by Marie Force
I don’t understand what I did wrong and why you won’t give me another chance.
My despair is immediately replaced by cold fear as I realize the only way I’m going to get rid of this guy is to change my number. The thought of that daunting task only further exhausts me. I block the new number. Emmett told me to let him know if I heard from Tom again, but I’ll tell him when I see him. If I tell him now, he’ll be over here with the cops, and I’m not up for that tonight.
Tomorrow is soon enough. Maybe by then I’ll have my head screwed on straight and things can get back to normal. I can only hope.
I don’t see Leah again until I arrive at LAX on Thursday afternoon for the flight to Napa that Addie arranged. Everyone is in high spirits, excited for a fun weekend with our closest friends. Along with Jasper, Ellie, Flynn, Natalie, Sebastian, Kristian, Aileen and her kids, Marlowe has brought her new guy, Rafe, and we’re meeting him for the first time.
I find it odd that she’s brought someone on a trip like this, because she tends to keep her personal life personal. Of course, we see her in dominatrix mode in the clubs, but she’s like me in that she doesn’t do actual relationships—or she never really has before. She’s positively giddy over this new Frenchman, who seems a little too slick and polished for my liking.
But because I love her and she’s obviously delighted with him, I decide to reserve judgment until I have a chance to get to know him better. Flynn’s parents and sisters are flying up tomorrow along with most of the other wedding guests.
I find Leah sitting alone in the last row of seats. She’s by the window, so I plop down in the aisle seat, startling her. Across the aisle, Marlowe is fully engrossed in Rafe, so I plan to take full advantage of the opportunity to corner Leah on why I’m suddenly getting the silent treatment from her.
I’ll confess to being truly confused by what happened the other night. She’s gone from insinuating herself into my life and my bed to ignoring me for days. Part of me is relieved that she’s clearly changed her mind about driving me crazy. But a far bigger part of me is deeply disappointed that there might not be any more verbal sparring or physical pleasure with her. I’m surprised by how much I miss both those things after a couple of days without them and without her.
I’ve deflected—easily—a hundred questions from the others about what happened to my eye. I told them I smashed it on a door, but I can tell they don’t believe me. How does a door make a full circle around your eye? That had been Kristian’s question during a meeting yesterday. My reply to that had been how the hell do I know how a bruise works. If they knew the truth, they’d be relentless with me—and with her. I’ll never tell them what actually happened, even if I want to laugh every time I think about it.
At least the swelling has gone down to the point where I can see out of the eye now and what I see when I glance her way has me very unsettled. She looks tortured.
“You ready to talk to me yet?” I ask her when the plane is in the air and the others are engaged in conversation or dozing. The drone of the engines makes it so we won’t be overheard.
The look she gives is like a deer in headlights. I wish I knew what she was thinking, but I honestly have no idea what’s going on inside that pretty head of hers. And it’s odd for me to care enough to want to know, but there you have it. The wondering is driving me mad. I raise a brow, letting her know I’m waiting for her to reply.
“Nothing to talk about.”
“So that’s it? You drive me insane for months, work your way under my skin and into my bed, and then you call it off right when it’s starting to get interesting?” Maybe it’s a mistake to confess that she’s under my skin, but I can’t exactly deny that I’ve spent the last few nights trying to figure out what went so terribly wrong between us. When she doesn’t reply, I say, “I never pegged you for being a coward. I guess I was wrong.”
Oh, that makes her mad. Good… I withdraw headphones from my backpack, and I’m about to put them on when she says something I can’t quite hear. “What was that?”
“I said I am not a coward.”
“Could’ve fooled me. You were all gutsy and fearless until shit started getting real, and then you ran. Not sure what other word you’d use to describe that but coward.”
“Stop saying that,” she says, all but growling. “I’m not a coward.”
“You said you love me and then you took off. I guess I’m a little confused about what’s going on here.”
