Only Love (The Atonement Duet Book 2)

by Selene Chardou

  Drake whistled. “Must be nice to have friends in high places.”

  “Believe it or not,” Liam said, “I have more money than the guy who owns this house. I haven’t bothered to buy an estate since I didn’t think I was getting married anytime soon, and I didn’t want a commute into Seattle. I could buy him out twice over. He’s just a partner. It was Colin and I who founded uConnect.”

  “I know all about the trappings of wealth. My family is not only part of the WASP elite on the East Coast, they’re a political family as well,” Drake said. “I grew up on an estate that would make this place look like the guest house.”

  I rolled my eyes and opened the doors with the remote. We both climbed in, me in the driver’s seat and Drake in the passenger’s. This obviously annoyed my lover, who would have rather driven, but it was easier for me to drive since I knew where we were going. Liam and Caitlyn closed the garage door behind us. I didn’t even start breathing normally until we were on surface streets, heading toward the freeway to get back to downtown Seattle from Bellevue.

  “You had me worried there for a minute,” Drake finally said as I entered the highway and kept looking suspiciously in the rearview mirror. “Is that where you were? Talking to Colin?”

  “Yes and no. I was talking to my mother because I was worried about her not showing up. She’s seeing a doctor. He’s trying not to put her on too many drugs, but it doesn’t help when she can get prescriptions from her primary care physician who hands them out like candy. She’s not doing well at all, and that’s with her not knowing what really happened. Perhaps Caitlyn is right and it’s just better to take what we know to the grave. I don’t see how my mom finding out the truth would help her. It’s not going to bring her any closure.”

  Drake placed a hand above mine on the steering wheel. “You’re more nervous about this than I am. When you think about the situation and who we were just dealing with, we got out of it okay, didn’t we?”

  I turned to him for a fraction of a second, then back to the road. “Yeah, we did. Although I am beginning to wonder what kind of women you usually attract if I am considered an anomaly.”

  “You know you aren’t just a regular chick, Deirdre. There is a reason why Colin has tried to hold on to you. He knows he’ll never find another woman like you. Maybe I am just one lucky son of a bitch. You’re the second woman after Gisele I want to hold on to and never let go. It’d kill me if I ever lost you…or if they ever did anything to hurt you.”

  “I’m not made of china, Drake, and I knew what I was getting involved with the first night we made love. Nothing that happens is really all that big of a surprise. The last thing I need is for you to go all soft on me.”

  He grabbed my hand and led it to his groin. “Babe, soft is the last thing I am right now when I look at you in that sexy dress.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “You are incorrigible. I am not sure I could…in my sister’s bed I mean.”

  “We’ll change the sheets. Stop being so goddamn provincial for Christ’s sake,” he remarked in a lust-filled voice.

  I couldn’t deny he had a point. I would hardly say my engine wasn’t revved because it was, and I wanted him as much as he wanted me. There was something about him I found irresistible, and it had started the first day we met. I didn’t think it was fair lust should have turned into love, but in our case that was exactly what happened.

  Colin had been so easy. He was sexy but I wasn’t attracted to him immediately and certainly didn’t want to jump his bones. He was a good-looking guy, similar to Paul Wesley, who I thought was gorgeous, but I didn’t lust after him. Drake was definitely an Ian Somerhalder. There wasn’t a way to describe his sexual magnetism, but you knew if you had him in a room alone, you would definitely find a way to seduce him.

  I felt like my brain was connected straight to the female parts between my legs lately, and this proved a problem because I couldn’t think of anything but sex when I was in Drake’s vicinity.

  We arrived safely to my sister’s condo building. I put in the code to enter the secure underground garage and parked in her spot.

  We both got out, and Drake embraced me from behind, pressing his hard-on against my ass. “So why didn’t you ask her for the keys to the pad?”

  I turned around and faced him. “Because it used to belong to both of us before she bought me out. I have the keys already unless she changed the locks.”

