by AliyahBurke
“Sorry,” both mumbled at the same time. They knew where the discussion was headed, past exploits of their women. Guy talk.
Before she could respond, her cell phone went off. “Excuse me,” she said as she snapped it open. “Serenity. Hey, Hank.” Serenity heard the low growl from Brandt as she mentioned Hank. “Okay, right now? Yes. Do me a favor, page Seth and have him meet me there. We were supposed to do lunch but this takes precedence. I will be there just as soon as I get to my Jeep. Bye.” The phone was snapped shut.
“Sorry, guys, gotta run.” Her chair scraped across the cement as she shoved it back and jumped up, Jax right alongside her. She reached into her bag and pulled out a lavender tank top that she slipped on over her head.
“What’s going on?” Chris asked.
“Where are you going?” This from Brandt.
“I have to go meet Hank.” She was closing the zipper on her bag and putting it on her shoulder. Her cell phone and keys were in her hand. The leash was taken off Jax.
She turned to Brandt and said, “Will you keep Hella with you. She doesn’t want to come with me.”
“Of course.”
“Fine, I will call you later and set up a time to get her back. Chris, thanks for the surfing lesson.” Serenity tossed some money on the table, “For my share. Jax, with me.” Then she spun around and jogged off, leaving them alone.
Chapter Twenty
Serenity and Jax both vaulted into the Jeep. Seconds later she was tearing out of the parking lot, heading for the vet. Irk was raising a ruckus. He didn’t like being cooped up and they had to get him calmed down.
She squealed into the parking lot and jumped out, Jax right on her heels, and ran through the doors.
By the noise she located where they were. Irk was barking and snarling at Hank and Seth, who had gotten there before she had.
“What the hell is going on?” She skidded into the room, bare feet sticking to the linoleum floor as she ran.
“I don’t know. He has been like this for most of the last four hours,” Hank answered.
Serenity didn’t acknowledge his words. She was focused on the dog in the kennel in front of her. Her tone dropped to a murmur as she ignored their hiss of warning. She swung open the kennel door and walked into the run with Irk.
“Easy, boy,” she said as she sat down beside him, ignoring his growls. “You won’t hurt me. Calm down.”
Irk calmed down and lay down with his head in her lap.
Three hours later when Irk had been examined again, he, along with Jax, was in the back of her Jeep. “He’s yours, Serenity. He can’t work anymore so this is for the best,” Seth said as he and Hank walked her out.
“No problem here. I have always loved this dog and he gets along so well with Jax. I know where Hella will be going. Brandt is going to get her—she loves him so much more than me.”
Serenity kissed Hank on the cheek and whispered, “Thanks for taking such good care of him.”
Hank returned the kiss and nodded. “You’re welcome. Call if you need me.” He shook hands with Seth and disappeared back into the building.
“Brandt,” Seth said. “You’re giving her to Brandt? Are you sure he wants her? Are you sure that is a good idea?”
“I’m sure it will be fine. He loves her and she loves him. Besides, I came to a decision…” She paused for a moment, stroking the heads of the two dogs in the back of her vehicle.
“Well…are you getting married?” he asked hesitantly.
She snorted and began to laugh. “Dear God, whatever gave you that idea?” Her breaths came so short she began to cry. As she wiped the tears off her cheeks, she shook her head. “No, no, that is not it at all. I was going to say,” she wiped her eyes. “I was going to say I want to come home. I want to get my home back and start over.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. While I do love it down here, I miss Alaska.” She realized just how true it was. She did miss it.
He wrapped his arms around his daughter. “Then come home. It is ready for you. I had your home rebuilt while you were down here, just in case you ever wanted to come back. I know it won’t be exactly the same, but it is there and waiting for you.”
As she hugged her father, she understood how much he truly did love her. Even after the horrible things she had said to him, he had never lost faith in her. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear. “Thank you, so much.”
“I love you, daughter. Never forget that.”
“And I you, papa. And I you.” She pulled back and kissed both of his cheeks. “When are you going home?”
“We leave in three days, at the end of all of the festivities. There are a few more meetings that we need to be in attendance for. We have our own plane so you will just come home with us.”
“Sounds like a wonderful plan. I have to go tie up a few loose ends. I will see you and Violet for dinner? My place say…seven? Hank and Dolly are coming as well.” For the first time in a long time, her life felt good. Serenity kissed her father one more time before vaulting into her Jeep.
“We’ll be there. See you then.” Seth said as she turned over her vehicle, waved, and drove out of the parking lot.
Serenity drove slow, feeling happy that the pieces of her life were falling into place. She picked up her cell phone and began to dial Brandt’s cell number. Before she could press call she stopped. Her mind ran as she realized what giving him her cell number would mean.
Regardless of what she called herself, her mind was as sharp as ever. With a deep breath, she tossed the phone on the passenger seat. “I’ll call him from home, that way he already knows where I am.” She shook her head at her cowardice. Only that man.
As she drove up to her home, she smiled. She would miss it here, but the wilds of Alaska called to her soul like no other place on the earth. Jax jumped out while she helped Irk out of the Jeep, and watched him carefully walk up the steps to the house.
