“I suppose we aren’t the best pair at this are we? We’re both so afraid to commit, for our own reasons that I suppose you did think that was the only option.” She moved on the bed, gesturing for him to come and sit next to her.
“I’m not saying it was okay to lie to me, Liam, that had better be the last one you ever tell me, but I can see why you would. Especially if you love me. Do you really?” She asked, hoping this wasn’t another lie.
“Yes, I do darling. Ask anyone that knows me. The simple fact that I’m living here has everyone at the station bowled over. I’ve never really had a relationship, never a long-term commitment. Staying overnight is the longest I’ve ever lived with a woman. This is so very new to me and I’m so lost. I’ve found you, lost my sight, regained it, and I’ve been terrified I was going to lose you. It’s been so confusing for me.” Liam said and took her hand, watching her lovely green eyes move around in confusion, as if she was trying desperately to find his face to look for sincerity. His heart broke for her in that moment and he swore he’d never again lie to her. Liam never wanted to see that look on her face ever again.
“Right. But you can see again, you don’t need me anymore.” She said, giving him an out if he wanted it.
“I will always need you, Ivy. You are my heart now, my everything, and without you I might as well lose the ability to see again because my world will be meaningless. I need you to make me whole whether I can see or not because you are the other part of me. You know my fears, my secrets, my hopes and dreams. You understand me and I hope you love me.”
“I, well, Liam, I do. I, oh my I never imagined it was this hard! I do love you.” She said finally, the words pulled out of the depths of her soul. She’d hidden that emotion away when she lost her sight, locked it away as a defence. She couldn’t get by in her world with vulnerability and love was vulnerability. It was a weak emotion but Liam had shown her there was a strength that came with love, a companionship and a partnership that she hadn’t realized existed. She drew strength from him and she returned it. Perhaps that really was love, perhaps that’s what had been missing from her life, even more than her sight, someone to lean on and someone to lean on her.
Ivy reached her hand out to him, needing to touch him. The sudden realization that she could have sent him away and that she could have destroyed what they had by refusing to listen to him made her heart ache and the wall that had gone up around her heart melted instantly. Liam took her hand and pulled her to him, drying the tears that had suddenly come to her eyes.
Together they removed their clothes, desperate to be skin to skin, to find that link that made them whole in a far more than sexual way. This wasn’t just sex it was the sharing of souls and they both craved it. Ivy realized that’s why they were so good together, why the sex was so different. They’d reached for each other in the inescapable darkness and found a light that neither could see, a fire that grew between them, and fed their souls.
Ivy reached desperately for Liam’s body, hungry for the taste of him and Liam responded by slipping his mouth over hers, his tongue twining with hers. He realized she was still crying but knew it was an emotion that she couldn’t control. She’d locked herself away from the world while fighting to be a part of it, she was overwhelmed now with just how much she felt for him and though he regretted her tears he rejoiced in knowing she returned his feelings.
Ivy clung to him, his naked skin solace, his seeking tongue a lifeline. She craved his lips on her breasts and they were there, she longed for his fingers to fill her and they were there, she needed his scent to encapsulate her and there it was, filling her nostrils with the smell of the man she loved desperately. Ivy gave herself up to the depths of her passion, her desperation for Liam and fed his own needs with her hands, with her body. She writhed beneath him, needing more and more with each moment, each wave of passion overwhelming her, demanding more from him, demanding she give him more.
As he stroked her passion into stronger flames that threatened to consume her she exploded, his fingers delicately stroking her over the edge as she let out an agonized moan of release. But he wouldn’t let her stop and replaced his fingers with her tongue, stroking the oversensitive nub until she wanted to scream but again Liam drove her over the edge, a sensation of colours filling the vision she did not have. She gasped, the sparkling colours real to her in that moment, even if they weren’t, and she fought to stay in the realm where she could see something, if even for a moment, but then lost the battle and had to let go to Liam’s will.
Liam still wasn’t ready to let her go, however, he wanted more of her moans, more of the gasps he’d become addicted to when they were his anchor in the darkness, and he drove his cock into her pliant body, driving his hips into her body again and again as her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him deeper into her liquid heat. The grasping glove of her silken muscles spurred him on, and he felt her urgency as her nails raked his back, as she begged for more from him, until he exploded into her. He felt as though his soul was pouring into her, not just his seed, and knew he was exactly where he needed to be. Ivy was his home and as long as he had her it truly didn’t matter whether he could see or not because she was his light, his vision, and all he truly wanted now was her.
“You are my home, Ivy, you are what makes me real. I far more than love you, I need you. Nothing in this world can replace you and if I had to give up my vision to see you then that’s what I’d do.” Liam whispered against her sweat dampened hair, still joined to her body.
“Well, I have to say, Liam, it’s good one of us can see. I have a feeling we’re going to need to see test results if we keep doing this.” She laughed.
“What do you mean?” He asked, not sure what she meant.
“We haven’t used protection, my love, what usually happens when people don’t?” She asked, the idea pleasing her.
“Oh. Oh wow. Do you think so? Would that be alright with you? Do you want children?” He asked, worried she might not.