  Drake and I walked inside, took the elevator up to my sister’s floor, and stepped to her door. My key fit perfectly and opened the doors to her condo. That was a relief. I didn’t know what would have happened if she had changed the locks.

  The moment we were inside, I turned on the hallway light while Drake closed the door and locked it securely.

  My heart beat so hard in my chest, I felt like it burned as I turned toward him and he met my gaze. He crossed the space between us with several steps and we kissed hungrily, as if we were both starving to feel each other’s touch.

  He pressed me against the wall, slid my dress up until it was around my waist, and knelt before me. I had on the slimmest of red silk thongs because I didn’t want them to show through the dress and Drake quickly broke the strap. He reached for my throbbing sex, parted me open, and began to tease me with his tongue.

  My whole face lit up with heat and pleasure as he pleased me the way he knew I liked. I slid the leg he held on his shoulder to give him ample access and he suckled my clit. I gasped and could feel the orgasm begin to build from my strained breasts still wrapped in the constricting fabric to the tip of my toes.

  I was so close to the edge, when he suddenly pulled away and stood, I breathed hard and looked at him with intense desire before his lips devoured mine yet again and all I could taste was me and smell my scent on his face. He unzipped his pants, spread my legs, and slid his cock inside me to the hilt, hoisting me around his waist as he continued his assault on my body.

  I wanted to say something but him being inside me was such a joy in itself, the whole act left me helpless and speechless.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to continue this on a bed, like normal adults? Or would you rather we stay here in the hallway and fuck each other like a couple of drunken high school kids?”

  “Bed,” I panted. He walked us through the apartment. “Make a left, and it’s all the way down the hall.”

  Drake followed my directions and we ended up in the guest bedroom, which was slightly smaller than my sister’s but it was clean, and had a comfortable bed with silk sheets and a private bathroom.

  We separated when he set me down on the bed and I instantly felt the emptiness he’d left behind. He took off his clothes quickly, staring at me like a predator watching his prey, and crawled to where I lay on the bed. He unzipped my dress and slipped it off me, pulled off the ruined thong, and undid my shoes before, pushing me further on the bed and spreading my legs again.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and he slammed his manhood into me again. We moved together in a rhythm that was so highly satisfying, I was surprised I didn’t come on the spot. Then again, he took his time, working his way inside me, thrusting in and out like I was well tuned engine.

  It was nice and slow; tortuous and sheer pleasure; agony and ecstasy all rolled into one. He wasn’t ready to come and he wouldn’t allow me to come yet either. I became frustrated. With one orgasm I could go all night. This was complete and utter teasing. It was maddening, yet so very addictive at the same time.

  I rolled us until I was on top and he was on the bottom. He sat up and I gripped my arms tighter around his neck as I rode him like I was in the local rodeo contest. Drake refused to cooperate and I couldn’t control our sex. It turned out he had a few sadistic tendencies after all, because he just laughed and I finally slid off him in frustration.

  “What is up with you?” I pouted, laying on my stomach and refusing to face him. “You’re just one huge tease tonight, aren’t you?”

  “Something like that,
” he said. He lay on top of me, balancing his weight with his strong arms. “What’s your hurry? You act like we have to finish this off by a certain deadline. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make it last.”

  “Can we make it last some other time? My clit is on fire and I just want to get off, Drake, so we can both get some rest and hopefully find out what the hell is going on tomorrow. No muss, no fuss.”

  He kissed my back at the base of my buttocks. “There’s nothing wrong with getting off, but who wants predictable, babe? When we get married and have been doin’ this shit for twenty years, predictable is fine. For the time being, let’s have some fun. I know you care about me and you probably love me in your own way, but I’m in love with you, Deirdre.

