Fighting Fate

by Scarlett Finn

  ‘I haven’t found my place to belong yet. When I do, I will.’

  ‘Your place to belong,’ he spat out. ‘There’s only one place you belong and you’ve spent almost two months running away from it.’

  He caught hold of her face and hauled her up, forcing his mouth down over hers. Although she hadn’t expected the kiss that didn’t mean that she didn’t want it. Opening herself to him, she leaned into him and trailed her hands up to his shoulders

  ‘That’s right,’ he grumbled and hooked his hands under her ass to lift her up.

  Turning to the desk, he sat her down and leaned over her to continue consuming her mouth. His fingers began to work the buttons on her blouse, though his impatient hand stopped its task to fondle her breast.

  ‘Dax, I’m at work,’ she said, leaning away from the kiss. ‘And people can see us.’ Turning to alert him to the transparent panel on the opposite wall.

  ‘Where’s your boss?’

  ‘Probably still in his bed,’ she said. ‘He owns a strip club, so he hasn’t been home for long. Why? What are you going to do? Find him and beat him until he fires me?’ Smacking both hands onto his chest, she made him move and got off the desk to put some space between them. ‘Why are you here?’

  ‘I thought that was damn obvious.’

  ‘You came here to get laid?’ she asked, folding her arms to try and conceal the drawn out movement of her breathing and the pebbles at the peak of her breasts that his kiss had managed to make itch.

  ‘Yeah, I walked away from my life and chased you across the country because I needed a tramp to ride my cock.’ When he moved toward her, Ivy tried not to tense or back away. ‘Are you crazy, babygirl? I came here for you. You’re out of options.’

  ‘Options?’

  ‘I told you that you’d never be free of me. That if you left their prison you’d be stuck in mine. I’m not gonna let you escape again.’

  ‘You left them? What about Mauri? What about—‘

  ‘We don’t have to worry about that anymore. I told them I was gone, that I was out and I wasn’t coming back.’

  ‘I thought you were going to make them see, make them understand about us, so that your life wouldn’t have to change.’

  ‘I was wrong.’

  ‘Wrong?’ she asked. When her shoulders loosened, her hands fell to her sides. ‘I told you that weeks ago, I knew that they would never let us be together and that it would come down to a choice.’

  ‘A choice I’ve made,’ he said, bringing his hand to her face. ‘I went in there, to that midnight meeting…’

  ‘What happened? How did you get out of there?’

  ‘You don’t have to worry about that,’ he said, that cool anger crystallised in his irises, but he tried to hide it with a smile and a swipe of his thumb along her jaw and up over her lips. ‘We’re not going back there.’

  ‘They let you walk away,’ she said and the smile on his lips twitched.

  This wasn’t over and he knew it as well as she did. Dax would either carry around the loss and betrayal of his supposed family for the rest of his life, or that family would track them down and do everything in their power to get him back.

  ‘I don’t need their permission to be with my wife.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have come here,’ she said, shaking her head and averting her attention.

  Ivy began to make her way toward the door, Dax shifted into her path, blocking her exit and forcing her to look him in the eye. They were right in front of the window and she knew that the mechanics wouldn’t be getting much work done while this drama was unfolding.

  ‘You belong to me. I’ll follow your tail for as long as I need to.’

  ‘I wanted you to follow me, to fight for me,’ she whispered. ‘I knew that we weren’t over, that I’d see you again. But if you can’t let them go—‘

  He snatched her arm when she tried to get around him. ‘I’ve let them go. I don’t give a fuck about them.’

  ‘You do,’ she said. ‘You have to admit that what they did hurt you. You fought with me, Dax. You fought me so hard because you were convinced that they would let you be happy, that they would let you be with me. The fact that they didn’t… it changes everything about your relationship with them, they weren’t who you thought they were. They didn’t give you the respect that you—‘

  ‘What do you want?’ he snapped, tossing her arm away. ‘Do you want me to get the fuck out of your life?’

  ‘Yes, I’m using this horrible situation as an excuse to dump you, tough guy. If I wanted rid of you then I wouldn’t still be wearing my rings, would I? I wouldn’t have used your last name every chance that I got.’

  ‘Why did you do that?’ he asked, edging toward her. ‘Because you wanted me to find you?’

  ‘Yeah, because I love you and I want to be with you. But you can’t resent me for—‘

  ‘They made their decision,’ he said, scooping his hands up under her chin to hold her head. ‘They got the chance to accept this, they didn’t take it. Being with you was never a question for me, whether they wanted to be a part of it, that was the question.’

  ‘Dax—‘

  ‘Yes, babygirl, I love you,’ he said, answering the question she didn’t get a chance to ask. ‘We are the same and the only place either of us belongs is side by side.’

  ‘It’ll be tough, you don’t have a crime syndicate to run around after anymore and you won’t know where to fight and—‘

  ‘Are you kidding? I started my career not far up this seaboard, anyone that I don’t know in the underworld isn’t worth knowing.’

  Smiling, she shook her head. ‘Not much of a smooth talker are you, tough guy?’

