Ashes & Embers Series Collection (Books 1 to 4)

by Carian Cole

  Watching her suck me turns me into an animal, because she sucks me like her life depends on it. The way she moves her tongue over my flesh, grips my shaft in her hand, and breathes so deeply, drags me so far into her that I can barely think. With her, it goes way beyond just a blowjob and getting off. She fucking cherishes every inch of me with her mouth and hands, building me up slow and seductively, then taking me deeper and faster into her sweet mouth. The world could explode while she’s blowing me, and I wouldn’t even blink. It doesn’t take long before I’m shooting my load down her throat. She swallows everything I give her then slowly laps my cock like it’s a decadent treat and doesn’t want to waste one drop.

  “There are so many ways I want to fuck you right now,” I say, caressing her cheek. “But since tonight is special, I’m going to just lay you out on that fluffy rug and do you nice and slow.” She blinks up at me like a sleepy kitten. “Would you like that?”

  “Yes,” she breathes. “I would love that tonight.”

  I remove what’s left of her dress and lingerie, and she sprawls out on the white rug for me, waiting for me. Wanting me. Loving me.

  “I like that the only thing you have on is your ring.” I like how it glistens on her finger like a little star.

  “I love it. I love you, Lukas.”

  I lower myself between her legs and slide into my forever.

  CHAPTER 24

  LUKAS

  I’M WOKEN up by my cell phone ringing and vibrating. I turn over and glance at the clock on my nightstand to see it’s one A.M. Grabbing my phone, I look at the screen and see Macy’s name and number flashing across it.

  “Hey, kiddo,” I say.

  “Lukas . . . did I wake you?” she asks, her voice louder than usual.

  “A little bit. What’s wrong? Do you know what time it is?”

  She giggles into the phone. “Um, late?”

  I sit up, shaking the sleep out of my head. “Are you drunk?”

  “Maybe a little?” She giggles some more.

  I run my hand through my hair and rub my eyes. “Where are you? Are you okay?”

  “I’m at a party, and the asshole I came with took off with some bimbo and left me here. I have no ride home.”

  “Shit. Did you call your mom?”

  “We had a fight this morning. She didn’t want me to come to the party, but I came anyway. I can’t call her now, or she’ll freak out, and I can’t call my dad. You know what a jerk he can be.”

  I blow out a frustrated breath. “Fine, I’ll come get you and you can crash here, but your mom stops by in the mornings sometimes so we can have coffee together. She’s going to see you here.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll deal with it then. She won’t yell as much if we’re at your place. Please, just don’t tell her about the drinking part, okay?”

  “Fine, but you’re going to tell her yourself tomorrow. I’m not gonna keep secrets from your mother.”

  “You’re the best! Thank you. Lemme give you the address of where I am.”

  I throw on some clothes and drive half an hour to pick her up at some house in the ghetto. Drunk kids are stumbling all over the front lawn, reminding me of my own party episodes back in the day. Ivy would freak if she knew Macy was hanging out here.

  “Who the hell is this kid that left you here?” I ask her when she gets in the car. “And don’t puke in my ’Vette.”

  “He’s just some asshole.”

  I pull the car back out into the street and head for home. “Macy, you can’t just be running off to parties with guys, and getting drunk. You could get yourself in a lot of trouble. This is a bad neighborhood.”

  She rolls her eyes at me. “Seriously? Are you going to lecture me?”

  I glance over at her and shake my head. “Yes, I am. Don’t do stupid shit.”

  She goes into hysterics. “Don’t do stupid shit,” she repeats. “You would make the best dad, Lukas. Really.”

  “Thanks, kiddo. I’m fucking exhausted. I worked all day, ya know. Next time you need a ride, call me earlier.”

  “Okay.”

  “How much did you have to drink?”

  “A few beers and some shots of Jack Daniels.”

  “Listen to me, Macy. I know you’re going to college soon, and it’s gonna be party central, but I want you to keep your head together, okay? Don’t drink and do drugs. Trust me. I did that shit when I was your age, and it’s only fun for like a week. Then it sucks ass.”

