by A C Warneke
“Mr. Rhys?” Ferris asked, looking up at him with her large blue-green eyes.
With an indulgent smile, he squatted down to her level, “What is it, sweetie?”
“I was wondering if you could carry me,” she asked bashfully, which Jenna knew to be an act because there wasn’t a bashful bone in Ferris’s body when it came to people she adored and Jenna knew Ferris adored Rhys. If she was honest she would admit that she adored Rhys, too, at least a little bit. “You see, I’ve been standing and walking around all day and my legs are awfully tired and it would be so nice if someone could carry me and since Mr. Vaughn has been nice enough to carry me here I thought it would be okay if you carried me back?”
His eyes twinkled with laughter but he kept his expression appropriately serious as he nodded his head in agreement, “I think something can be arranged.”
Grabbing her around the waist, he stood up and swung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Ferris let out a squeal of laughter and Jenna’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t thought a heart could skip a beat when faced with something so beautiful and she was struck dumb as he spun around and pretended to be confused, “Oh, no! Where has that little moppet gone? One moment she was here and then the next… Poof! Gone, just like a fairy princess.”
“Mr. Rhys!” Ferris cried out between belly laughs. “I’m right here!”
Rhys spun around, making Ferris laugh harder and Jenna’s heart thump even more erratically. It was ridiculous! She had stopped believing in fairy tales and happy endings when Jeremy was taken from her. Rhys was just a gorgeous guy who could make her laugh and illustrate to her that she was a woman who had needs and appetites, that she wasn’t just a mom or an accountant or an almost-widow. He was reminding her of who she used to be before her world collapsed in on itself and sucked her in.
No matter how much she loved her daughter and her family, she had been living on auto-pilot for almost seven years and had forgotten how to be Jenna. Watching Rhys interact with Ferris, the sparkle of life in his eyes, a vivacity that infused his entire being, she realized she wanted that spark back. She wanted to explore whatever this thing was with Rhys because she had a feeling that he was going to change her life in significant ways. She’d never be allowed to go back to sleepwalking through life with him around. She might never go back to sleep.
Plus, he adored Ferris and, more importantly, Ferris adored him.
“Isn’t he just the best?” Melanie asked, drawing her arm through Jenna’s.
Unable to tear her eyes away from the exuberant man spinning around with her daughter on his shoulder, she nodded, “He’s not bad.”
Melanie playfully swatted at her, “Oh, please, he’s perfect.”
“Nobody’s perfect,” Jenna replied automatically, trying to figure out if Rhys had any flaws, other than a propensity to say and do outrageous things. But she considered that a feature rather than a defect. Of course, she just met the man and it was easy to camouflage even serious flaws for a short period of time. Hell, he probably thought she was as adventurous and fun as he was and maybe once upon a time he would have been right. He didn’t know how… mind-numbingly monotonous her life actually was. The only joys were her daughter and her family. Her job… well, her job was a paycheck. It allowed her to feel like a responsible adult even though she still lived at home with her parents.
When Ferris was born it had been a luxury to be at home, having Melanie there to help out. After a few years it simply became easier to stay, knowing Ferris was safe. Even though she paid rent and lived in an apartment over the garage, she spent most of her time at the main house, with her family. The tradeoff of independence for security was one she struggled with on a daily basis but she hadn’t known what she could do about it.
Melanie’s sudden decision to move out had shaken her to the core and caused her to wake up out of the stupor she had fallen in. Automatically, her gaze went to Melanie, who was hugging Vaughn as if it had been days since she had seen him instead of moments. Lenni’s smile was dazzling and full of love and Jenna wanted that with Rhys.
She was moving too fast, maybe….
“Shall we?” With one arm holding a brilliantly smiling Ferris, Rhys held out his elbow out for her to take, jolting her out of her ruminations. She looked up into his warm laughing eyes and felt as if she could drown. Seeing him with Ferris made her sink a little further. Not wanting to think about it too much, she offered him a smile and looped her arm through his.
