“How long were you together?” he questioned softly, liking that she was actually talking to him about something personal.
“Fifteen years off and on…and there was as much off as there was on.” When he didn’t respond but silently continued to play with her hair, she raised her head off his chest and looked at him incredulously. “Do you really want to hear this?” He nodded and smiled sheepishly. She sighed and returned her head to his chest. “I’d been dating Pat about six months when I found out I was pregnant with Jameson. It wasn’t like he was a good boyfriend or anything but once I had the baby, things changed…well, for me anyway. In hindsight, I guess I thought I was supposed to be with him because I had his kid so I tolerated a lot of crap. Whenever he and I were getting along, he would be a good father to Jameson but the minute we would fall out or some other woman would strike his fancy, it wasn’t just me that got dumped. The final straw was when I saw his engagement announcement to another woman in the Sunday paper when he was allegedly living with me. He expected me to carry on as if nothing had changed. Whatever feelings I had for him just seemed to evaporate overnight and I didn’t care anymore. For a while I was afraid I would revert back to old patterns with him but it never happened. They only stayed married for about a year before he was cheating on her and getting divorced. What you just witnessed has been running in a loop ever since. It’s like he hates me now.”
“It may not be love he’s feeling but he’s damn sure jealous as hell seeing you with another man.” Cian drawled. She pulled back to look up into his face and grinned.
“Since we’re sharing, tell me about the stalker you’re hiding out from.”
Warning bells immediately went off in his head. He didn’t know why he hadn’t realized she would expect him to be forthcoming with his own tales of love gone wrong before he had pushed her to share hers. He didn’t want to lie to her but he didn’t have a choice at this point unless he planned on sleeping alone. “I started dating Lani several months ago…nothing really serious. She was a cokehead but of course, I didn’t find that out until later. I broke things off with her when I found out. That’s not something I’m interested in. I went on vacation with my friend, Max…”
“The one that’s coming to visit?” she interrupted. He nodded.
“Yep, the one and only. She followed me there and stirred up some trouble so I went to my parents and she followed me there, as well.” He told his heavily edited story, trying not to lie in fact since he most definitely was lying by omission. “When we realized…uh, she was getting worse, Jay came up with the idea for me to come here until things calmed down with her.” She was looking at him inquisitively, confusion mixed with the questions. Finally, she shrugged and grinned at him.
“That was the most boring stalker story I have ever heard in my life.” She squealed as his hand landed a smack to her rear, before both of them burst out laughing. “Well, I was expecting something more dramatic…you know, like a bunny boiling on the stove or something like that…” He leaned down and planted a loud, smacking kiss on her mouth.
“I’m sorry my ex-girlfriend didn’t butcher any small animals for your entertainment.” He teased, pushing her to her feet before rising to his own. She giggled as he began herding her towards their shared bedroom. When they were standing at the foot of the massive bed, his arms slid around her waist and pulled her back against his front, moving his hips slightly so she could feel his arousal. His lips nuzzled at her neck while his hands roamed freely over the front of her body. She tilted her head to the side to allow him better access and groaned. “I’m going to apologize to you tonight.” He whispered into her ear, his tongue coming out to tease the delicate shell.
“What are you apologizing for?” She inquired, her voice already going soft and husky with her desire. He nipped lightly at her neck causing her to grind her rear against him. He chuckled softly.
“For not kicking the shit out of your ex…” She laughed shakily when his fingers found the zipper under her right arm and began easing it down. “You still have those ties around?” A shiver ran through her body, her head falling back against his shoulder as her dress pooled around her feet.
“Oh.” She sighed while his hands easily divested her of her underwear and began a lazy journey over her naked, sensitized skin. By the time he had her arranged on the bed to his liking and shucked his own clothes, she was more than ready for him when he came towards the bed wearing nothing but a broad grin with the ties in his hand.
“I hope you’re ready for this because I’m real sorry.” He said his voice all deep and sexy, those chocolatey brown eyes sucking her into his fantasy before capturing her mouth for a long, drugging kiss. His last clear thought of the evening was reminding himself to untie her before they passed out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cian deftly steered the rented SUV through the gates, flashing a smug grin at Ava in the passenger seat when they drove up the long, curving drive to her house. “I told you I could get us back to your house…” She snorted out a laugh and motioned to the GPS mounted on the dash.
“I’m not paying you a nickel, Cian Secord. When we made that bet you didn’t tell me you were planning to use a GPS…dear God! A trained monkey could have gotten us home. What kind of real man even knows how to use a GPS?” She teased, laughing at his feigned hurt. He joined in the laughter. She had made him a happy man when she had allowed herself to be talked into renting the SUV and playing tourist for the last couple of days. She’d shown him the New River Gorge with its massive steel-arch bridge and rushing whitewater rapids. If Bridge Day wasn’t during hockey season, he would have loved to see those idiot base jumpers leap off the bridge into the 800+ feet gorge below. And people thought hockey players were crazy. They had went to Babcock State Park to see a scenic mill of some kind and then ridden the Cass Scenic Railroad; what had to be the slowest train in the world to the top of a mountain called Bald Knob. They had damn near frozen their asses off on top of that mountain with its chill temperatures and whipping winds. She had snuggled her body close against him for warmth so he hadn’t minded the frigid temperature very much especially since he got to grope while she giggled and swatted. When they had eventually made it down the mountain she had driven them to Silver Creek Lodge on Snowshoe Mountain to spend the night. He had to admit, West Virginia had some seriously beautiful scenery, but above all he had relished every moment of time he had spent with her. With his past girlfriends, spending the kind of time he had been spending with Ava would have been impossible; every one of them would have grated on his nerves after a few hours, but not Ava. Whether they were talking or sharing comfortable silence, she didn’t annoy him at all…well, unless you counted her ability to piss him off. When she put her mind to it, she could really set him off. Other than that, he had no complaints.