  “Duly noted.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “Okay, okay. My head hurts. Stop talking.”

  “It’ll hurt worse tomorrow.”

  “Oh, joy.”

  When we get to my house, she stumbles directly to Ray’s cage. “Macy, don’t get him started, please,” I say, not in the mood to hear Ray babbling all night. “He knows he’s supposed to be quiet at night.”

  “But I love him!”

  “I’m a pretty bird,” Ray says.

  “Yes, you are! You’re amazing.”

  “I love you.”

  She sways and grabs onto his cage. “I love you, too, Ray. You’d make such a great boyfriend if you weren’t a bird.”

  “You’re so hawt,” Ray squawks back. Jesus Christ. I have to stop fooling around with Ivy downstairs.

  Macy starts to giggle and almost knocks his cage over. “I love this fucking bird,” she says.

  I grab her arm and gently tug her away. “Come on. It’s late. We don’t need to have drunk conversations with the bird.”

  “Whatever,” she snaps, pulling her arm away from me.

  I get her some water and aspirin from the kitchen, and hand them to her when I return to the living room, where she’s staring intently at one of my drawings on the wall. “Drink some water and take this. Are you sure you don’t want to call your mom?”

  “Yes. She’s just gonna yell at me and my head will explode. She thinks I’m staying at Shelly’s.”

  “Come on, then. I’ll set you up in the guest room, and we’ll deal with this tomorrow. It’s almost three A.M. I need to get some sleep, and you should, too.”

  She follows me upstairs to the guest room, babbling, “Oh my God, all these stairs. Why do you have so many stairs?”

  “All the sheets are clean,” I say, ignoring the drunken talk. This is exactly why I never liked dating girls my age or younger. Most of them party and act like idiots, and I have no tolerance for it at all. “Do you need something to sleep in?”

  She looks around the room. “Your house is amazing. Look at the size of that bed. I want to live here.”

  “Yeah, I’m working on that with your mom. I want us all to live here, but she doesn’t think it’s a good place for your brother to grow up.”

  “Mom is so lame sometimes. This would be a great place to grow up. You have tons of cool stuff.”

  “Thanks,” I reply absently. “You didn’t answer me. Do you need something to sleep in?”

  She looks down at the skinny jeans and blouse she’s wearing. “Yeah, that would be great if you have something. All I have is what I’m wearing.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I find her a t-shirt and a pair of sweat shorts to sleep in from my room. “Here ya go,” I say, walking back into the guest room, just as she comes out of the adjoining bathroom wearing nothing but her bra and panties.

  “Whoa!” I say, putting my hands up and looking away. “Where are your clothes?”

  She strolls up to me and touches my chest. “I don’t think I need them.”

  “What the hell? What’s going on?” I take a step away from her, still not looking at her.

  She rubs her hand across my chest. “What do you want to go on, Lukas?”

  I grab her hand and glare into her eyes. “Stop it. Why are you acting like this? Did you take something?” I push the clothes against her chest and scan the room for any pill bottles. “Put these on, please. Stop playing games.”

  She takes a step back and turns aroun
d slowly in front of me, showing off the black push-up bra and thong she’s wearing. “Don’t you like me?”

  I quickly avert my eyes to the floor. “Get dressed. Now. Of course I like you. You’re like family to me. You know that. But I don’t like you like this at all.”

  I wonder if she really did sneak some pills to be making her act like this, because she’s never behaved like this before with me, not since the day I fixed the shed and she blatantly flirted with me before she knew who I was. Since then, she’s always treated me as her mom’s boyfriend, coming to me for help or advice, and I’ve always considered her as my future stepdaughter. I’ve never once thought of her in any other way, especially sexually.

  She puts her hands on my chest again, goes on her tiptoes, and presses her lips against mine, before I have a chance to back away from her again. “We could be together, you know. We’re closer in age than you and my mother are.”