She gave both dogs fresh water and then picked up the phone. Head cocked to the side, she thought about which hotel he and his father would be at and made her call. When the concierge answered the phone she asked for Mr. Brandt Fowler’s room, and while she was being transferred she realized she didn’t have the foggiest idea of what she would say.
“Hello,” his deep voice came across the line stunning her into silence. “Hello?” He repeated his single word.
“Hi,” she said, her belly full of butterflies.
“Hello, sweetling,” he purred.
“Don’t call me that,” came her automatic response.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
“I have something to ask you, can we meet for lunch or something like that?”
“You want to come here? I could have room service deliver for us.”
“No, I was thinking you and Hella could come here.” She paused. “Or we could meet where we had coffee in town.”
“No, no. I will come to you. What time should we be there? And can I bring anything?”
“No, just come on over. I have some stuff we can eat here.”
“I bet you do. I’ll be right there. Don’t go anywhere.”
As she hung up the phone, she dropped her gaze to her clothes from this morning, the sarong and the lavender tank top she had worn earlier. She needed to change and fast. Dropping her things, she sprinted for the shower as the dogs picked a bed in the sun to lie on.
As she finished toweling her hair she heard a banging on her screen door, a noise which sent the dogs into barking fits and her heart to her stomach. She glanced at her Seiko and saw it was just a little after noon. With a glance in the mirror she grimaced at what she saw. But it was too late now; at least she didn’t smell like the ocean anymore.
Shushing the dogs, she strode up to the screen, her ability to conceal her emotions the only reason she appeared so put together. With a soft smile for the tall obsidian-haired man on the other side of her screen, she opened it. “Come on in. Irk, be a good boy. H
i, Hella.”
“So,” he began. “What did you want to talk about? Give some more thought to my question I asked you yesterday?”
“No, this has nothing to do with that. I have something to ask you.” Serenity moved away from the potent man that stood in her kitchen. “Sit down, lunch is ready.”
“You know that anything you ask I will do if it is within my power.” He sat down and took a drink of the tea that was poured.
Sitting down across from him, she took a drink as well and gathered herself. “Well, it’s like this. I was wondering if you would like to take Hella home with you. To keep.” She held his gaze.
“What do you mean?”
“No pressure. I just know how much she loves you and since I have Irk now, I just thought maybe you would want her.”
He sat in thought as he ate. “Is it a package deal?” he asked as he finished off the sandwich she had placed before him.
“I’m sorry, what do you mean ‘a package deal’?”
His eyes flared with some intense emotion that made Serenity’s stomach clench. He took a drink of tea before he leaned back in his chair, crossing strong arms behind his head. “I mean, do you come with it?”
His question was so direct, and asked without hesitation, it made her hand tremble and she had to set down her glass. The expression in his gaze told her he caught her tremble.
“No,” Serenity answered. “Hella is the only thing on the table.” Why can’t I let him love me? What is wrong with me?
His arms dropped from behind his head, landing across his chest. The front two legs on the chair found the floor as he sat forward. “Well then, we need to do some bargaining. I’ll take Hella but that isn’t all I want. I want you. You, Serenity.”
His hands, with those lean fingers that could make her body squirm in ways she shouldn’t be thinking about, moved to the tabletop.
“I have done a lot of thinking since I found out who you were. And while I’m still angry, extremely angry, about the deception that you pulled in faking your own death, I can understand it. But I’m not, not giving up on you and me.” He moved his chair back and walked over to her.
Brandt cupped her face with those sinful hands of his, turning her dark face up towards his. Thumbs caressing her bottom lip, he moved his face in closer. Unable to move away, Serenity just lost herself in eyes that were burning with passion. For her.
Slowly their lips met, just as purposeful as they did that night in front of the fountain in Kentucky. With a mind of their own, Serenity’s hands moved up and around Brandt’s neck, anchoring them closer together as their tongues met willingly in an ancient mating dance. Standing upright, Brandt lifted her as if she didn’t weigh a thing. Only when her feet had settled on the floor again did he back off her mouth.
He moved back from her tempting mouth barely to say softly, “Oh God, sweetling. I’ve missed you next to me so much. This is what we were meant to be doing. We were made for each other, you and me. I don’t care what you throw my way, I will make you understand what I am feeling right now.”
“I know what you are feeling, because I am feeling the same thing.” She pressed her mouth back to his. Her touch stopped his words and they fell back into exploring each other’s mouths.
Another few moments passed before a very reluctant Brandt pulled away her mouth. His hands still cupped her face. “Dear God, you still taste like peaches.”
Serenity took her arms down from around his neck and ran her hands down the hardened planes of his torso. She slid her arms around his lean waist and placed her head on his chest, content just to listen to the dub-dub of his heart.
“And you still smell so good. But none of that matters. Now, will you take her with you or not?” Serenity asked the question her mind told her to ask and ignored the one her heart wanted her to ask.
“Of course I will take her.” He moved away from her just a little bit and continued, “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?”
Serenity wanted so much to relinquish all control to the man she was leaning against. There was something inside her that wouldn’t allow her to.
