Fear in Her Eyes (Fire & Vice Book 5)

by Nikita Slater

  Unable to help herself, Addison wrapped her arms around his neck with a moan. He took her by the waist and pulled her into his body wrapping his arms around her tightly. She stumbled against him, crushing delicate flowers beneath her heels. Daniel's hands slid down her ass and then her thighs, where he gripped her legs and then lifted her. He took her swiftly down to the floor of the dressing room and laid her on top of the roses scattered across the tiles.

  Addison felt something prick her arm and gasped, jerking back. Daniel pressed her back. "Sorry, babe, I need you right now. You were so fucking amazing out there. We’ll do it nice later."

  Addison laughed, her breath hitching as he reached down and yanked her dress roughly up her legs. "I doubt that, you're always pretty rough!"

  He bent down and bit her shoulder while bringing her knees up and reaching into her panties. "You haven't seen rough yet," he growled, thrusting his fingers into her wet heat.

  Addison cried out, arching her head back and digging her nails into his jacketed shoulders.

  Someone knocked on the door and called her name. Addison gasped loudly while Daniel jerked his head up from where he had been exploring her bared cleavage.

  "I'm going to fucking murder anyone that comes through that goddam door," he snapped.

  Addison opened her mouth to respond, but Daniel clamped his free hand tightly over her lips.

  "Addie, Maestro's looking for you and he said if I want to keep my job I better not come back without you," Erica's voice floated through the door. "I'm coming in!"

  Daniel took his fingers out of Addison's dripping pussy and unzipped his jeans. In one smooth movement he pushed her legs back and entered her. Addison screamed against his hand, arching her body up against his. She shook her head frantically, her blank eyes blazing up at him. He grinned down at her.

  "Don't worry," he said gruffly. "I locked it. Maestro's bitch can't get in.”

  With a hand still over her mouth, her pulled her closer onto his cock, impaling her further and causing her to gasp. She held on tightly as he began pounding into her. He ignored the insistent knocking and rattling of the doorknob and drove into Addison as though they hadn’t been having crazy, mind-blowing sex every night since getting back together the week before.

  Addison breathed heavily through her nose, dizzy but elated as he drove her higher and higher. He shoved the fabric of her heavy skirt impatiently out of the way and attacked her clit so ferociously she again screamed against his hand and tried to close her legs.

  “Bad girl,” he said and slapped the top of her pussy, drawing another muffled cry.

  “Open!” he snapped.

  Addison whimpered but did as he commanded, knowing it would end well for her. No matter what he dished out, how far he pushed her, he always gave her a happy ending. With shaking legs, she opened for him, exposing her most vulnerable flesh.

  “Open your eyes and look at me,” he whispered raggedly, as though the words were torn from him.

  She knew there weren’t any lights on in the room, because she could see nothing but shadows, but she did as he wanted. He could see her no more than she could see him. She understood though. In his twisted way, he wanted them to see each other the same as they fucked there on the floor. Both beautiful and damaged in their own way.

  “Scream for me.”

  He pinched her clit so hard she saw streaks of light in her vision. It was everything she could do to keep her legs open. She knew he would retaliate if she closed them. She screamed for him, just as he demanded, and she came so hard her pussy gushed fluid around his cock and onto the back of her beautiful velvet dress.

  He grunted in satisfaction as she sheathed him like a vice, spasming around his penis and forcing him to come right along with her. He fell forward with the force of his orgasm, planting a fist next to her head. He dropped his face next to hers and rubbed his rough beard against her cheek. She inhaled his wonderful, masculine scent deep into her lungs.

  “Ah, Addison,” he said softly.

  Her heart nearly stopped. He had never spoken to her in that tone of voice. It sounded affectionate? She hardly dared to breath, let alone move.

  Then she became aware of the nasty feeling of a cut along the back of her shoulder and what felt like a trickle of blood. Damn. While the idea of having sex on a bed of roses after a moving symphony performance was deeply romantic, the reality left something to be desired.