  ‘It’s not talk you need from me,’ he said, lowering to lift her off the floor and take her to the door, which was still closed.

  Resting her back against it, they were no longer in view of the window. ‘We can’t have sex here,’ she said.

  ‘Says who?’ Closing his lips on her neck, he elevated her body and the rasp of his jeans opening boosted her heart rate.

  ‘My boss, we need me to keep this job, I have a place to stay and—‘

  ‘He owns a strip joint,’ Dax said, looking her in the eye. ‘And a car garage.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘And manages the apartment complex next door. That’s where I stay. I think he owns it.’

  ‘Lots of money, lots of lowlifes on the payroll,’ he said, indicating the men on the other side of the door that he couldn’t see. ‘He’s a crook, Minx.’

  She had been impressed by Blaser when she met him. He was sort of distant, which made her constantly curious about what he was thinking without saying. But he’d been kind to her, as had everyone else she’d met. But that didn’t mean his business was legit.

  ‘What does that have to do with having sex?’ she asked.

  ‘I’ll find a way to persuade him into understanding.’

  And the smugness in his tone made Ivy relax and give in. ‘You think that you have some secret skill that he’ll need, which allows you to get away with screwing his employees while they’re being paid by him.

  ‘You worry about the secret skills I have that you need.’

  But he didn’t need to use fancy tricks, she’d been anticipating what it would be like to be in his arms for weeks. Every minute that they’d been away from each other she dreamt of him coming after her to declare his love and devotion, which was exactly what he’d done and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  Her lips parted to release a yelp of hopeless desire and relief. The question in his eyes wasn’t going to be answered in words. Ivy joined their mouths and went straight in to seek out his tongue, curling around it, she tickled his muscle with hers. Losing herself in the emotion and sensation that accompanied this kiss, she didn’t consider the future, it was the past she thought about.

  If their hand hadn’t been forced by circumstance then they were probably both stubborn enough that they would never have gotte
n into a proper relationship. Under other circumstances, they’d have danced around each other, goading and lying, neither willing to relent first and admit the potency of their desire, just like they had in that Vegas alleyway.

  ‘You’re staying,’ she exhaled into his throat. ‘This is your last chance, tough guy. If you let me walk away again—‘

  ‘Never gonna happen, you’re my prisoner.’

  ‘Or maybe you’re mine,’ she said, throwing her arms around him and locking their mouths together again.

  The kiss only got faster, more desperate and hungry, his hands on her body and his lips on her skin didn’t alleviate the need burning in her crotch. The thick length of his erection teased her, pressing the path of its intended raid outside of her body when it should be charging into her.

  He had already opened his jeans, so getting him out of his underwear was easy. Peeling her own aside, she was about to guide him in, when his hands stopped roaming and he moved her away from the door.

  Fearful he was going to take her to the desk, where they’d be on view, Ivy stopped all action and tried to speak. Dax’s tongue passed her lips and muffled her words, which went unheard and forgotten when he took them down to the floor.

  Ivy had to give him brownie points. If he started pounding into her on that door, the noise would carry into the echoing cavern that was the garage and her colleagues would have a second-by-second performance to listen to.

  Keeping them by the door, so that no one could walk through it and interrupt them, Dax laid her on the floor and pulled off his tee-shirt, stuffing it behind her head and guiding the end of it around and into her mouth.

  ‘Things could get rough,’ he smiled. ‘You keep it down.’

  Spitting out the tee-shirt tail he’d intended to dampen her screams, she grinned up at him. ‘I have to make some noise. How else will they know how well-trained you are in pleasuring me?’

  ‘I’m trained?’

  ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘You’re the perfect husband now, my evil plan worked.’

  ‘Shame that mine didn’t. You’re untrainable, Minx, and still don’t know when to keep that mouth shut.’

  ‘I know when to keep it shut, I just elect not to.’

  ‘No one tells you what to do or how to be.’

  ‘That’s right,’ she said, tightening her arms around the back of his neck to bring his mouth into close alignment to hers. ‘But you’ve got a long time ahead of you to try it, tough guy. You better use your time wisely.’

  ‘I intend to,’ he said, consuming her mouth, sating her passion and reminding her that fate can’t be battled. Its plan may not be what you first think it is, but life will always turn out the way it’s supposed to in the end.

  Thank you for sharing this adventure!

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  Excerpts from all of Scarlett Finn’s novels can be found on her website:

  www.scarlettfinn.com

  Up next: an excerpt from the second Risqué novel:

  Risk It All

  Available September 1 2015

  Stalking forth to see what was going on, the scuffling sounds got louder the nearer that Blaser got, and were soon joined by muffled female objections. More definition grew in the shadow man who was sprawled on top of a body, hiding its identity, all Blaser could make out were naked female arms and legs.

  ‘Hey!’ Blaser said, storming over to haul the shadow up from the ground by the back of his neck.

  The guy swore and lashed out to loosen Blaser’s grip from his jacket, then he spun around to try and land a punch, but Blaser blocked it and got in one of his own. The shadow staggered back, giving Blaser his first real chance at interpreting a physical description. He noted blonde hair, angry eyes, and a scar intersecting the perpetrator’s brow. Bloody scratches on his neck and face joined the blood now seeping from his lip – split by Blaser’s punch.

