by V. F. Mason
Well, hell, was there something between them, giving the guy the right to act as though I’d pissed on his territory? Not that I cared much, but still. Not for one second did I believe she’d started something in our three month apart, but maybe before.
Clearly not that serious, since I was the first to take her to bed. And didn’t that thought just please me and make me one chauvinistic fucker?
“That’s because there was no reason to mention anything.” Her voice was cold and her eyes held a challenge. Well, I got her message loud and clear. She was telling me it wouldn’t be easy to come back, but knowing her, I knew it wouldn’t. But I would be damned if some fucker thought he could take her away from me.
“Are you sure?” My question was met with her narrowed eyes.
Before she could answer, I felt a hand on my shoulder and glanced back. Braden Devlin was standing there with his beautiful woman on his arm. He raised his brow, looking amused and a little bit pissed off. I had a big suspicion it had to do with that almost naked picture by the river, where I was lying down, looking pleased with myself, and some girl was near. It was the moment of our first time skin-to-skin by the lake.
“Shane.” He nodded and held his hand out to me. I shook it. There was a kind of warning in his shake, but I didn’t mind. I never expected it to be easy. I liked the fact he loved her and gave a damn.
“Hello, sir. Do you mind if I talk to Serena for a minute alone?” I wanted to talk to her, but I did not intend to steal her for the night. Not right then at least. She deserved to enjoy her moment of glory. Later on though, all bets were off.
“I can speak for myself, thank you very much.” God, she was so perfect.
“I know, beautiful.” I winked and she just raised an eyebrow, clearly not impressed.
“Sure, Shane, you can have a few minutes, but then I need my daughter back. We need to celebrate her success.”
Yeah, like I believed that. The old man was just making sure I stayed here and gave me a warning not to leave the place with her and not to upset her. I looked at her and knew she was about to refuse, and I had to grab on to it while I had the chance.
“Serena, a few minutes, that’s it,” I said quietly.
After several seconds, she nodded and excused herself from the rest of the crowd. We went into the private section of the gallery. Since she was walking in front of me, I had a great view of her ass from behind, even though I frowned a little at her dress. A bit too short for my taste and hugging her body too tightly, exposing my favorite curves and those shapely legs of hers. I wanted to touch her pale skin and run my fingers over it, but I had to take my head out of the gutter. Those things wouldn’t make her mine again, though in my mind she’d always been mine.
Finally, she stopped at the balcony, which opened to a view of the busy New York streets. The lights from cars and everything else made it seem like something magical, and for the first time, I saw the appeal of the big city. Something about it set the world on fire.
“Talk.” Well, wasn’t she the one to get to business immediately?
“How are you?”
She blinked at me in disbelief. “You came all the way here to ask me how I am?”
“No, I came here to apologize.”
“Apologize?” she asked, clearly confused. “For what?”
“For being an ass. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”
“Yeah, well, you did, so what’s the point?”
“I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry I ended things like that, that I didn’t say goodbye, and—” She raised her hand to stop me, and I had no other choice but to close my lips.
“Apology accepted. You can go back now. No need to feel guilty.” She made a move to go back inside, but I stopped her with my arm around her waist.
“Wait a minute. I didn’t come here out of guilt.”
“Let go of me, Shane. Whatever you came for, I forgive you. Are you happy now?”
“No.”
She stopped struggling and just glared at me, and her soft perfume of lavender and vanilla washed over me. I missed her smell and wanted to bury my face into her neck, inhale her, and just be with her. When she was in my arms, the world seemed calm and beautiful.
Just like her.
“Then what do you want?”
She was hurt, and I was doing the explanation all wrong. She wasn’t supposed to want to get away; she was supposed to listen. I wanted to explain, to tell her about my trip to Houston and everything else, but the moment I looked into her eyes and saw the pain she held there, I wanted nothing more than to hold her and kiss her.
Fuck the logic, I fucking wanted a taste of her.
Serena
I recognized what would happen before he even made a move to lean toward me. The arousal, I’d seen so many times before in his eyes, but it was different. It was mixed with desperation and longing. I didn’t want the kiss to happen. He’d let me go. He’d allowed me to go and didn’t fight for me or for us just two days after he’d told me he loved me.
What kind of love was that?
All that, though, didn’t make me move away. At once, his lips were on mine. He slowly licked my upper lip. He hugged me tight, making me gasp in surprise, which allowed his tongue to enter my mouth, and we both groaned.
I’d missed it so much, the taste of him, the way he held me as though he was afraid to let me go. I couldn’t help myself. I circled his neck and pushed my hand into his hair. Our kiss deepened, causing my nipples to tingle. He slowly pushed me to the wall and tried to press between my thighs, causing reality to crash in.
I was at the art gallery, at my first show, yet here I was allowing him to kiss me while he was the one who broke it off. Yes, what he made me feel was amazing, wonderful, out of this world—but I’d felt like that before in his arms, and he’d ruined it, broken my heart, and I couldn’t take his crap anymore.
I pulled my mouth away to breathe and pushed him back, and surprisingly he allowed it.