  “Time to go,” Daniel announced, rolling off of Addison.

  She breathed a sigh of relief and tentatively crawled out of the crushed pile of roses. Daniel reached down and helped her up. She winced as he accidentally touched another scratch on her arm.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “The roses, I think.”

  “Watch your eyes, I’m going to turn on the lights.”

  Addison shielded her eyes. Brightness filled the room. While Addison let her eyes adjust, Daniel inspected her skin for damage and adjusted her clothes. He reached out for something and then she felt the enveloping warmth of her evening coat draping her.

  “Thank you,” she murmured.

  He sighed heavily, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to hurt you. I was jealous when the Maestro kissed you. Turned on too. Never thought the fucking cello could turn me into a teenager with a hard on. Need to learn better control around you.”

  Addison nearly laughed out loud before she thought better of it. She reached out and felt her way along his arm until she was able to take hold of his hand. It was much larger than hers except for her long fingers that came closer to matching the blunt length of his. She wrapped her fingers around his wrist.

  “Hey,” she said softly. “You didn’t hurt me. I loved every second of it. I always love having sex with you, it’s the one thing we can do right together. Even the bed of roses was kind of a cool touch.”

  He chuckled and reached out to pluck what must have been a stray flower from her tangled hair. She froze and held her breath. In all the months she had known him she’d never really heard him laugh, not in a relaxed way. It didn’t sound quite right. Almost like a rusty recording of a time long gone. It was precious to her though.

  She squeezed his arm to her breasts and held him tightly for a second.

  “Can we go home?” she asked him.

  “Thought I was going to have to insist,” he replied, sounding somewhat surprised. “Thought the boss wanted you to schmooze, or pimp or whatever his star musician has to do.”

  Addison shrugged. “Yeah, it’s in my contract, and if anybody asks, I was totally out there pimping my ass off for at least half an hour after the show. I’m sure Claudia will vouch for me. I have a few friends on the orchestra that owe me favours too. Let’s go home.”

  Daniel reached for the door and ushered Addison past an astonished Erica. Addison opened her mouth to offer an apology and an explanation, but Daniel whisked her away so fast she wasn’t able to say anything except for, “Good-bye, see you Monday!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  No pressure, Addie, this day only has to go perfect, she thought to herself.

  Addison's hand shook a little as Daniel opened the door to his truck and reached in to help her out. She smiled at him and turned so he could slide a hand around her waist and guide her down to the pavement. She could have gotten out of the truck on her own, but she knew he liked helping her. Or at least he liked touching her every chance he got. And truth be told, she enjoyed his touch just as much. She caught his hand after he closed the door and engaged the locks on the truck.

  She breathed in the crisp morning air and grinned up at him. "What do you think?"

  "About what?" he asked gruffly.

  "About my favourite place in the whole city," she replied, tugging on his hand and encouraging him to follow her into the city park.

  He followed her reluctantly. "It has trees," he grunted.

  "Yes, very observant," she laughed. "It also has benches, tables, walking paths, a few statues and a river winding th
rough it. Generally people call these things parks."

  He stopped walking, forcing her to stand still too. "Your favourite place is a park?"

  "Uh huh."

  "Why?" he demanded.

  Addison frowned a little. She was hoping he would be a little more impressed with her special place. She should have known better. So far the only time she'd ever known Daniel to be impressed was when her clothes came off. But dammit, she was trying to communicate with him, clothes on.

  She shrugged. "It's peaceful here. There are no demands on my time, I can wander around or just sit and listen and smell to my heart's content without any pressure to be somewhere else. Everything just sort of recedes and I can be myself here."

  He didn't say anything for a minute and she wondered if maybe she reached him. Then he said, his voice cool, "I meant, why did we come here?"

  "Oh," Addison said, somewhat deflated. Then cautiously, "We're on a date. I thought we should try again, only this time I'm taking you to places that I love that I think you might like too. I want you to get to know me better."