“Hey, there were no rules established prior to…” He stated, planning to continue pleading his case when the sight of a familiar figure coming out the front door of the house gave him pause. “Isn’t that Jay?” he asked in confusion. Ava’s brow instantly knit with worry when she saw her son stalking towards the vehicle with purpose. Cian felt an awful sense of foreboding, knowing Jay showing up in West Virginia unannounced couldn’t be good and dreading facing his friend with the current relationship between himself and Jay’s mom. She was out of the vehicle before he had even brought it to a complete stop, hurrying to her son.
“Honey, what’s wrong? What’s happened?” Her eyes ran over him checking for any signs of injury. Jameson glanced at her, something that closely resembled contempt in his eyes before turning the force of his gaze on Cian.
“You!” Jameson roared and pushed past his mother to shove Cian hard into the side of the SUV. Jameson’s green eyes practically glowed with his rage.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Cian pushed Jameson off him, not wanting to fight his friend in what would be a very unfair advantage on his part. But Jay aggressively pushed up in his face; his jaw
clenched with his anger and shoved him again. Cian felt himself getting angry when his back slammed into the side of the SUV again and he heard Ava gasp. He was distracted from his own anger when he watched her hand come up to cover her mouth, naked fear in her eyes and knew he couldn’t do anything to her son even if he was so inclined. He took a deep, cleansing breath to bring his temper under tight control before shoving Jay off of him again. Jay was a big guy himself at 6’2” with a broad-shouldered, muscular frame but not as big as Cian, plus Jay was not much of a fighter while Cian made his living brawling on the ice.
“Jay, what is this about?” He asked carefully, keeping a wary eye on his friend. Seeing Jay angry was about as common as a Big Foot sighting so there was no predicting what he was going to do, enraged as he was. Jameson sneered at him and crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Cian like he was something distasteful he had found on the bottom of his shoe.
“I let you hideout from that Lani bullshit at my home and to repay me, you’re fucking my Mother?” Jameson’s words spilled out of his mouth like bullets hitting against steel. Cian’s eyes immediately went to Ava who had turned white as a sheet at her son’s angry, profane words and almost got slammed into the side of the SUV again for his concern. He grabbed Jameson by the shoulders and slammed him forcefully into the side of the vehicle, furious with Jay for upsetting Ava. Before he could utter a word in her defense, she pushed past him to glare up at her son with her finger wagging in his face.
“You will not talk about me like that. I am your mother and whether you approve of my life or not, I am still your mother.” She said angrily, her blue eyes flashing fire. She put her finger in Jameson’s chest and poked him repeatedly. “Do I make myself clear, Jameson Ryan Talbot?” Some of the anger immediately dissipated from Jameson’s features and contrition mixed with the anger.
“I’m sorry Mom.” He took a deep breath and seemed to be gathering himself before he reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his customized I-Phone. He spent several seconds scrolling through various menus before turning the phone around and handing it to her without saying another word. Ava’s face flushed with heated embarrassment. Cian was behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder, silently watching the brief video on the small screen. It showed them in the dining room at the Greenbrier laughing and flirting, completely wrapped up in each other and then the damning kiss that was way too passionate to excuse away; the moments right before Patrick had started his shit. Her eyes met Cian’s, the confusion, hurt and embarrassment making Cian want to comfort her in some way. He squeezed her shoulder with silent encouragement, feeling guilty for pursuing her in the first place but Jameson’s next words put an end to the guilt and had him suddenly furious and wanting to hit someone. “Dad sent that to my phone two days ago and I haven’t been able to reach either one of you since then...”
“Patrick sent that to you?” Cian asked in disbelief, glancing at Ava to see her reaction to the news. Jameson nodded, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly.
“That bastard!” She pulled away from Cian to angrily pace, her body vibrating with barely-contained rage. “I didn’t think even he was capable of going this low...”
“Why would this surprise you, Mom?” Jameson’s biting sarcasm added fuel to her rage but he didn’t seem to care. “Nothing is beneath my father. It makes me so damn proud. And to top it all off, I have high definition video of my mother making out with a friend of mine at the Greenbrier, no less. I guess a text message just wouldn’t have done the job.” Her rage dissipated as quickly as it had built, leaving her exhausted and close to tears. She swallowed hard, unable to get past the hard knot in her throat. The sadness and guilt she felt for her son being hurt by her relationship with Cian nearly overwhelmed her. Cian’s angry gaze met her brimming eyes, his expression softening when he noted her distress. She liked him so much. But then she looked at her son; her baby; bristling with hurt and hostility and knew what she would have to do. “This has to stop. If Dad will send this to me, he will send it to anyone that will hurt you.”