Breathing hard, his eyes bored into mine.
“Don’t do this.” My voice was husky from desire, and I hated that part of me was still questioning why the hell I stopped it, even though I knew it was the right thing to do.
“Why not?”
“Because it means nothing.” I couldn’t believe he needed to ask.
“It means everything!”
“Why? It didn’t mean anything when you kissed me goodbye while making love to me.” He retreated, and I really didn’t get what the hell we were doing here. I didn’t want to have a public scene, or worse break down in front of him. “Look, Shane, I get it. I lied to you and you can’t forgive me, but you felt badly and needed to apologize. I accepted it, and I want to move on. So thanks for the visit, for giving me closure and all, but I really have a party to get back to, okay?” I moved toward the terrace, a bit disappointed he’d said nothing to stop me, and I was about to open the door when I heard his quiet voice.
“I don’t want closure. I want you.” My body froze at his words, afraid of what they meant and the emotions they brought up in me. He wasn’t finished. “I lashed out at you, and I shouldn’t have done that. I mean, it was bad of you to lie, but I was afraid.”
Finally, I turned to face him. “Afraid of what?”
“That I wouldn't be able to give you what you want.”
Frowning, I didn’t get him at all. “Give me what I want?”
“The amazing life you have here, money, and all those dreams about Europe. I can’t give you that.”
It was about money? He left me because of damned money? Suddenly, I was pissed off. “You thought I would—” He didn’t let me finish though.
“Don’t say you wouldn’t or anything else. We don’t know that. Yes, you handled living on the ranch without all the luxuries you have here, but it was temporary, and you knew you had an out at any time. Living with me though? It would be permanent. There would be no getting out of it once you got bored, and we would have to face lots
of shit together. I don’t want your dad’s money, and you know I would never take the help. You though? You are used to his help.”
I had nothing to say to that because he was right, but it wasn’t the point. The point was I loved him more than I loved the life I had. How different would it be? I’d already moved from my dad’s, had a career going, and yeah, I used money from my dad for my education, but I don’t think that was such a bad thing. Part of me respected that he didn’t need money or anything else from me.
Like he said, just me.
Just freaking me.
How awesome was that?
I had to admit that maybe if the summer experience hadn’t happened, I would have never taken the step to be on my own and believed I could survive. Maybe my love wouldn’t be strong enough if I didn’t know how to handle the outside world. I’d learned, and I was ready for anything. Our breakup allowed me to come to terms with what I wanted and the direction to take my life.
I was so deep in thought that I almost missed the fact he kept talking.
“I have a degree in business administration and had a scholarship playing football. Never liked it much, but I was good at it and knew it would be my ticket to the rich life. Got lots of offers from different teams, but I refused all of them. The NFL was an amazing opportunity, just not for me.” No, I imagined it wasn’t. “I like finances and received some offers from the corporate world, which I put on hold while I addressed the whole Hawk situation and my roots. Now though, I have the means to start my career.”
“Shane—” It was like he didn’t hear me.
“I got an offer from a firm in New York. Never was much interested, because I didn’t like the city on the one occasion when I visited. I prefer Houston. It’s something I’m used to and I love the fucking town.” He smiled as if remembering something great that happened to him. Then he became serious again and looked at me. “But for you? I’d move here in a heartbeat, because I know everything you love is here. That is, if you want me,” he finished, and I was left speechless.
I didn’t recognize this guy. He just offered to move his entire life here, so he could be with me. I wasn’t stupid; I knew what he meant. No one was talking about marriage. We were both too young for that and had our whole lives ahead of us. It was, however, a long-term commitment, and he was asking if I was ready for life with him and everything that came with it, if I’d choose him over money.
He was asking if he was enough.
He was freaking asking?
But I remembered how cold he was that last day on the ranch, and that was holding me back. I hated it. I knew what he offered was something I truly wanted, but I didn’t feel like I was brave enough to reach for it, knowing he could reject me again.
“What if it gets hard for you?” I asked. “You were the one who pushed me away when things got tough. How can I be sure you won’t do it again? I don’t know if I can be with you while you do whatever you please because you think it’s the right thing to do.”
Shane came closer but didn’t touch me, just looked at me with those blue eyes of his, which held so much promise. I wanted to give in, but I couldn’t do that, not before he reassured me.
“I can’t promise that, baby.” My face fell. “I can’t promise I won’t freak out or think you deserve better. Hell, I know you deserve better. The thing is, you’ll be with me, and I’ll be able to look at you and know you love me, and that’ll help me to go on. You would help me.”
I knew he spoke the truth. I would be there to soothe him, and he wouldn’t run away, because it would be only the two of us.
Finally, I smiled for real for the first time in a long time as I launched myself into his arms. I was finally home, and it felt so good. When I raised my head, I saw him smiling at me, but there was still vulnerability in his eyes, as though he wasn’t sure what my reaction meant.
“I love you,” I assured him, and his eyes heated, becoming darker blue, full of emotions. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them back up again, he seemed more relaxed and had his aura of confidence back.