  “Macy, don’t even go there. What the hell is wrong with you? I love your mother.”

  She slides her hand down and squeezes my cock. “Well, maybe you could love me, too.”

  I grab her hands and hold them tightly away from me. “Do not touch me. Ever.” I hiss at her. “You’re drunk.”

  “And you’re hot. Come on, Lukas, have some fun.” She giggles, trying to lean her body against mine.

  I push her away from me, disgusted. “Go to bed. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you, but you better stop. I don’t think of you that way and I never will.”

  I want to catch her as she stumbles to the floor but I keep my distance from her.

  “You’re a fucking rock star. Don’t tell me you don’t want to nail everything in sight, including me.”

  My hands clench at my sides. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Go to bed.”

  I storm out of the room and go to my own, closing and locking the door behind me. What the fuck was that about? I sit on the bed, feeling sick to my stomach. I would never touch her. I love Ivy more than anything and would never cheat on her, especially with her own daughter. The thought of it makes me sick. I have no idea why she’s suddenly acting mental.

  I should call Ivy right now and tell her Macy is here and how she’s acting, so she can come get her, but then she’ll get all upset and race over here. She’ll have to wake up Tommy and bring him with her, and it will be total chaos. I don’t want to do that to her at three-thirty in the morning.

  Stretching out on my bed, I resign myself to the fact that I’m not going to be able to get much sleep, knowing my fiancée’s daughter is down the hall and just fucking manhandled me like a stripper trying to get an extra twenty bucks. Nothing good is going to come of this. I can feel it.

  CHAPTER 25

  IVY

  I DROP Tommy off at my parents’ house early Sunday morning, because they want to take him to a matinee and dinner. On the way back home, I decide to bring Lukas our favorite lattes and bagels. More and more, I am leaning toward the idea of moving in with him. We haven’t set a date for the wedding yet, but we both want it to happen within the next year, so we’re going to have to figure out living arrangements soon.

  When he answers the door, he looks surprised and disheveled, wearing old faded jeans and nothing else.

  “Hey! You’re earlier than you usually are.” He lets me in and gives me a quick kiss.

  “You look exhausted,” I say, concerned. “Do you feel okay?”

  He runs his hands through his hair and glances toward the stairs. “Yeah, I just have a bad headache. I’m not really awake yet.”

  Handing him his latte, I go to the kitchen and get him some aspirin.

  “Thanks, love,” he says when I return, swallowing the two pills I hand him. “I didn’t get much sleep. We need to talk.”

  Other than during the time of Vandal’s accident, I’ve never seen Lukas look so out of sorts and distraught.

  “Can I do anything for you?” I ask him, feeling his head for a fever, the mom in me coming out again. I try not to baby him, but sometimes, I can’t stop myself.

  Grabbing my hand, he smiles and kisses it. “No, I’m fine. I just feel bad that you stopped by and I feel like crap.”

  “You’re allowed to have bad days. I just wanted to see you. My parents called last night and asked if I’d bring Tommy by for the day, so now I have the entire day free. You could go back to bed. I’ll lie next to you and read until you feel better.”

  “Whatever,” Ray squawks from his corner, in what sounds like my daughter’s voice.

  I laugh. “Wow, is he mimicking Macy? That’s her trademark word.”

  Lukas looks uneasily at the bird. “Yeah, maybe. He may have heard it on the TV.”

  We move into the living room and sit on the couch, and he looks positively green, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask him, worried.

  “I’m fine, baby. It’s just a migraine. I had a bad night.”

  “I didn’t get much sleep myself. I still haven’t heard from Macy after our fight last night,” I say, sipping my coffee. “She stayed at Shelly’s house and didn’t even text or call me. She knows how much that upsets me, to not hear from her. I worried all night.”

  “She’ll be okay. It’s just growing pains. You know, trying to be an adult when she’s still a kid.”

  “I know. I just hate fighting with her, and I don’t like her going to parties and drinking.”

