Bound in Ashes

by Milly Taiden

  He took the sheet of paper with trepidation and anticipation. He'd refused to research her just to know what she looked because looks really didn't matter to him. There was no photo on the paper though. He glanced up at Morgan. “I thought you said you wanted to see what she looked like?”

  She grinned sheepishly. “I did. I satisfied my curiosity. Now all I can say is she seems like a really nice girl. Don't fuck things up with your lack of patience.”

  He barked a laugh and shook his head. “You're something else.”

  Another glance at the paper and he saw Tiana's home address. Her work details. College education and even her GPA. He tossed it on his desk. That didn't tell him anything about the real Tiana. The woman who spoke to him about helping her school. Or volunteering at a homeless shelter. That paper said nothing of her soft voice or how whimsically she spoke about doing artwork with her students. That's the Tiana he was interested in finding more about.

  “What else do you know about her?”

  He thought back to all the conversations, texts, and emails he'd had with the sweet teacher. “She's very giving. Like you guys. She's always looking to help anyone she can. She does a lot of volunteer work.”

  “She's a teacher. Her file says she's only twenty-six. She's young.”

  “Compared to me?” He chuckled. “I am hundreds of years older than her. At this point, I don't think comparing would help me.”

  “No, silly,” Morgan snickered. “I mean just young in general. But from what you say, she sounds so grounded.”

  “She is. She is caring and nice. She doesn't have much family from what I gathered or doesn't talk to her family much, but she is always doing something to help someone. She loves to walk in the local park. And even though she sucks at cooking, she keeps trying.”

  Morgan gave him a soft smile. “Sounds like you know a lot more about her than we realized.”

  “Not enough. I want to know everything.”

  Morgan nodded, her gaze piercing him. “And you don't care what she looks like?”

  He shrugged. “No. Have you ever spoken to someone and felt like they were going to be important to you somehow?”

  A wide smile broke over Morgan's lips. “Yes. Is that how you're feeling?”

  He nodded. “I don't know what it is about her, but I know she's special. I can tell.”

  “Then all I can say is stay the course, Ker. I love you. I want to see you happy. If she's not your mate, though…”

  “I don't care,” he interrupted. “If talking to her has made me feel more than any other woman has in my existence, that means something. I am willing to see how much more she can make me feel.”

  Morgan opened the door. “Good luck. Let me know if you need my help at any point.”

  “Thanks, Morgan. I will just call her and let her know I'm here for her. That she's not alone.”

  Morgan sighed. “Good. You do that. I'm going to take a nap.”

  FIVE

  Tiana couldn't believe her eyes. She expected some little shack in the woods. What she got was a beautiful log cabin home. This wasn't some cheap model home copy. This was a gorgeous, unique cabin she couldn't take her eyes off.

  “Holy shit,” she whispered. She'd known Ker had money. He was a Drachen. That was another reason she was wary of getting too comfortable talking to him about her personal business. She didn't need him to rescue her with all his money. She was fine.

  The cabin was amazing. She jumped out of her jeep and rushed to the front door.

  There was another car parked outside. Must be that caretaker Ker told her about.

  Ker. Ugh. She had some serious mental problems when it came to him. She didn't even know him that well and he was making butterflies in her belly.

  How would he kiss? Would he be harsh and demanding or would he be careful and gentle? Great, that's exactly what she didn't need to think about. Ker and his kisses. He was not a typical guy. She knew that. He was a bazillionaire who could probably buy the entire state. She didn't like rich guys. They tended to think they owned people. People and things.

  A middle-aged couple came out of the cabin just as she was going up the porch steps.

  “Hi!” she said to them, glad they were smiling widely and waving at her.

  “Hello, I'm Jason and this is my wife Ava. We're the caretakers. We were just stocking up the place and making sure it's clean for you,” Jason said.

  “I'm Tiana. Thank you both so much. I know it's last minute and I really do appreciate it.”