  "No," he said instantly. He grabbed her arm, turned on his heel and began dragging her toward the truck.

  Addison struggled to keep up and would have tripped over the uneven paving stones, except the grip on her arm was extremely firm. She gasped and clutched at him with her other hand, nearly losing her knit purse in the process.

  "Please, Daniel," she begged. "Just for a little while?"

  "Fuck," he snarled under his breath. "I hate when you use that word against me, you know I can't fucking resist you when you say it like that."

  He turned on her and gripped her arms tightly and spoke, his lips close to hers, his voice tight with tension. "Just tell me why you insist on doing this to yourself."

  She brought her mittened hand up and rubbed it against his chest. It wasn't terribly cold out, but cool enough that she liked to cover her hands so they would stay nimble for her cello. "I need to know if you can... if you can like me outside of the bedroom. I know you don't do dates, but you do want some kind of relationship. We're together every night and I don't see an end to this. Unless you plan on ending it some time soon. Maybe you don't want a traditional girlfriend, and that's fine, I won't force you to label what we're doing. But I need to know if we can at least like each other."

  He didn't say anything for a long time, just held her in his eerily still way. Finally, he said, "I think it's bullshit Addison, but if it's what you want I'll do it."

  She grinned happily and clapped her hands together. When he loosened his grip on her arms, she broke free, grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him in the direction of the tables. "Pick one that has a game board built into it."

  He did as she told him without question. She took a seat and commanded him to do the same, then she reached into her purse and pulled out a bulky paper bag full of wooden chess pieces. As she started feeling the pieces one at a time and pulling them out of the bag to place on the board, he asked her, "You carry these around in your purse?"

  She laughed. "Not usually. I haven't actually been here in a while. I used to come here quite a bit before I got hired on at the orchestra, when I was between jobs. I actually used to live right around the corner from here so it was easy for me to wander over and see if anyone felt like a game."

  "You lived in this area? Could've been killed just going out for groceries, let alone looking for a companion in the park," he snapped. "Fuck, you have the instincts of a baby, Addison."

  She sighed and continued placing pieces on the the board. "We're trying to have a nice day here, Daniel. Would you mind please watching your language? That was a long time ago. I was young and reckless when I first moved here to the city, I wasn't particularly interested in living safely. It was also hard for me to make rent, so I had to live where rent was cheapest. Besides, you can't tell me you never took any stupid chances that could've gotten you killed. You’ve spent a good portion of your life living dangerously for a paycheque. And last time I checked, I wasn't the one who was shot four times.”

  He grunted something that sounded like "we're not talking about me," but she couldn't be sure. She finished setting the board and then raised a brow pointedly at him. She'd set the white pieces in front of him so he could go first. She knew they were white because she had carved little wedges into the bottom of each piece on the white set.

  "How do you even know I can play?" he asked.

  She smiled and crossed her legs beneath her long denim skirt. "You're head of security for Tyson King, you thrive off of strategy. You're always several steps ahead of me and everyone else. I would be extremely surprised if you didn't know how to play chess."

  He still didn't touch the board, but he did finally ask, "If I win, do we get to finish this date and go home to bed?"

  "Nope!" she said cheerfully.

  "Do I at least get a blowjob later when we do get home?" he asked, sounding hopeful.

  Her jaw dropped. It was pretty much the first time he'd sounded like a typical non-damaged guy. She laughed, "We'll see how the rest of the date goes. I reserve the right to make that a ‘no’ later on."

  "You suck at negotiating," he grumbled.

  "That's because I'm not a security expert, I'm a musician. Now start playing!" she demanded.

  Daniel proceeded to slaughter Addison over the course of several games. She felt like she came close to winning once, but she had an idea that it was his strategy to lull her into a sense of near victory before capturing her queen and king in quick succession. He made it clear to her that no matter which way she moved he would stalk and trap her on the board, giving her nowhere to move her pieces.

