… Theo and I and our child.

She was pregnant. Pregnant. With Storm’s child.

Jules’ fury knew no bounds. His jealousy rose up in him, a tide of vicious hate. He watched Jess as she smiled her happiness and he had never known such rage. Another betrayal. For this, he would make her suffer horribly before she herself died. Nodding to the barman, he brushed past the other customers and strode out purposefully into the street. Night was settling over the island, the rain unrelenting. He went home, found what he wanted and went to his car and drove out towards their house. Theo Storm’s child.

He would make him watch while he slaughtered Jess and their baby.

As the interview ended, Jess uncurled from the couch and went to the window. It was raining hard outside, thundering down, the lawn was already soaked. She felt Theo’s arms slide around her waist, his mouth on the back of her neck.

‘Theo…’

‘Shhh…. it’s just you and me now, Jessie…. all the pain is behind us…’

Even if he didn’t mean it, his saying the words made her feel better. This was her family now. She turned in his arms and stared up into those intense green eyes she loved so much. Eighteen months and she’d lived and died a lifetime in those months.

She reached behind her and opened the French windows, pulling Theo out with her onto the porch. Her face serious, she stepped out into the garden, the rain soaking her immediately and slowly stripped for him. Theo gave a hiss of feral excitement but she held up a hand, keeping him at bay. She was in charge now.

Naked, she walked towards him, pushing him back down onto the porch steps. She ran her hand between her legs and stroked herself.

‘Theo?’ Her voice was soft, sensual. ‘What do you like?’

Theo seemed entranced by the rhythmic movement of her hand, the way the rain clung to her skin, golden-hued in the dim light. His hand moved to free his cock, thickening and straining against his pants and he fisted the root as he watched her masturbate, stroking and pulling at the quivering length.

‘You…’ he said, his voice a low growl, ‘only you. I want to taste you.’

She stepped closer and he clamped his hands on her buttocks and buried his face in her sex. Jess bit down on her lip as his tongue delved deep inside her, tasting and biting down on her clitoris until it ached with desire. He brought her to the edge of orgasm before looking up at her, his smile lazy and languid. With a swift movement, he rolled her onto her back, pushing her legs as far apart as they could go and grinding his hips against hers, teasing her entrance with the wide crown, nudging in an inch and withdrawing until she was almost screaming with frustration and anticipation. He kissed her roughly.

‘You want me?’

She nodded. ‘God, yes, Theo… please…. now.’

‘Tell me.’

‘Fuck me, Theo, fuck me hard…’

‘More.’

‘Nail me to the ground, Theo, fucking fill me until I feel you everywhere.’

He grinned, still teasing her, feeling the hot, wet arousal of her cunt against his straining cock. He pressed a finger just above her clit. ‘Will you feel me here?’

She nodded, enjoying the game, prolonging her arousal. He trailed his finger up to the bottom of her belly. ‘Here?’

‘God, yes…more…’

His finger circled her navel. ‘Here?’

‘Hell yes, god, Theo, please…. yes…..’ She screamed as he drove his diamond-hard cock into her, pressing her legs open hard, his hand on her belly, he could feel his cock slamming into the very end of her. This was feral, animal sex and they were growling, biting and clawing at each other, not caring if they hurt each other, just need more, more, more…

Theo thrust with a fierce need to be inside her as deep as he could possibly be, his free hand plumping her breasts, taking each nipple into his mouth in turn, pulling and sucking until Jess was crying helplessly from desire. He pulled out before he came and ejaculated onto her soft belly, again and again, his semen mixing with the rain on her body. As he caught his breath, she slid down his body. Looking up, she smiled at him, sleepily sexy eyes shining. ‘My turn to taste you, Theo… I’m going to milk you dry, handsome.’ Then her lips parted over the crest of his cock and Theo closed his eyes as she took him into the warm hollow of her mouth, her tongue tracing a pattern over the tip, licking the salty taste of him, her hands at the root of him, pumping and stroking. She sucked at him hard, not relenting in her attack as he groaned and called her name into the gloom of the evening. He came again, almost violently, his semen gushing in a hot rush onto her tongue and she swallowed his seed down hungrily, the sight of her enjoying his taste made his cock tighten with desire, already semi-hard again after two orgasms.

‘I need to fuck you again,’ he growled and took her again, pressing her belly-first into the grass as he entered her from behind, her cunt slippery with her arousal. His fingers needed the tight round cheeks of her butt as he plowed into her, pulling them apart so he could see his cock driving into her. ‘Christ, you make me so hard, beautiful…’

Jess’s answering moan was long and shuddering and he felt his cock unbelievably thicken more until it almost hurt, sliding in and out of her silken dampness. He came quickly filling her and immediately plunged into her ass, wanting to possess her in every way this glorious night. Jess, helpless, her limbs liquefying under the assault on her senses, on her body, coming again and again. Theo reached under her body to stroke her hardened clit, feeling it jerk and pulse under his touch and Jess gave a shuddering cry a she came again.

Finally, slippery with rain, sweat and cum, they collapsed together onto the grass, gasping for air and laughing. Theo turned his head to smile at her.

‘You think we’ll ever get tired of doing that?’

Jess grinned, rolling onto her side and propping her head up on her hand. ‘I hope not. I want to still be fucking in the rain when we’re eighty.’

Theo stuck his hand out and she took it. ‘Deal,’ he said and pulled her on top of him again. She smoothed her palms over his face. ‘Have you any idea how much I love you, Theodore Storm?’

He lifted his lips to hers. ‘If it’s the same as how much I love you, then hell, yes.’

Jess smiled at him and then shifted so she was straddling him, her hands wrapped around his stiffening cock. ‘Ready to go again, soldier?’

He watched them roll naked on the grass and to his horror, his cock twitched up. He ignored it, instead fingering the cold metal of the pistol in his hand. God, he wanted to put a bullet into her as she fucked Theo Storm, see it smash into her soft abdomen, see the splash of her blood cover her lover as she bled out in his arms.

A fantasy, though – from this distance, he’d never hit her, he wasn’t a good enough shot and it would blow his cover on the island. Besides, he wanted to be up close and personal when he killed her, wanted her blood on his hands again. Instead, he watched them fucking each other’s brains out and jerked off, watching Jess’s lovely body as she rocked her hips, riding Storm’s cock until they were both coming.

After they dressed slowly, talking and laughing. Jules saw the security guard walk around the corner to speak to Theo. For a second, Jules tensed, wondering if they’d sensed his intrusion but when he saw the men smiling and laughing, he relaxed. Theo and Jess, hand-in-hand, followed him around to the front of the house. Jules watched them leave then turned his attention to the open French windows and smiled. Quickly, he shifted from his hiding place and darted across the lawn and into the house. The television set was still on, covering his movements as he snuck into the kitchen and down to the basement. He was in. He still didn’t know what he intended to do but just knowing she was sleeping two floors above him, oblivious, made his cock harden.

So close, my Jessica, so close.

Theo woke up on Monday morning with a new sense of optimism. Somehow the interview had felt like a statement of intent – nothing can break us – and what followed, the amazing, sensual fucking in the rain…he had no words for that. He smiled as he shaved. A whole weekend of just being together, talking, having fun. It had been utterly perfect. Friday night’s rain had disappeared and now it was glorious outside. He wondered idly if they could rent a boat, go out on the water, go whale-watching if the weather held to the next weekend.

‘Theo?’

‘Up here, baby.’

Jess came back up the stairs, pale, shaking, and immediately the tension in his chest returned.

‘What is it?’

‘I was just putting some laundry in the machine and could you come with me please and tell me I’m not crazy?’ She whispered. The tone of her voice alarmed him.

He followed her back down into the basement. She stood in front of the basement’s broken window and wordlessly, pointed at the floor. The bare lightbulb shone down onto the scrubbed floorboards. Glints, sparkles of light. Glass. Broken glass lay on the floor and as he studied it, he realized with a shock that it had been arranged carefully, precisely. They looked at each other in confusion.

The glass was arranged into a single word.

Jess.

‘Look, it’s hardly threatening, is it? Maybe it was one of the twins fooling around.’ Jess was getting annoyed. After her earlier unease, she’d talked herself down and thought Theo would see it more calmly but Theo’s immediate reaction was to call the police, get Mike to increase security. Jess felt all the happiness, the security they’d built back up slip away.

‘I still think we should call the police….’

‘And tell them what?’ She interrupted. ‘Help, come quick, someone’s leaving words in our house?’

‘Don’t be facetious,’ Theo muttered crossly. She put her hand on his arm.

‘I’m sorry but…it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have reacted to it. I honestly think it’s just a prank one of the boys played. That window has been broken for ages.’

‘Mike would have spotted it.’

‘From outside? Not likely, it’s tiny and tucked away. Besides, you need to be a Lilliputian to fit through it so it’s not a big security risk.’ She tugged on his hand. ‘Come on, let’s forget about it. Work’s calling.’

She went back upstairs but Theo stayed, staring at the glass. Maybe she was right; her name was hardly a threat, was it? He reminded himself to text Seb and Tom when he got to work. Theo bent down with the brush to sweep up the glass then stopped himself. Changing his mind, he went to get his camera and quickly snapped off a few shots of the glass. With the dustpan, he carefully scooped up the shards and dropped them into a bag. Instead of throwing them away, he stashed them in a cupboard. Fingerprints.

Paranoia. No way, he told himself crossly, after everything that’s happened, nothing’s too small. Satisfied, he went upstairs to finishing dressing.

Max picked Jess up from work that night. Theo’s meeting was going to run late into the evening and so it was easy for Max and Jess to find an excuse to go home together. As Max pulled his car from the ferry, Jess was getting a little excited about their less-than-legal excursion.

‘What shall we do, wait till he goes out?’

Max shot her a look. ‘Obviously, doofus.’

Jess grinned good-naturedly. ‘Sorry, that was dumb, but all of this is new to me.’

They drove to two blocks away from Clem’s house and parked. It was almost dark so they could slip along the street without being seen.

Clem’s house was in darkness.

‘Ready?’ Max looked at Jess crouched next to him in the alleyway. His gaze drifted downwards to her black top and leggings. She raised her eyebrows at him, amused. Max smirked.

‘Is that your special breaking and entering outfit?’

She looked down. ‘It’s the only black t-shirt I’ve got.’

‘You look like Cat-woman without the mask.’

‘Geek.’

‘Doofus.’

The banter was making her less nervous and she was grateful to Max for making her feel better.

‘I don’t think he’s in…let’s give it a try, huh?’

They moved quickly, keeping to the shadows. At the door to the apartment, Jess reached up over the lintel. She shook her head. Max shrugged and reached into his pocket. Kneeling, he picked the lock.

‘They teach you that at Pony?’ Jess grinned at him.

‘Nope. In high school. Came in handy when we used to break into my dad’s liquor cabinet.’

Jess snorted. Max grinned and, flicking on his flashlight, led her in. They stood in the darkened living room. Jess looked around.

‘I don’t even know where to start.‘

Max swept the flashlight over the room.

‘Drawers, any drawers, boxes, stuff like that.’

‘Got it.’

After five minutes, Jess hissed in frustration. ‘Damn it. Nothing’

‘Patience. Check the bedroom.’

Jess grimaced but did what he asked. She heard him thumping.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Checking for squeaky floorboards.’

She giggled and went to meet him. ‘I don’t think there’s anything, Max. I know Jules, we’d at least find some exquisitely tailored suits, something that he couldn’t live without, the big asshole. But there’s nothing. This place is steeped in good-old-boy normalcy.’

Max nodded. ‘Yep. The only thing I found is an old newspaper from when you were stabbed. But that could have been here forever.’

‘Suddenly I feel bad,’ Jess admitted. ‘Poor guy. Let’s get out of here.’

They were just about to leave when they heard a truck door slam. Max peeked around the corner.

Shit.’ Max turned and pushed her back inside. ‘Go, go.’

Max dragged her into the kitchen and into the pantry. The space was tight and she was pressed up against him. They listened to Clem enter, throw his keys down and went into the kitchen. Through the slats in the pantry door, they could see him grabbing a beer from the fridge. He leaned against the counter and drank.

Through her fear, Jess was aware of being pressed up against Max. The situation was almost comical. All the terror left her then. Jess felt laughter bubble up inside her and buried her face in his chest to muffle it. Her weight shifted and something moved on the shelf behind her. They froze.

Clem looked over towards the door and Jess stopped breathing. He had blonde hair and blue eyes but those eyes … she shivered. She couldn’t be sure it was Jules but they held all the malevolence of her reviled step-brother. She couldn’t see what Amelia saw in this guy. She began to tremble. Clem opened a drawer, still looking towards the door, and pulled out a kitchen knife. Max reached around his back and slowly pulled out his gun. Jess bugged at him. Max winked at her and mouthed ‘Don’t worry.’

Clem reached over to the fruit bowl and picked up an apple, chopping it in two in one easy movement. He looked back over to the pantry door, took a step towards it.

Max slipped the safety off. Jess started to tremble and he kissed her forehead, never taking his eyes from Clem.

A loud knocking at the door. Clem hesitated for a beat, then strode over to the door and pulled it open

‘Amelia! What a lovely surprise.’

Jess and Max gaped at each other. Amelia was walking into the kitchen with Clem’.

‘I thought I’d just drop your invitation around.’

‘Can I offer you a drink?’

‘Oh no, really, I just stopped by on the off-chance. I’m actually just going to see Jess.’

Jess and Max froze as Clem glanced again at the pantry door. Jess could feel her heart beating out of her chest.

‘Then how could I delay you?’

Amelia and Clem said goodbye and Clem stepped back into the kitchen. Jess and Max stopped breathing as he stood, planted square in his kitchen, staring at the closed pantry door. For a long, eerie, unsettling moment, his eyes seemed to drift in and out of focus. Jess stared at him.

It could be him. It could be him. The disguise was very good if it was Jules. The black hair that he’d prized was shaved almost to nothing and bleached a bright white. The beard – false or not – was bushy, huge, hipster-like and covered more than half of the bottom of his face. The eyes… too blue to be natural. Contacts, Jess thought now, with a growing terror building inside her.

A loud rapping at Clem’s door made them all start.

‘Clem? Let me in.’

Jess and Max gaped at each other. It was a woman from the bar on the island, Caroline. She was snippy redhead who had taken a dislike to Jess on sight. Amelia had told her, discreetly, that Caroline had grown up with Theo, had her sights set on him, even in the face of Theo’s utter ambivalence. Clem strode over to the door and pulled it open. Caroline brushed past him into the room.

‘Thanks for waiting for me.’ Her tone was snippy.

‘You said you’d be on the seven-thirty. I was there at seven-thirty. You were not. Do you want a drink?’

Caroline sat down in the living room. ‘Yes. Scotch. What was so pressing you couldn’t wait an extra thirty minutes?’

Jess and Max watched while Clem handed her a glass.

‘Believe it or not, I’m not inclined nor am I obligated to wait around for you?’

Caroline grunted. ‘I forgive you.’

Clem smiled without humour. ‘What do you want, Caroline?’

‘I want to know why you’re fucking that old woman. Especially her.’

Jess could feel Max tense up, his hand flexing on his gun. She put her hands against his chest, cautioning him, calming him.

‘Ah. How about we not talk about… that… for just this one night?’

Clem put his drink down and pulled Caroline to her feet. ‘I think we can use this time better.’ He kissed her and Caroline responded.

‘I missed you, baby.’ She crooned. Jess wrinkled her nose and made a gagging gesture which made Max grin.

Caroline held out her hand to Clem and led him into the living room. Max waited for a beat and pushed the pantry door open. Taking Jess’s hand, they crept across the door to living room, eyes always on the couple there. They caught a glimpse of Clem’s back, Caroline, on her knees before him. Max turned the handle of the back door and made Jess go out before him. They were almost at the bottom when they heard the door open above them.

‘Go, go, go!’ Max whispered and pushed Jess out of the door. Behind them, they could hear Clem’s heavy footsteps. Max grabbed her hand and they raced through the night, ducking down the alleys behind the apartment until they reached their car, Max throwing it into gear and speeding off into the night.

Jules stood in the doorway. He’d been sure someone was in the house and when the back door had opened, he had darted from the living room, leaving a frustrated Caroline shouting after him. Whoever it was, and he was pretty sure who it was, had disappeared from view just as he reached the door. He swore. It was the fag but he hadn’t been alone. Surely Jess hadn’t been with him? In his house, spying on him. Bitch.

‘What the fuck are you doing?’

He turned. Caroline was standing at wrapped in a sheet. Stupid whore. She was becoming a problem, a risk factor. He would have to get rid of her before she blew his cover.

He smiled at her. ‘Nothing, darling.’ He moved to her side and kissed her.

He would have to make sure her body wasn’t discovered until after Jess was dead. The wedding day was in less than a week.

Theo looked down at his love, her face so relaxed. He lived for these quiet moments, it was if they sunk into each other, the world outside could not touch them. He listened to her breathing as she slept, regular and peaceful. Her left hand rested on the pillow, the white gold band with the diamond on her ring finger. Theo smiled and sighed. They had decided to risk the bad luck (‘Surely we’ve had enough’) and spend the night before the wedding together in his mom’s house. His mom had disapproved but had compromised by making him promise to go home to get ready so he wouldn’t see Jess in her dress. In a few short hours they would be married, she would be his forever. He trailed a finger down her soft cheek, bent over to kiss the smooth pink skin. Jess stirred and murmured, still deep in sleep.

He showered quickly, then stood at the sink while he shaved.

Glancing in the mirror he saw, through the open door to their bedroom, that Jess was awake and watching him. She said nothing but a small smile played on her lips. He smiled back at her reflection and continued to get ready, glancing in the mirror every few seconds at her. She giggled as he raised an eyebrow at her.

When he was dressed he came back into the bedroom. ‘You,’ he bent down and kissed her, ‘are a distraction.’

She cupped his face. ‘Come back to bed.’ She murmured and he laughed.

‘Bad girl.’ He considered her offer but then looked at the clock and grimaced. ‘I’m kind of late already.’ He laughed at her sulky face and sat on the edge of the bed. ‘I have a very, very bossy best man. I feel sorry for Seth.’

Jess giggled. ‘Can you believe it’s today?’

‘I cannot wait to call you Mrs. Storm.’

‘Okay then, I suppose you can go to your mom’s. She’ll be here in an hour to lever me into my dress.’

He smiled tenderly and covered her belly with his big hand. ‘You and the Bean.’

‘Me and the Bean,’ she agreed, happily.

She sat up and looked out of the window.

‘God, what a beautiful day.’ She grinned at him, excited, looking like a kid. He laughed.

‘Yep, it’s stunning out there.’ He leaned over and kissed her again. ‘Although it’s nothing to what I can see right now.’

She moaned. ‘How am I supposed to let you out of the door when you say things like that?’ She pulled him down and he laughed.

‘Woman, you’re insatiable.’

‘How late did you say you were?’ She whispered as she pressed her body against his. He groaned, covered her mouth with his and started to take off his shirt.

‘Not nearly late enough.’

He stripped the rest of his clothes off in a hurry and slid back into bed with her, kissing her, his tongue caressing hers, exploring her sweet mouth. Her legs twined around his body and he could feel the hot wetness of her sex against his thigh. God, would he ever get enough of her? His cock stood, ramrod straight against his belly and he teased her entrance with the tip of it, as his mouth found her nipple, sucking and biting down on it.

‘I’m so wet for you,’ she whispered in his ear, ‘fill me, Theo, fuck me senseless, make me come.’

Jesus. His cock grew thicker, strained to get inside her and as he slid into her, her warm, wet softness enveloping the length of him, he thrust deep, to the root, to be as close to her as he could, skin-on-skin. Her thighs tightened around his hips, and their bodies moved as if they were desperate to sink into each other. Theo, with a brutal roll of hips driving himself into her, watched as her breasts swelled, her belly undulating with their movements, her face flush pink, her mouth open, gasping for air, her dark eyes shining and fixed onto his. So, so beautiful, Theo kissed her and she urged him deeper inside, tilting her hips to accommodate him. With a hand, he pressed her legs further apart, then scooping her buttocks up, slammed into her again and again until she was crying out with pleasure and pain. He came violently, his groin jerking, his cock pumping out hot, viscous semen deep inside her. He grinned, knowing his seed would still be inside her as she walked down the aisle, that she was his in every way. He felt her vibrating and quivering, crying out as she reached orgasm but he didn’t let he recover, withdrawing his still hard cock and flipping her onto her back, parting her legs and pushing into her perfect ass, moving slowly as she moaned and writhed beneath him. They both came again and again and by the time Theo kissed her goodbye, they were so giddy and delirious with love, they could barely bear to part.

‘See you at the end of the aisle, beautiful,’ he murmured, his lips against her mouth.

‘I love you.’

And then he was gone.

Max was building himself up into a feverish state by the time Theo called to say he was on his way. Seth was trying to calm him down by distracting him but Max couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Was it something he forgot to do? No… it’s Jules. Max knew that today would be the day Jules would try to kill Jess again, maybe Theo too. What better way to get his revenge.