“I didn’t used to want them but they’d be part of us, wouldn’t they? We’ll find out tomorrow, darling. Never fear. Now, I want to show you how much I love you again, are you up for it?” She asked, teasing him by squeezing him intimately.
Liam gasped, blood flowing directly to the hard flesh she was now, somehow, stroking from inside of her body. “I don’t know how you’re doing that but don’t stop, it’s glorious!”
Ivy hushed him by pulling his mouth down to hers, her world complete and happy now. She’d been so happy when she accepted that award for her book, so certain that she couldn’t feel any more complete. She knew better now. Nothing quite compared to having the man you loved in your bed, in your heart, and in your life. Ivy was now truly complete, part of a whole, and though some might say she should have been happy with what she already had she was greedy enough for Liam to not care what anybody thought.
The End
His Temptation
Romantic Suspense
About the Book
When petite and pretty Julie Dumbarton flees the big city fearing for her life, she wants only one thing: to escape the mistakes of her past. But instead of escape, she discovers she was followed to her home town by Martin Richter, the man who beat and abused her. Now, her family is at risk as well. Julie is afraid she’ll never be able be free of Martin’s cruelty. When ex-boyfriend, Axel steps up to keep her safe, she vow’s she’ll never fall into a criminal life again, even if it means giving up Axel forever.
Tough and dominating Axel Kehoe, entrenched in the life as a gang leader, wants nothing more than to squash the man who is tormenting Julie, his one and only love. His plan: get rid of Martin and get Julie back into his bed. But is he willing to give up everything he knows to win back Julie’s love?
Chapter One
Julie Dumbarton sat in the very last seat of the Greyhound Bus. She didn’t like sitting next to the chemical smelling toilet stall, but she needed the security of knowing no one was sitting behind h
er. She was impatient for the bus to depart, afraid that if they sat there too long the man that was hunting her would find her. She looked out of the window into the night but all she could see was her own reflection, her red hair creeping out from under her hat, blue eyes rimmed with dark circles from lack of sleep. Even her cheekbones seemed sharper than when she had left home months ago.
She thought back to the time before the city, when she’d stupidly driven the getaway car for her boyfriend Axel. She hadn’t known he was going to rob a bank, but that wouldn’t matter to the cops. The prosecutor would surely point out that she had known Axel was up to no good. She’d left him after that. Left him and moved to the city for a fresh start.
What a joke that had been; she’d had no marketable skills and couldn’t find a job. She should have known when the lovely Martin Richter had taken her in, that he was a con man. An unprincipled pimp. She’d actually thought he was in love with her until he had given her to another man. After that she’d stolen from his wallet time and time again, until she had the bus fare home. But he’d found her stash and given her a black eye so in the end she had to call her parents for a bus ticket home.
She’d spent the evening pretending to drink with Martin, refilling his glass time after time until he finally passed out on the couch. Then she’d snuck past the other rooms and down and out into the street, running barefoot to the bus station, her feet silent on the warm pavement, so the men wouldn’t hear her footfalls.
“I need to pick up my ticket,” she’d said panting with exertion and nerves at the ticket window.
“What?” asked the clerk behind the counter. “Say again.”
“I have a ticket here,” Julie spoke slower, tried to regulate her breathing.
“You must pay for ticket,” the clerk said.
“No,” Julie was starting to panic, she wasn’t sure how much time she had before the bus left. “My parents paid for the ticket, I just need to pick it up.”
The clerk had finally understood, found the ticket and handed it to Julie, after she’d produced her ID. Then she’d padded quietly onto the bus, still holding her shoes.
Shouting broke out in the station just as the bus engine roared to life and Julie slid down in her seat hoping to slip unnoticed out of Martin Richter’s life. He didn’t know where she was from and with a little luck he would never know where she had gone.
Julie woke when the bus pulled into her home town terminal. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, it wasn’t safe. The movement of the bus had lulled her and she’d slept deeply the last five hours of the trip. She rubbed her eyes and looked out into the familiar downtown. Her parents were standing on the sidewalk beside the bus; arms folded not talking to each other. There was nothing new about that, they hadn’t had a proper conversation in the last 10 years as far as Julie knew.
She grabbed her backpack and climbed down out of the bus. Her mother burst into tears and threw her arms around Julie.
“I’m okay mom,” Julie said into her shoulder. “I’m fine.” It wasn’t true of course but she would never tell her mother what she’d been through. Looking over her mother’s shoulder she thought she saw someone standing in the shadows on the other side of the street, but she couldn’t get a good look. Still, the figure reminded her of Axel and she realized she’d still have to be careful. She’d put that life behind her and that’s where she wanted it to stay.
“Why thank goodness,” her father said. “You’re safe. Let’s take you home.” He took her backpack and walked away.
“Mom. Mom!” Julie pulled away from her mother’s embrace. “Come on mom, dad already left.”
They followed her dad to the car and drove silently through the town toward their home. Once home, Julie made excuses to her parents and retreated to the sanctuary of her bedroom; the one place in the world she felt safe. She grabbed a towel from the linen closet and got gratefully into the shower. She let the water run and run, rinsing away the grime of the city life, the humiliation, the abuse. When the water ran cold she got out of the shower, returned to the privacy of her room and rummaged in her drawers for close she hadn’t worn in months.