  As she put the pieces back in the bag, she could feel his eyes on her face. She wondered what she looked like to him and fought the urge to drop her eyes. It happened less and less in his presence. Only when she thought about it. She knew her brown eyes were weird and wild looking because her parents had told her so. Her eyes refused to focus on anything. She also knew she had long, wavy chestnut hair and soft feminine features. But what did they really look like? She couldn't picture them because she had no basis of comparison.

  "What are you thinking?" Daniel asked quietly.

  Addison dropped her eyes and busied herself putting the paper bag back in her purse, which she'd slung over the back of the bench. She forced a laugh. "I was just thinking that you deserve a better chess partner, someone that can actually give you a challenge."

  She heard Daniel stand and come around the bench. He dropped onto the seat next to hers and, without touching her, said, "You were fine. I haven't enjoyed myself like that... in a long time. Thank you."

  She smiled up at him, flashing him her teeth. He brushed him thumb across her cheek and then said, "Now tell me what you were really thinking. Why did you look sad? What’s going on behind those eyes?"

  Daniel always knew. She couldn't hide from him. "I wondered what you see when you look at me. I don't even know what I look like, Daniel. Why did you choose me?"

  His stilled a little and she wondered if she crossed a boundary. She opened her mouth to assure him she wasn't fishing for a compliment like a girlfriend might, but he stopped her.

  "Tell me something that’s good to you," he said touching her hair. "Something amazing, that touches all of your senses at once and brings them alive."

  Addison thought about it for a moment, tilting her head. "In the morning, when I'm in bed, I wake up and open my eyes and I can see the light coming in the window. It touches my face and it's warm and welcoming. It's so beautiful and it feels so good. Then the coffee pot starts, because I've set it the night before and I can smell the fresh aroma of my favourite coffee. That’s as close to perfect as I can imagine."

  "That's what I feel when I look at you."

  "Coffee and morning sun?" she asked skeptically.

  "Perfection," he said, pulling her into the warmth of his body.

  Addison melted into him, lifting her face to his for a ki
ss. He indulged her, taking her lips in a leisurely exploration. She knew he wouldn't let their passion grow out of hand in a public park. He was too aware of the potential risks involved. After a moment, he broke away and leaned back. He brushed a curl out of her face and adjusted her wool hat so it covered her ears better.

  "Can we go back to my place now, I'm craving a little more privacy," he growled down at her.

  "No!" she wailed, grabbed her purse and felt along the table until she was standing. "Come on, Zeke's expecting us at Strings and Bows."

  Daniel sighed heavily and stood, reluctantly escorting Addison back to the truck. At their next stop, Daniel watched vigilantly with strained patience as Addison spent nearly an hour going through sheet music with Zeke. The eccentric music hobbyist described it to her and she decided which ones she wanted transcribed into music Braille. Like a kid in a candy store, she explored and touched everything until she settled on a new bow, several new strings and looked at a new cello that Zeke had on display. She decided against the purchase since she couldn't play more than one instrument at the same time.

  "Sorry to bore you," she said, in a breathless rush as they got back in the truck. "I always get carried away in there!"

  He took her package from her, set it in the back seat and said gently, "You don't bore me. But next time, he better keep his fingers to himself or he’ll lose them.”

  She smirked and shook her head. “You’re impossible,” she said, reaching over to latch her seat belt.

  "Where to next?" he asked.

  "Food?"

  "Good plan," he agreed. "You have a preference or can I choose something?"

  "No preference," she assured him.

  He took her someplace quiet, but way more expensive than any place she had ever eaten. A Tyson King and Claudia Cantore type of restaurant. She was surprised he would even consider it, but she thoroughly enjoyed every moment. She practically salivated over every morsel as each course appeared at their table and enjoyed the way in which Daniel ordered each dish, using the right accent.

  "I had no idea you had such hidden depths," she teased.