Paranoid, he told himself. Mike, Theo’s head of security, was on everything – nobody on the island moved without Mike knowing about it. He went to look for him now and found him scanning a computer file.

‘Hey dude, everything looking good?’

Mike looked up and smiled. ‘All good. I’m heading over to Mrs. Storm’s place now.’

***

He didn’t see the truck until it was too late. Theo swore and swerved but the Mercedes slammed into it. Jules had moved it across the exit to the blind bend on the way to Amelia’s house and they didn’t have a chance. The car slid on the road and slipped down the embankment. It hit the tree side on. Theo’s head smashed against the window and he was knocked senseless. The wiper blades kept moving while all else was silent.

Jules smiled as he stood at the road’s edge looking down at the car. Time to call Jess and ask her once and for all, if she would give up her life for her lover’s.

Jules was in no doubt of the answer.

Mike rounded the corner and slammed on the brakes. Theo’s car was burning. ‘Shit,’ Mike leaped from the car and darted as close as he could. He couldn’t see a body in the front seat. Yanking his phone from his pocket, he was about to dial v911 when he heard the tell-tale click of a safety being flicked off. He didn’t have time to turn toward the noise before the bullet tore through his skull and silenced him forever.

Jess stepped into the dress that Amelia held and stood obediently as her almost-mother-in-law buttoned up the bodice. The dress, although deceptively simple, was light, flowing and of pure white. Jess smirked to herself. Thanks to Theo, she was about as far from a virgin as someone could be.

Amelia stood back and looked at her, her eyes filling with tears. Jess’s dark hair was soft waves, pulled over one shoulder. The dress itself had sleeves of the most delicate chiffon which belled out delicately at the wrist, the skirt ending just above Jess’s knees. Against her honey skin, the white glowed, highlighting her subtle make-up and large brown eyes. Amelia sighed.

‘You look beautiful, Jessie. I’m so proud to call you my daughter.’

Amelia’s phone rang and she snagged it from the table as Jess turned and admired the dress in the mirror.

‘Clem, darling, how lovely… what? Oh, that’s a shame. Well, perhaps we’ll see you at the reception this evening?’

Jess glanced at Amelia in the mirror. She and Max hadn’t told her about Clem and Caroline and Amelia hadn’t mentioned dating Clem so they decided to leave it. Amelia was smiling now.

‘Yes, of course…’ She put her hand over the mic. ‘Clem wants to say congratulations.’ She held the phone out to Jess, who took, a little bemused.

‘Hello?’

‘Keep smiling, it’s very important you keep smiling. Say hello to me, Jessica.’

Terror screeched back into every fiber of her being. I knew it. I knew it. Jules.

‘Hi, Clem, nice to speak to you.’

She realized her face was frozen in a false smile. ‘Hello, Clem, nice to speak to you.’

‘Good. There’s a gun in my hand and the muzzle is currently against your fiancé’s temple. There are five bullets in it. All five will be in his head very soon unless you go what I say. Tell me you understand.’

‘I understand… Clem.’

‘Keep smiling. Now, find a way to get out and drive home. If you’re not here in ten minutes, Theo is dead. Then I’ll come for you. It’s entirely up to you whether he dies. Either way, this is the day you are going to die, Jessica. Say thank you, Jessica.’

‘Thank you, Clem.’ Her voice quivered just a little but Amelia, tidying the room, didn’t seem to notice.

‘Ten minutes, Jessica, and I’ll let you say goodbye before I put my knife into you.’

The line went dead. Jess stood, holding the phone, frozen. Jules had Theo. She closed her eyes.

‘Jess, honey, you okay?’ Amelia sounded concerned. She tried to smile at the older woman.

‘I’m fine. Just nerves. I might just get some fresh air.’

Downstairs she grabbed Amelia’s car keys and ran. Theo, I’m coming… please, hang on…

She pushed open the door slowly. The house was silent. She moved through the rooms silently, the gun in her hand. Jess was amazed she wasn’t terrified – more like, she was mad. Real mad. This ended today. Jules wouldn’t stop until one of them was dead so she had no doubt in her mind that she could kill him. She wanted to. He’d taken Theo, might have even killed him by now – she pushed that thought away. Her adrenaline coursed through her body.

‘Jules?’

‘In here.’

She turned at the sound of his voice and followed it to the main living room. Then all her fight left her as she saw Theo, tied to a chair, blood coursing down from a vicious head wound, his head slumped, his body crumpled. He looked dead.

Nonononononono…. she realized the frenzied screams were coming from her, and every plan she’d made left her brain in her grief. She started toward him then Jules grabbed her from behind. She felt a stinging pain in her neck and then she was falling….

Theo opened his eyes, for a second not understanding. Jess was in a chair opposite him, unconscious, her white dress – her wedding dress - cut open down past her navel. Oh god no. She’d come to help him and put herself into Jules’ hands. Theo struggled again the cuffs Jules had used to bind him to the chair.

‘I wouldn’t bother.’

Jules’ amused voice came from behind him and he heard the safety catch on a gun being clicked off, felt the cold metal of gun being pressed to his temple. Jules chuckled.

‘When she wakes up for the last time, this all ends. You’ll watch her die, Storm. You’ll watch me stab her over and over until she’s dead. But you won’t have to mourn her for long. You’ll be joining her very soon.’

The pressure of the gun lifted and Jules pulled up a chair between him and Jess. She stirred and Theo’s heart jumped in fear. The one small hope was this – Jess didn’t seem to be bound but he knew that was another one of Jules’ games. He wanted Jess to allow him to kill her in the hope he’d let Theo go.

Jules went to check her and as she opened her eyes, he pressed the muzzle of his gun again her bare skin. ‘Hello beauty.’

Jess’s eyes rolled, dazed; when they found Theo’s desperate ones, their gazes locked and she could see the devastation in them.

‘I love you,’ she whispered. Jules growled and cuffed her.

‘Shut up, whore.’

Theo roared, trying to get up from his chair. In one flash, Jules whipped behind Jess, hooking the hand holding the gun around her neck, and with the other, pulling his knife from his pocket. He kissed Jess. ‘Say goodbye, beautiful.’ And he raised the knife.

Jess bit down on his other hand hard, as hard as she could and Jules roared in pain. Jess pushed back with all her might, knocking Jules over and the gun out of his hand, under the couch. She threw her body on top of Jules, fighting, kicking punching, ripping his shirt. The keys to Theo’s cuffs fell out of his pocket and she grabbed them, throwing them in Theo’s direction as Jules lashed at her with his knife. She ducked and scrambled to her feet as Jules fought to grab her. Jess paused briefly, one second when she met Theo’s eyes.

He looked at her. Not understanding. Then realization. He shook his head. She winked at him. His face registered absolute horror.

‘No, no. Jess, don’t.’

Her gaze was intense. ‘I love you. I will always love you no matter what.’

He shook his head violently, never taking his eyes from hers. ‘Please don’t…

She had tears in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Theo. It has to be like this. I love you.’

Theo broke down. ‘No, please… Jess…’

Her face was determined as Jules rose up between them. Her eyes alive with anger as she beckoned her killer towards her.

‘Come on, Jules. Wanna kill me? Come on then, motherfucker, come get me.’

‘No! Jess, please, no!’ Theo was screaming now.

Jules in his frenzy didn’t hesitate, he lunged for her, slashing the knife, catching her in a blow across her stomach.

‘No!’ Theo screamed as blood bloomed across her white dress, her honey skin. Jess ignored the searing pain and took off with Jules in pursuit. Theo, desperate, shuffled over to where Jess had thrown the keys.

‘What the fuck are you doing, Jess?’ But he knew. ‘You stupid, stupid, brave, beautiful girl.’ he sobbed as he managed to slide the key into the cuffs. She was leading Jules away from him, giving him time to free himself.

She was sacrificing herself to save him.

First, she went to the front door but even from a distance she could see that Jules had dead-bolted it. By the time she could get it open, Jules would be on her. He was close, close enough she could hear his frenzied breathing. She darted up the stairs and nearly made it to the safety of a bedroom before he grabbed her. They tumbled to the floor together, Jess fighting with every ounce of strength she had left. Jules was grinning now, knowing his size and strength would beat her now, despite her struggles.

‘I’m going to kill you now, Jess, nothing can stop me.’

He rammed his forearm against her throat and as she began to choke, he pulled a knife from his pocket. Jess, knowing that this was it, tried one last thing.

‘I’m pregnant, Jules. I’m pregnant.’

He smiled. ‘So I hear. Congratulations. But I don’t care. I’m going to kill you anyway.’

It was over. Jess struggled but as she felt Jules’s knife begin to slice into her belly, the searing pain nothing to the terror she felt for her unborn child. She could smell blood.

‘No, Jess, no!’

A frenzied cry, close, so close, Theo was dragging Jules from her. Jess rolled onto her stomach, clamping a hand over her wounds, pushing the thought of the baby away. Please, little bean, hang on.

Theo was pounding on Jules, the two men locked in a death fight. ‘Jess, get away, get out now!’ Theo was screaming at her. Blood-loss was making her light-headed. Not again. She crawled to the stairs and almost tumbled down them. There was something she could do. Something Jules had missed in the fight. Something Theo had forgotten. Slowly, painfully, she crawled her way into the living room.

Theo, his immense strength almost leaving him when he saw Jules stab Jess – again – grappled with the other man, wanting more than anything to break this monster’s neck, pound him into the dust. Jules, his knife gripped in his hand, swiped at Theo, one, twice before making contact. The knife tore through Theo’s shirt, slicing into the skin of his chest and Theo jerked back, away from the knife. Jules caught him on the temple with the hilt of the knife, making Theo’s already concussed head swirl. Jules took him out by the knees and Theo was on the ground. Vulnerable.

Jules laughed, raising the knife to plunge it into Theo’s chest… then his head exploded, his eyes bulging with surprise. Jules’ body slumped to the side, blood gushing from the fatal head wound. Theo, still stunned, looked up to see his beautiful Jess, her hand clamped over the bloody wounds on her stomach, holding the gun she’d just used to kill Jules.

Dropping the gun, Jess stumbled towards Theo and he was up, grabbing her as she slumped into his arms. He scooped her up and went downstairs, cradling her in his arms.

‘I’m okay,’ she said weakly, ‘it’s not that deep, I’m okay, I’m okay.’ Theo reached over to grab the phone, called 911.

In the distance he could hear sirens and almost collapsed with relief.

Theo and Jess, blood-soaked, exhausted, gazed at each other and started to smile, despite their injuries.

‘It’s over, my Jessie. All over.’

She started to laugh, tears rolling down her face. ‘I know, my darling, I know.’

Theo grinned, kissing her tears away as the sirens got ever closer and now he could hear shouting. Max. His mom.

He heard them break down the door in their frenzy to get in.

‘In here,’ he hollered then pulled her lips to his again. ‘Jessie….we’re going to get out of here, and get all fixed up , and then it’s just you, me and the Bean. For all time, Jessie.’

‘For all time….’

Epilogue

Theo Storm gazed at his beautiful wife as she stood on the podium, addressing the graduating class of her alma mater. Her old boss Gerry stood proudly next to him and nudged him as Jess’s speech came to an end.

‘From research assistant to the CEO of the biggest charitable art foundation in the world. Girl done good.’

Theo grinned at him. ‘Yes, she has.’

His eyes didn’t leave the woman at the front of the gathering. Pregnancy had made her skin glow, the lustrous hair grow longer and healthier, her large brown eyes shining with happiness. The light summer dress she wore skimmed over her swollen belly, swollen with their child.

Jess finished her speech and flushed scarlet with pleasure as the audience leaped to their feet. Theo knew they had followed everything that had happened to Jess, knew every horror and knew every triumph. They had made it, and finally, she was safe.

Theo couldn’t imagine being happier and as he went to meet her as she stepped off the stage, he enclosed her in his arms and kissed her tenderly.

‘I’m so proud that you chose me to love,’ He said, gazing into her eyes. Jess kissed him, her lips curving up into a smile against his.

‘I’m the lucky one, Mr. Storm,’ she replied then glanced down, ‘I’d suggest we go home and celebrate but I think someone else has other ideas…

She started to laugh as Theo looked panicked. ‘Come on, big guy,’ She took his hand started to lead him back to their car, looking more beautiful than he’d ever seen her, ‘Let’s go meet our daughter…’

Lily ‘Little Bean’ Storm was born at a quarter after midnight and her mother and father, wilting with exhaustion, couldn’t stop staring at her, her perfect little fingers, her cherubic cheeks, the fine smattering of black hair on her tiny head.

‘I can’t get over how beautiful she is,’ whispered Jess, shaking her head. Theo smiled, kissing his exhausted wife’s temple.

‘I can. She looks like you. Jessie, you have given me the world.’

Jess’s eyes filled with tears. ‘You are my world, Theo. You and Bean.’

‘Forever.’

‘Forever.’ She agreed and they kissed until the sun came up on a new day, the first day, of their new life.

The End.

Sneak Peak of Masquerade (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance)

By Michelle Love

When award-winning writer Elliana Moretti is hired by billionaire philanthropist Aldo Costanza to write his biography, she travels to his secluded mansion outside Venice to interview him. Over the course of six weeks on intensive one-on-one collaborations, an attraction between them emerges and one night, that attraction develops into a full-blown fling, erotic and intense. The night leaves Elli feeling as if she has been unprofessional, and she tells Aldo that while she enjoyed the night, it can never happen again.

Aldo accepts this with seeming good grace, but one night, he asks her to escort him to a society party, where she is stunned to meet an old friend, Indio Navaro – her high school crush and noted bad boy billionaire. Indio and Aldo seem acquainted if a little reserved with each other, and Elli wonders what the story is between them. Aldo is more than happy to trash Indio to Elli later that night, telling her that Indio was responsible for breaking up one of Aldo’s relationships with a girl that later ended up murdered.

Elli is horrified, but Aldo’s story doesn’t seem to fit with how she remembers Indio from school.

Indio approaches Elli in a café in Venice, and curious, she agrees to have lunch with him. Elli’s old crush is charming and appears genuinely interested in her and Elli begins to doubt Aldo’s story. Soon, she and Indio are spending more time together, to Aldo’s great jealousy, and Elli finds herself giving her body, her trust and her heart to Indio. But when Elli finds she is being stalked, she has to wonder whether Indio is indeed more dangerous that she could ever expect. Has she fallen in love with a killer…or her savior?

Does she trust her client Aldo, or does she follow her heart and believe Indio when he tells her that Aldo is the one she should be afraid of?

Set in the swirling, colorful romance of Venice’s Carnival, Elli has to figure which one of her admirers plays the best game in an erotic but deadly Masquerade…

Venice, Italy

December

Elliana Moretti pulled her too-thin coat around her as she hurried over the bridges and through the small streets of Venice to work. An ice storm had blown through the city, and as usual, Elli had been completely unprepared for it, just like she was always coming home to an empty refrigerator.

At twenty-eight, Elli had made a name for herself as a tenacious investigative journalist and had focused on her career entirely. Her beauty was useful, getting her through the door of places she might otherwise have been refused, but once she had her prey on her hook, her intelligence and talent were what most people admired about her.

Looking in the mirror in her tiny bathroom, she could never quite see what beauty there was in her. Thick dark hair, usually piled up on top of her head with a pencil or pen sticking out of it, dark brown eyes, a face which she still thought chubby, golden skin from her mother’s half Indian ancestry. But men seemed to be attracted her to her, and indeed the women’s magazines here in Italy were always asking her to do a photo shoot or an interview for a puff piece about her.

It just didn’t interest Elli. She got annoyed when her physical attributes were all people saw. Vivienne, her American Editor-in-Chief, told her to suck it up. “It’s the way of the world, Elli. You’ve proved over and over again that you’re more than your looks. Don’t let it get to you.”

Elli was determined to do her part in changing that attitude.

Today, the magazine, a women-led political and social monthly, was hosting a lunch for Aldo Costanza, a philanthropist billionaire who had recently relocated to Venice from Rome. Vivienne had told Elli that the man was thinking of investing heavily in the magazine.

“It would mean the magazine could go international,” Vivienne was excited, Elli could see that. “It would mean I could send my top journalist abroad to dig out the stories she really wants to write,” Vivienne added, with a meaningful look at a grinning Elli.

“Well, in that case…” Elli chuckled, enthused by her boss’s excitement.

Now, as Elli walked briskly through the frozen Venice streets, she was trying to compile in her head a list of stories she had wanted to go deep into, the possibilities that lay ahead. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t see the car as she walked across the road. Someone shouted a warning, and she looked up to see the car bearing down on her. She jumped back and slipped, crashing to the cold, hard ground, and slamming her head against the stone. The car skimmed past her without stopping.

For a second, dazed, she lay there, head whirling, until she felt someone crouch down beside her. “Are you alright?”

Elli pushed herself into a sitting position, still stunned. A man, a tall, broad-shouldered gorgeous man smiled down at her. “You’re bleeding, Bella.”

He pulled a clean white handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it to her forehead. “Should I call an ambulance?”

Elli was horrified and tried to get up. “No, I’m fine. Thank you for stopping to help me. It was just a fall…” She swallowed hard when she saw the amount of blood on the man’s handkerchief, and her head whirled. The man wasn’t smiling now.

“Sweet one, I think we should go get you checked out anyway…you might need stitches.”

In one swift movement, he had swept her up into his arms and was carrying her towards his huge black Mercedes. Elli wanted to protest, but she couldn’t form the words. God, her head was killing her…damn, what if she’d cracked her skull? Today, of all days? Of anyone, Elli would hate to let Vivienne down; her boss was like her big sister as well as her mentor, her heroine.

The man put her in the back of his car and got in beside her, calling an order to his driver. He cradled her in his arms. Elli felt her body get cold – was she in shock? It was just a fall, goddamn it…but her head whirled, and she felt faint and nauseous. Her savior stroked her hair back from the wound on her forehead.

“Sweetheart, you must stay awake for me…what’s your name?”

“Elliana.”

“A name as beautiful as its owner.”

She tried to focus on his face. Dark hazel eyes, stubble, light brown hair cropped close to his head. He looked vaguely familiar but now there were black spots in her vision, and her chest felt tight.

“Elli, don’t pass out on me now…”

But a few seconds later, she could not hold back the blackness anymore and fainted.

Elli woke on a gurney in a hospital room. She blinked a couple of times, felt pain sear through her skull. She moaned quietly then heard a scrape of a chair on linoleum.

“Elli? Welcome back.”

She tried to smile at him. “What happened?”

“You have a severe concussion, Bella, and they’ve stitched your head wound. You’ll be okay, but you’ll have to stay here for a day or two.”

Elli sat up in horror, ignoring the pull of the i.v. tube in her arm. “No…no, I can’t, I have to work. I have to be there today.” She could feel herself starting to panic, and he sat on the side of her bed and held her hands.

“Sweet one, let me call your workplace – where do you work?”

Elli tried to breathe deeply. “Il Mondo Italia. We’re a...”

“Magazine, yes I know,” he said, grinning. “I’m a subscriber.”

Elli was astonished. “You are?”

He laughed. “Of course. And as you are Elliana, you must be Elliana Moretti. Your work is the reason I subscribe.”

She gaped at him. “That’s not true.”

“Hand on my heart.” He stuck out his hand and, chuckling slightly, she shook it. “Hi, Elliana Moretti…I’m Aldo Constanza.”

Vivienne Marche’s eyes grew huge as she saw her best friend and top journalist Elli, complete with a head wound and a pale face, being escorted into the magazine’s offices by Aldo Constanza. Not only that but the way Aldo was looking at her young friend, Vivienne could see he was enchanted.

Aldo greeted her warmly. “Vivienne, how wonderful to see you again. This little one insisted on bringing me today, despite her little accident. Elli, please sit down before you fall down.”

Vivienne helped Elli into her seat as Aldo explained what had happened. Vivienne could see the embarrassment in Elli’s eyes, her lovely face bruised and bloodied. She took her friend’s hand as Aldo was telling her what the doctors had said. “She has a severe concussion, and I think she should have gone straight home, but she insisted on bringing me here.”

Vivienne’s heart warmed. That was just like Elli. She pressed her lips to Elli’s temple. “You are a peach,” she said, “but I’m sending you home right now, El. I’ll arrange a cab.”

“No, please, I insist my driver take her home.” Aldo was firm, and so in a few minutes, Vivienne was tucking Elli into the warm backseat of Aldo Constanza’s limousine.

“You take as long as you need, El. I don’t want you back until you’re well.”

Elli smiled gratefully at her. “I’m so sorry about this, Viv.”

“Don’t be silly.” Vivienne leaned in closer, “If anything, you’ve broken the ice with Constanza…it’s just a shame you had to do it with your head.”

Elli chuckled at her boss’s grin. “Anything to help, boss.”