  “There is some part of your heart that is locked up tight and you won’t let anyone in…except Colin. The son of a bitch doesn’t even know how lucky he is because he got to possess all of you. I get your body, but I don’t have your heart. Yeah, I know, I’m a guy so romance isn’t supposed to mean shit to me, but that isn’t how it works. I really want all of you, and if I can’t have the whole package then perhaps we shouldn’t continue this. You’ll just end up breaking my heart.”

  Drake removed his weight from my body and lay out on his back.

  I couldn’t stop the tears running down my cheeks. He was right of course; I couldn’t let anyone in because if I did, they might hurt me the same way Colin had and that would devastate me. I hadn’t gotten over Colin’s deception, and like a jackrabbit, I’d gone from one relationship to another.

  Drake and Colin were as different from one another as night and day, and it was my stupidity I hadn’t seen it before. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me the way Colin had. It just wasn’t part of his makeup as a human being. He had experienced that type of heartache and loathed the thought of treating another human being like that, let alone me.

  My life seemed to be nothing but a string of disappointments and heartaches lately. I’d lost my father and Colin, yet both losses were connected and thus could not be separated, and that was what my ex-fiancé failed to comprehend. He and his brother had taken my father away and I, in turn, had taken away the only thing I could control: my fidelity and affection. Those two parts of the equation had been easy, yet love still remained no matter how much I wanted to despise him.

  I had a real dilemma. If Drake and I were going to be together, I would have to shed every part of my past, Colin included. It didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends but I couldn’t expect Drake to accept me being in love with another man. It wasn’t fair to Drake and it wasn’t fair to me or Colin either. He knew I still loved him; and he knew if he worked me over hard enough and stayed around, I would eventually cave.

  Something inside me broke. I sat up and collapsed on top of Drake. “I’m so sorry for all the heartache I put you through. I didn’t want to fall in love with you and I still don’t but…I can’t keep you dangling on a string either. Colin broke my heart and I can’t allow that to happen again. This past year has been too hard for me and to go through it again would be sheer torture. I do want to be with you and I know it’s not fair to ask, but can we take this day by day and see how it goes?

  “I’m not perfect and I won’t always make you happy but I want to give what we have a chance. If you’re willing to try then so am I. Perhaps with time, I will allow that part of my heart to thaw and I can be in love with you instead of him. Please say you are willing to try.”

  “Fuck, Deirdre!” Drake slid his hands over his face and rubbed hard. In the dim light that came through the open curtains, I could see tears on his face. “What else do you expect me to say? Of course I will do whatever it takes to keep you, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “I suppose this gives you permission to take advantage of my body any way you see fit until my heart fully belongs to you,” I added seductively.

  It didn’t take much for him to flip me over, spread my legs, and enter me once again. Despite our emotional outpouring, he hadn’t gone soft and I was still wet with desire.

  Our feelings tumbled over into our lovemaking and he fucked me that much harder and deeper. It was exactly what I needed. As he thrust into me again and again, he drove me to highs I never thought I would ever see and when we came together, it was beautiful, setting us both on fire with lust, need, and love

  Chapter Twenty

  Colin

  “Did you tell them what was going on?”

  Colin faced a scarlet-faced Mikayla in the sitting room of his condo. “No, of course I didn’t. Why would I do that when I want Deirdre back? If you killed the prick, you would be doing both of us a favor.”

  She glared at him. “Don’t lie to me. Why were they suddenly gone from the party?”

  “I think you would know more about that then I would, sweetheart. How great is Drake in bed? She probably took him home so they could get it on.” He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a Beck’s from the fridge.

  Mikayla’s high heels clicked against the hardwood floors. “You’re not a very good liar, you know that? If I wasn’t so impressed by your own bedroom skills, I would kill you myself.” She walked closer until she was pressed against his backside, her fingers working over his still-clothed manhood. “They never went back to the hotel, so where would they be? There are only a few places they could have gone…”

  Colin turned around and faced the horny nympho in front of him, “I don’t know where they could be! They wouldn’t have gone to Liam’s since we live in the same building. I don’t know much about Deirdre’s comings and goings. They wouldn’t be at Drew and Aubrey’s because they were still at the engagement party when we left and they came together. I don’t know what kind of rental they had so I simply can’t help you, sweetheart.”