When she pulled on her favorite jeans she discovered they were too big for her now. She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing for the first time that her hip bones jetted sharply and her lower ribs were visible. There had been no mirrors in the house in the city and she had no clue how emaciated she’d become. She dug around in a drawer for a belt and cinched her jeans tight on her hips. So she was thin, she thought, so what? All she had to do was eat ice cream every day for a week. She should get back to normal, at least normal looking. She might never feel like the same person again.
The jeans looked silly bunched around her waist, so she slipped into a dress instead. It was a flowy sleeveless shift with a scoop neck that dropped to just above her knees. Comfortable and homey. This dress was full of happy memories.
It was when she went to flop down on her bed that she noticed the envelope on her pillow. She smiled thinking one of her friends must be welcoming her home. She stuck her finger under the envelope flap and tore it open, pulling out not a card, but a single sheet of lined paper, the kind they use in elementary school. There were five words printed on it. You - will - never - be - free. A cold chill ran down her back.
Julie dug through her drawers for a clean pair of socks and grabbed her sneakers out of the closet. She dumped her backpack on the bed shaking out all the bits of detritus she collected in the corners during her stay in the city. Then she stuffed a change of clothes and a sweatshirt into the bag, dropped to her hands and knees beside the bed and felt for the slit she’d cut in the bottom of the box spring for the money she’d stashed there months ago.
Her fingers found the edges of the envelope and she slid it from the mattress, but when she opened it there was no money there. She dropped her head to the floor in despair. Who had taken her money? Well it didn’t matter she was just going to have to survive without it. She went to the window opened the lower sash and slid out onto the back porch roof. She inched down the metal as quietly as she could, rolled over onto her stomach and slid her legs out into the air until her hips could bend. As her legs dropped, she kicked around feeling with her toes for a gap in the lattice. When she found it she crept slowly down as quietly as she could and dropped into the bushes at the back of the house. The backyard was dark, but luckily she knew where everything was. Nothing had changed in the weeks she had been away.
She stepped out between the bushes and sat on the back door step to put her shoes on. The house was dark and she knew her parents were sleeping. She made her way quietly past the garage at the back of the yard, out through the gate and into the back alley. There she took a quick look to see that no one was skulking in the alley and she turned right and trotted toward town.
She walked through the small downtown and along the river until she reached the bridge. There she sat on the parapet watching the river flow and wondered what she should do. There were one or two people that might be willing to help her, but there were no guarantees. She’d left town without a word to her friends, hadn’t contacted them while she was away and couldn’t expect them to understand why she left.
She would not go back to Axel. She would not get dragged back into that life. People who ran with Axel’s gang didn’t survive long, and there were plenty of freshly seeded mounds in the graveyard that could attest to that.
Julie ducked down as a car approached the bridge hiding in the shadows. Her parents wouldn’t be looking for her yet, they wouldn’t even be awake, but the problem with living in a small town was that nothing stayed secret for long. If someone saw her sitting on the bridge her parents would be woken to a phone call telling them all about it. Julie had to remain unseen.
She slid down off the bridge onto the bank of the river and walked south. If she made it down to the marina she might be able to break into one of the boat houses the summer people kept there. Last summer Axel had shown her which b
oathouses had easy locks to pick, and which ones were hardly ever locked at all.
The sky began to fade and brighten as she approached the marina, but it was still very early. There was no one on the docks. She hurried down the farthest jetty and chose a house in a slip between two others where her movement might go unnoticed. She’d been here before, unlike last time the porch window slid easily open and she slipped inside.
She wondered if the people who owned the house boat even remembered it was theirs. No one had visited it in her memory and it was exactly the same as last time she’d been there. There were two cokes and a bottle of water in the fridge. She grabbed the water reasoning it could be refilled so it wasn’t really stealing. She made her way upstairs and out onto the roof deck, grabbing a wall blanket from the linen closet on the way. She curled into one of the reclining deck chairs, pulled the blanket over her swig to the water and then let herself drift into sleep.
Chapter Two
Axel Kehoe watched with amusement as Julie inched her way down the back porch roof. She’d been sneaking out of the house that way since she’d been twelve or thirteen. She didn’t seem to realize that once she was over the age of majority, her parents couldn’t stop her from leaving the house when she wanted to. Even in the dim light from the streetlamp, Axel could see that Julie was a good 50 pounds lighter than when she left town. He’d heard rumors of what she’d been through and it worried him. He should have never dragged her into that job and he had regretted it ever sense.
Axel was a big man in his late twenties. Second in command to Eduardo Calzone, he knew that he must look bigger, harder, and badder than any of the other gang members if he didn’t want to be challenged on a weekly basis. So he had trained, and continued to train. His hard work paid off; Axel was known as the baddest of the bad in three states. Now he used his training to follow Julie as silently and lethally as a big cat. Not many would be able to see him in the shadows, and those who did would know to stay away.
ROMANCE: SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE: Dragon Baller's Bride (Dragon Shifter Alpha Male Romance) (Paranormal Romantic Suspense) Page 57