At home, cranking up the heating, Elli made herself some tea and sat, hunched on her couch, listening to the wind outside her windows. Her apartment was tiny, but she didn’t care about that – the view from the windows over Venice’s Lagoon made it worth the squeeze. Today, she saw the ice and fog covering the gondoliers, jostling together at their moorings, the usually crowded streets almost empty. It would be Christmas soon, but if this weather held up, it would be a subdued event. Elli liked to walk the streets at night during the festive period – being alone in the world never bothered her much. She would eat food from street vendors, soak in the atmosphere, thinking about her mother who had died when Elli was only eighteen. Her father had been long gone; Elli didn’t even know where he was and her older brother, Enzo, had died the year previously from the same cancer that took her mother.

Enzo has been Elli’s hero when she was growing up. He had been nearly a decade older but had been her companion, her teacher, her protector – or at least, he had taught her how to protect himself. He had been an architect, designing some of the most beautiful hotels in Italy with his best friend, Indio. Elli felt a warm rush through her veins when she thought of him. Indio Navaro had been her first crush, her first love. She closed her eyes now and thought of his dark curls, his swarthy caramel skin, his bright green eyes. She remembered the first time she had seen him when she was just nine, and he was eighteen. God, he had looked like an Adonis, so beautiful, huge eyes, perfectly symmetrical face, hard, toned body. No teenage acne or awkwardness for Indio and, even at her young age, Elli knew she would never again see such a beautiful man in her life. For his part, Indio stayed true to the code –never fool around with your best friend’s sister – but he adored Elli too, would spend hours with her, even when Enzo wasn’t there. They adored each other.

But then, Elli was twenty, a couple of years just after her mother had died, something happened between Enzo and Indio, something neither of them would ever talk about, and when Indio came to say goodbye to Elli, her heart was broken.

“Please don’t go,” she had begged him, “I love you so much, Indio, I always have.”

Indio had looked shattered, and for a moment, she thought he might kiss her. Instead, he leaned his forehead against his, and to her astonishment, she felt tears on his cheeks. “Elli Bella, I…” He choked on the words and, not caring anymore about what was right, she pressed her lips to his.

“Tell me you love me…please, Indio, say it, just once. I know you do. I know it in my soul…”

Indio grabbed her head and kissed her roughly then pulled away, his hands dropping away, his eyes closed. “I can’t. I’m sorry, cara mia, I can’t.”

And then he was gone, and Elli had curled up into a little ball, her heart destroyed. When Enzo, pale and hollow-eyed came to find her, she didn’t attack him or blame him. He was her brother after all.

Indio didn’t love me enough, Elli told herself for years, trying to mend her heart, but something had always told her that wasn’t the truth and when Enzo died, her chance of finding out what really happened was gone. Indio had left Venice, had gone to Rome. Elli made herself stay away from searching him on the internet, or reading about him in magazines. She knew he was a big deal in Rome and abroad, his property nous and artistic aesthetic making him a billionaire. He dated a string of beautiful women, had married and divorced a former Miss World within a year.

Elli sighed and pushed the thoughts of Indio away. She was a master of that; it was just in these quiet moments, alone on her couch, that she wished he was here with her, watching old movies and cuddling under a blanket like back in the old days. In bed alone, sometimes, she would think about what it might have been like to have sex with him, his big body covering her tiny one, his mouth on hers, his cock deep inside her. She would stroke herself into an orgasm then, afterward, cry because she would never know what it was really like to be with him.

You are twenty-eight and still behaving like a lovesick teenager. Maybe it was the concussion that made her feel so melancholy. She dragged her thoughts back to Aldo Constanza and smiled. What a sweetheart of a man. His gaze had been intense on hers a couple of times, and her stomach had curled, warming at being so obviously admired. She wasn’t such a feminist that being flirted with was anathema to her.

Her phone beeped.

You may be hurting, girl, but you are also a magician. Aldo Constanza is investing – and he’s investing BIG. I love you! Viv xxx

Elli was delighted and called her boss back immediately.

“Hey, bruiser, how’s the head?”

Elli grinned, although her head ached badly now. “Better hearing that news. Oh god, Viv, I’m so happy for you, for the magazine. Thank god I didn’t jinx it.”

“Far from it, El…Constanza had one little request. That you do an interview with him for the magazine – an-in depth, not a puff piece, don’t worry – when you’re better. I think you have an admirer, Elli, a rich, handsome sweetheart of an admirer.”

Elli flushed with pleasure. “He wants me to interview him?”

Vivienne sighed and laughed. “Trust you to focus on the work part – I’m telling you, that man wants to fu...”

“Vivienne Marche, you are over-excited,” Elli interrupted her, laughing before Vivienne could finish her sentence. “Calm down.”

“I’m just saying…you need to get laid and there’s nothing like a sex god billionaire to get your rocks off.”

Elli shook her head, grinning, although the thought wasn’t exactly repulsive to her. Aldo was gorgeous. “Viv, I’ll talk to him to arrange the interview when I get back.”

“Um…” Vivienne suddenly sounded sheepish.

“What? What did you do?” Elli knew Vivienne’s machinations of old, especially when it came to Elli’s love life.

“Well, he kind of asked for your number, and I kind of gave it to him. I figured he rescued you, so…was I wrong?”

Elli sighed. “No, it’s fine. He probably won’t call anyway.”

Aldo Constanza did call. That night, about eight p.m. while Elli was reading, and contemplating what to eat for her supper seeing as her fridge was empty.

“How are you feeling, Elliana?”

His deep voice was low and sexy. “I’m okay, a little tired now. Thank you for today, Mr. Constanza, I mean it.”

“Please call me Aldo. Despite the circumstances, and you being hurt, it was entirely my pleasure. Have you talked to Vivienne at all?”

“I have, and she told me about your request. It would be my honor.”

“Then it’s settled. Perhaps we can talk about it when you recovered, but I also wanted to ask if I may take you to dinner tonight?”

Elli blinked. “Tonight?”

Aldo gave a soft laugh. “Blame Vivienne – she was fretting about you not having any food in your home – I take it, that’s not unusual?”

Elli didn’t know how to react to that. “Um, well, yes, that is true. Unless you consider breakfast cereal a meal.”

“I do not,” he chuckled - god, he had a sexy laugh. “But what am I thinking? You probably don’t feel like going out in your condition and this weather. May I be so bold to suggest I bring dinner to you?”

And for the life of her, Elli had no good reason to say no.

An hour later, and she had panicked after hanging up the phone, dashing around the place, tidying it and herself and now she didn’t know why.

Aldo was as laid back as a man could be, bring two large steaming-hot pizzas with him. “One vegetarian and one pepperoni. I didn’t know if you eat meat.”

“Oh, so Viv didn’t tell you everything?” She grinned at him, and he smiled, somewhat sheepishly.

“Sorry,” he eased the pizza boxes onto her little dinner table, “have I railroaded you?”

She put her hand on his arm. “Not at all, I’m just kidding. Can I take your coat?”

Already she thought of him as a tailored suit guy so when he slipped out of his long coat to reveal a dark navy sweater and jeans, the navy bringing out the hazel in his eyes, she was taken aback – and impressed. He caught her expression and smiled.

“You like my sweater?”

No, actually, it’s you I like, she wanted to say. She breathed in his clean, woody scent and felt a pulse begin to beat between her legs. Aldo held her gaze then smiled, stroking his hand on her cheek.

“Whatever you are thinking, cara mia, I am thinking too. But I am aware you have a pretty serious concussion, so maybe, tonight, we should just eat.”

Elli flushed then giggled, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, I’m all over the place. Please, have a seat.”

They ate most of the two pizzas as they chatted, and Elli began to feel much more relaxed. Aldo was fun, intelligent and god, he was sexy, his big frame dominating her small couch. His arm lay across the back of it, and she could feel the heat of his skin as his fingers lay inches from the back of her neck. He was easy to talk to as they discussed his business and his investment in the magazine. Elli was starting to feel excited about the forthcoming interview and told him so.

He smiled. “I’m glad…but only when you are fully recovered, little one. Then, I hope, you will come to my home, and we will do the interview there. Afterward, perhaps you would dine with me?”

Elli blushed with pleasure. “I would like that, very much.”

At her door, just before ten p.m., he kissed her hand. “I don’t recall when I have spent such a pleasurable evening,” he said, and Elli nodded.

“Me too. Thank you, Aldo. This day has been so much better than it deserved to be.”

He touched a finger to her cheek and was gone.

That night, for the first time in eight years, it wasn’t Indio who Elli dreamed of. And in the morning, a huge hamper of luxury food was waiting for her outside her door, with the note:

Just so you don’t starve while you recover, cara mia. I look forward to our next meeting, Aldo.

In amongst the pricey, rich food was a box of her favorite breakfast cereal.

A week later, she was deemed by Vivienne to be fit enough to return to work, and two days later, she was being driven out to Aldo’s villa in Mira. As she approached, she gave a small gasp. The villa was huge, utterly Italian but Elli had learned enough to know what was old and what was new. This villa was a recent build which didn’t detract from its beauty one bit. Its features were simpatico with the Italian countryside around it, and although opulent, it shone with good taste.

Elli’s heart was pounding even harder now. The design of it, the feel…it reminded her of the houses Indio and her brother had designed and built at the beginning of their partnership, albeit, on a much, much larger scale. This has to be one of Indio’s, she thought, and she felt tears welling to the surface.

No. No, I will not ruin this by thinking about him, she thought to herself, fiercely, and when the car pulled up, and Aldo came out to meet her with a smile on his face, she pushed all thoughts of Indio to the back of her mind.

“Bella Elli, it has been too long,” he said, kissing her cheek and lingering just a little too long. Elli felt her body respond, but she reminded herself to act professionally and smiled back at him.

“This is a stunning villa, Aldo.”

Aldo beamed at her. “Thank you, I could give you the tour if you’d like.”

“Shall we do the interview first? Get the work part out of the way?” Too late, she realized what that sounded like and blushed furiously. Aldo laughed.

“That sounds…promising.”

Later, Elli would be able to narrow down to three particular moments when she knew she would be sleeping with Aldo Constanza that night. The first was when they were talking about his work with starving children in Uganda, and he was talking with such passion and commitment that it touched Elli’s heart. Here was a man unafraid to wear his heart on his sleeve.

The second was when, after a delicious and luxurious dinner, they took a walk around his grounds, and he took her hand, bringing the inside of her wrist to his lips and kissing it softly.

The third was when, a moment after that, he’d turned to her and taken her in his arms, smoothing the hair away from her face.

“Bella Elliana…I’m going to kiss you now then I’m going to take you to my bed and undress you and kiss every part of your delicious body.” He took her hand and guided it down to his rock-hard, and impressively sized cock. “Then I will fuck you until you scream my name over and over and over…”

Elli gasped a little, feeling her sex dampen and quiver at his coarse but sexy-as-all-hell words. His lips met hers, and they kissed, all passion, no hesitation.

In a flash, they were in his bedroom, and he was stripping her slowly, lingering over each piece of exposed skin until she was trembling with desire. He swept her onto the bed and knelt over her as he freed his cock from his jeans, stroking the length of it, enjoying her lust, her admiration.

“All this is for you, Elli Bella.”

Elli didn’t have time to register what he’d called her before he thrust his cock deep inside her, hitching her legs around his waist and ramming his hips hard against hers. Elli’s body acted as if she had no control over it, arching her back as he fucked her, her belly against his, her nipples so sensitive that when they brushed against his pecs, she screamed with pleasure.

Aldo was a masterful, dominant lover, enjoying pinning her to his bed, not letting her recover between orgasms, his face hard and focused as his cock thrust deeper and deeper inside of her.

“Mio Dio, you are a beautiful woman. Mio Dio…”

They came together, Elli gasping and moaning as Aldo groaned, pumping thick creamy come deep inside her belly. He kissed her tenderly as they panted for breath.

“Sweet Elli, you have made me so happy, so happy…”

She smiled at him. “That was incredible, Aldo…just as I dreamed it would be.”

Aldo looked boyish as he grinned in delight. “You dreamed of me?”

“I did.” Elli kissed his lips, his neck as she made her way down his body and took his cock in her mouth, teasing the long shaft with her tongue, feeling it quiver and harden under her touch. Aldo, on his back now, was stroking her hair.

“God, yes, Elli, that’s so good, so good…”

She brought him to near orgasm, then straddled him, impaling herself onto him with a soft moan. God, she wanted this man, his machismo, his strength. She rode him hard, his hands squeezing and caressing her breasts, then stroking her belly, his thumb pressing deep into the hollow of her navel.

As the intensity built, Aldo flipped her onto her back and began to thrust harder and harder, almost violently in his need for her. Elli clung to him, her fingernails digging into his shoulders. Aldo gripped her wrists and forced her hands onto the bed. This man likes being in control, Elli thought as another shattering orgasm ripped through her body. Aldo, almost frenzied now, bit down hard on her shoulder, and she yelped in surprise and pain as he came, shuddering and groaning, his seed shooting deep inside of her. Elli gasped for air as he turned her onto her stomach and parted her buttocks.

“Yes?” He asked his voice a deep growl next to her ear.

She nodded, nervous, but wanting to experience all this man wanted to do to her. Aldo pushed into her rounded little ass and fucked her, gentler now. Elli had never experienced anal sex before, but it sent stars shooting across her vision, and she felt like she no longer had control over her own body. He withdrew before he came, flipping her onto her back, burying his face in her belly, his tongue tracing a pattern around her navel before dipping into it. Elli moaned as Aldo slid two fingers in and out of her swollen and sore cunt, his thumb stroking a rhythm over her clit. He smiled up at her.

“Are you mine, Elli?”

She nodded, breathless and Aldo took her clit into his mouth and made her come over and over until she begged him to stop, exhausted and sated.

Aldo wasn’t nearly done yet. He covered her body with his, kissing her mouth, smoothing the damp hair away from her face. “If you only knew how much I wanted you, the moment I saw you on that street.” He grinned and chuckled softly. “Even covered in blood, you were beautiful.”

Elli frowned a little. Was she being too sensitive? Because that sounded a little weird. Aldo saw her expression. “I just mean, you could be covered in dirt or blood or anything, and I would still think you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Forgive me, I realize what I said might have sounded strange.”

Elli relaxed, her arms around his neck. Aldo Constanza had just fucked her into next week, and her body felt strangely soft, as if all limbs, all her bones had been liquified. “You’re forgiven. Aldo…it’s been the most incredible night.”

He stroked a hand down the length of her. “You’ll stay the night?”

She half-smiled. “I’m torn. Professionally speaking, I haven’t been at all professional.” They both laughed. “But the thought of leaving you naked in this bed to go home to my cold one…”

He kissed her again, pushing her legs apart, his cock already diamond-hard again. “Then stay,” he said, thrusting into her, “Stay and let’s do this all night long…”

Elli woke a little before dawn, her throat dry. Aldo lay on his stomach next to her, his big arm thrown across her. She studied him for a long moment, her new lover. His features were made to look tense, she decided and smoothed the crease between his eyes which made him look angry. She smiled as it immediately settled back into a line, then gently removed Aldo’s arm from around her waist. She slid from the bed, snagging his shirt and wrapping it around her body. She padded through the quiet villa, down to the large kitchen, and helped herself to a bottle of water from the vast, well-stocked refrigerator, grinning to herself at the difference between her own and this one. She even recognized some of the same foods Aldo had sent to her in the hamper. A man of good taste – of particular tastes. She went to the hallway and tried the doorway to one of the balconies. It opened, and she stepped out into the freezing cold night. The cold took her breath away, but it cooled her too hot body. It had been a long time since she’d shared a bed with someone else, and it felt strange, and a little claustrophobic.

She started slightly as Aldo slid his arms around her waist. “You’ll catch your death out here,” he murmured into her ear, and she grinned, moving to turn in his arms.

“No, stay like that,” he said, and slipped his hand between her legs, parting them. Elli gasped as he thrust his cock into her from behind, his hand on her belly to keep her close as he fucked her. She rested her head back on his shoulder, panting for air. Her bare feet were freezing against the ice-cold stone of the balcony.

“Bend over the balcony for me, Principessa. Put your feet on mine if they are cold.”

She did both, loving the adventure of it, feeling him grip her hips tightly as he thrust his cock deeper and deeper into her. The cold stone bit into her breasts as she gripped the balcony, but she didn’t care. The sensations he sent through her body were exquisite. She heard him groan and felt him come, reveling in the feeling of his huge cock filling her. Aldo panted for air, then swept her up in his arms, carrying her inside – then stopping.

“Wait, I think you forgot something.”

Elli looked at him blankly for a second, then went back to retrieve her water bottle from the balcony.

“Oops.”

Aldo smiled and lifted her into his arms again. He carried her down the hallway, but just before they got to the bedroom, Elli saw a painting. “Wait.” She gazed up at it. The woman in the picture had an ethereal beauty – her dark brown hair was piled up on top of her head, her large brown eyes soulful – but it was the sadness in them that took Elli’s breath away. She had known this sadness, felt this utter desolation and heartbreak…three times. “Who is she?”

Aldo’s eyes were wary. “Her name was Yvetta. She was my lover a few years ago.”

“What happened to her?”

Aldo looked away from her gaze. “She died. No, that doesn’t even cover it …she was murdered. By an enemy of mine.”

Elli was horrified. “Oh my god, Aldo.”

He nodded, putting her down, and running a hand through his short hair. “He was obsessed with her and kept trying to steal her from me. When she wouldn’t go to him, he killed her, on what would have been our wedding day.”

Elli gave a horrified gasp. She touched Aldo’s face. “God, Aldo…I’m so sorry. I can’t begin to imagine.”

“I found her,” he said bleakly, looking up the panting, his voice breaking. “I found her dead, in her wedding dress, covered in blood. My beautiful Yvetta…”

Elli wrapped her arms around him and comforted him as Aldo tried to regain his composure. They stood for a while, just embracing before Elli led him back to bed. They made love slowly this time, tenderly and when they were finally sated, Aldo laid his head on her chest, and they slept.

The next day was a Saturday, thankfully, as when Elli opened her eyes it was already mid-morning. The bed beside was empty, and at the end of the bed, a fresh robe was placed, a note attached.

Help yourself to anything you need, my sweet girl. I’ll be down in my study when you are ready, A.

Elli smiled and went into the en-suite bathroom– which was as palatial as the rest of the rooms in this villa. Elli smiled to herself – Aldo Constanza did not do anything small…his business, his house, his lovemaking…

Stepping into the shower, Elli felt relief as the warm water cascaded over her body. Soaping herself, she saw souvenirs of the night before written on her body; the imprint of Aldo’s teeth on her shoulder, bruises on her wrists, her arms. There were bruises the shape of his fingertips on her hips. It didn’t bother her; they were marks of passion, of desire, not cruelty or violence.

She dressed quickly, stuffing her underwear into her purse, and then went down to find Aldo.

He looked up as she came in and smiled. “Good morning, beautiful.” He stood to greet her, brushing his lips tenderly against hers. “How did you sleep?”

“Wonderfully, thank you.” She looked at his open lap-top. “I don’t want to disturb you, though.”

Aldo smiled. “It is unfortunate that I do have to work today. May I ask Umberto to drive you home?”

Elli smiled. “Of course, thank you. And thank you for…last night.”

He kissed her again. “May I see you again, Elli?”

She smiled and nodded. “I would like that. But, Aldo, I do have to say…I don’t want this to interfere with my work. It is very important to me.”

“I understand. I would never place any expectations on you, my sweet girl. Please, won’t you stay and have brunch with me before you leave? I’ll ask Umberto to bring the car around in an hour.”

“If it won’t keep you from your work,” she said, but his hands were already snaking under her skirt and encountering bare skin. She grinned, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.

“I don’t put yesterday’s underwear on.”

With a feral growl, Aldo pulled her into his arms and kissed her, his lips rough against hers. He fucked her again the wall of his study, and it was almost animal the way he took her, pinning her hands above her head, thrusting deep and long into her cunt.

An hour later, she was being driven through the snow back to her apartment. The rooms were cold when she went inside, and she cranked on the heat, then decided, as she felt energized and joyful from a night - and morning – of fucking, she would go out and go grocery shopping.

Wandering around the Christmas markets, she spent a leisurely afternoon shopping and didn’t notice how late it had gotten until the streets were emptying. Elli hauled her full bags over her shoulder and walked back toward her apartment.

It began with a prickle up her spine, and Elli stopped and turned. It was a dark alleyway, yes, but not one she found creepy and yet, at that moment, she felt as if someone were watching her. She sucked in a breath and checked every dark corner she could see. Nothing, Not even a breeze. She walked quickly back to her apartment then, still creeped out, but when she opened her door, locking it behind her, the feeling remained. She put her grocery bags down, and, hesitating just a second, she grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer.

Her apartment was only three rooms, but she checked everywhere she could think of. Nothing and no-one. Elli shook her head. She had never been one to be paranoid so why now? Was it just the seismic shift in her life from a week ago? A night ago?

“It must be that.” she said aloud to herself, feeling her body relax, and went to unpack her groceries.

She was getting into bed as her cell phone rang. “Hello sweet girl, I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay?”

Elli smiled. “I’m good, Aldo, thank you. I’ve had a very decadent afternoon, and stocked my refrigerator.”

Aldo laughed. “I’m glad to hear it, although I do wish I was with you. I realized tonight what a big, empty house this is.”