  Ava shook her head and waved a hand of dismissal. “Nonsense. Ker is a great guy. When he told us you were a good friend and needed things urgently, we got our asses moving.”

  “Oh, I'm sorry. Did it take you both out of your way?”

  Jason chuckled and Ava giggled.

  Jason wrapped an arm around Ava and squeezed her. “We work for Ker full time. All we do is take care of this cabin. Trust me, you did not take us out of our way. We come here every other day and clean and check on things. He won't let us do too much, but we sneak in here and do extra work every once in a while.”

  “Besides, with as much as he pays us, we feel like we need to make sure we do the work. Not that he is pushy or anything, but for our own peace of mind.”

  “Have you two been married long?” The question left Tiana's lips and she winced. Damn, that was nosy. For all she knew, they weren't married to each other and having some kind of torrid affair. She so needed to stop watching Cheaters.

  Ava leaned into his body. It was one of the sweetest moments. “Thirty years. We were high school sweethearts.”

  Tiana gasped. “Really?”

  Jason nodded and kissed the top of Ava's head. “That's right. All it took was one look and I knew this beauty was mine for life.”

  “One look, huh?” Ava grinned up at her husband. “We didn't meet until we were practically engaged.”

  “What?” Tiana was a lot more interested in their story than even she wanted to admit. How was that possible?

  “Jason was in the military. He was in the same unit as my cousin.”

  Jason cleared his throat. “She used to write letters and send packages to her cousin, Bill, so one day, I wrote her a letter asking for just a letter or two to keep me going.” His voice got serious. “It was a rough time in those days. My family had been against my going to the service, so they refused to support me.”

  “So, I started writing him. Just notes at first. Encouraging stuff, you know? To cheer him up. After all, he was battling for our country. For me and my family.”

  Tiana nodded, her chest tight with emotion for Jason. She couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for him to be at war and have no one giving him any support.

  “Then she started sending me stuff. Candy, cookies, sexy lingerie,” Jason waggled his brows.

  “Jason!” Ava gasped, slapping him in the chest. She shook her head vehemently and gave Tiana a horror-filled look. “I never sent lingerie. Sexy or otherwise.”

  “Lingerie aside,” Jason grinned. “She took really good care of connecting with me. In those letters, we told each other things we didn't tell anyone else. Her cousin asked me if I wanted to see what she looked like. That I could ask her for a photo, but I said no. I'd fallen for the woman in the letters. I didn't care what she looked like.”

  Tiana placed a hand on her chest and sighed. “Wow. You two need to write a book.”

  “No way. We're good the way we are. Anyway, now that we've bored you with our life story, there is a landline inside. There's solar electricity and hot water. And I don't know how he did it, but Ker has cable and internet as well. I tell you, this is the most futuristic cabin I've seen.”

  “Our numbers are on the fridge and so is Ker's. If you have anything you need, just call us. We're only ten minutes away.”

  Jason handed her a set of keys. “It's usually pretty safe around here, but don't leave the doors unlocked if you go out. Even if it's for a walk.”

 
She nodded. The last thing she'd do was leave doors unlocked. She wasn't inviting danger into the cabin. “Thank you very much.”

  “I'll get your bag from your car,” Jason offered, leaving as he spoke and not giving her a chance to stop him.

  “Don't bother,” Ava said. “He's a gentleman, my Jason. Let him bring your bag in. I left you dinner in the oven. It's still warm. There's a banana cream pie in the fridge along with everything I could think to get. It might be too much food, but just eat whatever you want. Don't feel bad about not liking something. Everything is in packaging and ready to be heated. It's enough for two,” Ava said and gave her a look. “In case you have company.”

  Tiana chose not to answer the implication. “Thank you.”

  Once Jason carried her bag inside, she watched them leave.

  They got into their pickup truck and were gone. She went into the cabin, made sure to lock the door and stared awestruck at the palace she'd been allowed to stay in for free for the next week. Holy shit.

