The Darkest Danger (Shattered Series Book 2)

by Chloe D. Ashton

  His words were enough to sober her, and again, she faced the stark reality of their situation. In a flash, her fear returned for his safety and Meghan’s.

  And the reality was they both stood to die as long as they were near her.

  “No,” she said adamantly, and again a sense of desperation claimed her. Pulling free of his hold, she moved from the door. She faced him in the semi-darkness. “I’m not leaving---I’m going to stay. This is my life now. It’s time that we both accept that.”

  “What?” he asked in disbelief. “You want to tell me what just happened here- --what’s with the 180? You tell me you love me… that you want to make love to me…hell, you practically stripped me naked. But now, a split second later, you’re all about marrying that son-of-a-bitch? No, it doesn’t add up, Olivia---”

  She lifted her chin. “Matt and I are getting married in a few months---”

  “The hell you are,” he cursed, and his green eyes seemed to blaze in the darkness. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Well, you can’t stop me!” she fought back, turning from him, and was already stooping down to pick his clothes from the floor. “And I don’t know what I was thinking, saying that I loved you, asking you to make love to me---I mean, I am an engaged woman---”

  Before she could get the words out, he whirled her around, and she gasped in surprise. She held the crumpled clothes between them as defense.

  “What is that bastard threatening you with?” he demanded, gripping her upper arms. “What has he said or done to make you this afraid?”

  “Nothing,” she lied, pulling free of his hold, and looked away from him. “The truth of the matter is that he is my fiancé. You’re not. Our time together was nothing but a lie, and I suppose that by seeing you again, I just got caught up in the fantasy again. And that’s what we are, Jarrod---a fantasy. Nothing about us and what we shared on the island was real.”

  “The hell it wasn’t real, and by you saying otherwise, you’re lying to yourself and me,” he quipped tightly. “What’s going on with you? The things that you’re saying, they’re not making any sense.”

  “Of course it makes sense,” she stressed, swallowing hard, and wondered if she could continue with her façade. “You were dealing with a broken past and I was too. Our being together was just a convenient escape for the both of us.” Talking fast, she rambled on. “Seeing you again tonight, it was a shock at first, and then as usual, I settled into the comfortable habit of leaning on you for answers and guidance. My needy behavior from earlier with me trying to seduce you and everything, please forgive me for it. Old habits die hard, I suppose.”

  “Olivia, would you just cut it with all of this nonsense and just be straight with me---”

  ”I’m sorry for leading you on this way,” she said as if he hadn’t spoken. “I suppose like you, I’m not a perfect human being and make mistakes as well. And I made one by leading you on just now.” She paused. “I do care about you, and maybe I’m infatuated with you in a sense. But, we can’t be together, not like that anymore. It’s not right. It’s best if we just be friends from this point forward.”

  “Friends? Certainly, you can’t mean strictly platonic friends and nothing more,” he scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s not even a possibility for us---”

  “Well, that’s what we have to be from here on.”

  “So, you just turn your emotions and feelings off like a light switch?” he asked with a hint of anger. “Damn it, Olivia! That’s not who you are---”

  “I’m sorry if my words hurt you. But, the truth is just what it is, Jarrod. On the island, I had no clue as to who I was or what I really wanted. You were the only thing that represented life for me then. Like I’ve said before, it’s only natural that I still want to cling to it like a child, especially since my memories are still broken.” As the deep silence hummed, she didn’t look at him. For if she did, would she get the lies out? “Back then, you were my only hope. A part of me is still trying to cling to that. But, now, I have my real life back, and it’s time that I truly embrace it. That means letting you and Meghan go.” Finally, she forced herself to look at him, and again, she nearly crumpled at the raw pain on his face. “I want you to leave.” She shoved the clothes in his waiting arms. “If you don’t go on your own, I’m going to call security.”

  “Fuck, call whoever in the hell you want,” Jarrod cursed, angered, and the veins bulged in his neck. With barely restrained patience, he hurled the clothes to the floor. “But, if you believe for one second that I’m going to allow you to stay here---

  “Allow? Don’t tell me you’re about to throw one of your infamous temper tantrums,” she scoffed, carrying her act further. “In case it’s escaped your notice, Mr. Sabatino, this is my life, not yours. And I’m going to live it as I please. No longer can you control the things that I say and do.” Turning away from him, she crossed the room to the sitting area. “I’m going to get dressed, and it’d be best if you’d just get your friends, take leave, and go.”

  Just how she found the chaise lounge in the darkened area of the room, she didn’t know. She grabbed the expensive gown from it. But, as she whirled around, she collided into nothing but solid muscle.

  “Jarrod, I want you to go, now,” she said, wetting her lips, planting her hands against his chest. The heat from his skin nearly seared her alive. “Please, just go.”

  “No, I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked, feeling her desperation rise again. “Just let me go.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “But, you have to,” she pleaded, counting every beat as his heart beat thundered under her gentle touch. “For both of our sakes.”

  “The bastard has spent these past weeks intimidating you, hasn’t he?” he asked roughly, grasping her chin, forcing her eyes to his. “Made you afraid to trust in yourself and me. Tell me the truth.”