Elli felt a little uncomfortable. “There’ll be other nights, Aldo.”

“Oh, I know, sweet girl. What are you doing now?”

“Just about to go to bed.”

“Naked?” He sounded like a hopeful little boy, and she laughed.

“Of course.”

“Hmm, now I’m beginning to visualize that, and it’s very, very nice…” His voice dropped low. “If I were with you, I’d be running my hands down your soft skin, cupping your beautiful breasts…will you do that for me, cara mia, and pretend it’s me touching you?”

Elli closed her eyes and did as he asked, enjoying the sensuality of his voice purring down the phone. She stroked her hand down her body, over her breasts. “What else would do you do to me?”

“I would circle your bellybutton with my thumb, gently, over and over until I could feel your belly quiver under my touch.”

Elli moaned softly, turned on by his words, the feel of her hand on her belly. “Then lower, my love, down into your sex, your delicious tight little cunt. I would caress your clit until it was hard and so sensitive that you wanted to scream. Spread your legs wide, my baby, and stroke yourself for me.”

Elli gasped as she obeyed him. “Aldo…Aldo…are you touching yourself?”

He gave a low, amused chuckle. “You better believe it, sweetheart. Now, I want you to imagine my cock is sliding into you, so slowly that you get annoyed with me and scream at me to fuck you…”

“Wait,” Elli gasped, panting. She reached over to her nightstand and grabbed her vibrator. She pushed it inside of herself, moaning as she imagined it was his cock.

“Good, that’s good, sweet girl, my cock is inside you now, filling you, plowing deep inside you again and again until you see stars in your eyes…Elli?”

Almost delirious, Elli gasped her “Yes?”

“Are you free tomorrow? Can I come see you?”

Elli came as she sighed, “Yes, yes…yes…”

Aldo gave a satisfied laugh. “Good…tomorrow then?”

Elli chuckled, still catching her breath. “Tomorrow, Aldo.”

Vivienne called Elli into her office two weeks later. “Girl, this article is one of your best. Hands down. How’d you get him to open up so much?”

Elli could feel her face burn a little. “He’s very loquacious when you get him on the right topic. His work in Uganda, his love of art. He even told me some stuff about his personal life, but I felt it didn’t add anything to the article, and it would be taking advantage of a personal tragedy.”

Vivienne was studying her intently, and Elli now felt a hot rush of embarrassment flood her entire body. “You’re sleeping with him.”

Elli sighed. “Possibly.”

Vivienne grinned. “Well, hallelujah. So, are you two an ‘item’?”

Elli laughed then. “Yeah, Grandma, we’re a-courtin’. No, I think, for me, it’s just a pleasant fling.”

“And what about for him? Aldo Constanza doesn’t strike me as a man to do things by half. You sure he doesn’t think you two are serious?”

Elli shrugged. “We haven’t talked about it, but, Viv, I won’t let it affect my work here, I swear. I’m scared that if I get too involved and it ends badly, it could mean Aldo withdrawing his investment.”

Vivienne looked vaguely horrified. “Elli, your sex life is your business. Don’t let Aldo dictate things like that.”

“Oh, he’s not, Viv, I’m sorry if it came out that way. I mean, my work is my passion. That’s the most important thing to me.”

Vivienne smiled at her kindly. “Would you say that if we were talking about Indio Navaro?”

A bolt of pain shot through Elli. “But we’re not.” She felt tearful all of a sudden and Vivienne came around the desk and hugged her.

“Oh, sweetheart. I say this is your friend and because I love you. It’s been eight years, Elli. You have to start looking to the future. He’s not coming back, however much you keep your heart hidden from everyone else. Aldo Constanza is gorgeous, rich and he believes in your work.”

“I know, and you’re right about…Indio.” Why did it still hurt so much to say his name? It was like a thousand swords being plunged into her heart. Elli rubbed her eyes, and Vivienne smiled.

“If I did that, I’d look like a panda,” she said, going back to sit behind her desk. “I will never stop being jealous of the fact you don’t have to wear make-up, girl.”

Aldo came to meet her as Elli was leaving the office. He kissed her passionately, not caring who saw them on the crowded street.

“Mm, I’ve missed you today, Elli Bella.”

Elli hated that he called her that – it had been Indio’s nickname for her. Then she pulled herself up – so what? It was as sweet a name for her and Indio didn’t own it. He would never say those words again so what did it matter? She smiled up at Aldo, stroking the short hair over his ear.

“Shall we spend tonight at my place? We always seem to be going to your home.”

Aldo tightened his arms around her. “Ah, but there’s more space at mine. Come back with me, Elli, I have a surprise for you.”

Elli pushed away from the annoyance she felt. Every time she had seen Aldo since that first time when they had eaten pizza together, it had been assumed that they would spend the night at his villa. Did he think her place wasn’t suitable for a man such as himself? She didn’t want to argue, though, not out in public like this so she agreed, giving him a half-smile as he took her hand and led her to his car.

At his villa, he placed his hands over her eyes and then steered her into his vast living room. “Open.”

Elli opened her eyes and gave a delighted laugh. A huge Christmas tree stood, its lights twinkling in the dim light of the living room. “Oh, Aldo, it’s so beautiful.”

He kissed the soft skin on the inside of her wrist. “I remember you telling me that you missed having Christmas with your family, that your apartment was too small for you to have a tree. So, I thought of this.”

Elli felt tears in her eyes and felt bad for her earlier irritation. She touched Aldo’s face then went to examine the tree. She breathed in the fresh scent of pine, admired the glitter and sparkle of the gold decorations. It was opulent, extravagant, exquisitely decorated – a far cry from when Enzo and Indio used to haul in a bedraggled tree from the garden, and they’d make paper decorations for it. Elli knew that it was improbable that Aldo had decorated this tree himself but it was still a thoughtful gesture.

She felt his hand on her back. “You like it?”

She nodded, turned to kiss him. “It’s beautiful.”

He took her face in his hands, studying her eyes. “It pales in comparison to you, beautiful girl.” His lips touched hers and Elli sank into the kiss, Aldo’s hands roaming over her body leisurely before his fingers pulled at the zipper of her dress. She grinned at him as the dress fell to the floor and Aldo smiled back, pulling her to him roughly, so her belly curved against his shirt. “There is no comparison when I see your body like this, except for when…” And he unclasped her bra and drew her panties down. “You should always be naked, Elliana Moretti. The world would thank you. I have a gift for you.”

He bent down and picked up a box. Elli opened it to find what she thought at first was a necklace but then realized it was more complex than that. Aldo was watching her.

“It’s a body chain, white gold, with diamonds. Here let me put it on for you.”

He put the delicate chain over her head and crisscrossed it between her breasts, over her belly, between her legs. Elli had never seen anything like it, but she had to admit; it looked good against her caramel skin, the white gold and diamonds twinkling in the light of the Christmas tree’s own illuminations.

Aldo stepped back and admired her body. “Wow. Just wow…Elli, you have the body of a goddess…”

Elli smiled, feeling very sensual now, completely sexy in this man’s presence. Aldo quietly swept her off of her feet and lay her on the thick carpet, before stripping off his tie. “I’m going to touch you now, Elli, caress you until you beg for my cock…but I want to make you shiver in anticipation and the best way to do that is…” And he wound his tie around her eyes, blindfolding her. Elli shivered straight away, feeling vulnerable, and she heard Aldo give a low chuckle. “That’s right, Elliana…you’re at my mercy.”

Her breath hitching and trembling, she waited for his touch.

Aldo gazed down at the beautiful woman on his carpet and smiled. This is what he had wanted, having her helpless, desperately for his touch. He began by kissing her lips, her throat, trailing them across her collar bones, taking each nipple into his mouth and teasing the small bud of each, stroking his hand down her soft belly and between her legs, stopping just before he reached her clit, teasing her, tormenting her. He stripped off his clothes, hefting the weight of his cock in his hand as it hardened at the sight of her. He lay down, taking her hands and pinning them above her head, his body covering hers, his weight on her tiny frame.

“You are mine, tonight, Elliana.”

Elli gasped as he began to push his cock into her, then withdrew, doing it again and again and until she nearly screamed with frustration, then thrust it in deep, pushing her legs apart until he knew her hips were objecting, sore and burning. Good. In the morning, he wanted her to ache, feel the aftermath of the way he was going to fuck her tonight. Feel it in every part of her delicious body. As his thrusts began to get hard and deeper, he gathered her to him, his mouth on her lips, her throat, his teeth biting her shoulders, her breasts. Elli clung to him as his lovemaking became almost frenzied and he heard her give a small cry of pain as he rammed his cock deeper inside her, but he ignored it. She was his, and his alone.

He came, shuddering and groaning her name as she panted beneath him. He kissed her tenderly, stroking her clit until she too came. He rolled off her and propped himself up on his elbow to watch her as she caught her breath. He pushed the blindfold from her eyes and studied them. “Principessa, was that not good for you?”

Elli nodded, but he could see wariness, hesitation in her eyes. “It was, Aldo…thank you.”

He laughed. “You’re thanking me for sex?”

Elli chuckled too, running her hand over her face. “Sorry, I’m just a little dazed.”

“Do you feel well?”

“Oh yes, fine. Just a little…I’ve never had sex like that before and it…scared me a little. The intensity. Being blindfold.” She chewed her bottom lip nervously as she looked up at him.

Aldo frowned. “You’re not scared of me, surely?” He leaned in and kissed her lips softly. “You need never be afraid of me, sweet one.”

But Elli didn’t look convinced, and Aldo decided that he needed to be tender from now on. “I’m sorry if I frightened you, Elli. I had no thought that it might be too much, but now I can see it was. Please don’t be scared.”

She relaxed a little, half-smiling at him. “I’m just not as experienced as some women you might have dated.”

Aldo rocked back a little. “You were not a virgin, surely?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s just…I’m a solitary creature by nature, Aldo. I have never felt the need to be coupled-up, to always be in a relationship. The men I have slept with have always been good friends first. With you, it’s different.”

“We’re not friends?” He felt a little stung and Elli touched his face.

“Of course, we are, Aldo. I meant those other men were friends of long-standing, who just happened at different moments to be the right guy at the right time. You and I, we had a different start.”

Aldo smiled at her, brushing his lips against hers. “Ours was romantic.”

“Yeah,” Elli looked at him askance and then laughed, “Concussion is so sexy.”

He grinned. “You know what I mean.”

She relented. “I do.”

Later, after they had dinner, they sat together, drinking scotch, and watching the tree lights twinkle. Aldo stroked Elli’s face and was quiet for a while. “Elli, spend Christmas with me. I hate to think of you alone in that tiny apartment. Spend it with me here, and we will eat too much, drink too much and watch cheesy movies.”

Elli half-smiled at him. “Are you sure? What about your family?”

Aldo sighed. “My father will be skiing with his wife in Austria; my younger brother Antonio is at college in the United States and has no intention of being around his boring older brother. So, you see, I’m as alone as you.”

He looked playfully mournful, but Elli felt stung by his words. Was she really that pathetic? She rubbed her forehead, trying to stave off a headache.

“Are you alright?”

Always watching. The thought hit her and she brushed it away. Don’t be unfair, girl, he’s just concerned. “A headache. Maybe I should go home.”

He kissed her cheek. “Nonsense. Look, I’ll get some aspirin for you, and some water and you can go lie down.”

When she was alone, Elli stared at the fire that Aldo had lit earlier, her emotions in turmoil. Was she just freaking out because it looked like she was about to embark on a relationship, whether she liked it or not – and she’d always studious avoided any type of commitment?

Vivienne’s words came back to her. Indio is gone, has been gone, for eight years. He’s not coming back.

“I know, I know,” Elli murmured to herself and scrubbed at her face with her hands. She wasn’t being fair to the lovely man in whose house she sat, in whose bed she experienced great sex and tenderness. Earlier, she had wanted to run when he got…intense, but she had talked herself down from it. It hadn’t been violent or degrading, just more intense than she was comfortable with. Maybe that’s what it feels like when it’s not a fuck of convenience, she told herself, because how would you know otherwise, Moretti?

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the headache to go away. A moment later, she felt a cool damp towel being pressed against her forehead, and it felt so good, she had to smile. “You are the sweetest man,” she said softly, and Aldo responded by kissing her softly on her lips.

“Here, sweet girl, take these.” He dropped a couple of aspirin in her hand and gave her the glass of water. “You should go lie down.”

Elli opened her eyes and smiled at him. “If you come with me.”

Aldo smoothed her hair. “Always.”

They lay in bed, talking softly, Aldo’s hand stroking her face until she felt herself, drifting off to sleep, her head still pounding.

The nightmare began as sweet memories of her and Indio and Enzo, down at Indio’s mother’s farmhouse in Tuscany, summer heat, picking olives in the grove. Indio teasing her, chasing her with a spider in his hand, down the hill until they were both breathless, laughing and collapsing together. Indio plucked a bloom from the field of wild flowers and wound it around her finger. His lips were soft against hers. “Sposami?” Marry me?

Elli found herself in a white dress before she could even say yes, drifting down the hallway of Aldo Constanza’s home. She was confused now…why was she here, of all places? Was it still Indio she was marrying?

She pushed open the two huge white doors in front of her to see an altar, saw Indio waiting for her at the end of the aisle. As she moved towards him, she saw her brother, her Enzo step in front of her. “Don’t do this, Elli, please, he’s not who you think he is…he’s dangerous.”

“I love him, Enzo. I’ve always loved him.”

Her brother’s image faded away, and she turned, smiling at her groom.

“Listen to your brother.” Another voice behind her. She turned. Yvetta, herself in a wedding dress, but with the hilt of a knife protruding from a huge blood stain on the bodice. Yvetta smiled, as beautiful as in Aldo’s painting.

“He did this to me, Elli, he will do it to you too.”

Elli shook her head. “You don’t know him like I do…he isn’t capable.”

Yvetta disappeared, and she was left alone with Indio. He took her hands and led her up the stairs towards a faceless priest who began to read the marriage ceremony.

“If any person should have an objection…”

“Yes.” A man’s voice, broken and full of grief. Elli turned to see Aldo staggering up to the altar, heartbroken, his face streaming with tears.

“Please, Elli…don’t marry him…he’ll destroy you like you’ve destroyed me. Please…”

Elli closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I did love you, for a time. I did.”

When she opened, Aldo was gone, and she was married. Her new husband looked down at her. “Come with me, my beautiful Elli.”

Elli followed Indio into the hallway. In a flash, Indio cuffed her around the head, hard. Elli went down, confused, shocked. She looked around, and the blood froze in her veins.

The knife Indio was holding was huge, lethal.

Oh god no…

“I’m sorry, Elli, my beautiful Elli, but you know it has to end this way, don’t you?” He walked slowly towards her, and she started to crawl backward.

He smiled down at her, his eyes soft. “I asked Aldo to come here, to see if you would be tempted, to see if you were true to me,” he said. “I had to get him here, so that you could be tested, my darling. And you failed. You fell in love with Aldo Constanza and let him put his hands on you.” He crouched next to her and grabbed her wrists, winding a rope around them. “He will find you here, stabbed to death. It will destroy him, and that’s all I want. Well, apart from seeing you die, seeing your beautiful skin split under my knife. I’m going to butcher you, my darling, put my knife into your belly over and over until you are dead. Right now, Elli…”

Elli kicked out and caught him hard on the knee. Indio went down, howling and Elli flipped over and started to pull herself away from him. She couldn’t believe this. Indio, her beloved Indio a killer.

It wasn’t enough. Indio recovered and plunged the knife into the small of Elli’s back. Elli cried out in agony, and laughing, Indio stabbed her again, an inch away from the first wound. Elli gasped for air as Indio flipped her onto her back and ripped open her dress. Elli’s back arched as he drove the knife into her, pain ripping through her as he stabbed her again and again. Elli was losing consciousness from the pain.

“Stop,” she whispered, weakening, “stop. I’m dead…”

But Indio’s bloodlust wasn’t sated. He stabbed her again, smiling as she moaned in agony.

Hot sticky blood pumped out of her belly. Indio leaned over and kissed her mouth. “This is even better than marrying you might have been. Enzo knew the truth. Why do you think he warned me away from you all those years ago? Yvetta – poor sweet Yvetta, loving me while knowing I could never love anyone but my Elli – still believing it when I put this very knife into her. You might call poor Yvetta a practice run.”

No. No, she couldn’t believe this, wouldn’t believe her Indio was a killer – and yet…it had always lingered in his beautiful eyes. The violence. Had she mistaken it for passion?

“Why?” She whispered with the last of her strength as the last of her blood left her body. “I love you, only you., Indio.”

Indio smiled. “And you always will, for eternity, my love…” and he slid the blade between her ribs into her heart…

“No!” Elli screamed, bolting up in bed, then scrambling across the room, scared witless when she felt a hand on her. She cowered, still imagined she could feel the knife in her body, still smell her own blood.

But it wasn’t a deranged Indio moving to kill her, it was Aldo, his face wracked with shock and concern who put his big, strong arms around her, not to hurt her, but to comfort, to love.

“Sweet girl, what is it? You’re safe here, you’re safe…please, calm down, Elli.”

She rode out the panic attack, breathing deeply, resting against his solid body. His lips were on her forehead as he stroked her back. “I’m sorry,” she managed, eventually, “It was a nightmare, god, horrible, and stupid and not real.” She was sweating but shivering violently. Aldo swept his hand onto her forehead. “Jesus, you’re burning up.”

He made Elli get back into bed, and she was glad of it because she really was starting to feel sick.

By dawn, she was in so much pain that a worried Aldo called a doctor, who came out to see her. After giving Elli some much-needed pain relief, he spoke to Aldo. “Post-concussion syndrome,” he said. “It should resolve itself in a few months, but I’d be happier if we did a CT just to make sure nothing more insidious is going on.”

“Can this really happen from a fall?”

The doctor nodded. “Oh, yes. I’ll set up an appointment for the scan in the next couple of days. In the meantime, Miss Moretti should rest.

Aldo called Vivienne after the doctor had left and she was sympathetic. “Tell Elli not to worry. There are only a few days before we’re off for the Christmas break anyway, and there’s not much going on.”

Aldo went upstairs and found Elli awake. She smiled at him, her face pale but less tense. Aldo sat on the edge of the bed and held her hand. “Better, darling?”

“Much. The doctor gave me the good stuff.”

Aldo told her what the doctor said, and Elli, being Elli, immediately grabbed her iPad and looked up the syndrome. She smiled to herself. “This explains a lot.”

“What does?”

“The symptoms list anxiety and irritability. If you knew me better, Aldo, you’d know that I’m pretty easy-going, but lately I’ve felt on edge.”

He smiled gently. “I had noticed, sweet girl.”

She squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry, Aldo, I never meant to make you feel bad.”

“Not at all…it’s just, Elli, I’m in very great danger of falling in love with you, and somehow, it has seemed that you hold part of yourself back from me. I never want to make you feel obligated – so, all I ask is that you’re honest with me about how you feel.”

Elli nodded, and for a few moments, she was silent. “Aldo, for a long time now, I’ve been stuck in a rut. I loved someone, deeply. Entirely. It’s been eight years, and he still haunts my dreams – and now my nightmares. He broke my heart, Aldo, shattered it. He was the moon and the sun to me, and it’s been eight years, and I don’t want to feel that way anymore.” She reached up and touched his cheek. “That’s as honest as I can be at this moment, Aldo. I love being with you, as a friend, as a lover. You are the first person since…him…that has broken down even a little of my defenses. I can’t promise I’ll get there quickly, but I can promise to try. I do have feelings for you, I really do.”

“As I do for you. Thank you for being so honest, Elli.” Aldo bent his head and kissed her, and she kissed him back, grinning slightly as they broke apart.

“And, goddamn, you are so sexy,” she said, and Aldo laughed, pulling off his clothes and getting into bed with her.

“Just to cuddle, don’t worry,” he said, as she snuggled into his arms. “I’ll buy that you do actually have a headache.”

Elli chuckled. “Which is getting better, by the way.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really.” She tilted her head back so he could kiss her. Aldo smoothed her hair back from her face, studying her.

“Still, I think you better get some sleep, baby. We have plenty of time.” He told her what Vivienne had said. “So, I’m going to ask again, but I won’t be offended if you say no. Spend Christmas and New Years with me. I promise, as soon as you’re feeling one hundred percent well, we will have a riot together. There are a few parties I’ve been invited to which I would love you to come as my partner if that suits you. And if not, we have the world at our fingertips, Elli. Anything, anywhere.”

Elli smiled at him. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care what we do.”

Her heart warmed when she saw the delight in his eyes. He is lovely, Elli thought now, why the hell am I holding onto the ghost of what might have been, when this man is offering me the world? She pulled his head down to kiss him again. “You know, they do say that an orgasm or two is a great way to cure a headache.”

Aldo grinned and covered her body with his. “They say that, do they?”

“Let’s prove the theory.” Elli reached down to stroke his cock, already stiffening as Aldo caressed her clit, kissing her mouth tenderly.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he murmured against her lips, and Elli felt her excitement grow as he hitched her legs around his waist and slid slowly into her, filling her, making her moan with pleasure as they moved together. Aldo gazed down at her, his eyes soft with love as his pace began to quicken, his cock thrusting deeper, deeper, deeper, growing even harder as Elli gasped and panted, her body undulating with the movement.