  It was every person's dream when you thought of a cabin in the woods. And not the scary movie version Shae would probably expect. Speaking of Shae.

  She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her friend.

  “I made it and I'm alive,” she joked.

  “And Ker wasn't waiting for you naked inside with chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of Crystal?”

  “Um, no. And if he were, I might freak out. That's not the best way to meet a woman.”

  Shae snorted. “Girl, please. Speak foh yo'self.”

  “Your Bronx is showing,” she laughed.

  “I never claimed to be from anywhere but the Boogie Down. Now, tell me about this cabin. Is it nice? Is it a tiny shack falling apart that could have come from the movie Mama? Do you think it's haunted?”

  “God, no!” At least, she hoped not. A cold chill swept over her. Man, she really hoped not.

  “So?”

  “It's huge. A mansion in the woods is a more apt description. I feel kind of strange being here. What if I dirty something?”

  “Clean it. Duh. Seriously, Tiana. You needed this break.” Shae cleared her throat. “Speaking of breaks. I spoke to the detective in charge of your break-in, James Randall. He says the worst appeared to be your kitchen with all that blood.”

  She sat on one of the sofas that were clearly made for the cabin. The wood matched that of the walls. “When I packed, I noticed the bedroom was a mess, but I tried not to focus on it.”

  “They can't figure out what the blood is about. But he thinks the break-in might have been two people and that maybe they had a fight while they were there. Someone got hurt and they both fled before you got home.”

  “Does he think it was Oliver still?”

  “He said he was going to check on Oliver and his whereabouts and that he would get back to me and you and let us know what he found. He said Oliver would need a solid alibi before they could move on to trying to figure out who else it could be.”

  “What about the blood? Isn't that a clue?”

  “He said that it would be a while before their lab could analyze and see if it was anyone in their system.”

  “It was so much blood. Like someone just opened their veins and left it all on my kitchen floor.”

  “I know, babe. It's weird as hell. But don't worry about this. Nobody knows you're at the cabin. So you just relax and rest and take a bubble bath and watch TV. Do something for you for once in your life.”

  “All right, all right. Stop badgering me,” she joked. “I will take that bubble bath in your name.”

  “Good. Now go and have fun. I gotta deal with this man child trying to tell me that I promised him a back rub the last time he gave me oral. A back rub. He ain't never given me oral good enough for those kind of promises. Anyway, I'll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Tiana laughed at Shae's words and hung up. Suddenly, being away from home and the break in was not so bad. Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Ker. He told her his room was at the top of the stairs to the left and she could have any of the others.

  Curiosity grew inside her. She wondered what his room looked like. She carried her bag up the stairs and opened the door she assumed was his room.

  Good god. The man had impeccable taste. His room was amazing. Like being in a ski lodge. There was a distinct scent of forest in the room. An outdoorsy clean air smell. But beneath it, she could smell something else. She knew that was Ker she scented. How? She didn't know.

  She walked over to his chest of drawers and opened one. His T-shirts were folded neatly in the drawer. She pulled one out, taking note of the large size and brought it to her nose. Ker. It smelled fresh, woodsy, with a hint of something she couldn't put her finger on. It was the best thing she'd ever smelled.

  She glanced around the bedroom and smiled. This would make a nice room for her to stay in. Not like he was coming over while she was there.

  God, she had problems. Was she really thinking of staying in the one room he told her was off-limits? Not that he'd said off-limits, just that it was his room.

  Fuck!

  Shit!

  Fuck!

  Ah, what the hell. She dumped her bag next to what appeared to be bigger than a king-size bed and sighed. Ker was a big guy. From the couple of articles she'd seen, he had a big body with lots of muscles and a clean shaven look. Though grainy, the photos made him look young. The idea of this big man in the same bed with her didn't scare her. It should have. It excited her.

  She was a virgin.

  SIX

  God. She hated remembering she was a virgin. She’d had none, zero, experience in the sex department and had never worried about learning too much when it came to that. Yet now, she couldn’t stop thinking of sex with Ker. Ker.

