Set Me Free

by Diana Nixon

  “Your book tour starts in two weeks, do you remember that?”

  “I do.” I got out of bed and went out into the hall, closing the door quietly behind me so as not to awake Stella.

  “Do you know how much we still need to do before that?”

  “Rick, I know. I’ll be in the city next week, maybe.”

  “Maybe?” He paused before continuing. “What the hell is taking you so long, dude?”

  “I have some . . . unfinished business here.” I leaned against the wall in the hall, trying to come up with a better explanation, but of course, I failed.

  “Okay, should I come there and drag you back home myself?”

  “Come on, Rick. I’m not a child! I know how to find my way back home.”

  “I hope so,” he said slowly. “Anyway, I sent you a few e-mails, please read them carefully when you get a minute.”

  “I will.”

  “And one more thing, James… Your mom called me last night. She said she couldn’t get through to you, so she called me instead.”

  “My phone must have been off. What did she want?”

  “Don’t you know that? Do you remember what day is today?”

  I did remember, unfortunately . . .

  “Yes, I do.”

  “She thought you would like to come to the mass. But I guess you have other plans for tonight.”

  “Can I ask you for a favor?”

  “Sure, man.”

  “Call her and tell her that my book tour started earlier. I can’t tell her that I can’t be in the church tonight. I’m tired of coming up with excuses.”

  “Okay, will do. Anything else you would like to tell me?”

  “No, why?”

  Rick knew me too well to believe my lies about having unfinished business. He knew the only place in the world I liked to stay was my own apartment. And he knew how much I hated traveling.

  “No reason, just curious,” he replied.

  “I’ll call you later, okay?” I couldn’t wait to finish the conversation. First, because I didn’t want Rick to ask any more questions about my decision to stay in Braiwood, and second, because I couldn’t wait to get back to Stella.

  “Yep, no problem.”

  I hung up the phone and went back to my room.

  Stella was sitting on my bed, wearing the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

  “Morning,” I said, sitting next to her. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Surprisingly, yes. What about you?”

  “Not so well . . .” The visions from my nightmare filled my mind, but I forced them away and said, smiling, “Apparently I have underestimated my ability to stay in one bed with you and keep my hands to myself.”

  “Poor thing.”

  “Don’t you think I deserve a reward for my infinite patience?”

  “I’ll think about it. Now, I need to go to work.” She stood up and walked to the door.

  “No good-morning-and-have-a-great-day kiss?” I said after her.

  “I’m late for work, James. We will talk about kisses and the rest later.” And then, she walked away without saying another word. Great. . .

  I looked at my laptop on the desk and thought I could use Rick’s e-mails as a distraction from my thoughts about Stella. Unfortunately, no amount of e-mails were enough to distract me from my thoughts and memories of Melody. She was my first love, my true and only love back then. Many things have changed since the day I saw her last, except for one – I would never be able to forget why she was no longer with me. . .

  “James, are you awake?” Dillon called from behind the closed door.

  I mentally thanked Stella for leaving so soon, I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of her uncle seeing her in my bed.

  “Good morning,” I said, opening the door.

  “Since you have decided to stay, I thought you might like to see where Stella and I work? I’m sure our team will be happy to have you visit the newspaper’s ‘home’.”

  “Oh, yes, of course. I would love to see where you guys work.”

  Dillon smiled. “Good, then get dressed and come have breakfast with us.”

  Rick’s e-mails were forgotten immediately. I couldn’t miss my chance to spend more time with Stella. After all, no one knew when I was going to leave, not even me.

  I was one of those men who came and left with no explanations or good-byes. I never bothered to explain anything to anyone. Even my family knew that I was ‘a free soul’ as they called me. They thought it was just because I was a writer, a weirdo in every sense of the word. But they were wrong, there was a reason I never stayed anywhere but my place for too long – I didn’t want to feel unwelcome, ever again. I also didn’t want to get attached to people, especially women. Their love-struck gazes were like a red flag to me, screaming for me to run away and never come back. I just didn’t want any of them to end up like Melody. No one knew there was a note that she left for me, no one knew what was written there. But I did . . . And it was more than enough to make me believe that I didn’t know a damn thing about love, I didn’t know how to love in the first place.

  “Are you sure you don’t have anything more interesting to do than go with us?” Stella asked, bringing me back to reality. Obviously, she was not excited about me going to work with her.

  “I got stuck in the middle of a new chapter, but to finish it, I need more inspiration.” I winked at her, making sure Dillon didn’t notice what I was implying about Stella acting as my muse for the day.

  She shook her head, hardly hiding her smile. “Writer’s block?”

  “Something of the sort.”

  “Writer’s block is a bitch,” Dillon said, chewing his sandwich. I liked the man, he was a weirdo just like me, but a very funny one. “I’m sure Stella can help you deal with it.”

  She choked over her coffee and started coughing.

  “Are you okay, Sunshine?” Dillon asked, patting her on the back.

  “I’m fine,” she said, giving me a meaningful look.

  I smirked. “Stella is a writing genius, I know that. No doubt she’ll be able to … help me.”