“I know.” Ava choked out, not even looking in Cian’s direction. His grim silence spoke volumes as Jameson put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.
“Why don’t you go on in the house, Mom and let me and Cian talk for a minute?” Jameson spoke quietly, his mother’s visible upset bringing out his protective side. She whirled to throw an apprehensive look at Cian, worried that he and Jameson would get into a fight and her son would be hurt. Cian rolled his eyes and gave her a reassuring smile, having no intention of fighting with his friend. She gave him one last look of regret before turning to slowly walk into her house, her shoulders drooping. When the door closed behind her, Jameson turned on him angrily.
“You have to get out of here. It is only a matter of time before my father figures out who you are and when he does, that video will be sold to the highest bidder, posted on YouTube and God only knows where else and then do you know what will happen?” Jameson began to pace back and forth in front of Cian who was leaning against the SUV with his arms crossed over his chest. “My mother’s worst nightmare will come true. The media will park outside her gates, try to climb her walls, fly over in helicopters…what the hell possessed you to get involved with my Mother?” Cian snorted with disgust.
“Do you really think I planned this shit?” He grumbled, looking at Jameson as if he were stupid. “It just happened.”
Jameson’s eyes narrowed with doubt. “Sure it did.” Jay’s shitty attitude was getting on Cian’s nerves. He was willing to cut the dude some slack since he’d just found out his best friend’s brother was banging his mom, but he was a grown ass man and needed to be set straight.
“Since you want to be a dick about it, your mom and I met my first night in town at that bar beside the hotel. You never mentioned your mother’s first name so I had no idea she was your mom.” Cian stated in a matter of fact fashion. Jameson rolled his eyes.
“Pssht…that’s a bunch of bullshit because I know I told her your name…”
“Ahhh…but it was loud in the bar and she thought my name was Ken.” Cian chuckled at the other man’s disgruntled expression. “Needless to say, you can imagine the trouble that caused when I showed up here the next day.”
“You just couldn’t pass it up, could you Superstar?” Jameson’s green eyes flashed with his ire. “Even after you knew it was my mother…”
“Look…I know Ava’s your mom and this sucks for you but it wasn’t like that, Jay.” Cian said tiredly, running his hand over his face. “It just happened. I like your mom.”
“If you like her so much then you understand why you need to get out of here…”
“Is your father a hockey fan?” Cian interrupted. Jameson looked at him as if he were crazy and barked out a laugh.
“Why? You gonna offer him an autographed picture or something?” Jameson questioned snidely. Cian’s glare settled menacingly on his friend.
“Is he a hockey fan or not?”
Jameson shrugged. “No, he’s strictly football and basketball.”
“Then he won’t have any idea who I am.” Cian sighed with relief. “He’s already done the worst thing he could do to Ava by sending it to you. As far as he knows, I’m just some younger guy your mom is dating.”
“So you assume…”
“If he makes the connection, the same shit is gonna happen regardless of whether I’m here or in Boston. The damage is done, Jay.” Cian stated, before adding. “I don’t want to leave yet.” Jameson threw up his hands in frustration.
“When your family finds out about you and my mother, they will probably never let me in their house again…”
“Get a grip, Jay.” Cian deadpanned. “How is my family even going to know?”
“You need to get a grip.” Jameson growled angrily. “She has no idea you are the hockey player with the crazy model ex-girlfriend that is all over the gossip rags. Are you gonna tell her the truth?” he challenged.
“Are you?” Cian responded angrily. “Because as I recall it was your idea not to tell your mother the truth in the first place.”
“Listen Asshole, everything changed when you started a…a sexual relationship with my mother under false pretenses I might add!” Jameson bit out his words. “Do you really think I’m gonna stand by why some guy lies to my mother so she will be his convenient piece of ass…Hey!” Jameson yelled in surprise when Cian reached out and snatched him up by his shirt, his face contorted with his wrath.
“Don’t talk about her like that.” He gritted out in warning. Jameson’s mouth snapped shut, his green eyes regarding Cian with distrust. “Your mother is no one’s convenient piece of ass. If you weren’t Ava’s son, I would beat the hell out of you for even suggesting such a thing. This is the last time I’m gonna say this so pay attention; I like Ava and I respect her. No, she doesn’t know the whole saga of the last few months but what we have is…real.” He abruptly released Jameson whose eyes had rounded in surprise at Cian’s last words. Cian turned and stalked to the house, surprised and irritated with himself. His words had surprised him as much as they had Jameson…but they were the truth. If he wanted a convenient piece of ass, as Jameson had put it, he could have been hooked up with that cute little Sabrina and walked away from her without regret. When Jameson said he had to leave, the thought of leaving Ava had formed some kind of knot in his stomach that was still with him. He didn’t know what it meant but he knew he didn’t want to be separated from Ava…what if she told him to leave?
Melting The Ice Page 16