  “We’ll have a talk with her when she calms down, but I have to talk you about—”

  Movement from the top of the stairs catches my eye, and I have to do a double take. My daughter is standing there with nothing but a towel on, her hair and makeup a mess, and she came from the direction of Lukas’ bedroom.

  “Mom, what are you doing here?”

  I’m too stunned to speak. I jump up, spilling my coffee, and look from him to her. He stands quickly, his eyes wild with panic.

  “Ivy, this isn’t what it looks like. This is what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Macy stands at the top of the stairs, glaring down at me. “I still have nothing to say to you,” she says to me angrily, then turns to Lukas. “Are you coming back up?”

  Bile rises up to my mouth, and I choke it back before I vomit all over his living room floor. “What the hell is going on here?” I demand, my voice cracking.

  He grabs my shoulders. “Ivy, I swear I didn’t touch her. She was drunk—”

  “Why is she here? Did she sleep here? With you?” My brain starts to derail as everything Paul did to me comes crashing back into my mind and my heart. It’s happening again.

  “Ivy, no. She called me in the middle of the night from a party. She didn’t have a ride, so I went to get her and brought her here so we wouldn’t have to get you upset.”

  “Why the hell is she naked and in your room?” I practically shriek.

  He glares up at her, still standing at the top of the stairs. “I don’t know! She slept in the guest room. I don’t know what the fuck she’s doing. She’s been acting crazy since I picked her up.”

  I look up at my daughter, who’s smirking at us. “Is that true, Macy?”

  She shrugs. “Yeah, he picked me up, but then some stuff happened.”

  Oh my God. My head is spinning and my stomach is turning. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. I look at Lukas, shirtless and exhausted looking, his hair a mess, with a smudge of lipstick at the corner of his lips. My heart pounds harder and faster in my chest as I stare up at my daughter, holding a towel against her. They definitely look like they’ve been up all night doing God knows what. I can’t believe I was this stupid, to trust someone like him.

  “You’re disgusting,” I seethe at him. “How could you do something like this with my daughter? You have lipstick on your face.”

  His hand flies up and touches his mouth. “She tried to kiss me. I pushed her away from me. I swear, Ivy, I didn’t touch her.”

  Disgu
sted, I head for the door, and he slams into me from behind, spinning me around.

  “Look at me, Ivy. Look into my eyes, and you’ll see I’m telling you the truth. You know I would never do something like that. Are you crazy? I love you.”

  I sob and shake my head. “I am looking at you. You’re a mess this morning. You look like you’ve been going at it all night, and I know what that looks like very well.”

  “Ivy, please.” He holds my arms, his fingers digging into me. “I would never do something like that. Fucking ever. I’m just tired. She woke me up in the middle of the night. I had to drive a fucking hour back and forth to get her. I put her in the guest room, but she was drunk and acting crazy, coming on to me. I think she may have taken something, or maybe someone slipped her something. She wasn’t acting herself at all, and she still isn’t. I pushed her away and locked myself in my bedroom. I didn’t touch her.”

  “She came on to you?” I repeat incredulously. “For God’s sake, Lukas, she’s just a kid, and she looks up to you. She would never do something like that.”

  His eyes are wild, tears forming in the corners of his bloodshot eyes. “Ivy, I swear to you, I’m telling the truth. You know me. You know I could never do that to you, or her, or our family. What we have is everything to me.”

  I slam my hands into his chest and push him away. “I have to get out of here. I’m going to be sick. I can’t look at either one of you.”

  I rip the diamond ring off my finger and hurl it at him. It bounces off his bare chest, and he watches it skid across the floor, stunned.

  “No. Please, don’t do that.” He grabs the ring off the floor and comes back after me. “Please, put this back on. Don’t do this to us. Please,” he pleads.

  I shake my head in total confusion, my insides trembling uncontrollably. I just want to get away from him as fast as I can. This is just like Paul, only this time, I actually caught him. With my daughter.