  Another warning look followed.

  “How do you know that, Mr. Collins?” She asked, taking her cup to the sink.

  “I’ve spent enough time with you to figure that out. You are a true inspiration, Miss Holt.”

  Chapter 8

  Stella

  Something was different about James today. He kept joking around, taking full advantage of every single chance he got to get on my nerves, or just to make me blush from head to toe. But I still felt like something was off about him.

  “Oh my God, is he really staying at your place?” Terry asked excited, watching the female part of our newspaper team gathering around James. Poor thing, he had no idea how crazy women in their late forties could be, standing side by side with a famous erotic author, who just happened to be one sexy as hell man. I hoped they wouldn’t eat him alive.

  I rolled my eyes at how happy they were to see him. No doubt, he was everyone’s dirty dream come true. And I was not an exception. Only I was not going to demonstrate it so openly. After all, it was my decision to ask him to stay. I still didn’t know why I did that. I just did.

  “Yes, he’s staying at Dillon’s for a few more days.”

  “Doesn’t he have a better place to stay and work at? I mean, Braiwood is the last place in the world I would stay at if I were him.”

  “Where would you go?”

  “Hollywood.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, right, as if someone is waiting for you there.”

  “Not for me, but I’m sure a man like James is welcomed everywhere.”

  “Why don’t you ask him to give you some advice on how to flirt with women? I’m sure he knows a lot about the subject.”

  Terry smirked. “Maybe I will. Unlike you, he never feels a lack of attention from the opposite sex.”

  “Ha-ha, thanks for the reminder.”

  “You are always welco
me, Sweetie. By the way, since he’s staying at your place you could also try your flirting skills on him. Practice wouldn’t hurt you. Though I doubt he’ll buy it.”

  I stared at my friend, offended. “Who said I don’t know how to flirt?”

  “The uneventfulness of your sex life is a vivid proof to my point on that.”

  “Did someone just mention Stella’s sex life?” James asked. Neither of us saw him coming until he was standing right beside us, joining in on our conversation. “I’d love to hear more about it.” He smiled as innocently as ever.

  “That’s the problem – when it comes to Stella’s sex life, there’s nothing to talk about; it is nonexistent,” Terry said, ignoring my annoyed expression.

  “Hey, I am standing right here . . . I can still hear you, remember?” I said, hoping they wouldn’t start talking about me as if I didn’t exist at all. Much like they are about my sex life. If only Terry knew the truth, he would be shocked to see the truth in his words earlier about using my flirtation skills on James.

  “Well, I’m sure Stella can have any man she wants,” James said, again ignoring my presence.

  “I doubt that.” Terry laughed, going through some papers he was holding. “If she really wanted, she could have you as well.”

  “Terry!”

  “Oops, sorry, I must have said something wrong.”

  James laughed. “It’s okay. I’m sure Miss Holt will forgive you.”

  “No, I will not!”

  “Don’t be a scratch-cat, Stella. He’s just kidding, right Terry?”

  “No, I am not.”

  I don’t think I had ever hated my best friend more than I did now.

  “Why don’t you two just shut up? I have work to do,” I snapped. “And you, Mr. Collins are more than welcome to look around here, on your own.” I gave him a hard look and went to Dillon’s office. I sure as hell was not going to keep standing there, listening to him and Terry discussing my sex life.

  “Is everything all right?” My uncle asked, watching me pace his office for about ten minutes already.

  “Never been better.”

  “Then why are you so nervous?”

  “Am I?” I took a deep breath and sat in one of the chairs, hoping my thoughts would eventually get back to the work I needed to do.

  “How was your interview with James? Did you manage to find out anything interesting?”

  Well… What shall I say to him now? There are many interesting things about James Collins, and some I managed to study very precisely…

  “Yeah, I think the article will be great.”

  “Good. When I’m gonna see it?”

  “Um, today?”

  “Sounds good.” Dillon nodded approvingly and got back to his own paperwork.

  I didn’t want to go to my office. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel like safe there. James could stop by at any minute, and being in one room with him, with no one to save me from his naughty looks wouldn’t do me any good. Especially if I was finally going to start writing my article about him.

  “Can I work in here?” I asked Dillon.

  “Sure. Just go make sure that James is all right first.”

  “He’s not a kid. I’m sure he’s fine.”

  “Stella, please. I don’t want him to think poorly of our paper and hospitality.”

  Ugh, for crying out loud…

  “Okay, will do.” I rose to my feet and left the office.

  As expected, Mr. Collins didn’t need my help, or me checking on him. There were enough ‘nannies’ to look after him. And May was one of them.

  “Now, look at you, Sainty! I didn’t even know you knew how to blush,” I whispered, coming to stand behind her. She had been watching James have a talk to one of our editors and didn’t see me coming.

  “Hush, Stella. I’m not the only one drooling over James’ every word. I saw you staring at him.”

  “So what?”

  “I have never seen you stare at any man like that.”

  “Well, there’s obviously a lot to stare at, right?”

  She giggled. “Indeed.”