“God, Elli…Elli…” Aldo groaned, burying his face in her neck, his lips against her skin. Elli clung to him, her own lips against his shoulder as he rammed his hips harder and harder, giving herself over to the sweet sensations flooding her body. She cried out his name as she came, trembling, her skin vibrating with the force of her orgasm, and as they caught their breath, they kissed, eyes locked on the other’s, forging a deeper connection than had been there before.

Elli fell asleep locked in his arms, feeling something had shifted in her soul. Yes, she would try to be the woman Aldo thought she was, for him, for herself. Vivienne had been right.

It was time.

Christmas night and Elli and Aldo finally stopped eating and lay, bellies full, on his couch. Elli was groaning, patting her full belly. “I seriously haven’t eaten that much in years,” she laughed and moaned as Aldo patted her bare stomach. “Don’t, I’ll explode.”

“Sexy,” Aldo said and laughed as she looked at him askance. “Elli, I’d like to thank you.”

Elli looked at him in amazement. “You thank me? Aldo, look at this place, look at what you’ve given me.” She held up her wrist with the elegant and delicate diamond bracelet he had given her that morning. “You have given me something I thought lost to me. A family Christmas.”

Aldo looked delighted, but he also shook his head. “You don’t understand – Christmas for me, in the last few years, has been…painful. Dark. You see, Yvetta was born on Christmas Day.”

“Oh, Aldo, I’m sorry.”

“No, you see? You have brought the light back into my life, into the holidays. You, Elli, have given me more than I ever thought possible. Oh, I’ve dated a few women since Yvetta died but none could come close to you, my love.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Elli, I told you a few days ago I was in danger of falling in love with you. These last few days have made me realize…I’m no longer in danger, I am in love with you.”

Ellis eyes filled with tears and she looked away. Aldo turned her face back to him. “Hey, hey. I don’t expect or want you to feel the same until you do. There’s no pressure, but I had to tell you that. I love you, Elliana Moretti.”

Hot tears flooded down her cheeks as she kissed him. “Aldo…I am changing, I can feel it, and you’re the reason. I’m not there yet, but I’m starting to believe I will be. When I tell you I love you, I want it to be the absolute truth. But, it’s only you, now, Aldo. Only you.”

It was only a partial lie, but Aldo seemed satisfied, grinning as he kissed her. “If only we hadn’t been so gluttonous, I would take you on this couch right now.”

She grinned. “Remember the time I was out on the balcony? I wouldn’t mind reliving that, Mr. Constanza.”

Aldo laughed. “Kinky girl. Just how kinky do you get, Ms. Moretti?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “What did you have in mind?”

“Hmm, how would you feel about restraints?”

Elli nodded slowly. “We could do that.”

“Or perhaps we should invite someone to join us.”

Elli’s eyes opened wider. “A threesome?”

“What do you think? If we’re getting real here, one of my fantasies is to watch you getting fucked by another man – as long as I could join in afterward, of course.”

Elli thought about it for a long moment. “If it would turn you on, I wouldn’t be against it. Who did you have in mind?”

Aldo adjusted himself so he could study her reaction. “A professional. Someone who can be trusted to be discreet.”

“We’re really talking about this, huh?” Elli was getting turned on, now.

Aldo shifted, so he was on his knees, between her legs. He started to unbutton her jeans as he talked. “A young man. I’d ask him to undress you slowly so I could film your delectable body as he revealed each piece of skin.” He tugged her jeans off and then pulled her t-shirt over her head. Elli grinned at him as he reached behind her to unclasp her bra then took her nipple in his mouth greedily, sucking and teasing. His fingers were on her belly, stroking a circle around her deep navel. He smiled up at her as he released her nipple and moved to the other. “I would tell him to suck on your nipples as he finger-fucked your bellybutton. Meanwhile, I would fuck your perfect ass, fingering your clit until you were begging for your sweet cunt to be filled.”

He was sliding her panties down now and then his mouth was on her clit, sucking and biting gently as Elli shivered and moaned. He paused for breath and smiled up at her. “Then I would ask him to fuck you, hard, roughly as I film his cock plunging in and out of your vagina.” He slid two fingers into her damp cunt then, and Elli writhed with pleasure.

“Yes, yes, Aldo…”

A third finger slid inside her, and she bucked against his hand. “Aldo, please, I want your cock, I need your cock inside me.”

Aldo unzipped his pants and pulled his tumescent cock out, hard and quivering with arousal. “You want this, pretty girl?”

She nodded and removing his hand, he obliged, fucking her hard as they began to describe more and more kinky ways to fuck. Aldo pinned her hands above her head as he tumbled her off the couch onto the carpet. “I would love to see this incredible body in a leather harness,” he said, clamped her legs around him and thrusting deep inside her. “There’s just something about seeing you bound and helpless…you weren’t happy with the blindfold, but what if you could see what I was about to do to you, but you were still helpless to stop it. We could role play…you could be the political prisoner, I could be your torturer…I mean in a way you enjoyed,” he added, seeing her eyes widen in surprise. “Nothing dangerous.”

Elli relaxed, and they made love until they were both breathless and sated.

They got to live out one fantasy a few nights later. Aldo brought Elli to a New Year’s Eve gala benefit held in one of the city’s beautiful art museums. He introduced Elli to the man who had organized the gala, Maceo Bartoli, Venice’s most celebrated art dealer. Elli liked the man immediately; his merry eyes and sweet smile belied the handsome face. With a pang, she realized mid-conversation that he reminded her so much of Indio, that her chest began to hurt. Indio before the darkness, before he had left her. Maceo, his dark curls highlighted with silver, introduced Elli to his wife, Orianthi, a dark-haired beauty who had as much mischief in her eyes as her husband. Ori bore Elli off to grab some drinks from the waiters who glided gracefully and discreetly around the gathering. Ori took an orange juice for herself, nodding down to her swollen belly. “This one won’t let me drink for another three months.”

She glows, Elli thought, warming to the other woman. “Is it your first?”

Ori shook her head, grabbing a canape from a tray and shoving it into her mouth in a way that Elli approved of. “No, we have a son too, Dario. He’ll be eight soon, a charmer just like his dad. How long have you and Aldo been together?”

“Just a couple of months. It’s early days. Have you known him long?”

“A while but not well. He’s kind of private. We don’t see him out much. He’s a home boy, I think, especially since his fiancée died. Awful, that was. I know something about being stabbed, so when Maceo met him, just after Yvetta died, Maceo told him about our history. I think it helped to talk to someone who knew what it was like.”

“Maceo was stabbed?”

Ori shook her head. “No, I was. By a psychotic asshole who thought woman were possessions. But I nearly died, and Maceo went through hell. At least I had morphine. So, he could relate to how Aldo felt. I hope it helped Aldo come to terms.” She smiled at Elli. “Sorry, this is morbid. Let’s change the subject. Are you in love with Aldo’s home? I have such envy – not that Maceo wouldn’t build one for me if I asked, but still. Whoever designed and built it for Aldo was a genius.”

Elli felt her chest clench a little, but she asked the question anyway, keeping her tone casual. “Do you know who the architect was?”

Ori shook her head and leaned in conspiratorially. “I don’t, but I heard he was some kind of player. Don’t quote me on this because I don’t know for sure, but there were rumors that Yvetta was sleeping with him, and that he may have had something to do with her murder. Of course, it was never proved, and her murder is unsolved still. Hey, are you okay?”

Elli had paled. It couldn’t be Indio, it couldn’t. He would never hurt another person…would he? Her nightmare came back to her, and she shivered. She tried to smile at Ori. “I’m fine, honestly. Just such a lot of pain to cope with…I just feel for Aldo.”

“I know. Hey,” Ori said, apparently wanting to distract her, “You’re a journalist, right? I read your interview with Aldo and was inspired to read some of your other stuff. You’re really talented.”

Elli flushed with pleasure. It meant a lot to her that this lovely woman liked her work. “Thank you, Ori, you’re very kind. If you ever wanted to tell your story, please think of me.”

Ori hooted a little. “I’m not that interesting, believe me. Come on, let’s look around.”

An hour later, Aldo, catching up with her, bent his mouth to her ear. “Meet me upstairs, in the small balcony above the O’ Keefe. Do you see it?”

She nodded, and he disappeared. In a minute or so, she left Ori with Maceo and followed Aldo upstairs. The marbled hallway echoed with the chatter from below, but it was empty. As she got to the balcony, Aldo pulled her roughly into the little alcove that overlooked the gathering.

He kissed her passionately, then began to hitch up the skirt of her dress. Elli grinned, and when he encountered bare flesh instead of underwear, he looked up in surprise. “I thought something like this might happen…well, I hoped it would,” she whispered. Aldo stood and kissed her again.

“I’m going to fuck you now,” he said, “Then we’ll try something different.”

He unzipped his pants and thrust deep inside her. Elli gasped, and Aldo clamped his hand over her mouth to silence her. It was hard, quick thrilling fuck, and they both came quickly.

Elli rammed her legs together as she felt his cum trailing down her leg, but it was such a turn-on to play like this, the fear of being caught adding to the fun. Aldo lowered her skirt and turned her to face out of the balcony.

“Now,” he said quietly, moving behind her, “the game is this. I’m going to fuck you from behind, but you must remain as if a statue so that no-one guesses what we are doing. Every time you feel my cock thrust into you, I want you to find a man in the gathering below, gaze at him, and pretend it’s his cock fucking you. Control your orgasm, concentrate on feeling it entirely in your cunt.”

Elli felt him push up the back of her skirt now and part her legs with his hand, caressing her clit from behind. She put her hands flat on the waist-height balcony balustrade to steady herself as Aldo entered her.

“Look at him, or him, or him…” Aldo’s murmur was low and masterful. “All of these men in this room would kill to fuck you, Elliana. Look at them.”

As he fucked her, Elli obeyed his instructions and imagined some of the good-looking, successful men in the gallery were the one’s reaming her so hard. The international property magnate with the red-gold hair, or the sleek blonde racehorse owner…or Maceo Bartoli…

Elli felt disloyal to Ori, looking at her husband with those thoughts, but Maceo was easily the most handsome man in the room. Aldo thrust harder as he neared his peak and keeping still was getting harder for Elli. She concentrated on Maceo, registering again how much he looked like Indio, and as she neared her peak, she felt Aldo’s hand on her belly, pulling her back into the shadows. He muffled her cry with his mouth. They panted, calming themselves. They tidied up their clothes, grinning at each other.

“That was such a rush,” she whispered, and Aldo grinned, nodding, kissing her again.

“Thank you for helping to fulfill that particular fantasy,” he said, and she laughed.

“It was my pleasure.”

The countdown to midnight was starting, and Elli and Aldo kissed as the clock struck twelve and the cheers went up in the room.

“Happy New Year, Elli, my beautiful one.”

“Happy New Year, handsome.” He kissed her again, long and hard. They were breathless when they broke apart, and Elli grinned at him. “Dang, that one kept going.”

Aldo laughed and reached for her hand. “Ready to go down?”

“I must just use the bathroom, freshen up.”

Aldo nodded. “It’s just along this corridor, two lefts and a right. I’ll meet you back downstairs.

Elli walked along the hallways of the art gallery. There was no-one around, and her shoes clicked on the marble floor and echoed off the old stone. She found the bathroom where Aldo said it was and went in. She was washing her hands when she felt the feeling of being watched again. She whirled around, but the vast, luxurious bathroom was empty. Her skin prickled, but Elli let out a long breath of relief.

Then the door of the bathroom closed with a slam, and she was running towards it, yanking it open. She looked both ways down the hallways – to see, for the briefest second, the back of a tall man rounding the corner. He had dark brown messy curls, and Elli’s heart began to beat heavily against her ribs.

Indio…

She yanked the high heels from her feet and took off after him as fast as her lilac column dress would let her. She pushed through doors, not even glancing around the rooms, sure he had been watching her. She told herself over and over that it couldn’t be him and finally, breathless she slowed and stopped.

This is ridiculous. It’s just paranoia.

Elli breathed in as she calmed herself. Stop. Just stop.

He doesn’t deserve your time, Moretti, he left you. He’s gone, and there’s a gorgeous, sexy man, with whom you’ve just had public sex, waiting for you downstairs.

She turned and retraced her steps back to the bathroom. Just as she was about to descend the stairs, a light breeze carried the scent of a man’s expensive cologne to her. Indio’s favorite. For a second, she breathed it in, eyes closed, then gritting her teeth, she stomped downstairs, almost angry now. Aldo was chatting to Maceo and Ori as she returned to his side and slipped her hand into his. He smiled down at her and kissed her cheek. “Here she is.”

“We were just saying, we should all have dinner sometime,” Ori said to Elli and Elli nodded.

“I would love that.” Maceo, she noticed, didn’t seem as enthusiastic and she wondered if she had done something to offend him. But when they said goodbye, he kissed her cheek warmly.

“If you or your magazine ever need any artistic spaces or anything, please let me know. It would be great to work with you.”

Elli smiled at him. “That sounds like a great idea. How about mid-January??”

“Great. Happy New Year, sweetheart.” He handed her a card, and they said goodbye.

In the car on the way back to Elli’s apartment, Elli leaned her head on Aldo’s shoulder. “I’m glad we’re staying in the city tonight.”

“You don’t like our house?”

She chuckled. “Your house and of course I do. It’s just my place is closer, and I’m feeling very, very horny right now.”

Aldo laughed. “Well, that’s just about the best news a man could hear.”

She kissed his jawline as he drove to the parking garage nearest to her apartment. Walking hand-in-hand back to her place, Elli looked up at him. “Aldo?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Feel like getting kinky tonight?”

Aldo grinned. “Always. What were you thinking?”

Elli hesitated. “I’d like to try the blindfold thing again. I think it would teach me to trust better.”

He nodded. “We could do that, we could play some games.”

In bed, he wound his tie around her eyes. “Can you see?”

“No,” she grumbled, “And it’s torture knowing you’re naked and I can’t see you.”

Aldo laughed. “And, you won’t be able to touch me either. I’m going to tie your hands behind your back, beautiful.”

“You are?”

“Yep. On your stomach, Moretti.”

Elli laughed and obeyed, and Aldo bound her hands, tucking them into the small of her back as he rolled her onto her back again. Elli wriggled, smiling.

“You like that, huh?”

She laughed. “Surprisingly, yes. Now, tell me about this game.”

“Well, you see this beautiful soft belly of yours?” He ran a finger down her stomach, and she sighed happily. “Well, we’re going to play a game of guess. I’m going to stroke various objects down it, and you have to guess what they are.”

“Are all these objects attached to you?”

“Some of them are,” they were both laughing now, “Some I will have culled from your place.”

Elli giggled. “And what is the purpose?”

“Apart from me spending quality time with your gorgeous abs? Well, here’s the game. If you guess six or more right, you win, and I go down on you like I never have before. Get four or fewer, you suck my dick, and let me come into your sweet mouth.”

“Dirty boy,” but she was getting wet at the thought. “And if I get five correct?”

“Subtract one from seventy.”

Elli laughed. “Oh, you are so on, Mr. Constanza.”

She heard Aldo go back to the kitchen, the living room. “I’m not trying to sway you, but you might want to look in my nightstand.”

She heard him come back into the bedroom, the drawer of her nightstand open. “Oh, ho ho,” he said, with a chuckle. “You’ve been holding out on me, you little minx.” She heard the buzz of her vibrator then jumped as Aldo touched it to her clit. “I have to say I’m relieved my only love rival comes with batteries.”

Elli smiled, feeling a little guilty but not wanting to break the mood. She felt Aldo climb onto the bed then his fingers stroking her belly. “Too easy, that’s your hand.”

“Did I say I had started? I was just preparing the playing field.”

Elli started to giggle now, both amused by their game, and with nervous anticipation. She felt him kiss her belly, run his tongue around her navel.

“Okay, my beautiful Elli, what’s this?”

She felt something cold, very cold, circle her navel. “Ice cube?”

“An easy one to start.” He traced the ice around her belly then to her nipples. Elli moaned at the sweet pain of the ice. Aldo chuckled softly, stroking it down her body and into her sex. Elli shifted, wriggling with pleasure and when she felt Aldo’s mouth on her nipple, cold from the ice cube, she gasped a little and arched her back to meet his lips. He teased her nipples with the ice cube until it melted then kissed her mouth. “You taste like heaven, Elli. Next item.”

A soft, ticklish thing, a feather, was next, Aldo tracing it around her belly then up and down her body as his other hand massaged her clit. Elli, enjoying the game and getting more aroused, guess the next three items as well - a crystal ornament Vivienne had brought her from Paris, the edge of a wooden box from her desk, the cold metal of her fountain pen.

Aldo kissed her. “You have five correct already, baby.”

“We could just stop here and suck each other,” she said, but Aldo laughed.

“No way…this is too much fun. Next one.”

Elli felt something cold and metallic touch her skin. At first thin, like a needle, and then flat against her skin…like a knife? Elli’s blood ran cold, and for a second she couldn’t breathe.

“A knife?” She said, hesitantly. She heard Aldo’s sharp intake of breath.

“Of course not, Elli, what do you think I am? It was my watch.”

“I’m sorry, Aldo, I wasn’t accusing you of anything. Some people like knife play. I’m just not one of them.”

“Me neither, Elli, especially after what happened to…” His voice choked off and Elli felt bad. She couldn’t reach out to comfort him, her hands still bound behind her.

“God, Aldo, I’m sorry, I was insensitive. Please, let me up so I can hug you.”

“No. It’s okay, I understand why you would have guessed that. Let’s just put it down as a wrong guess. Next one.”

It was hard but soft at the tip against her skin, almost silky. Elli, trying to cheer him up, smiled at him. “Is that your incredible cock?”

Aldo laughed and pushed her blindfold off. Elli blinked to see him tracing his cock around her navel. “Correct. Which means you win, beautiful. Now…” He shifted down the bed and hooked her legs over his shoulders. “Hold on tight, little one.” He grinned up at her and Elli could see no lingering anger or hurt in his eyes. Aldo buried his face in her sex, and she sighed as she felt his tongue twit around her clit until it was hypersensitive, then he plunged his tongue deep into her cunt, almost violently until she was screaming his name and begging him never to stop.

Afterward, they fucked until dawn and fell asleep together, lips almost touching, Aldo’s big arm locked around her waist. To Elli’s great relief, the nightmares didn’t make another appearance, and when she woke in the morning, she felt rested and safe.

In the shower, she took him in her mouth and sucked him until he was groaning, coming into her mouth. He lifted her afterward, and took her against the shower wall, his big frame almost filling the tiny cubicle.

While Elli dressed, Aldo went out buy fresh soft rolls for their breakfast. He returned as she was brewing some fresh coffee. He held out a newspaper to her, and she took it, registering the anger on his face. “What is it?”

“Page eleven.” He said shortly. She opened the paper and saw the picture of them leaving the art gallery the previous night. Aldo was kissing her. She looked up at him. “So, we’ve gone public.”

“That’s not all. Read the article.”

Elli looked down and began to read. “What the fuck?” The article, far from just outing them as a couple, ripped into Elli’s journalistic integrity about dating a subject of an interview, called into question whether it had been a legitimate article or a puff piece designed to sell her ‘boyfriend’s’ business to the masses. There was no identification of the writer in the piece.

“Ms. Moretti seems preoccupied with Mr. Constanza’s physical attributes far more than actually questioning whether his philanthropy is genuine or masks a man whose ruthless business acumen means he leaves few survivors in his wake. But what strikes me most is this – since when has Il Mondo Italia been what amounts to a gossip magazine pandering to the elite? Since Ms. Moretti needed to get her rocks off, it seems. A sad downturn in the quality of a previously fine investigative magazine. Ms. Moretti, you should be ashamed.”

Elli’s hurt, and anger rose to the surface, and she threw the paper on the table. “Fuck.” She tried to keep the tears from welling in her eyes. She’d had bad reviews before, of course, she had, it was part of being a writer, but this was one step away from calling her a whore. She slumped into a chair and covered her face. Aldo stroked her arm.

“None of that is true, you know that, right?”

She nodded, but it didn’t make her feel better. Being called a whore in public wasn’t the way she wanted to start her New Year, but she knew that responding would only make it worse. Her cell phone rang, and she saw it was Viv calling.

“I may be about to be fired,” she said to Aldo, who shook his head, and Elli answered the call. “Hey Viv, guess you saw the article.”

“Yes, I did.” Vivienne sounded mad, “And when I get my hands on the writer of it, he’ll wish he’d never been born.”

“I’m sorry, Viv, I really am.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong, Elli. This article is completely unjustified and, what’s more, false in every way. I can’t believe the editor let it get through.”

Elli sighed, somewhat relieved. “Look, I’m coming in to work. We can talk about it in greater depth then, see what to do.”

“Good. See you soon.”

Elli put her phone back on the table. “Well, I guess the vacation is over.”