“You’re a natural, Rhys,” she murmured, reaching up and brushing a strand of Ferris’s hair from her cheek. She was about to ask him if he wanted lots of children but bit her tongue. That was way too personal, way too soon. Besides, it was nice just walking next to him, breathing in the scent of leather and Rhys and the cold winter air.
A short while later, the small group was standing next to Jenna’s running car and saying their goodbyes, the ambient lights of the city allowing them to see clearly. Ferris’s eyes were heavy and her head was resting on Rhys’s shoulder as she mumbled sleepily, “Can I stay with Aunt Mellie and the gargoyles, mama?”
“No, sweetie,” Jenna grinned, gently stroking her daughter’s smooth cheek. “I promised your grandparents that we would have brunch with them tomorrow and then we need to get some laundry done so you’ll have clean clothes next week.”
Ferris made a little grumbly sound but didn’t protest when Rhys strapped her into the back seat. Rubbing her eyes, she drowsily smiled up at the auburn haired man, “Good night, Mr. Rhys.”
“Goodnight, sweetie,” he murmured, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. Jenna had to press her hand against her chest to keep her stupid heart from galloping towards Rhys.
After Melanie and Vaughn said their goodnights, it was just Jenna and Rhys beneath the clear winter night and strangely she was incredibly nervous. Leaning against the driver’s side door, she looked up at him as he boxed her in, his heat touching the coldest parts of her soul, “I had a really good time tonight.”
“So did I,” he murmured. His eyes darted past her to the interior and he smiled slightly, “She’s passed out.”
“She’ll sleep through the night.” Jenna smiled fondly as she thought about Ferris and how the little girl always gave one hundred and fifty percent, right up until the moment she crashed. “Thankfully I can still carry her from the car to her bedroom. I’m not sure what I’ll do when she gets bigger.”
“That’s when you get a wheelbarrow,” he said. “It’s a much easier way to move a body.”
The wry comment made her grin and suddenly she didn’t want the night to end, she didn’t want to leave Rhys. Going up on her tip toes, she pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his lips. The stubble of his beard rasped against her tender flesh and the heated musk of Rhys filled her senses. Her desire for him was a pleasant ache deep in her belly and she didn’t want to leave even though she knew she had to go. Keeping her mouth against his, she whispered, “Thank you, Rhys, for everything.”
The corners of his lips curved upwards in a wicked smile, “Throw caution to the wind, Jenna. Let go and I’ll be there to catch you.”
“You make me want things I shouldn’t even be thinking about, Rhys, not when I am a mother and I have so many people relying on me to be sensible.” Stepping away from him, she swallowed thickly. He was so tempting and in this moment she was too tempted. She had no defenses in place to protect her tender heart against such warmth. Beneath the dark night sky, it didn’t matter, but in the morning she’d wake up and remember who she was. And who she was no longer.
With a shaky smile, she reached up and ran her fingers along the carved line of his jaw, the bristles of his new beard growth rough beneath her fingertips. She wanted to touch him and never stop and that was a dangerous wish. Yet being with Rhys seemed… right. Fated. Which was ridiculous because she wasn’t the sister who believed in magic, no matter how magical she felt in Rhys’s sphere. “If I stay any longer I’ll want to stay all night and
I have a sleeping child in the back seat and a million reasons why I shouldn’t get involved with you.”
Holding her eyes, he put his hand over hers and kissed her palm, “I’ll call you, Jenna Jacobs and we’re going to figure this out.”
She smiled even as tears glittered in her eyes. She was finally saying goodbye to the past and it was heartbreaking and nerve-wracking and long overdue. “I’ll see you later then.”
“Definitely,” he promised, opening her car door and letting her slide into the driver’s seat. Leaning against the frame, he bent down, his long hair falling forward to brush against her lap, “This is only the beginning, sweetheart. Like I said earlier, I’m not letting you go.”
“Good night, Rhys,” she said softly, feeling the world shift once more.