  She crossed her arms against her ample breasts and stepped back from him. “I have a feeling they went to the mother’s house. She’s a widow living alone and they probably thought they would be safe there. They’re wrong. If Drake doesn’t want to be with me I will make him pay.”

  Colin’s heart began to beat faster in his chest and sweat gathered in the most intimate places of his body. “I don’t understand. Even if they are at her mother’s house, surely you wouldn’t murder innocent people just to get to him? He’s not worth it.”

  “Don’t you think that’s something I should be deciding and not you?” Mikayla turned away from him and all he saw was the back of her white blonde hair, including the part where she added extensions to her own very short hair, ruined by the extensive bleaching it had been subjected to repeatedly over the years.

  “This is Seattle, not East L.A or fuckin’ Compton. You don’t just shoot people up gangsta style when you need to get rid of someone. I highly doubt this hit can’t wait until we are all back in La Jolla. Don’t bring this kind of violence here.”

  She already had her iPhone pressed to her ear, issuing instructions in Ukrainian.

  Colin tried to reach for the phone but she was faster and ran down his hallway still shouting instructions.

  He caught her at the end of the hallway and she laughed. “It’s all done now. The hit-men will go to the mother’s house and murder everyone in there. You really should have told me where she was, Colin, especially since I know she isn’t at her mother’s.”

  The bottle of Beck’s slipped from his fingers and shattered on the hardwood floor. “Why would you send people to her mother’s house if you know she isn’t there? And for Christ’s sake, I don’t know where she is! I swear to God I don’t know where either of them are! Do you think they would have told me?”

  Mikayla slipped a Marlboro Red in her mouth and lit it. “Probably not. But it’s a nice message to send. The Shevchenko family won’t be fucked around with for any reason, and this little bitch you all protect has to learn this lesson for herself.”

  Colin felt the rage build and before he knew it, he grabbed a glass Baccarat sculpture. It was an art-deco piece, shaped like a phallic symbo
l with sharp edges. He swung it at Mikayla’s head. The sound of the object connecting with her skull sounded like it had shattered the bone. He’d done irreversible damage and no doctor would ever be able to put her back together again.

  Mikayla stumbled several feet then fell to the floor. A pool of blood began to form around her head, inadvertently putting out the cigarette she still gripped between her right index and middle fingers.

  His heart thudded in his chest and his whole body was covered with sweat. He set the sculpture down and pulled out his phone to call Liam.

  His brother picked up on the second ring. “What’s up?”

  “You have to call the police and send them out to Deirdre and Caitlyn’s mother’s house. Mikayla called some people and they are on their way over there now to kill her. After you have done that, you have to come here. Alone.”

  Liam said something to Caitlyn in the background and Colin could hear her taking care of the first piece of news.

  “What’s going on, Colin?”

  “Mikayla is dead. In my home. I need your help. She can’t be found, ever, or the Shevchenko family will slaughter us all.”

  “Dear God, what have you done?”

  “Just get your ass here to my house as soon as possible so we can clean this shit up.”

  Colin ended the call and his breath continued to be deep and raspy as if he’d ran a marathon. He’d murdered in cold blood and though he stared at the dead body on his hardwood floor, he couldn’t summon an ounce of sympathy for her. She would have murdered the love of his life and everyone else Deirdre loved just to prove a point. As far as he was concerned, him killing her was just desserts.

  ***

  Liam showed up at Colin’s home, alone as requested. He was also prepared for the job at hand. There were industrial strength garbage bags from the local hospital that were used for biohazard waste, and various other tools for a job of this sort. Not that they had ever done something like this before, but they had watched enough Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorcese films to know how it was done.