Aldo leaned over and stroked her cheek. “Don’t worry about this joker. Look, I’ll walk you to work, but then I have to go away for a few days for work. Will you be okay?”

Elli was surprised. “You haven’t mentioned it before, is all. Where are you going?”

“New York. I’m sorry, I thought I had.”

She shook her head. “But then again, there’s no reason you should have to run anything past me, so don’t worry about it.”

“You sure, Bella? You look a little annoyed.”

She shook her head, but the truth was, she was a little scared. This business trip seemed to come out of nowhere, and she wondered if Aldo thought a little distance between them would be a good thing after the article.

Aldo was watching her, and as she got up, he pulled her onto his lap. “Whatever it is you’re thinking right now, isn’t what’s happening. It’s just a short trip, and if I didn’t know you had work, I would have invited you to come with me. “

Elli leaned into him. “I know, I’m sorry.”

At work, after Aldo had kissed her goodbye, Elli went to see Vivienne, who asked her to shut the door behind her and sit down. “I called the editor of this rag,” she waved the offending newspaper in the air, still mad. “The article wasn’t from one of his own people, rather an anonymous submission. He thought it made good points – which, by the way, it doesn’t – and put it in. Elli, did you piss this guy off, at all?”

Elli thought back, then shook her head. “I don’t think so. But then that paper has never liked magazines like ours – we’re too ‘elite’ or ‘left wing.'”

Vivienne still looked unhappy. “Smearing one of my employees is not something I’m willing to let go, Els.”

“Fair enough, but if we engaged with them, it’s like saying their opinion is worth something. I hate to say it, but let’s just leave it alone. I’ll just have to make sure that my future articles are…”

“As good as they always have been,” Vivienne said a little forcefully. “Do not let this asshole make you feel as if you’re not talented. You were born to do this, Elli, and you know it.”

Elli thanked her and went back to work. During the day, she immersed herself in her work, calling Maceo Bartoli and setting up a meeting with him to discuss working together. “I’d love it if Ori would model for us,” Elli told Maceo, “if we could do something actually in your own gallery – I’ve heard it’s a beautiful space.”

Maceo laughed a deep, sexy chuckle. “You should come, have lunch with Ori and me sometime, have a good look around. Then you’ll see it’s chaotic and frenzied, but yes, I adore it. We’ve managed to build it up over the last few years so that we have a family atmosphere. You would enjoy it.”

Elli smiled down the phone. “I would love that.” They set a date for the following week, and Elli said goodbye, feeling a lot happier. She also got a message from her colleagues, supporting her after reading the article. A couple of journalists from local t.v. reached out to her but she politely turned down their requests for interviews. “I’m not the story,” she told them, wishing she could go back to the relative obscurity she had known a few weeks ago.

It was three o’clock before she looked up from her work, and then it was only because she heard a commotion out in the main office.

Suddenly, a girl with bright blue hair burst into the room. “Konnichiwa!”

Elli gaped at the girl. “Tandy? Oh my god!” She got up, and the two women embraced, hugging each other tightly. Tandy, a part Japanese, part Italian woman in her early twenties had been Elli’s best friend for a few years, ever since the younger woman started as an intern at the magazine. Tandy Li had only one ambition – to travel to every country in the world and over the last two years, she had been doing exactly that, working her way (sometimes illegally) through the Americas and Canada, down to the Caribbean, and then to Europe.

Elli made some coffee, and they sat in her office. Tandy told her she was in Italy for just a week. “I’ve finally got enough money to go to India,” she said, “but I couldn’t do Europe without coming back to say hi to my bestie. How're things? Viv said you’re getting some decent sex at last.”

Elli nearly choked on her coffee, but then laughed. “Nothing is sacred, is it?”

Tandy grinned. “Nope. You look good, Els, I have to say.”

Elli smiled. “Well, I’m excited you’re here, Tandy. Where are you staying?”

Tandy looked a little guilty, and Elli laughed, having expected her to ask her to stay with her. “You can stay as long as you want, Tee, you know that.”

“The boyfriend won’t mind?”

“The boyfriend is in New York for the next few days, so you’re all set, as long as you don’t mind sharing a bed with me.”

“Have I ever?” Tandy rolled her eyes. “We’re going to have so much fun. Listen, I have to go meet another friend, so can I come by your place around nine tonight?”

“Of course. I’ll even go grocery shopping.”

“Don’t buy anything healthy.”

Elli chuckled. “Oh, I won’t.”

Elli lugged the grocery bags up the stairs to her apartment. She didn’t notice the envelope that had been slid under the door until she dumped the bags on the table and took off her coat.

A plain brown manila envelope with no name on it. She opened it and shook out the contents.

A photograph slid out, face down and when she flipped it over, she felt a cold fist in the stomach. It was a picture of her, from about, she guessed, twenty minutes ago. What the fuck? She studied the envelope and photo minutely but could not see any trace of a clue to who might have sent it. It was such an invasion of privacy – and so creepy. She remembered how she’d felt at the art gallery on New Year’s Eve. If this is you, Indio Navaro, stop it. I’ve moved on.

Maybe he had seen the picture of her and Aldo kissing. Don’t kid yourself, girl. Why would he care?

Elli shook herself and stuffed the photograph and the envelope in the trash can. She unpacked the groceries and was wondering if she should cook something for a late supper with Tandy when her cell phone rang. Not knowing the number, she said hello hesitantly. The caller whispered down the phone.

“You look beautiful, tonight, Elli.”

Her flesh crawled, and anger flashed through her. “Who is this? What the fuck do you want?”

A low chuckle and she tried to pick out anything she could recognize in the voice.

“You, of course, Elli. Always you. It’s always been you.”

Elli gritted her teeth. “Well, asshole, you don’t get to have me, do you. Who are you?”

“You know me, Elli Bella.”

The shock was icy cold. “Indio?” Her voice, a whisper, broke as she said his name.

He chuckled. “Who knows? All that is certain is one thing, beautiful Elli.”

“What’s that?”

“That soon you’ll be bleeding out, whore.”

And the line went dead. Elli dropped her phone and sank to the floor, trembling violently, unable to stop the panic attack, and that’s where Tandy found her an hour later.

Tandy insisted on Elli reporting the call and the photograph to the police, but the terse officer taking her statement evidently thought she was a hysterical female, and soon Elli stomped out, followed by a furious Tandy.

“Motherfucker,” she raved as she wrapped her arm around Elli’s shoulders. Tandy had the height from her Italian father, almost six feet of her to Elli’s five-five, and Elli was weirdly glad of it as they walked home through the dark streets. It was bitingly cold. Elli looked at Tandy a little sheepishly. “This isn’t the homecoming I wanted you to have, Tandy. Maybe I’m making too much of this.”

“A death threat? No way, Elli, this is scary stuff.” Tandy sighed, shaking her head. “You know what’s weird though?”

“What?”

Tandy glanced at her. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I always was waiting for something like this to happen to you.”

Elli was shocked. “Why?”

“Because look at you, Elli. You’re so beautiful, so friendly and yet when anyone gets close, they’re banging up a brick wall. Someone was always going to get nasty, and I think this is it.”

Elli was silent. “So, it’s my fault?”

“Hell, no,” Tandy was vehement. “It’s the fault of a civilization that leads men to believe they’re entitled to any woman they want, and that murder is an option open to them if they don’t get what they want.”

“But I have let someone in,” Elli insisted. “I hope you get to meet Aldo…he’s just the sweetest sexiest guy. And he and I are growing closer every day…in every way.” Elli flushed, and Tandy grinned.

“Then he’s probably not the one playing these games. You think it might be Indio?”

Tandy knew everything about Indio, about Elli’s love for the man. Elli sighed.

“I would hate to think so. Besides, Indio knows that if he came back…”

“You would dump Aldo in a second if Indio showed up.”

Elli was stung. “I wouldn’t.”

“Hey, I’m not judging – but are you being honest with yourself?”

Elli could feel the tears coming again, and she looked away from her friend. “Please don’t make this harder than it is,” she said in soft voice. Tandy hugged her.

“Sorry. Now, let’s forget this nonsense and go eat our body weight in front of the television.”

Tandy did a great job of distracting Elli for the evening, but when Tandy fell asleep on the couch just after midnight, Elli put a pillow underneath her head and blanket over her and went to her bedroom.

She grabbed her laptop and opened Skype, hoping Aldo would be online. She had been debating with herself all night whether to tell him about the threats but when she saw his smile as he logged on and greeted her, she demurred. “Hey, gorgeous.”

“Hi, Aldo, how’s the Big Apple?”

“Lonely without you. I only got in a little while ago. Did you talk to Viv about the article?”

God, the article…she hadn’t thought about that at all since the threats. “It’s all good. We’re not going to respond to it.”

Aldo looked a little surprised. “Wow.”

“What?”

“Well, you were so fired up, and now it seems like you’ve let it go.”

Elli nodded, not quite meeting his eye. “Yeah, well.”

“You okay?”

“Absolutely. Actually,” she said, seeing Tandy stumble into the bedroom, bleary-eyed, and using it to change the subject, “I do have to tell you that I’m sharing my bed with someone else tonight.” She grinned as Aldo’s eyebrows shot up and Elli moved the laptop around. “Say hello to Aldo. Aldo, this is Tandy, a good friend of mine. She’s crashing here for a few nights on her way to India.”

Aldo chuckled and said hello to Tandy, who greeted him, then promptly went back to sleep. Elli grinned at Aldo. “She showed up at the office today, no warning.”

“Serendipitous,” Aldo nodded, “I like you’re not alone.”

Elli gave a half-smile. “I’m a big girl now, Aldo, I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Sorry,” he smiled ruefully, “I’m overprotective, I know. Scuzi.”

“You’re forgiven.”

They chatted for a little longer until Elli felt herself wilting and said goodbye. Aldo blew her a kiss.

“I love you, Elli, sleep tight.”

“Goodnight, Aldo, I miss you.”

After she’d shut her laptop, she lay back. She felt guilty about not telling Aldo she loved him when it had been her mind, lately, that she might be falling for him. Certainly, she was very, very fond of the man, and she loved the sex, exciting and a little dangerous. Aldo being a billionaire didn’t faze her – she had never been the gold-digging type, it was his money, not hers.

Elli closed her eyes and was asleep in minutes. The nightmares came back, bloody, violent and she woke, crying, Tandy waking too and comforting her. The two women lay as Eli calmed herself, and Tandy studied her.

“It’s still Indio, isn’t it?”

Elli sighed. “Less so. I think. I think I just need closure, you know? I have no idea where he is – even Googling him brings up his company but nothing, and I mean nothing about him personally. It’s as if he’s wiped himself off the face of the earth. Even gossip sites have nothing on him and seeing he was married to that model, I’m surprised.”

Tandy sighed. “Look, I wasn’t going to tell you this…but I saw him. Now, because I never met him, I could have been wrong, but I don’t think so. You can’t replicate his kind of beauty. In Seattle. He was having dinner with a couple. This was about six months ago. He looked tired, worn down and they were having a pretty intense conversation by the looks of things as if he were upset and they were trying to help him.”

Elli’s heart was thumping with a sad heaviness. “He looked tired?”

Tandy nodded. “I didn’t feel as if I could go over, so I thought it would be best if I didn’t tell you. But he is out in the world, safe, if not happy. Does that help?”

Elli considered. “I don’t know.” She hesitated. “I keep thinking I see him, just a brief glimpse and then he’s gone. Sometimes I think I’m going crazy. If it hadn’t been for Aldo, I might have.”

Tandy smiled. “You like Aldo, don’t you?”

Elli smiled. “He says he loves me, but I haven’t been able to say it back yet.”

“Where is he at the moment?”

“Four Seasons in New York. He’ll be back on Friday.”

“Huh.” Tandy was frowning.

“What?”

Tandy shook her head. “No, just something struck me. He’s a solid-gold billionaire, right?”

Elli half smiled, half frowned at her friend. “So?”

“Well, it’s just, if I had his money, I would be staying in the penthouse suite. From what I saw, that wasn’t the penthouse of The Four Seasons.”

Elli shrugged. “Maybe it was already booked. It was a last-minute trip.”

“Yeah, maybe. Anyway, I’m getting off the topic. You’ve probably heard this a million times from Viv, Elli, but…”

“Indio is history, concentrate on the sexy man in your life now. Yeah, and I know you’re both right. I am trying.”

Tandy scooched down in the bed and tucked her arm around Elli. “Good. Now let’s get some sleep, or you’ll look like shit in the morning.”

“So will you, bitch,” Elli laughed.

“Not possible. Go to sleep.”

Elli had loved Tandy being home, and so when her friend left for India on Thursday, Elli hugged her tightly. “Please come back soon, I miss you too much.”

Tandy got a little choked but hid it with her usual bravado. “Don’t get all mushy. I’ll be back before Christmas.”

“Too long,” Elli grumbled but waved her goodbye at the gate.

Elli took a cab back into the city and went straight to work. It was still early, six-thirty a.m. and the office was empty as Elli sat down and flicked on her computer. She filled the coffee pot as she waiting for her ancient laptop to boot up and then wondered if she should grab some pastries for breakfast. She patted her flat belly – she could do with gaining a couple of pounds, she thought, she had lost weight lately, mostly due to the Olympic sex she’d been having.

She decided to go down to the nearest bakery, a couple of streets away. Venice was just coming to life in the dark January morning, but there were few people around. The bakery was just opening, and Elli bought a couple of breakfast rolls, and some pastries for her colleagues when they got into the office.

She was almost back when it happened. Suddenly she felt someone slam into her from behind, knocking her flat against a stone wall. Elli cracked her head hard against the stone, but couldn’t scream before her attacker knocked her to the ground and landed a vicious kick to her stomach. Elli tried to curl up in a ball, pain ripping through her, too shocked to cry out or fight back, but her attacker straddled her and reached into his pocket for a knife.

Oh, god, no…

“Please, don’t.”

As he raised the blade to drive it into her, there was a shout, Elli heard footsteps running towards them. Her attacker took off, and Elli struggled into a sitting position on the ice-cold ground. Two men helped her up. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, shell-shocked. She touched her forehead, but there was no blood. Thank god. The men told her they would get the polizia, but she shook her head. “No, it’s okay, thanks.”

With them staring unhappily after her, she walked slowly to her office and went in. It was still empty, and she went to the little bathroom to clean her face of dirt. There was a small bump which she knew would bruise badly but otherwise, aching stomach muscles apart, she was unhurt. But he had been about to kill her…or had he? Something was bugging her about the whole attack – it just didn’t seem like whoever it was, had his heart in it. Even though the men had interrupted them, he would still have had time to stick the blade into her and then run. So, what the hell?

She poured herself some coffee and sat at her desk, opening her emails. When she came to the one with no i.d., she knew it was from him. It was photographs of her, taken that morning as she walked to the bakery. She gritted her teeth. The last photograph was the one which made her gasp. It wasn’t a photograph of her; it was a beautiful dark-haired woman in a pristine white wedding dress – pristine except for the blood spattered across it, and the knife wounds in the bodice of the dress.

Yvetta.

“Oh my god.” Elli was trembling. Suddenly it all became clearer to her. This wasn’t about her, or Indio – it was about Aldo. Someone was threatening to kill her to torture him. She grabbed her cell phone and called him, knowing it was after midnight in New York. She left a voice mail. “Aldo, baby, we have to talk. Please call me back when you can.”

***

After talking to Aldo, he told her he would be cutting his trip short and flying back to her. “Umberto will pick you up from work and take you back to your apartment. Please, Elli, for me, pack your stuff. I want you safe in our home for as long as this psychopath is at large.”

Elli hated the idea of being cooped up in an ivory tower but she had to admit, she was frightened. “Okay. Okay, Aldo, just until it’s over.”

Umberto, Aldo’s sweet driver, gave her a rueful grin as she walked outside to meet him. “I’m sorry about this, Miss Moretti.”

“Call me Elli, won’t you?” She got into the front with him, obviously something he wasn’t used to. She grinned at him. “Umberto, I’m just a normal girl. Unless Aldo is with me, count on me riding up front with you.”

She chatted with him as normally as she could, trying to distract herself from what was happening. Circumstances forcing her to live with a man when she knew in her heart, she wasn’t ready.

She packed two suitcases, not wanting to have to keep coming back here, and Umberto took them down to the car for her. Elli looked around her apartment, wondering, with sadness when she’d be back. She went to the window to look out over the Lagoon at twilight, seeing the lights of the city come on. A movement caught her eye, below on the street and she froze. He was looking up at her, half hidden in shadow and as she met his gaze, he moved back into the darkness and was gone.

Her heart thumping painfully against her ribs, Elli dashed down the stairs and out onto the street, ignoring Umberto’s shocked face and running down the alleyway to the street behind her home. Searching, searching, searching, wanting to scream his name. There was no-one around and Elli felt her hysteria bubble up and she screamed out over the dark waters of the Lagoon.

“Indio!” All her hurt, her rage, her love was in that scream, and as she ran out of oxygen, and felt Umberto place a comforting hand on her back, she began to sob.

On the drive back to Aldo’s house, Elli looked sheepishly at Umberto. “You must think I’m a mad woman, Umberto.”

He shook his head. “It is not my business, Ms. Moretti.”

“Elli.”

“Elli, it is not for me to judge anyone else.”

“You’re very kind…could I ask you to not mention my little freak-out to Aldo?”

Umberto looked at her, a smile on his face. “What freak-out?”

Elli relaxed and smiled. “You’re the best, Umberto.”

“Elli, you have a friend in me. I would never reveal anything told to me in confidence, but anyone, by Mr. Constanza, by yourself. I would not keep my job long if I could not keep my mouth shut. But you have a friend in me.”

Elli chewed her lip, wondering if she should ask the question she was dying to know. “Does that apply to Yvetta? Can I ask you if you knew her?”

Umberto’s smile faded. “It was before my time, Elli. And the staff, they never talk about what happened. You know she was killed in Mr. Constanza’s bedroom?”

Elli felt a shock of ice in her veins. The room where she, Elli, had sex with Aldo? That room? “The same bedroom he has now?”

Umberto nodded. “Between us, the staff has always thought it strange, but no-one has the courage to ask Mr. Constanza why he stays in the room where so much violence took place.”

Elli was silent for a while, staring out at the Italian countryside. She was trying to think of all the reasons why Aldo would still sleep in that room – especially now, with her. If he was keeping it as a memory of Yvetta, she felt uncomfortable sleeping and having sex in there. Maybe he just doesn’t want to admit what happened there, maybe he thinks by loving me, he can erase the hurt. In that case, she would go along with it, help him heal the wound. They both of them had lost their great loves, maybe it was time they both moved on…with each other. Elli was surprised how happy that made her feel.

She made Aldo know exactly how she felt when he arrived home that night. Curving her body, clad in a dark red dress, her hair loose and flowing down her back, around his, her lips on his fiercely. Aldo looked delighted and swept her up into his arms.

“God, I missed you, beautiful girl.”

“I missed you too,” she said, stroking his face. “I love you, Aldo.”

She was astonished at seeing his eyes fill with tears, and only then did she know the depth of his feelings for her. He leaned his forehead against her, closing his eyes and she felt his tears on her cheeks. For a moment, they just stood there then Aldo pressed his lips to hers. “If you only knew how happy you just made me, Elliana.”

“You make me happy, Aldo.” At least that was true, she thought, guilty now that she’d said she loved him. It was partially true; she did love him, she just wasn’t sure yet she was in love with him. But her not saying it to him was beginning to get awkward, and after the events of the day, Elli had thought, what the hell? She was glad she made him happy though.

She smoothed his short hair. He looked fatigued as they walked into the house. “Darling, I can walk,” she said with a smile, “You look exhausted.”

He put her on her feet and chuckled. “I am tired, I have to admit.”

“Hungry?”

“A little.”

Elli took his hand. “Come, I fix you something to eat then you can go to bed.”

“We can go to bed,” Aldo grinned wickedly, and Elli laughed, pulling him along.

“Ambitious, given you’re half asleep now, but I’m in.”

She made him some soup, then took him to bed. Aldo lay on the bed as she undressed him, then complained when she got off the bed. “Where are you going?”

Elli grinned. “Just over here. Gonna do a little striptease for my man.”

Aldo smiled and nodded. “Then please, continue. That dress is sexy as hell, by the way. You should always be in red.”

She looked over her shoulder at him as she unzipped the back of it. “You think?”

Aldo, grinning, his cock already hard, nodded. “Hell, yes. Bathed in scarlet. Always.”

“Kinky.” The dress slithered down her body to the floor, and she was naked underneath except for the delicate white-gold body chain he had given her. Grinning, she crawled on top of him and kissed him. “You just lie back and let me do all the work.”

Aldo chuckled. “Whatever you say, ma’am.”

Elli moved down his body and took his cock into her mouth, sweeping her lips over the wide crest, sliding her tongue up and down him as she sucked gently at first. Then as he grew harder and more aroused, she hollowed out her cheeks, her hand massaging his balls, fisting the root of him until he came, gripping her head as his seed spilled onto her tongue.