  “There you are, my inspiration!” James said, waving for me to come closer. “I was going to go look for you. I need your help.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that. What are you up to?”

  “See, I have a few ideas for the book I’m working on, and I need to write them down, ASAP.”

  “So? Couldn’t you ask someone to give you a piece of paper?”

  “I like working in silence. Could you let me use your office for a while?”

  Oh, no . . .

  “Of course. Follow me please.” I turned on my heel and walked down the hall, trying to come up with a good excuse to leave James before whatever he had on that twisted mind of his would lead to another ‘kitchen scene’.

  “You are avoiding me,” he said, as soon as he closed the door to my office behind him.

  “I told you, I have work to do.”

  “No, really?” He smirked, slowly coming closer to where I was standing. “Then why does it feel like you are lying to me, again?”

  “Again?”

  “Well, yes. First, you made me believe that you hated me, and then you came and spent a night in my bed. Doesn’t it look like one big lie?”

  “You did say that you wanted to write something down, didn’t you?”

  “Oh, right. I suddenly felt like I knew exactly what the next scene in my new book would be about.”

  “Really? And what is it going to be about?”

  He stepped closer, like really close. I could feel his breath on my lips.

  “Which would you prefer, telling you or showing you what I have in mind?”

  “Aren’t you afraid that someone may hear you… scraping your… pencil across paper?”

  He burst out laughing. “You are terrible at figurative speech. And no, I’m not afraid of anything. So… Do you mind being my paper for a while?” He took a strand of my hair and wrapped it around his finger, pulling my face closer to his. “I’m an awful person, Stella. I know that. And I shouldn’t be here today, but I am, and I can’t stop thinking about being with you again . . .”

  He brushed my lips with his, biting my lower lip gently, and then sucked it into his mouth.

  I drew a sharp breath, hoping it would help me suppress the sudden need building within. But no relief followed. Damn it.

  James leaned forward and pressed his mouth to mine again, tangling his fingers in my hair. It hurt just a little, but enough to make me feel lost and helpless. I was lost to anything but the way he was kissing me now, hungrily, passionately. He pushed me back and lifted me up, sitting me on my desk.

  “Always wanted to do it in an office?” I asked, smirking.

  “Always wanted to do it here with you.”

  In an instant, his lips were back on mine, together with his hands wrapping my legs around him. His arousal throbbed against my abdomen, and I finally realized why I had been so nervous – I was missing the feeling of him being so close to me, being a part of me in particular. I needed at least one more time to feel him like that.

  He pulled my skirt up, growling into my parted lips. “You are driving me crazy, Stella.” His lips moved down my neck, and stopped at my shoulder, showering it with small kisses.

  My pulse accelerated. His tongue ran across my collarbone, when his hand slipped in between my legs and clenched around the fabric of my panties. He moved them aside and pressed his thumb to my clit, drawing small circles around it before thrusting one finger inside me.

  I moaned quietly in response. There was no way we could do this in silence.

  “Did you lock the door?” I asked, breathless. I was so freaking screwed. But the worst part of it was that I didn’t give a damn.

  “I didn’t,” James said, unzipping his trousers and then pulled me closer to the edge of the desk. “Will we ever be able to take it slow?”

  “I don’t think so.” I gripped his hair, fisting i
t roughly. Dillon or someone else could enter the office, but I couldn’t care less. I just needed to get enough of the forbidden fruit named James Collins, so I wouldn’t cry myself to death when the time came for him to leave. “You said you can only give me one thing. And I want that one thing to be unforgettable . . . I want you, Mr. Sexy Writer.”

  “Magic word?” He said, rubbing me with his cock, teasingly.

  If I were five the magic word would have been ‘please,’ but I am a full-grown woman and I demand what I want, whenever I want it . . . So I replied in a low and dangerous growl, “Now.”

  He smiled, pleased. “Bad girl. Very, very bad girl.”

  “You can't tell me you don’t like it.”

  “Oh, I love it, Miss Naughty Reporter.” He thrust deep inside me and I gasped at how good it felt.

  “Christ, Stella . . .”

  “Be quiet,” I whispered against his lips, before I covered them with mine. He leaned over me, moving fast inside me, the sound of his hips slamming against mine echoed in the silence of the room. God, I was losing my mind. With every passing second, I became more and more aware of the fact that letting James go would be the hardest thing I would ever have to do. But again, I knew what I was putting myself into, I shouldn’t complain now.

  I felt my muscles clench around James, his darkened eyes met mine – he looked like a wild animal, cruel and ready to rip his prey to pieces, which only made me crave him even more. His lips made their way across my jaw and then stopped at my mouth devouring it in a way that was sexy as hell.

  I wrapped my legs tightly around him to pull him deeper, if that was even possible.

  “Easier there, Sweetheart. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t.”

  “I’m too close, Stella…” He buried his face in the curve of my neck, pushing harder.

  “So am I.” I shut my eyes and allowed the fire coming from James to me swallow me. I didn’t want anything more than to be burned by it. He squeezed my ass in his hands, giving me a few deep thrusts, and I felt like I was falling apart.