No matter how hard she tried to avoid it, the realization hit her right in the face. She could no longer admit anything but the truth. She and Raven had melded into one. Now all she had to do was learn how to live with the cold-hearted woman inside her.
All she knew was, it was time to go home. Home to Alaska—that place had always helped to center her in the past. Before she could respond to the last thing Brandt had said, his cell phone rang. He answered on the second ring, still keeping her body up against his.
“Hello?” Serenity could feel his body tense. And she could hear his father on the other end. “Fine,” he snapped, “I’m on my way.” He sighed deeply. “I have to go, there is a meeting my father wants me at.”
Serenity stepped out of the sanctuary of his arms and began to clear the table. “It’s all right. I have some things to do here and I have a therapy session to get to. Thanks for taking Hella.”
Brandt grabbed her arms and forced her to face him and not the dishes on the table. “We aren’t done with this discussion. Have dinner with me tonight.”
Oh, if only she could. “I can’t. Already have plans. Sorry.”
His eyes narrowed with disbelief. “You can’t avoid me. We aren’t done.”
“I’m not trying to avoid you, it’s that I already have plans for dinner.” And the next three days as well. Her phone rang in the kitchen, dragging their gazes off one another. “Excuse me,” she stated as she moved to the ringing annoyance. “Hello?”
“Oh, Gavin,” she crooned, “that is so wonderful.” A deaf man would have heard the smile in her voice. A bunch of non-committal uh-huhs followed before she added, “Of course. Thanks for calling, Gavin, give her my love. Okay. You too. Congratulations.” Then she hung up the phone.
Brimming with elation, Serenity spun around straight into a cold pair of blue eyes.
“Gavin? Who the hell is Gavin?” Brandt thundered.
Serenity blinked a few times before she responded. The jealousy on his face shocked her. “A friend.”
One black brow disappeared under the hair falling over his forehead. “A friend? What kind of friend causes your voice to get all dreamy like that? I’ve not heard you sound like that on the phone.”
Looking over the man in front of her, Serenity smiled. He wore khakis and a white tee-shirt, and on his feet were loafers. At the narrowing of his gaze she held up her hands in surrender.
“His name is Gavin. He is about six-four or five, blondish-brown hair, aquamarine eyes, and a body to die for. Not to mention he is the devoted husband of one of my best friends. He called to tell me that they just had their first child.”
Serenity speared him with a direct stare. “I thought you had to leave.”
His eyes darkened with promise of things yet to come. “Have dinner with me,” his deep timbre coaxed.
“Can’t. I have plans.”
He prowled closer. “Change them.”
“Can’t.” She could but she wasn’t going to give into him, no matter how much she wanted to.
“Who are you trying to fool, sweetling? You don’t have plans. I will be here later to pick you up.”
“I have plans,” Serenity protested, although this time much weaker in her position.
“See you about seven, sweetling.” He leaned down and kissed her one more time. Turning her body to flames before he stepped back to stare at her with a very self-assured grin on his face and fire in his eyes. “Come, Hella, let’s go.”
Brandt trailed his hand down her silken skin. As his fingers ran lightly over her full lips he said, “Until tonight.” Then he left with his dog to go back for a meeting in town.
Chapter Twenty-One
For about five minutes after he left, Serenity tried to regain her sense of order and some decorum. One minute and that man had her ready to rip her clothes off. And here she had mocked her friend Sanura whe
n she had said Gavin made her feel like that.
Seven that evening found Serenity’s house full of laughter and good friends and the smells of wonderful food. They were sitting and standing around in the kitchen eating chips and dip, crackers and cheese, and drinking beer and wine waiting for dinner to be ready.
Set up on the table was a game of cribbage which was being played by Dolly, Violet and Seth. Hank and Serenity were watching the game.
Serenity had changed into a black silk blouse and wore a gauzy floral print skirt that had a slit up the right side. She was barefoot and telling everyone about her phone call earlier.
“Gavin called me to let me know that Sanura finally had her son. He is very healthy, eight pounds and ten ounces, twenty-one inches long. His name is Shemar Matthew Rawlins. So now I need to find a gift to send off.”
Seth looked up from his cards and took a drink of his beer. “I will also. I always liked Sanura.” He muttered a curse as he realized how many points he missed out on by taking his mind off the game—they were playing cutthroat.
Violet was drinking wine and Dolly was drinking tea. Violet held up her glass for a refill and as Serenity took it her stepmother asked a question.
“So are you giving any thought to what you will do once we get back to Alaska?”
Setting the full glass of wine down and refilling Dolly’s tea from the pitcher, Serenity answered, “Not yet. Why? What are you thinking?”
“Aside from the fact that your father doesn’t play this very well…I was thinking that you should work with us. You are wonderful with both dogs and protection.” She glared at her husband as he tried to cheat in his counting.
“Training?” Serenity asked as she took a swig of her beer. “Dog training?”
Violet shook her head as she waited for her turn. “Not exactly. The thing is, we go to a lot of potential clients and do interviews to assess which dogs would be good for them, personally or for their business. You understand sizing up potential security problems and what the risk is for them. A skill that was honed with the bodyguard business. I don’t like all the traveling I have to do anymore.”