  A man she’d never met in person. It was insane. And that's how she knew she needed to get her mind out of the gutter finally. Maybe staying in his room wasn't a good idea. No, no it was not, but she was going to do it anyway. Fuck the rules.

  After a quick shower, she went to check the other rooms in the cabin. There were four bedrooms, not counting Ker's. She found some great family photos through the hallways. Him and his brothers and some of some adorable babies. Seeing the children had reminded her of what she didn't have. A family.

  There was no other way to look at it. Though, she was still young, she'd yearned for a husband, children, a home. It was years since she'd started feeling the urge grow within her. Like a fire had been lit, and as the years passed instead of tamping down, it grew more and more.

  The kitchen had to be her favorite part of the house. It had a huge window that overlooked the woods. Big appliances, like the ones Shae had in her home, took center stage. She wondered if Ker liked to cook. She couldn't cook if her life depended on it. Hell, sometimes, it did.

  But thankfully, Shae had been sweet. She liked to say her southern upbringing made it impossible for her not to know how to cook. She loved food too much. Tiana did too, but apparently not enough to learn how to keep herself alive. Thankfully, Shae brought over food all the time for her.

  There was a big Tupperware container on the kitchen island. It had a sticky note that read Lasagna. There was a second with fresh baked rolls. A third note said there was salad in the fridge.

  She'd died and gone to food heaven. Lasagna was her favorite. Well, all food was her favorite. That's why she had so many curves to begin with. Roberta used to say that she was a lot like her mother, big boned and with an even bigger heart. She didn't know about that.

  The Tupperware holding the lasagna was still warm, so no need to heat it. She cut out a piece and put it on a plate with some rolls. Then she headed for the living room. Her favorite show was about to start. She turned the TV on and watched Family Feud. It was hard for her to understand why people on that show suddenly forgot commonsense answers.

  She ate her food while yelling at the correct top five or six answers on the board. Then she washed her dishes and came across a pie. A fucki
ng fresh baked pie. She was such a sucker for those. Thank god nobody could see her sniffing it and groaning. She looked like a damn lunatic.

  The pie could wait for later. She went up to her room and called it an early night. Before going to bed, she did something she'd been thinking about and dialed Ker.

  “Hi, Tiana. Is everything okay?”

  She had to stop herself from groaning at the sound of his voice. God. He had such a deep tone and it was husky. It gave her goose bumps.

  “Hi, Ker. I- everything is fine. I just wanted to thank you again for everything.” She walked over to his closet and ran her fingers over the shirts hanging there.

  “Anything you need, sweetheart.”

  Sweetheart? That was new. She didn't want to let herself get excited over him calling her that, but damn! she couldn't. A swift smile spread over her lips. She padded over to his dresser, opened a drawer and glanced down at comic themed T-shirts.

  “Er...Ker?”

  “Yes?”

  “I heard you like comic books,” she said nonchalantly at the same time grabbing a Bane T-shirt large enough to fit her as a night dress.

  “I see Jason and Ava were talking to you.”

  She took the shirt with her and lay on the bed, the phone still by her ear. “Maybe.”

  “Is there a problem with comic books?”

  She grinned. “No. I just didn't take you as a comic book guy.”

  “I'm more of a gamer. But I am also a DC fan.”

  She rubbed the material of the shirt on her cheek and then pressed her nose to it. Something about it made her insides warm. It was insane. This man made her feel things she hoped would be real when they finally met.

  “I think it's cute,” she said without thinking.

  The was a short silence before a bark of laughter sounded from him. “Cute? Baby, I'm a lot of things, but cute is not one of them.”

  She'd bet. He had a lot of alpha traits in him. She wondered about that. Would she be okay with a man that might be possessive—in a good way? Hell, yes! There was a wild side she'd recently come across inside her. It apparently liked men who were alpha. Who knew?