“Why do you care?” she asks in a whisper that sounds more like a hiss. “You don’t want there to be anything between us.”
“When did I say that?” he asks, tongue-in-cheek.
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t pretend you’ve suddenly changed your mind about wanting to stay unencumbered. This is not a relationship.” She does a fairly good impression of me. “Remember saying that?”
I lean in as close to her as I can get, fully invading her personal space. “I remember everything. Every. Single. Thing.”
Her face flushes with heat that leaves a rosy glow in her cheeks. I’m not sure if that’s from anger or arousal. She’s gorgeous all the time, but when her color is up, she’s downright stunning. “I can’t do this,” she says softly, wilting under my potent stare.
“Why not?”
She bites her lip as she debates what she should say. “It’s not going to end well for me.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do.”
“I thought you might find it interesting that I missed you after you left the other night, and I missed you the other nights, too. When there should’ve been this annoying fly buzzing around my head, there was only silence. I was lonely.”
Her eyes widen with surprise that delights me. I ought to be concerned by just how delighted I am, but I can’t take the time now to dig into that when I finally seem to have her attention. “You were?”
“Yep. Thanks a lot for that, by the way. I was perfectly fine on my own, but then you bombed your way into my life and my home and my bed and made me miss you when you left. I’m kinda pissed with you about that, if I’m telling the truth.”
Her mouth falls open and then snaps shut, her eyes flashing with anger. God, I want her, and there’s no point in denying it to myself—or her. With my back turned to the aisle, I flatten my hand on her thigh and drag it up until I encounter heat between her legs that tells me everything I need to know. She’s not suddenly immune to me, as much as she might want to be. And that she doesn’t push me away tells me even more.
“You’re really going to give up without a fight? That’s not like you.”
“I’m not giving up, and don’t act like you know me so well.” She squirms, and I’m not sure if she’s trying to get away from my hand or get closer to it. Definitely closer… She’s pressing against my hand, so I press back.
I lean in, my lips brushing against her neck. “If you’re not giving up, does that mean you’ll be in my bed tonight?”
She shudders. It’s a full-body event that I feel because I’m pressed up against her.
“Leah?”
“Is that where you want me?”
“Hell yes.”
“For how long?”
“What do you mean?”
With her hand on my shoulder she pushes me back and forces me to meet her gaze. “How long do you want me in your bed? One night? Two? Seven? And then what? What happens to me when you’ve had enough?”
“Who says that’s going to happen?”
She shoots me a withering look. “You said yourself you’ve never been in a real relationship, so why should I believe you’re willing to start now?”
“First time for everything.”
She shoves me and my wandering hand away. “Don’t say stuff you don’t mean.” Her eyes flash with emotion that goes straight to my overcommitted heart.
“I never do.” I take hold of her hand and link our fingers, holding on tight to what I want. I want her. I want us. For the first ti
me since everything happened with Elena, I want to try for something real with Leah. “There are things,” I say haltingly, “that happened in the past that make situations such as this, like us, difficult for me.”
I’m not sure how I feel about being described as a “situation,” but I’m not about to mention that when he’s clearly trying to share something important with me. “Will you tell me about those things?”
If I’m to have any chance at all with her, I know I’ll have to. Sighing, I nod. “I will. Not now, but later.”
“You don’t want to, though.”
“It’s not that so much as it’s something I never talk about. With anyone. It’s a very painful thing.”
“Maybe it would be better to just quit now before this gets any more painful for either of us.”
“Is that what you want?”
She rolls that sexy bottom lip between her teeth again as she studies me with those eyes that seem to see right through me. No one has ever seen me as thoroughly as she does, making it so I can hide nothing from her, even my deepest pain. “Only if you do. It was fun to tease and flirt and think up ways to get your attention, but then it started to get real for me, and I can’t go there if you don’t feel the same way. I just can’t.”
“I do feel the same way.”
“And you’re not just saying that to get me back in your bed?”