  She pulled free of his hold. “The truth is, I don’t want to be with you anymore, not when I know where my real future lies. Which is with Matt,” she lied, forcing the words out again, and headed for the bathroom. With shaky hands, she reached for the light switch beside the door and turned the floodlights to a dim low. “It’d be best if you’d let go of the fantasy as well. I’m going to get dressed. When I come out, I want you to be gone. Please, whatever you do, never contact me---”

  Her words ended as her back met the bathroom door, and once more, she faced the danger before her.

  Every hard, muscled inch of her dangerous lover---

  He stepped back.

  Now, several feet separated them.

  Yet, she felt the intensity.

  And dear heavens, didn’t she want it to consume every part of her?

  All of him…

  He was everything.

  And wasn’t he a majestic wonder, she mulled, running a drugged gaze over him.

  The white shirt, loose and hanging open, bared nothing but a solid wall of chest. Against his tanned skin, the white fabric was in sharp contrast, and his dark hair no longer fell in deep waves, but was unkempt and mussed. By gads, he’d never been manlier, she mulled, inhaling a fast breath.

  A picture of wild, uncontrollable abandonment is what he represented, she thought, sucking in a desperate breath. And if he unleashed its sensual wrath upon her, could she withstand it?

  A thrill chased her senses as his eyes roamed over her, from head to toe, and the heat infused her already hot, trembling body.

  His stare was primal.

  She sensed his intent.

  Her own surrender---

  The expensive evening gown fell from her hold.

  Chapter 4

  “Jarrod, don’t,” she whispered breathlessly, placing a shaky hand at her nape. At her pulse point, she felt the erratic beating. “Please.”

  “Don’t what?” he asked thickly, sliding another heated look over her scantily clad body. “Make you remember that you’re alive
only when you’re with me?”

  “That’s not true---”

  “My beautiful little liar, don’t lie to yourself or me,” he rasped, loosening the buttons at his wrist. “Besides, isn’t that my motto, anyway? Running and pretending not to feel things when the truth is it burns your very soul.”

  “I---I,” she stammered, holding her breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The hell you don’t,” Jarrod fired back, shrugging the shirt off, advancing towards her slowly. “I’m not going to let you run away from me anymore than you’ll let me from you.”

  But, just when she thought he’d meet her, he stopped, flicking another intense look over her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, barely managing to get the words out. Her own hold tightened around her nape, but still it did little to mar her rising pleasure. “Before, you said that we couldn’t, and you were right.”

  “Maybe so,” he admitted, hauling in a ragged breath and it was clear that he was teetering on the edge of his own private destruction. “But, right now. I have to prove something.”

  Her single word was a whisper. “What?”

  “That together, we’re bigger than any problem that we face. We will not be denied.”

  “I’m not denying anything---”

  “Stop lying to yourself. Isn’t that what you’ve always asked me to do?” he asked, and a challenge gleamed in his eyes. “The real woman---the woman that I love, she faced me earlier, moments before the fear took precedence, didn’t she? Like now, she trembled with anticipation, afraid yet eager at the prospect of what I’d do to her. And that woman is you…isn’t it, my sweet Olivia?”

  “No,” she said breathlessly, holding his stare. “I---”

  A dangerous look glinted in his eyes as he raised a finger to his lips. “Shhhhh…there you go again using words when they’re not needed,” he muttered in his deep and sexy tone. “Let the silence breathe in this crazy madness that’s between us. But, I don’t think that even it can withstand it.”

  Helpless, she stood transfixed.

  And again, she mulled at his magnificence.

  Breathing fast, she touched her lips, feeling her own self-destruction arriving.

  Their eyes met again.

  “Jarrod,” she breathed. “Please---”

  “Can I look at you?” he asked huskily, still not making any moves toward her, and released a hard breath. “You can never imagine how many nights you’ve haunted my dreams. I could literally taste you in the dark nights of my madness. And I remember just how sweet you taste.” His eyes locked with hers again, and his look was so vulnerable that she wanted to weep. “And you remember, too, don’t you, sweet baby? The way you tremble when I put my tongue deep inside you and wring every drop of honey from between your thighs.”

  “Jarrod---” she whispered, on the brink of tears. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Why am I doing this?” he whispered back, striding towards her slowly, and the tears shone in his eyes. When he stopped before her, she caught sight of the single tear streaming down his cheek. “Why are you doing this? After everything that we’ve done to get to this point, why are you turning away from me, Olivia? Why?” He grabbed her hand in his, raising to his lips, and then kissed the inside of her palm. As his tortured gaze met hers again, the bright tears glistened in his eyes. “These last weeks have been hell, and they proved one thing. I’m nothing but a shell of a man without you. Don’t ask me to go back to that dark place where I existed alone and too afraid to let anyone in. When the shit hits the fan with Addison, it’s going to take everything that we got to hold on. Fight for me…fight for us. I don’t want to spend another day without you.” His low words were desperate. “I need you--”

  “I love you,” she wept, finally crumpling under the pressure, and stepped into his waiting arms. Shutting her eyes tight, she absorbed his strength. “I’m so scared, Jarrod, of what he’ll do to you and Meghan.” She pressed a wet cheek against his chest. “He said that he’d kill the both of you if you were to ever get close to me, again.” Desperate, she stepped back, looking up at him. She framed his face in her shaky hands. “How can I allow that to happen when I have the power to stop it? You and Meghan have been through enough, you’ve lost too much already. That’s why you have to walk away from me…that’s why you have to let me go---”

  “I’m not afraid of that bastard,” Jarrod spat, and fire blazed in his eyes. “If it’s a war that he wants, he sure in the hell is going to get one.”