  Widening his stance, Blaser prepared to get into a brawl, but the blonde male shadow spun around and bolted off. Giving chase briefly entered Blaser’s mind, but around here you never knew what you were dealing with. Drugs were rife, prostitution and gangs too, this was a shady part of town. So even if he caught up with the guy, Blaser wasn’t going to call the cops, that just wasn’t how things went down in this neighbourhood and he wasn’t going to visit trouble on the club.

  When the attacker vanished out the end of the alley, Blaser turned his attention to the woman on the ground and immediately wished that he’d done more than just split the perp’s lip. At five five, with streaks of blonde in mousy brown hair, Blaser knew just who this woman sitting on the cold asphalt outside of his club in the wee hours was. She kept her face down, giving him a view of the jagged parting in her hair. Her reluctance to lift her attention only betrayed that she recognised him too.

  ‘What I should really do is ask if you’re ok and then take you to the hospital,’ he said, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at the woman still sprawled on the tarmac. ‘What I’m actually going to do is ask you if you’re fucking insane.’

  She twisted her legs to look at a scrape on her calf then lifted her rear from the ground to try and wriggle her skirt down. Her hand rose, indicating that she wanted help up, so he took it and pulled her onto her feet.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said, smoothing the skirt that barely covered her ass. The flash of her midriff carried on up to her breasts which were covered by a red halter top.

  ‘What are you doing here, Bri?’ he asked while reminding himself that she was no longer his to scoop up off the ground and into his arms.

  ‘I need your help,’ she said.

  Tossing her hair back, she revealed the bruising on her cheek, the blood on her chin and the fullest, softest lips he’d ever known. She still didn’t look at him, she twisted her body to examine a cut on the back of her upper arm: doing everything she could to put off the moment that she’d have to meet his eyes.

  ‘You don’t need my help,’ he said. Being near her again was still surreal. He still hadn’t quite worked out how to act around her now that their relationship wasn’t sexual, as it always had been before. ‘You never need my help. Does Gary know that you’re here?’

  She chose now as the time to blink long-lashed eyes at him. ‘Blaser,’ she said. ‘You know that my brother is in jail, exactly where you put him.’

  ‘I didn’t put anyone in jail,’ Blaser said. ‘Your brother mouthed off to an undercover cop, that’s how he got himself into the slammer this time. Let’s not kid ourselves that Gary is an upstanding member of society. He had this coming.’

  ‘You don’t know everything, Love. You don’t know what’s going on or why I’m here.’

  ‘Don’t call me that,’ he said, backing away a step and taking his hand out of hers. If she opened those floodgates and got him thinking that this was just like the old days, he didn’t trust himself to act like an ex without full privileges should. ‘And don’t do that…’ He lifted his hand toward her face then thought better of touching her again. ‘Thing.’

  ‘What thing?’ she asked. Her step in his direction only made him take another backwards.

  He ignored the question because she already knew the answer; she knew exactly what she could do to him with a flutter of those lashes. ‘What are you doing behind my club at three in the morning, who was that fucker who had you pinned? What did he want?’

  Bri took in a short breath and panted it out. ‘It’s a long story, I was waiting. I didn’t want to come in because… I didn’t know if Colt would be there. I thought I would catch you out here, and we could talk.’

  ‘What do you want to talk about at three in the morning?’

  ‘I need a job.’

  ‘You need a job?’

  ‘I need money,’ she said. ‘So yeah, I need a job.�
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  ‘What kind of job do you think I’ve got for you?’ he asked, sorry that his first thought made his eyes fall onto her legs.

  ‘I don’t screw people for money,’ she said, folding her arms under those pert little tits that he remembered too well. ‘That’s your department.’

  Doing what’s necessary often means that you have to…

  Risk It All

  Blaser Warner has worked hard to put his past behind him. Building up his businesses and mending family bridges, he’s finally got his life back on track.

  Brianna Wilcox was devastated when her heart was broken by her only love going to prison. Determined to carry on, she uprooted her life and cut all ties from her past. After suffering a horrific ordeal years later she shuts herself off from the world. To recover from the horror she endured Bri knows that there’s only one place she needs to be: home.

  Blaser couldn’t stay away when he heard that Brianna was back in town. But being around her again brings old feelings to the surface. When Bri’s associations bring trouble to her door, old habits die hard and Blaser rallies to protect her.

  All the promises he made are in jeopardy and the life he’s built is threatened when he has to fight battles he thought he had left behind. But he knows Brianna is the only woman for whom he will risk it all.

  .

  Coming Sept 1 on Amazon

  When all else fails…

  Take A Risk

  Trapper. Risqué.

  Two names is all that sex therapist Doctor Lyssa Cutler has, but it’s all she needs. Those two words reveal the name of a man and the name of the strip club that she’ll find him in. She might not have expected to find the solution to her stalker problem in such a place, but she does. In fact, Trapper turns out to be far more than just the man capable of tracking down her pursuer.