Afterward, panting for hair, he smiled up at her as she moved to kiss his mouth. “God, Elli, that was incredible, thank you.”

Elli smiled as he rolled her onto her back. “There’s more of that to come, so to speak.”

Aldo laughed, then looked up across the room. “I have an idea.” He went across the room and dragged an old antique free-standing mirror to the side of the bed. “Let’s watch ourselves fuck.”

He covered her body with his, his cock already stiffening again and hitched her legs around his waist. “I’m going to fuck you so hard, pretty girl…watch my cock go in and out, in out…”

As he plunged his cock into her, Elli was mesmerized by the sight of it driving deeper and deeper into her cunt, the way their bodies entangled, how masterful he was with her as he fucked her. His fingers bit into the soft flesh of her hips as he gathered pace, his eyes locked onto her face as she moved beneath him. “Scream my name, Elli, scream it,” he ordered as she came and she obeyed, gasping and moaning, calling his name over and over.

She was still recovering as he tugged her down the bed, flipping her onto her stomach and pushing into her ass. His breath was hot against the back of her neck.

“You belong to me, now, Elli. It’s you and me from now, yes?”

“Yes,” she breathed then gave a long moan as his cock drove deeper inside her again and again. She felt him bit down on her shoulder as he came, his hand stroking her clit. Eli shivered through another orgasm, then begged Aldo to let her catch her breath. She turned onto her back as he lay down beside her, his fingers stroking a pattern on her belly, which was rising up and down as she panted for breath.

Aldo smiled at her. “You’re so beautiful, Elli. Every man in the world would be jealous of me.”

She flushed and laughed. “You’re biased.”

“I admit I am, but it’s still the truth. Look, let me draw a map.”

Elli giggled as he started to trace a pattern on her belly. “Venice…Rome…London…Paris…New York…” Aldo was grinning, knowing he was tickling her, feeling her abs quivering. “Seattle…”

Elli froze. “What?”

Aldo frowned at her. “Is something wrong? Do you not like Seattle?”

“I’ve never been,” Elli felt her face burn, and she regretted saying anything. “Sorry, I guess I was just expecting San Francisco or something. Silly me.”

Aldo still looked bemused. “You would love Seattle. I have friends there. It’s about time we took a trip together.”

Elli felt the panic rise up in her. No. No way. She would spend the entire trip looking for Indio everywhere. God. No. “I really can’t take any more time off at the moment, Aldo. Maybe later in the year?”

Aldo shrugged. “As you wish. Anything to make my girl happy.”

They made love again until Aldo decided he really was exhausted and Elli wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head onto her chest.

Later, in the early hours, Aldo had fallen into a deep sleep, but Elli stayed awake. She wished Tandy hadn’t told her that Indio was in, or at least had been and had people in, Seattle. Elli wanted so much to live in the now, with this wonderful man.

And I will, she swore. We will have a happy life together. She tucked herself into the curve of Aldo’s back and tried to sleep, only succumbing just as the sun started to rise.

A month later, and Elli was starting to believe she could do it. She and Aldo spent their time together laughing and talking and making love – as well as making plans. She found Aldo, for all his wealth, loved the simple things she loved: home-cooked meals, art, books. They took long walks together out in the Italian countryside near his home and spent one weekend in Rome together.

“I was born and raised here,” Aldo told Elli as they strolled through the manic and crowded streets of the capital city. “Somehow, I gravitated towards Venice – I must have known you were waiting there for me.”

Elli smiled at that. “You’re sweet to say that.”

Aldo shrugged. “I love you. I am starting to believe, Elli, that you are the love of my life.”

Elli felt uncomfortable. “What about Yvetta?”

“I will always love and miss her, but even with Yvetta, there wasn’t such a complete connection, you know?”

Elli had smiled but said nothing.

It was Carnevale di Venezia, and Vivienne always gave her staff the week of the festival as a vacation. Elli loved to walk amongst the masked figures, even though they creeped her out. She told Aldo that, and he laughed.

“I have to admit it gives you pause to think who’s behind them,” he said, as they ate dinner at one of Venice’s restaurants one night. “There’s always a frisson of danger and sensuality. Speaking of which…”

He leaned in closer to kiss her. Elli smiled, her lips curving up against his. They were sitting at a table outside on the street, but no-one paid them any attention as they kissed.

“I have something to tell you about, Elli, something that might interest you.” His smile was mischievous, and Elli laughed.

“Why do I think this has something to do with sex?”

“Guilty.” Aldo looked around and lowered his voice. “I’m a member of a certain…club, shall we say? We only meet once a year, at a villa just outside Venice during Carnival week. Very exclusive, if you know what I mean. Exclusive and… open-minded.”

Elli felt her pulse race, both intrigued and a little nervous. “Go on.”

“For one night, we leave all our inhibitions behind. Anything goes. We wear masks…and nothing else. We fuck and are fucked by anyone who turns us on, sometimes threesomes, foursomes. It’s basically an orgy.”

Elli was vaguely shocked and yet also excited. “And you’ve taken part in this?”

Aldo nodded. “You already know I’m a pretty uninhibited guy, Elli.”

Elli considered for a long moment. “Safe sex is practiced?”

“Of course.” He leaned forward, tracing his finger on her bottom lip as he spoke in a low voice. “You know one of my fantasies is to watch you being fucked by another man, Elli. Do you think me strange?”

“No,” she said carefully, “I think as long as it’s consensual, and doesn’t involve physical harm, I think whatever turns you on is fine. And I want to make you happy.”

“What would make you happy, Elli?”

She smiled, knowing he would feel better if she revealed her own personal kink. “You know, being fucked by two men – as long as one of them was you – wouldn’t be objectionable to me.” She considered it and realized she was actually excited about the prospect. Aldo had definitely released the kinkier side of her, and that could only be a good thing, she thought. “Will there be anyone we know there?”

“Not that you know. I believe Maceo and Ori are always invited but never come.”

Elli was relieved. “Good. I don’t know if I could face them again if they were there.” Since January, she had been spending a lot of time with the Bartoli’s, and they had become good friends.

Aldo laughed. “You realize we all wear masks all the time, right? Anyway, afterward, some of us head to Maceo’s gallery for his Carnival Ball. There you will know a few people, obviously. So, what do you say?”

Elli kissed him, buoyed by his enthusiasm and the good wine at dinner. “Let’s do it.”

Two days later, she wasn’t so brave as they traveled to the mansion. She clutched Aldo’s hand, feeling very exposed and vulnerable, naked under the long silver-grey cloak she wore. Aldo leaned over to kiss her, his mask alongside hers in a box on the opposite seat of his limousine. “Don’t be scared, baby. No-one will touch you unless you give your permission.”

That made her feel better, but as they stepped out of the limousine, and Aldo helped her put the beautifully made Colombina mask, a half mask which covered her eyes, upper cheeks, and nose. It was a deep claret color, decorated with gold and laser cut lace and crystals. Aldo tied the black ribbons fastenings for her. “You look stunning, Elliana.”

His own mask was slightly more frightening. In the Bauta style, was stark and disturbing in its expression. Black and gold, it hid his entire face and his hair, which Elli had noticed, was longer than it had been when they met, curling as it grew out. She touched her lips to the mask’s cold ones. “Whatever happens, I love you.”

“Whatever happens, I know you’re mine, Elliana.”

They walked into the candlelit villa, and a servant took their cloaks. Elli was a little hesitant.

“Your cloak, Miss?” The servant didn’t blink as she shyly pulled the cloak from her shoulders, exposing her naked body. She took Aldo’s arm, and he led her up a grand staircase, gold, silver, gilt and marble everywhere. The ceilings were painted in scenes of cherubs and Valentines shooting arrows. This place made Aldo’s home look like a provincial farmhouse, Elli thought and gave a nervous giggle. The colors of the furnishings, the curtains, the masks of the other guests were all sensual and sumptuous.

When they entered the main room, heads – or rather, masks turned to stare at them. Aldo made a gesture, sweeping his hand down Elli’s body if presenting her, and Elli felt a hot rush of shyness. She stepped back a little, but Aldo wasn’t going to let her get away with running and led her forward into the crowd. It was unnerving, and a few minutes later, when a masked man with a blank-faced mask and a huge erection came to introduce himself to her.

“You are very beautiful,” he said, in a heavily-accented voice. French, Elli guessed as the man turned to Aldo. “Your lady has easily the most wonderful body in this room. I would very much like to fuck her.”

Aldo turned his masked face to Elli. “Ask her, my friend. If she says yes, then I am happy for you to take her…as long as I may watch and perhaps join in.”

“Of course.” The other man turned back to Elli, who was trembling with nerves and excitement. She was really going to do this, wasn’t she? And Aldo, and other people would watch her being fucked…she had to admit, she was aroused by the thought. Thank god for Carnival and masks, she thought. She nodded when the man asked for her permission, then took his hand, clasping Aldo’s with the other, as they walked over to one of the large chaise-lounges that surrounded the main room. On a table at the side, Elli saw lube, condoms, and sex toys arranged artfully, as well as glass bowls of water, and bottles of champagne on ice.

Her suitor grabbed a bottle of champagne. “What say, friend, that we cover this beautiful woman in the finest champagne and use our tongues to lick it from her beautiful skin That should get her good and wet and make her relax.”

“A fine idea,” said Aldo, “then perhaps we can both fuck her.”

The man nodded, holding his hand out for Aldo to shake. He shook the bottle and popped the cork, spraying the liquid all over Elli, who gasped at the cold liquid on her hot skin. Then, as promised, the two men proceeded to lick every drop from her. The first time the stranger’s tongue touched her sex, Elli tightened up, but Aldo, seeing this, bent his mouth to her ear. “It’s okay, Elli, it is. Just relax; this is all for you.”

He took the bottle of champagne, poured out a flute and popped a pill into the drink, dissolving it. “This will help you relax.”

Elli, quivering with nerves and excitement, downed the champagne in one gulp and in a few seconds, she felt her head whirl, and the sensations the two men were sending through her body became more intense the more mellow she felt. She placed her trust entirely in them. The suitor’s cock was in her then, huge and rampant, thrusting hard. She didn’t even realize she was still standing until she felt Aldo push his cock into her ass, supporting her as both the men fucked her.

“You have an exquisite cunt,” the suitor said, panting, but Elli was almost delirious with pleasure then, gasping and crying as she was fucked to the most intense orgasm of her life. The suitor came, thanking her as he pulled out then Aldo’s cock was inside her, fucking her hard.

“That was incredible,” he said, ramming his hips hard against hers, his cock reaming her into submission. Elli came, again and again, feeling woozy, that her body wasn’t her own as she fucked Aldo. They had attracted an audience, and Eli found she liked the feeling of being watched as she was made love to. Four other men made approaches, and she gave permission for two of them to fuck her. The men she turned down - mostly out of exhaustion – simply nodded, shook her hand and moved on. Elli was amazed how safe she felt in this bizarre, erotic situation. Never had she dreamed she would be a part of this world.

There were private hot showers for each of the participants, with white fluffy towels and robes being supplied. Elli and Aldo shared a shower, fucking against the cool tiled wall of it.

“Did you enjoy that, my darling love?” Aldo was kissing her tenderly, and she nodded.

“It was…out of this world. But I am glad it’s only once a year. I think I broke my vagina,” she grinned up at him, her eyes soft with love.

Aldo chuckled. “It will weird to go back to normal life for a few hours, I warn you. But I think I can speed things up. Shall we go grab some pizza before we head to Maceo’s party?”

Clothed, finally, in a dress and underwear, much to Elli’s relief, they stopped at their favorite pizza restaurant and gorged themselves before heading to Maceo’s party.

Aldo eyed her dress. “I thought you were going to wear that red dress again?”

Elli looked down at the lilac, form-fitting dress she wore. “You don’t like this?”

“You look beautiful…I just love you in red, is all. No problem.” He grinned and kissed her but Elli had thought, for a moment, she had seen something else in his eyes. Anger. What was that about?

But now he chatted away to her, and clearly, there was nothing bothering him now, so she brushed it off.

Orianthi Bartoli threw her arms around Elli as they arrived at Maceo’s water-front gallery. It was already packed with people, some of them still wearing masks from the various Carnival parties around the city. Elli hoped that she wouldn’t recognize any of the masks from the orgy.

Ori bore her off to introduce her to some people, and she found they had already been briefed about her. Some of them knew about the nasty op-ed about her and were firmly on her side. “I’ve read all your work for the last few years,” said one, rather stately gentleman, “and whatever idiot wrote that piece is a fool.”

Several other people said the same and Elli was starting to feel appreciated and valued as she talked to the people Ori introduced. She discovered the artists and artisans who worked with Ori and Maceo and was introduced to some of their international friends too. Grady Mallory and his wife Floriana, Theo and Jessica Storm as well as Maceo’s best friend Benoit and Lysander, both alone as their wives were both home and very pregnant.

Ori grinned at Elli. “They have a million kids between them – personally I don’t know how Shiloh and Kate keep up.”

“Do you have plans for any more after this one?”

Ori glanced down at her swollen belly. “Right now, I’d rather shove needles in my ears but ask me again when this little monster is two or three. Of course, by that time,” she said in a stage-whisper as she saw her husband approach, “Maceo will be way too old for any more kids.”

Maceo, gloriously handsome in his early fifties, chuckled. “Yeah, well, that’ll teach you for marrying an old man.”

Ori chuckled. “My old man,” she said and kissed him. Elli grinned at the happy couple and excused herself to find Aldo.

She saw him talking to Theo and Jess Storm. Jess smiled at her as Elli took Aldo’s hand. “Hello again…oh, are you two together?”

Elli nodded, smiling. She looked down at Jess and Theo’s daughter, Lily, who stood shyly at her mother’s side. “Are you having a good time, Lily?”

Lily blushed red and nodded, half-hiding behind her mother. Jess chuckled, looking apologetically at Elli. “She’s still a little jetlagged. We only got to Italy this morning.”

“How long are you here? It would be lovely to have lunch sometime.”

Jess looked regretful. “Only until tomorrow, I’m afraid, but if you ever get over to Seattle, I would love to see you.”

Seattle. There it was again. Elli smiled at Jess, as she and Theo and Lily said goodbye then Aldo turned his attention back to Elli.

“I take it those were your Seattle friends you mentioned?”

Aldo smiled. “Yes, and now you’ve met Theo and Jess, maybe I can persuade you to take a break with me there?”

Elli laughed at his mischief. “You can, but not just yet. We have a busy month coming up.”

She was starting to feel tired now and, noticing, Aldo kissed her cheek. “I just have to go speak to someone,” he said, “I’ll be back in a moment, and we’ll go home.”

Elli used the time alone to look around at the art works, wondering why she’d never come here before. She was staggered by the beauty and artistry in the gallery. Maceo Bartoli had certainly put on an exquisite show.

Elli finished her drink and looked for somewhere to set her glass down. She moved through the audience and found a table. She was putting her drink down when she heard a man talking. His voice was low, mellifluous – and heartbreaking familiar. All the breath left her lungs as she turned and saw him. From the back, his hair looked shorter, neater, not as wild but still that glorious dark brown. The person he was talking to was distracted by someone interrupting, and the brown-haired man turned around, and his bright green eyes fixed on her.

Elli saw him pale a little - he looked as shocked as she was – but still, he was the most gloriously beautiful man she had ever seen. At that moment, and with a sinking heart, Elli realized there was, and always would be, only one man she truly loved, and he was standing right in front of her.

Indio.

Indio Navaro felt as if he had been hit by a sledgehammer. There, in lilac, his favorite color, was his Elli Bella, his best friend’s little sister, looking more beautiful than he had ever dreamed. His heart beat faster, his groin tightened. She was staring at him in that same way she did the last time they had seen each other when she had told him she loved him and he had wanted so desperately to tell her that she was the love of his life, the one person he would never hurt and yet…he had done just that. That day he had broken not just his heart, but hers too, and he would never forgive himself.

Two steps, a voice told him, she’s two steps away. Go to her, kiss her, tell her you’re sorry and never, ever let her go. Ever.

He took one step and then saw a man take Elli’s arm. The spell was broken. Indio felt another sledgehammer, this time one filled with hatred and loathing.

Aldo Constanza.

That bastard. No, you don’t get to love her, you don’t get to touch my Elli.

But by the way, Aldo was behaving, there was obviously something more than friendship between them. He saw Aldo bend down and kiss her perfect mouth, Elli’s shocked look of dismay as she looked back at Indio to see if he had seen it.

He had.

Indio stared at her for a beat more, unable to keep the pain off his face, and turned away.

“Darling, shall we go? You look a little ill.”

Go away, Aldo, go away…Elli pushed past him and sought out her lost love, but he had gone. The look he had given her had been one of hatred. Indio hates me? Why? How? She pushed through the guests, getting more and more upset as she sought out her lost love, the man who had broken her heart, her Indio. She wanted to scream his name out, make him stop and come to her, but she couldn’t find him anywhere.

She was on the steps of the art gallery when Aldo caught up with her, his face creased with concern. “What is it, darling? What happened?”

Elli couldn’t speak for a moment. How cruel to give her that one look, that one glance of him…was it a cruel joke? Just as she was getting used to letting a new man into her heart?

God. Aldo’s hand was on her back now, and she forced herself to turn to him, knowing her pain was written all over her face. “I just…saw an old friend. A friend of my brother’s…I haven’t seen in him eight years.”

And I still love him. God help me, but it only took that one look to prove that Indio Navaro has my heart captive. Elli started to cry and Aldo, seeming to sense her despair, merely wrapped his arms around her and held her as she sobbed.

Afterward, although she knew she owed him an explanation, she asked him to take her back to her apartment. “I just need some time,” she said, “Seeing him was like my brother being back in the room for a moment.” It was only half a lie.

Aldo kissed her. “Of course, my love, take all the time you need. I am always with you.”

Half of her didn’t want to let him go, knowing if she were alone, she would brood. He escorted into the apartment, then insisted on getting her some aspirin before making sure she was okay.

Elli swallowed them with some water and curled up on her bed. Aldo bent down and kissed her forehead. “Call me when you’re ready, my darling. I’ll have a bodyguard outside your door.”

And he was gone. Elli dragged a couple of deep but shaky breaths into her lungs, but the sobs came easily until she cried herself out and fell into a deep sleep.

A gentle knocking at her door. Elli opened her eyes. From the blue light in the room, she guessed it was just before dawn. She dragged herself out of bed, shuffling her way to the front door. Why did she feel as if she were walking in mud? She leaned against the door as she looked through the peep hole – and everything in her world changed.

Her heart thumping, she pulled open the door. Indio Navaro looked at her with hooded, troubled eyes. Elli didn’t know how to form words to speak to him. He looked haunted, desolate – and so beautiful she could cry, his green eyes intense on hers, his dark lashes thick and full.

Indio stepped forward and took her face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers and it was like a shot of pure heroin in her veins. She kissed him back, pulling him into the room, pulling at his clothes as he tore her dress from her shoulders. Both naked, Indio swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed, his eyes never leaving her face. When he covered her body with his, Elli wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him close, not believing that finally, finally, she held him in her arms. Indio kissed her passionately and then she felt him slide his long thick cock into her ready cunt and Elli was in heaven, her heart exploding with love and desire and a never-ending need. They made love slowly at first then as it got more and more intense, Indio picked up his pace, long measured strokes, driving her on and on towards ecstasy. Elli couldn’t take his eyes off his beautiful face. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him, had always, would always love him but it somehow didn’t need to be said. It was there in the meeting of their bodies, the shivering, trembling climax that they both shared, gasping for air, panting, moaning with desire. This was love, Elli knew it in her soul. She tangled her fingers. in his dark curls as he gazed down at her. You are mine, I am yours…forever…

Elli woke, shivering and sobbing, still wearing the lilac dress she had worn to the exhibit. For a long moment, she panicked, stumbling out of bed trying to find him. But Indio was nowhere. It had been a dream, he had never been there. Elli sank to the floor, her head in her hands, and sobbed until she had no tears left.

To Be Continued..

This Story will be published by Mid August!

Opening Night (A Submissives’ Secrets Extra)

Michelle Love

Opening Night

She was never supposed to get into my heart…

It was supposed to be all business.

Her body was mine to do with what I wanted.

And how easily she gave that to me.

The Dungeon of Decorum had finally opened and we put on our show.

How was I to know jealousy and possessiveness would override my mind?

But it did, and when it did, it changed everything …

Grant

It was the first Saturday in November. Portland was experiencing its first cold front. The temperature was down to forty-seven degrees. A light mist moved through the air in ghostly wisps. And I stood on the threshold of The Dungeon of Decorum.

It was opening night.

My dream was coming true. I had accomplished my goal of creating a fortress for people who crave a bit more out of sex and life in general. The stages were set. The private rooms were ready to be filled. The staff was nervously awaiting our member’s arrivals.

A soft hand moved over my cheek as someone came up behind me. “This is it, Grant. I mean, Mr. J.” It was Isabel.

I turned to find her in a long, silky black dress, with a thigh-high slit up the left side. Her ample breasts nearly spilled out of the low-cut top. She wore a red collar. It meant she was unattainable. She belonged to the house, not to be sold or sampled by any of our members. All the staff wore the red collars to signify they were off limits.