Chapter 3
By the time she got home, Jenna’s head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. She was looking forward to pouring herself a glass of wine, which she hadn’t done in ages, and relaxing with a steamy book. Her thoughts about Rhys were all muddled and she knew that she was moving too fast but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. It felt so right being in his arms.
As soon as she had Ferris tucked into bed, she grabbed a racy book and went straight to her room where she put on her old nightshirt. Her head was still a little cloudy but she felt good, with too much pent up energy to sleep. She felt like she was eighteen again with the whole world laid at her feet, no longer old before her time with the weight of a life not lived on her shoulders.
As much as she adored her daughter, Jenna needed adult interaction. She craved the intimacy of two adults coming together in the dark of night and connecting on a physical level. Jeremy was supposed to be her other half, to hold her hand when the road became too difficult, to lean on her when his load became too heavy and it nearly destroyed her when he was taken from her. If she hadn’t had her family she would have lost it long ago. All of them had given her so much and she could never repay them.
Hell, Melanie gave up her scholarship to attend culinary school in Paris to help Jenna out, choosing to go to the local college instead and stay home and she never complained. She simply rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a diaper and said that there was always going to be other opportunities but only one Ferris. Then she threw herself into aunt-hood with gusto, as if giving up Paris was nothing. Jenna envied Lenni’s uncanny ability to roll with whatever life threw at her and make it into some fairy tale dream. Birds probably rose up in chorus wherever she went.
Jenna chuckled to herself. Lenni and Ferris were two peas in a pod, living in a fantasy world of their own creation. Lenni was extremely lucky Vaughn turned out to be such a wonderful guy. It made Jenna cringe when she considered what could have happened New Year’s Eve had Vaughn been anyone else.
But that was Lenni, the gods’ favorite mortal.
The ringing of the phone startled her out of her nostalgia. Without checking to see who was calling, she answered, “Hello?”
“Jenna,” Rhys’s smooth voice caressed her from over the phone. “I’m just calling to make sure you got home safely.”
She smiled, appreciating his consideration. Getting comfortable on the bed, she answered, “We arrived a few minutes ago and I was just getting ready to read some before going to sleep.”
“What are you reading?”
“Um, A Virgin in the Sultan’s Harem,” she admitted, knowing the title gave everything away. The sound of his voice brought back the exhilarating memory of being in his arms, a thin layer of cotton the only thing between them. She was no longer asleep and it felt good and she didn’t want the feeling to end.
After a long silence, he asked in a raspy voice, “Do you want to play a game?”
“A game?” His voice had been thick with desire, the sound doing more for her libido than some silly old book ever did. She knew what was about to happen and she welcomed it and she wasn’t going to go back to sleep without a taste of Rhys. She wasn’t going to go back to sleep at all. “What kind of game?”
“What are you wearing, Jenna?” he asked in a low, seductive purr.
“Do you want to know what I’m actually wearing or what I imagine myself wearing?” She was going to savor her time with Rhys. The rest of the world would still be wailing and gnashing its teeth in an hour, she could steal a few minutes before joining them. Smiling to herself, she lay back on the bed and tried to get comfortable as nerves and lust danced through her body, tightening her skin and firing up all of her previously snoozing sex cells.
“It doesn’t matter.” He waited a half a beat before he added, “Since you will be taking it all off in a few seconds.”
“Fine,” she mockingly pouted, her eyes sparkling with humor. “But only because you asked so nicely.”
He chuckled softly and she squeezed her legs together as sensation shot up her spine. “I think I am going to enjoy having you completely naked beneath a prim, wrap-around dress. I’ll take you out to dinner at some posh restaurant and we’ll both know how close you are to being completely nude in public. One little tug and you’ll be naked.