  “And if you die, what happens then?” she asked, angered. “Meghan becomes a fatherless child, and I’m without you? How could you even ask me to contemplate such a thing?” She clung to his waist. “That’s why I need you to leave---until I can figure out how to fix this thing with Matt. There has to be a way.”

  “This vendetta is between Addison and me, not you. My only regret is that you’ve been caught in the crossfire,” he murmured, pulling her close, comforting her. “I don’t want you to worry. Everything’s going to work out the way that it’s supposed to. Trust me on this, okay?”

  “Ok,” she sighed, relenting, nodding against his chest. “I trust you with anything and everything. And you’re right, we will find a way to beat these odds.”

  “Promise me that you won’t leave me,” he said thickly, pulling back slightly. “No matter how bad things get in the hours and days ahead, say that you’ll stay with me and mean it.” The vulnerability played across his face. “Promise me.”

  She grew teary again. “I promise---no matter what.”

  “Baby, I don’t want to fight anymore,” he murmured, and in the semi-darkness, his eyes seemed to peer deep into her soul. “I just want to be with you.”

  “I want to be with you,” she admitted softly. “It’s all that I’ve ever wanted.”

  “Then, let’s not talk about Addison anymore. I just want it to be us in this room alone and nothing more. We’re going to take advantage of this brief respite from the danger that waits,” he said huskily, pinning her with a heated look, and at once, he took control of the seduction. “…and give in to what we both want.” As he stepped back once more, a seductive smile played on his lips. “So, why don’t we hit instant replay and get back to what we started.”

  Again, the thrills chased her senses as his eyes swept over her. “I love looking at you,” he murmured, low, sliding his hot gaze over her, and released an unsteady breath. “Damn Olivia, you are so fucking hot and sexy…it’s taking everything in me not to explode.”

  Without a word, he closed the distance between them, and again, she embraced the searing heat, though, he hadn’t laid a single hand on her. Desperate, needy, she bit her lip, quieting the pleas and wanton whispers that threatened to flee from her mouth.

  Like before, he braced both hands on the door above her head, but this time, he pressed his hard body against hers. “I’ve never taken you against a door before have I?” he asked huskily, staring down at her, and a dangerous gleam shone in his eyes. Sucking in a hard breath, pinning her against the door, he made one slow thrust against her scantily clad form, ripping a breathless gasp from her. “Nothing is more tantalizing than the thought of taking you like this. Do you imagine the whole world will hear our madness because I won’t be able to hold anything back? Neither will you.”

  She gripped his waist. “I won’t scream…” she whispered, wetting her lips, tilting her head back to stare up at him. “I just want you to touch me like you used to. I won’t make a sound---”

  Once more, he stepped away from her, but she still felt the fiery heat of their brief embrace.

  “Oh, we both know that’s not true, don’t we, sweet love,” he asked thickly, stepping back, and slay her with another tempting look. “When I’m inside of you, you’re as senseless and crazed as I am. By not crying out, you wouldn’t be true to yourself. And are you willing to deny yourself the right to such total ecstasy and abandonment? I’m not and neither should you.
” He gave a sexy smile. “There’s no need to worry. The walls are solid, so we’re safe to be the carnal and savage animals that we are when we make love. No one will hear when we both come apart.”

  As he moved close again, she released a soft whimper of need. Reaching past her, he flicked the light switch off, bathing the room in darkness again. Just why it heightened her arousal, she couldn’t explain, she mulled, breathing fast.

  “Do you know what I’m going to do to you?”

  Her one word was breathless. “Jarrod---”

  “I am going to touch you, taste you, and do whatever else to satisfy our explosive needs. And you’re going to do more than scream when I put my hands and mouth on you and inside you,” he taunted, tracing a finger along her heaving cleavage on down to her midriff. When she shivered, he offered her another dangerous smile. “And I know that’s what you want---me inside you in anyway that you can have it, right?”

  And he was right, she realized, leaning into him.

  She did want him in any and every way…

  And when they made love, didn’t her screams and cries rival a banshee? As for control, she mulled, feeling her breathing quicken, she didn’t possess any where he was concerned.

  They were crazy fools in love.

  For they were always tempting fate, she mulled, drugged, gasping wildly as he turned her, and found herself facing the bathroom door.

  Tonight, certainly wasn’t any different.

  The darkness closed in, embracing their hunger.