“Thank you, baby.”
“For what?”
“For giving me a chance.” With those words, he kissed me gently and all other thoughts flew from my mind.
My warrior conquered the dragon, came into the castle, and took the princess.
And they say fairy tales don’t come true.
One year later
Shane
I entered our apartment with dread, hearing a loud *NSYNC song playing in the background and Serena’s off-tune voice shouting the lyrics.
She loved that song, said it helped her concentrate on her painting, and well, who was I to argue with her? As a result, that shit was playing all over the apartment several times a day, though she tried to put it on while I wasn’t home. I didn’t admit that all that repetition kind of made me like the song. Picturing her in her white shirt and shorts wiggling her amazing ass to the music while she put colors on the canvas didn’t hurt either.
Placing my keys on the table and the last moving box on the floor, I looked around. She’d done some cleaning, because the apartment was organized and all the boxes were gone. The smell coming from the stove was amazing, and I realized she’d cooked, too.
I loved my girl with food or not, but sometimes I was really grateful she’d learned all those things on the ranch. There were often times when she overcooked something, and I had to pretend it was good, but she knew I was lying. Later on at night, though, she rewarded me for being so cute, as she said. Win-win as I called it.
Strolling to her studio, where she created magic with her work, I couldn't fucking wait to put my hands on her. The studio was her domain, and I usually stayed out of there. Unless my girl was feeling naughty, then I was always game for some experimenting.
“Baby?” I called, but it was useless, because she couldn’t hear a thing over that music. I tried again, and finally the music was turned down.
“Shane?”
“I’m home.” I heard some rumbling as she rinsed her hands. She came to me wearing, as I said, shorts, a tight shirt, and a smile. Her hair was messy and she wasn’t wearing any makeup. I preferred her that way anyway. It didn’t mean I didn’t love her when she dressed up and used makeup to accentuate her fuck-me eyes.
I just loved everything about my girl.
She circled my neck and stood on tiptoes so we could kiss. As usual, it was hot, deep, and wet. She welcomed me home as though she’d waited all day for my return. She gave me a place where I felt I was needed, and for that, I would always be grateful.
After she forgave me, we made love that night. The next day, we flew to Houston to see my aunt and pack some of my things. Those two instantly hit it off. Aunt Tara was happy for us and told me she could finally be okay with me leaving, because, in her mind, I’d found peace. I liked the fact she was with Eric and he made her happy. They wanted to take a one-year cruise and she was excited.
As long as she was happy, I was happy.
“How was your day?” Serena asked as she played with the collar of my shirt and scratched my scalp. I groaned at the sensations she created in my body.
“It was okay, though my ass hurts from all the sitting,” I grumbled, and she just laughed, the little minx.
After I’d made my confession at her gallery opening, we talked with her dad, and surprisingly, he approved of our relationship. I wasn’t expecting that, but I wasn’t arguing with it either. She showed me her apartment, and although I liked it, I knew with my starting salary we wouldn’t be able to afford it, and we would have to move. I agreed to live there until we found something more suitable for both of us.
So we searched for something downtown and found a place. Yeah, it wasn’t something she was used to, but the rent was decent and the people too, and the neighborhood didn’t make me sweat in fear for her safety when I wasn’t there to take her home. I accepted the firm’s position and started as a finance advisor. The pay was great,
but I wanted to save up for a good apartment and our future. She was studying in college and her art was selling, but I didn’t care about her money. She used it on food and rent because we were a team, she said, even though I didn’t want her to, but I should have known my girl wouldn’t let me win that argument. We took our time, saving money for the life we wanted. We planned to move back to Houston once she finished college.
We had all the fucking time in the world.
Today was our one-year anniversary since we got back together, and I had something special for my girl, something she would like. She’d already given me her gift yesterday, when she greeted me in nothing but body paint made of chocolate that I could play, lick, and taste all I wanted. We made love for hours.
“I have a gift for you, babe.” Gently, I let her go and went back to the living room to bring the small box I had for her. She looked at me questioningly, but opened it eagerly. I knew from last Christmas and her birthday that she loved presents. She took the lid off, looked inside, and froze. I didn’t know what to make of her reaction. Shit, I’d expected a lot of things, but that wasn’t one.
Didn’t she like it? She finally raised her eyes to me in shock.
“You bought me… you bought me designer shoes?”
Well, yeah, I did. The shoes were fucking expensive, but I knew she loved shoes and especially that brand, but she didn’t buy them anymore. Since we’d moved in together, she’d shifted to more affordable brands or simply used her old collection. I wanted to buy something for her that she would feel good about, but I felt like I’d just fucked up all over again.
“Yeah, don’t you like them?” I had to ask.
“I love them, baby,” she whispered, and hugged me. “I just don't understand why you would do it.”
“Because you love them?”
“But they cost so much!”
“It’s for you. Yeah, right now we can’t afford to buy them every day, but in time, it’ll be better. You’ll have all the shoes you want, babe. You have my word on it.” She deserved only the best, and in time, we’d get there.