“You’ll stand up and lead me to a private area where I’ll fuck you into a screaming orgasm, taking your cries into my body with a kiss,” he rasped, his words making her wet. “I’ll make you come so hard that when we return to the table everyone will know that we had just fucked. I’ll be the envy of all of the men because I just made love to the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“Oh, my,” she said breathlessly, titillated by the scandalous visions he painted with his words. Already aroused to the point of discomfort, it wasn’t going to take a lot to bring her to orgasm. She had never been so turned on in her life and she knew that it had everything to do with Rhys. He was a sundae of sex. “Melanie didn’t tell me you were so sexually adventurous.”
“It would worry me if she knew.” She could hear the laughter in his voice and she smiled. “It’s not something I broadcast to those who are not my lovers.”
“And how many lovers do you have?”
“There’s only you,”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“There’s only you,” he repeated. “All of the others that have come before are forgotten.”
She didn’t know what to say to that since it sounded like he meant it, that maybe she meant more to him than just a moment. Torn, she wanted so much more as well but it frightened her. Rhys was so enthralling and she worried that she was only one of many who easily seduced and quickly forgotten.
“I’ve never done this before,” she admitted, ignoring the clamoring of her heart and Rhys’s curious confession. What if he was serious? “I mean, if what we’re about to do is what I think it is. Is it?”
“What do you think we’re about to do?” he asked, laughing softly.
“Are you really going to make me say it?” Despite having had a child and a naughty imagination, she was still embarrassed But she was no longer Sleeping Beauty because he had awakened her with a kiss. He would guide her and help her explore her sexuality because he wore sexual knowledge like a second skin and that was a part of Rhys’s appeal.
“I want to hear you say it.”
How could she resist? “Phone sex. We're going to have phone sex.”
He let out a low groan, making her wish that they weren’t miles apart connected by a small piece of wires and plastic. “You make me want to be reckless, Jenna.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re reckless with or without me.” Ignoring his feeble protest and getting into the spirit she asked, “What are you wearing?”
He chuckled, “Nothing. I just got out of the shower and decided it would be better to call the source of my frustration instead of trying to freeze it away.”
Now it was her turn to groan as she pictured a naked Rhys with his wet auburn hair hanging to the curve of his hard ass, his skin glistening with water, the hills and vales of his muscled stomach beading with moisture…. “Are you hard?”
She couldn’t bel
ieve the question had so easily slipped out of her mouth but she had no intention of taking it back. “I’ve been hard since the moment I held you in my arms tonight, Jenna. Now tell me what you’re wearing.”
Running her hand over the front of the ratty old t-shirt she wore to bed, she pursed her lips and spoke in a low, breathless voice, “I’m wearing a scarlet leather corset that pushes my meager breasts up and a black, lacy thong that exposes far more than it conceals….”
His rich chuckled filled her ear, making her smile even as it seduced her. “Tell the truth, sweetheart. I want to know if I can rip it off your body.”
“I’d have to hurt you if you tried,” she countered, unable to prevent the smile from growing. All of her worries faded to wisps of smoke as she continued to play with Rhys. She liked the feeling of daring and desire. “It’s my favorite sleep shirt.”
“Then I will just have to buy you a dresser full of flimsy, silky lingerie just so I can have the pleasure of tearing them off your gorgeous body. And then I can use the torn scraps to bind you to my bed while I have my wicked way with you.”
“I’m not into bondage,” she protested, her pulse fluttering madly at the idea. He had mentioned something about bondage before and it shocked her how aroused she got from the image of being tied up by him.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he laughed sexily. “You will be. Once I get my hands on you you’re going to be begging me to tie you up and fuck you until your eyes cross and you’re screaming in ecstasy. Turn off the lights and light a candle, Jenna. I want to seduce you by candlelight.”
“Give me a moment.” With her cheeks rosy with embarrassment and desire and her body burning for satisfaction, she slid off the bed and lit a few candles. When she turned off the lights, her room was bathed in a warm glow and she was ready. Almost ready. Catching a glance at her reflection, she made a face. God, she was a fool for going along with Rhys’s insanity. She should just tell him she couldn’t go through with it but she wasn't going to do that.