As one of the owners, I wore a ring that showed who I was. A large black stone rose up in the middle of a dragon’s mouth. Red licks of fire were at the bottom of the stone. Our signature colors and motif, red and black.

A red carpet ran from the red door out to the end of the walkway. Our patrons would get out of their cars that would be valet parked. They’d come up the walk and step inside the red door, where they’d be greeted by our security personnel.

Our opening night was strictly for male Doms and female Subs. There were other nights set up to cater to other types of Dom/Sub preferences. Everything was ready and waiting. My skin was flaming with raw energy.

Isabel’s touch was only serving to provoke it. Taking her hand, I pulled it to my lips. “Your mask is exceptional.” Black feathers were the backdrop for emerald jewels that outlined her dark eyes, making them pop.

She moved her fingertips over mine. “I like the sleek Lone Ranger look you have going on there.”

“Simplicity is always best on a man, I think.” I took her hand away from my face. Her touch was distracting me, bringing out the animal in me who’d begun to lust far too much over the raven-haired beauty.

More than once since we began our training, I’d had to subdue that inner beast who longed for Isabel in a way I couldn’t allow. Thankfully, she seemed to understand that, and when I left her without any explanation, she never followed or asked me why later.

Isabel was a true sub in every way—accepting of my short comings and what I needed from her. Not expecting anything more than what I gave her.

And I’d given her plenty, even though she was not technically my Sub. A house in a nice suburb of Portland, a new canary yellow Ferrari, and a wardrobe of the most expensive sexy outfits she could find. Financially, her salary was above average. And I may have popped a few over-the-top bonuses into her account as well.

She deserved it all. She was perfect, something that kept cropping up in my mind.

Isabel was perfect. She was perfect for me.

But I wasn’t designed to be with any one woman. I wasn’t sure what insanity lurked inside of me, just as my father must’ve never known what he would one day do to the woman he loved.

The other owners joined us to greet the first to arrive. A Rolls Royce pulled up, and more cars came in behind it. The gates were opened. Our security was allowing our members to come in.

The outside of the club was nothing more than a shack-looking structure that was small in stature. We’d built it underground. The only large building was the parking garage that was out to one side. Other than that, there was very little evidence of any type of building in the area.

We wanted it that way. Our world was considered dark and dangerous. Our people liked it that way. So we designed the building to be what BDSM dreams are made of.

One by one, our new members arrived. Isabel and I greeted them all, until the last car pulled away. Then I offered her my arm, and we went inside to see how people were reacting to all our hard work.

Down the stairs we went and into the main ballroom. Isabel gasped as we saw the room full of masked men and women, clad in gorgeous dresses and tuxedos. “Grant, it’s like a scene out of Dante’s Inferno.” She looked up at me. “Have we created a hell right here on Earth?”

Had we?

She was right. The scene was one of intense darkness. A thrill ran through me as I sighed and looked out at the crowd I’d help to procure. “Hell? No, Isabel. This isn’t hell. This is what freedom looks like. Freedom to do what others condemn. Freedom to test our limits and to take our bodies and minds to levels that have been deemed dangerous. Shall we adjourn to the dressing room to change for our scene? It’s time to show our members how to put on a show.”

She gave me a nod, and we headed off to get ready for the scene we’d practiced until we had it down perfectly.

Isabel and I would begin what would come to be the highlight of The Dungeon of Decorum—spectacular sexual scenes that would serve to entice even the demurest of individuals.

Let the games begin …

Isabel

The night was electric with so many people in the club. Grant and I would be the first act. I was nervous, no matter how much we’d prepared. We’d never done the scene in front of anyone.

I was a mess.

But Grant seemed calm as a cucumber. And damn, he was looking sexy as hell.

Nothing but black pajama-like bottoms adorned him. A simple black mask hid his identity. His blue eyes shone out from under the mask. His salt and pepper hair hung in loose waves. Grant was the epic Dom.

I was tied in the middle of the stage, my feet not touching the ground. A rope that had been hung over one of the beams was wrapped around me as if I was a fly a spider had trapped.

It was dark as we got set up behind the red curtain that closed us off from the people in the main ballroom. Grant came to me just before the curtain was raised. “You okay?”

I gulped. “No.”

Soft fingertips ran over my lips. “Will you be okay?”

His touch soothed me immediately, just like it always did. “With you, I will.”

“Good girl. You can trust me.” His lips touched mine for only a moment. It sent sparks shooting through me, just like it always did.

He and I had practiced a lot in the months before the club opened. We had watched tons of videos to learn techniques and all kinds of kinks. There were tons of them.

I created a website and questionnaire for our members to use to be able to find the people who were right for them. It was a painstaking process. But so far, financially, it had been worth all that hard work.

The money that was in my account was far beyond any amount I had ever dreamed I’d see in it. My business degree was paying off in spades. Grant had paid off my student loans. I had graduated a month before the club opened and he had given me a crazy huge amount of money as a graduation gift.

I had invited him to the graduation party my parents threw for me, but in true Grant Jamison fashion, he’d declined the invitation. I wasn’t shocked or upset that he didn’t want to come and meet my family and friends.

That wasn’t Grant.

It never would be, from what I could see.

Grant’s demons ran deep. He had fallen asleep just once after one of our sessions. He’d woken, screaming, sitting straight up in bed. Then he’d left me without so much as a word.

I hadn’t tried to comfort him or ask him what was wrong. I knew better than to do that. Things like that only made him mad.

Complicated didn’t even begin to describe Grant. He was indescribable in more ways than one.

The way he made me feel was out of this world. I wanted more with the man, but I would never push him for it. I worried that one day I’d lose him to another woman. Not that I had him, but I was the only woman he saw fit to fuck. I hoped, one day, that would turn into something more.

For the time being, though, I was content with what we had.

The curtain began to rise, and Grant walked away from me to take his place, center stage. I watched as the audience began to murmur as they turned their attention to the stage.

Grant opened his arms. “Good evening.”

A few of the men shouted out greetings in return. I was mesmerized by all the people—people who’d soon be watching me get beaten and fucked.

What the hell was I doing?

Grant’s hands went to his sides. “Welcome to The Dungeon of Decorum, a place where anything is possible.”

Thunderous applause filled the large room. I could feel the vibration through the rope that held me. The energy was already filtering from the audience to me. It was absolutely astonishing.

With a gesture to me, Grant went on. “We’re here tonight to show you how a scene is played out. I know we had some videos for you all to watch on our website, but we thought a real scene would be in order to get the ball rolling. We hope you all find it enticing and that it motivates you to create your own scenes that you can play out for your fellow club members. The idea is for you all to gain some of our energy and turn it into your own. And one day you will be on the stage, lending us some of your energy.” He turned to look at me. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

With a nod to the audience, Grant moved on. “Then let us begin. Music and lights, please.”

The lights over the audience dimmed, and the spotlight that was on Grant did too. Dark, thumping music filled the large room, making it seem even more ominous than it had been.

Chills ran through me as if I hadn’t acted out the scene twenty or so times before. It was as if I had no idea what was about to happen, even though I did know and knew I could trust Grant.

The white spotlight turned to red as Grant pulled the whip off the wall. He popped it a few times toward the audience, then he turned and popped it around me. It was so close, I could feel the tiny bursts of wind from the tail of it.

All around me, he popped that whip, as if showing me that he could hit me if he wanted to. I was helpless to defend myself. I was trapped, vulnerable, and at his mercy.

The rope was wound around my body, from my ankles to my throat. Grant left just enough room for me to breathe comfortably. That was until I began to get pumped up and began to breathe harder.

My chest felt tight as it swelled and the rope felt as if it was smothering me, choking me much like a giant snake. Just as I was about to shout out our word for distress without stopping it heal—the word yellow—he came to me.

His eyes danced as he pulled a giant, sharp knife out of the holster on his hip. He used it to cut the rope from my throat to my ankles, and caught me before I could hit the ground.

Taking in deep breaths as the audience cheered, I whispered, “Thank you, sir.”

Our lips met and my body went limp in his strong arms. I was his for the taking once more.

Grant

Isabel and I threw in a little of everything, as if it was a BDSM buffet. A little paddling, a little flogging, and a little dildo action. Nipple clamps were used, demonstrating that technique as well. All in all, we were giving our new members not only a great show, but tweaking their creativity.

The final part of our scene was at hand. The part where I got to release. Isabel had already had five orgasms. It was important to show that the Dom must get his release as well. All give and no take becomes boring.

I placed her head and hands in the stockade so she was in a standing position but leaning over, giving me access to her backside. The corset she wore exposed her ass cheeks. They were red from the paddle I’d used last. I gave her one good whack with my hand, but she couldn’t cry out. I’d put a ball-gag in her mouth and blindfolded her as well.

She’d asked for the blindfold, not wanting to watch the audience watching her get fucked. I understood and even liked the way she reacted more when she was deprived of sight.

The setup was that I stood behind her. It shielded the audience from seeing everything. There had to be an air of wonder. Was I really fucking her or merely faking it?

But I was about to do it. I’d used the dildo, my mouth, and even a feather to make her climax before. Now I’d use my cock. As I entered her, she moaned. She liked my cock inside of her. Isabel liked that more than she liked getting off any other way.

I smacked her ass again to remind her that she was to be quiet. As much as I liked to hear that sexy moan of hers, it stirred feelings in me I didn’t want to explore.

Feelings of wanting more with her—something I wasn’t about to get into.

Moving into her with a slow thrust, I looked down, watching my cock vanish into her pristine ass. My body surged with satisfaction. I ran my hands in circles over her ass as I moved back and forth.

Her ass was cherry red from the paddle. I popped it every so often to keep it stinging. She liked it that way. Her ass on fire as her cunt was fucked.

The music was loud and the beat was hard. I began to move with the beat, in and out, in and out. Holding her by the waist, I closed my eyes and fucked her hard.

Some of the men shouted encouragement. “Fuck her! Take her like you own her!”

Did I own Isabel?

I didn’t claim to. But I did wonder if I’d be bothered if another man took her. It was then that I felt an urgency to show them all that the woman would never be satisfied by any of their cocks.

But would I ever call her my own?

As I thrust into her mercilessly, I felt my balls fill. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever make her mine, but I’d sure as fuck let everyone know that she’d never be satisfied by any other man.

I reached around her, unleashing the gag. “You can make all the noise you want.”

She moaned loudly. “Yes! Yes!”

I leaned over, humping her hard and deep as I held her by the shoulders. “You like the way I fuck you?”

“Yes! Oh, God, yes!”

Knowing other men were watching us, salivating over her, spurred me on. “Do you ever want another cock inside of you?”

“No! Please, no!”

I smiled in spite of the fact that I wasn’t about to make any kind of a commitment to her. “Would you like me to make you all mine?” I gave her a hard thrust.

“Yes!”

It was enough for me. The men knew she wanted to be mine. That was enough for me. I wore a cocky grin as I stood back up and finished fucking her. When she came, I did too. It sent a chill through me. We’d become so well adapted to each other’s bodies.

The curtain closed and I pulled out of her, then released her from the stockade and took off the blindfold. She was breathing hard as she looked at me. “Grant, did you mean what you said?”

Without answering her, I took her to the dressing room so I could clean us both up and massage her body. My silence had her being quiet too.

Isabel wasn’t the type to ask anything more than once. She knew what my answer was without me saying a word.

The shower in the dressing room was large, made for two people. I pulled her corset off her. Dropping my pants, I led her inside the tiled walls to wash away the sweat and other bodily fluids. Neither of us would want to walk around smelling like that the rest of the night.

She was limp as I washed her body. I never asked her to wash mine. I didn’t want her hands all over me. “Get out, dry off, and go lay on the bed so I can massage you.”

She nodded and got out. I could feel the sadness she had and knew I didn’t want to deal with it. But the after-care was part of it all. I had to deal with it.

After I’d cleaned myself up, I threw a towel around my waist and went out to find her lying on her stomach on the small bed. I began the massage at her feet without saying a word to her.

Her sigh let me know she wasn’t feeling so great about things, so it was my responsibility to see to her emotional well-being too. “Was there any part of that you need to talk about, Isabel?”

“And if there was?” She tried to roll over to face me, but I wouldn’t let her.

“You talk. I’m getting these calves and thighs.” I went to work on them. I’d rather deal with her body than her mind any day, but I had no choice in the matter.

“Why did you say that, Grant?”

“Say what?” I knew I was acting stupid and that it wouldn’t get me out of the awkward conversation, but I had to try.

“The part about whether I’d like for you to make me all yours. Why did you say that?”

“I didn’t say it to hurt you.” I wasn’t sure what to say to her about it.

“Okay,” she said, then rolled over as I finished the massage, ending with her shoulders. She looked at me with those dark, soulful eyes. “Grant, I’m not sure where you and I stand. Saying things like that, even during an act, is confusing to me.”

“I know. I’ll refrain from doing that again. It wasn’t fair to you.” I ran my hands up and down her arms to loosen them up. Our faces were close. My lips tingled, wanting to kiss hers.

“Did you say it because you want that? Do you want to make me yours? Are you afraid I’ll turn you down? I wouldn’t turn you down, Grant. I’d give you anything you want. I want you to know that.”

“I don’t want you to give me any more than you already are.” I had to be honest with her. I demanded honesty out of her, and she deserved for me to give her the same. “When I realized that all those men were looking at you as a sex object, a thing they might like to toy with, it hit me that I needed to make sure that never happened. So I said what I said.”

“Oh. So what you’re telling me is that you don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me.” She looked off to one side.

What was I supposed to say to that? She was right. But I didn’t want to admit that. “I want you when I want you. And I don’t want to see you with anyone else. I know that makes me an asshole.”

“Yes, it does.” She looked at me right in the eyes. “But I consider you my asshole. And the fact is, I don’t want to see you with other women either. So what are we going to do about this?”

She wanted to be exclusive, and in a way, so did I. That would lead to more and more, until she and I were lawfully wedded, raising a family, and living happily ever after.

Only I knew there are no happy endings. At least not in my family.

“I think you and I have spent too much time together. We’re starting to feel as if we own one another. I didn’t take you on as a Sub. I’m not your Dom or your boyfriend. Hell, I’m not even your fuck-buddy, Isabel.”

“Fuck you, Grant Jamison!” The slap she gave me hurt far worse than anything ever had. It shook me all the way to my core. She pulled back to give me another, which I did deserve, but I caught her by the wrist.

“No more.” I let her hand go and walked away from her.

I’d gone too far with her, and now we’d both leave hurt because of it. I vowed from then on that I’d not spend more than one session with any woman.

I couldn’t.

And I could never be with Isabel again. Somehow our hearts had gotten into it, and that wasn’t supposed to happen.

Putting my tux back on, I ignored the glare she was giving me. She got off the bed and put her dress back on, then walked to the door, ready far faster than I could be.

Before she left, she turned to look at me. “No one needs to know about this. I won’t talk badly about you, and you don’t talk badly about me. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“I’ll treat you the same way and I expect you to treat me the same way as before. I don’t want gossip going around about us. We work together. I’ll get over you. In time.” She took a deep breath as she gathered herself, then walked out the door.

My body sagged after she left. I was a complete jackass. It felt awful to know that about myself.

At least I wasn’t lying to anyone. Not myself or Isabel. Whatever we had, it was over.

I didn’t know I could miss her, but I already did.

Damn, it felt like shit.

Isabel

It was hard to believe that just as the club opened, Grant and I ended. We’d been together for a few months. It was never something I thought would happen to us. Okay, we weren’t a couple, but we spent a ton of time together. We got along great, and we had mind-blowing sex too.

In my head, I had always thought that he and I would end up together. I understood his needs. All of them. His sexual and mental needs.

He and I were perfect together.

He nor I wanted to see us with other people. So why did he do it? Why did he end it all?

After our breakup, I went to my office. In the large bottom drawer on the left of my desk was a bottle of Macallan eighteen-year-old Scotch. I’d bought it to give to Grant after the doors closed that night.

Instead of giving it to him, I opened the expensive bottle and poured myself a glass of it. The first sip burned like fire as it slipped down my throat. I knew the numbness it would bring would outweigh the pain.

All the pain. The pain in my body, in my head, and in my heart. It was everywhere. And I had to push it all down. I had to act as if nothing had happened.

Opening night was supposed to be a celebration. We’d all worked so damn hard to get the club up and going. The show Grant and I had put on was supposed to be the pinnacle of one great night, a night that I thought would be beyond belief.

I guess it was. I felt pain that was beyond belief.

It was after that third sip of Scotch that I knew I loved Grant. I loved that sorry son of a bitch more than I’d ever loved any man.

But he wasn’t capable of loving me back.

I had the comfort of knowing he’d most likely never be capable of loving anyone. At least I had that.

But I’d have to see the man all the damn time. That would be difficult. But I’d figure out how to deal with it. The money I was making wasn’t something anyone could walk away from. Plus, I had a five-year contract that forbade it.

Another sip of Scotch and the numbness was setting in. I could do it. I could get through the night, one glass of Scotch at a time.

A knock came at my door and I put the bottle away, then put the glass in the top drawer, closing it, and hiding it from view. Getting up, I went to answer the door. A young man stood there with a young girl’s hand in his. “We’d like to make a contract. How do we go about that?”

“Come in and take the seats in front of my desk. I’ll get all the papers together and get you two going.” It was the first Dom/Sub contract the Dungeon would make. The first of many.

I handed them each a paper they had to fill out. “Check the boxes next to the kinks you’re willing to do.” I took a seat in my chair, wishing I could keep that glass of Scotch in my hand. It did so much to soothe me. It took the pain away.

Grant’s intentions were never to make me love him. I knew that. He wasn’t loving or caring with his words. Hell, most of the time, he wasn’t loving or caring even with the way he fucked me. But when he was doing the after-care, then he was soft, caring, loving.

I knew he had it in him to be those things. I knew, with time, he would find himself giving me more and more of that part of him. But he had stopped it all.

I had pushed too hard. I should’ve shut the fuck up. I had known that, even as I spoke the words to him, asking him why he’d said what he had. I knew I was fucking things up. Pushing and pushing, something Grant didn’t allow.

After I had gotten the new couple out of my office, I locked the door and took the drink out, downing it, as the numbness had worn off.

I’d have to go out there and face him. I couldn’t let him see my weakness. All I’d show Grant Jamison is that I could do just fine without him.

He’d see. I’d be just fine.

One more glass of Scotch and I’d go show him. I didn’t need his ass.

Grant

The night was going insanely great. Everyone was on top of the world. It was obvious the club would be a great success. The owners were all smiles, as we all envisioned that the accounts soon would be bursting at the seams with all the money people were spending.

One of the members was asking me to come and help him in one of the private rooms. He and his partner wanted to try out some flogging techniques and he wanted to be sure he didn’t cause her any real harm.

As I went into the dimly-lit room with its red walls, black floor, and ceiling, I realized that it bothered me to be in there with anyone other than Isabel.

Oh, I had to get over that, and quick!

“I tell you what, let me go out and grab a woman so I can demonstrate on her and you can follow suit.” I headed out and found it was easy to find a woman who wanted to help me out with the demonstration.

Back to the room we went, and I moved her into position. The other man did the same with his woman, and I showed him the first technique.

As my hand moved the flogger and it landed on the woman’s ass, I felt a pain in my heart.

Was what I was doing wrong? “You okay, doll?”

She turned her mask-covered face to the side. “Yeah. I liked it. Do it some more, please.”

Shaking my head, I tried to rid it of that pesky notion that what I was doing was bad. “Okay, a figure-eight motion is also good.” I demonstrated it and felt that pain in my chest again.

I realized then that I had a weakness.

Isabel.

I had to get past that. I had to.

The girl I’d found turned to look back at me and winked. “We should get our own room.”

Though my heart wasn’t in it, my head said to do it. Getting another girl under you is the quickest way to get over the girl who’s haunting you. It went something like that, I was sure.

So I did just that. I took the girl to the next private room and proceeded to forget about Isabel.

I wasn’t the man for Isabel anyway. I was doing her a favor by letting her go.

Was I really letting her go?

Could it be that easy?

The End

Grant Jamison’s future is set as one of the founding fathers of The Dungeon of Decorum, the common thread in the novels of Submissives’ Secrets. Each novel stands alone but all have a home at the Portland, Oregon BDSM Club.

With each new novel, Grant’s story will unfold a bit more in standalone short stories you can only get in our Newsletter. So spread the word!

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I thought I was going to pick up a toy for my little’s girl’s birthday when we went to the toy store that day. I got that and a hell of a lot more.

Joy was the customer service rep my daughter invited to her little birthday lunch. They hit it off right away.

The fire inside me had been extinguished, or so I thought, it began to smolder for Joy that afternoon.

After only knowing the young beauty for less than an hour, I asked her to come live with us and be my daughter’s nanny. And to my surprise, she accepted.

Once I had her within my walls, I couldn’t think about anything other than getting my hands on her, using her body to quench the fire that had grown inside me. Taking her in every way imaginable and making her beg for more!

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