I look her dead in the eye. “I swear to God I’m not just saying that, although I can’t wait to get you back in my bed.”
Chapter 15
Leah takes a deep breath and releases it. And then she smiles at me, a big, genuine smile that fills all the dark places inside me with her luminous light. “I’m a little afraid I’m going to wake up to find that I dreamed this conversation.”
With my free hand, I cup her cheek and turn her face to receive my kiss, which begins softly and sweetly, but quickly turns into something hotter and more intense when her mouth opens and our tongues wrap around each other in the most sensually charged moment of my life. I’ve had every kind of sex with more women than I can count, but this, right here, is the most profound thing that’s ever happened with any woman.
A throat clearing startles us, and we break apart, breathing hard as we look up to find Flynn looking down at us with amusement dancing in his eyes. “So it’s like that, is it?”
“What do you want?” I ask him, my tone harsh and filled with annoyance after he interrupted the most important kiss of my life.
“Flynn,” Natalie says from the front row of seats, “get back here and leave them alone.”
“I have a question for my attorney,” he says.
“Ask him later, or you’ll be sleeping alone this weekend.”
A swell of laughter goes through the cabin, becoming louder when he scurries back to his seat.
“He’s such a pain in the ass,” I mutter, noticing with satisfaction that Leah’s cheeks are bright red with embarrassment. “Now, where were we?” I lean in for more of the kisses I’ve become addicted to. We barely come up for air for the next half hour until the pilot announces we’re making our final descent into Napa. “We’re sharing a room this weekend,” I say, my lips rimming her ear. “The second we can break away from the others, I want you naked and kneeling in the middle of the bed, hands folded and head down. Any questions?”
That shudder, God that shudder of hers does crazy things to me. I’m so hard, there’s no way I’ll be able to hide it from the others when the plane lands.
“No,” she says, sounding breathless. “No questions.”
I have no idea how long it’ll be before we get to where we’re going or how long after that we’ll be forced to be social, but I’m not sure how I’ll survive until I can be completely alone with her. I’m dreading having to tell her about Elena, but she has a right to know what she’ll be taking on with me. I just hope that once she hears how I failed to protect Elena, she’ll still want me the way she does now.
She squeezes my hand and offers another of those dazzling smiles that make me feel ten feet tall in her eyes. Before this momentous flight, I would’ve released her so no one would see us holding hands, but now I want everyone to know that she’s mine, and I’m hers. That we’re together. A week ago, that kind of public declaration would’ve been inconceivable to me, but that was before the F5 tornado known as Leah Holt came barreling into my life, leaving me flattened and uplifted and elated and full of anticipation. I’m not sure how exactly she pulled it off, but she’s got me thinking and doing things that are so far out of character for me as to be almost ludicrous.
Naturally, Flynn can’t let it go without a comment. “What to my wondering eyes should appear…”
“Shut it,” I growl as I push past him on the tarmac, heading for whatever car he’s not going to be in. Leah and I end up jammed into the backseat of an SUV with Sebastian taking up more than his share of the room, so I lift Leah onto my lap and wrap my arms around her.
Seb raises a brow but thankfully refrains from comment. It doesn’t bother me that we’re going to be the talk of the weekend. I can’t bring myself to care about anything other than keeping Leah right here with me where I’m starting to think she belongs. What would’ve been preposterous to me a few days ago suddenly feels as right as anything ever has.
“And here I was counting on you two to keep me company this weekend,” Sebastian says when we’re on the way to the vineyard.
“Maybe you’ll meet someone at the wedding,” Leah says.
Sebastian smiles indulgently at her. “Maybe so.”
He doesn’t do casual pickups outside the lifestyle, so I doubt he’ll bother.
“What do we think of Marlowe’s new friend?” he asks.
I glance at Seb. “He seems a little ‘slick,’ if you know what I mean.”
“He sure is handsome,” Leah adds.
I pinch her ass, making her startle.
“Stop it! I’m allowed to say I think he’s handsome.”
I pinch her again, and she rolls her eyes at me. I don’t want to hear her thoughts on any other guy and will tell her so when I get her alone.
“I agree that he seems slick, but she sure is crazy about him,” Seb says.
“She really is,” Leah says.
“I haven’t seen her like this over a guy in a long time—years,” I add.
“It has been a while,” Seb agrees. “It’s nice to see her so happy.”
“Absolutely.” She’s such a good friend to all of us that I’m thrilled to see her glowing and sparkling. I do wonder if Rafe is her submissive or if their relationship isn’t about the lifestyle. Marlowe recently expressed dissatisfaction with the scene, so maybe she’s trying something different with Rafe, the same way I am with Leah.
I found it strange that when the others found true love, they stepped away from the clubs to conduct their sex lives in private. I thought they were pussies for becoming suddenly circumspect about things they used to do openly and publicly. But now that I’ve developed genuine feelings for Leah, I get it. The thought of people watching us together doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t want anyone else to see what’s mine, and that’s probably how they feel, too. Now I feel kind of bad for thinking they were wimping out when in reality they were protecting the women they love.
Do I love Leah? I don’t know that for sure, but I do know for sure that I could. I want more with her, I want to take a real chance with her, and that’s more than I’ve wanted with any woman since Elena broke my heart by rejecting me in favor of the man who later hurt her. For so many years, I’ve thought endlessly about what might’ve been different for both of us if I’d fought harder for what I wanted with her, rather than stepping aside so she could have who she wanted.
My greatest regret is that I didn’t warn her about the odd vibe I’d picked up the two times I met her new boyfriend. I didn’t say anything, though, because I hadn’t wanted to seem like a sore loser or detract from her happiness with warnings she probably wouldn’t
have heeded anyway. Regardless, I wish I had said something. Oh, how I wish I had.
I tighten my arms around Leah, nuzzling my face into her fragrant, silky hair, breathing in her scent, which has become familiar and comforting to me.
She strokes my arm with her fingertips, and that light touch is like a current zinging through me, making every part of me aware of every part of her. That’s another thing that makes her different from other women I’ve known. There’s never been one who could turn me on by dragging her fingertips lightly over my arm. It usually takes a hell of a lot more than that to get my motor running.
Thirty minutes after we land, we arrive at the large Victorian inn where we’re staying for the weekend. It’s about two miles from the vineyard that the Quantum partners own. The inn is painted a dark purple with yellow, green and black trim. I wouldn’t have put those colors together, but the place is utterly charming.
Ted and Maureen, the married couple who own the inn, are clearly trying not to be starstruck by their illustrious guests. As he always does, Flynn puts them at ease with the quick wit and effortless charm that has them forgetting they’re talking to a megastar.
Room assignments are made, keys handed out and directions given to rooms. We’re told that Hayden and Addie will join us for dinner on the back porch at seven, but we should make ourselves comfortable and at home until then. Cocktails are available in the salon any time we want them. This is my kind of place.
As the others troop up the stairs like a herd of noisy elephants, I hold Leah back with my arm around her shoulders. “Give back your key,” I say softly, so only she can hear me.
Her face flushes with an adorable pink hue as she hands her key to the kindly older woman. “I won’t be needing this,” she says.
Maureen takes a good long look at me, apparently finding me worthy, and smiles at Leah. “No problem. Let me know if you need anything.”
I nudge Leah toward the stairs and follow her to the third floor, where my room is tucked into a corner. Reaching around her, I use the key in the door, push it open and send her in ahead of me to the cozy room with a huge four-poster bed that’ll be perfect for our weekend extracurricular activities. I packed carefully for this trip, hoping I could convince her to give me a chance to be what she wants and needs. The conversation on the plane went better than I could’ve hoped, and I’m glad I planned ahead.