Refresh

by Suzanne Steele

  Kindle Edition

  ©Refresh

  ©Fallen Angels Series

  Copyright © 2013 Suzanne Steele

  Published by Suzanne Steele

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of Fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales, are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All other characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. The author acknowledges the trademark status of various products and locales referenced in this fictional work, which have been used without permission. The use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. All rights reserved. No part of this book can be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Cover photo Vinicius Henrique

  Edited by Eda Price Editing

  Formatting by Suzanne Steele

  Thank you for downloading this e-book.

  Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

  All content herein is protected under copyright law.

  This e-book is Rated 17+

  To the reader

  The men I write about are Alpha males in every sense of the word. They are the men society warns us about. They are dominant males with controlling tendencies. They are the men you know you should stay away from, and yet are drawn to like a moth to a flame.

  If you are looking for a sweet romance, you won't find it here. What you will find is dark passion. My heroes often carry what would be considered an obsession for the women they love. Each character I create has demanded that their voice be heard. I have been true to that calling. I have stayed true to their personalities and to the beliefs that drive the choices they make, with which the reader may not always agree. The world my characters occupy is dark and often their love is dysfunctional but, nonetheless, their stories must be told.

  Stalk Me…

  Suzanne Steele’s Blog: http://suzannesteelesblog.wordpress.com/

  Suzanne Steele’s Twitter:

  https://twitter.com/Suzanne_Steele_

  Suzanne Steele’s Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/suzannesteele

  Suzanne Steele’s Facebook:

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suzanne-Steele/160387180790420?ref=hl

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty One

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Chapter Thirty Four

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  The silver picture frame stopped Rain in her tracks. Perched elegantly on the console table by the front door, it contained a photograph of a man and a woman. She lifted the frame and gazed longingly at the couple. They were standing so close together, as if they couldn’t get close enough. Her head was tilted back as she smiled seductively up at her handsome, dark-haired companion. He was leaning in toward her as he cradled her head in his hands. His dark eyes were fixed hungrily on her full, red lips, which were parted as if she knew what was coming next.

  Her stomach clenched as she recalled those long, elegant fingers in her unruly auburn curls as he cupped the back of her head. She knew her husband’s features better than her own, especially the possessive gleam that had warmed his dark eyes as he’d gazed down at her in that moment.

  The image had been captured by the official photographer at a gala celebrating the expansion of the local library. The new wing was the pet project of a local Russian philanthropist who was rumored to have connections to organized crime. Some library patrons had theorized that the Russian’s devotion to the literary arts might be a form of penance for past sins. Blaze had spoken with the man himself that evening, discussing at length the importance of sustaining the cultural arts in the wake of the Digital Age. Since then, he’d made no secret of his admiration for the Russian’s tenacity. The photograph had arrived via courier a couple of days later, with a note from their host’s wife indicating that she had never before seen the intimate connection between a husband and wife captured so perfectly.

  At the moment the photographer had snapped the picture that held pride of place in the foyer of their home, Rain had felt an inexplicable urge to be skin-to-skin with Blaze, to rub herself against him like a greedy cat. When they had finished making the rounds and thanked their hosts, it hadn’t taken them long to end up back home, indulging in several rounds of sheet-clawing, animalistic fucking.

  Rain ran her fingertip longingly over the image of her husband’s face. The picture hadn’t been taken all that long ago, but it might as well have been a thousand years. When had things become so difficult? Her love for Blaze was as consuming as ever, but he had erected a wall between them that was nothing short of baffling. When–and why–had their soul-deep connection faded into the background?

  She placed the frame back down on the console table and looked despairingly into the gilded mirror above it. Even though the circumstances of her life seemed nearly unrecognizable these days, she looked very much the same as ever: deep auburn hair, bright blue eyes, a sprinkling of freckles over her pert nose and high cheekbones, and skin the color of creamed coffee. She wore her Dominican ethnicity with pride.

  Once upon a time not so long ago, she’d had it on good authority from her husband that she had full lips made to be nibbled and kissed, hair that begged to be pulled, and a body that was meant to be used hard. At least, that’s what he used to tell her, taking pains to prove it as he’d fucked her with unrestrained carnal fury.

  Oh, how she missed the passion they had shared–in and out of the bedroom. When had things between them gotten so wretchedly polite?

  It hadn’t always been that way. When they had first met, it was the classic story of eyes meeting across a crowded room–or a crowded market, in their case. He had approached her on a bright, sunny morning while she did her family’s shopping in her village marketplace. She prided herself on her independent nature, but one look at the handsome stranger and she had known with absolute certainty that she would have gone anywhere with him. How could someone she’d never seen before seem so familiar?

  She had stood there like a statue, ignoring the irritable looks and comments from shoppers who had to step around her. As the stranger had made his way through the crowd, nothing else had mattered to Rain. He was all she could see. She had been sheltered all her life, but the closer he got, the harder it was not to walk right into his arms where she knew she belonged. Even if she had been too innocent to fully understand
the energy that crackled between them, the attraction had been instant and raw. She had been powerless against the sensual pull of attraction that had simmered low in her belly whenever she was in his presence.

  Blaze had been single-minded in his efforts to get a ring on her finger, and he had succeeded in short order. After some initial misgivings, her parents had agreed and they’d been married. When he had finally gotten her beneath him in their marriage bed, their sexual chemistry had been explosive. But lately he seemed strangely distant and remote, even in bed. His sexual prowess wasn’t in question; he always made sure she climaxed before he found his own release. But lately he was holding himself in such tight check that his efforts in bed, while masterful, bordered on clinical. So what the hell had happened?

  More and more, Rain worried that their marriage had reached a point of no return, an impasse that would make it impossible to rekindle the dying embers of a passion that had once burned so bright. In hindsight, the whole thing was heartbreaking. She had taken for granted that they would endure, outlasting other couples who seemed to fall in and out of love on a whim.

  Maybe she had expected too much. Maybe she and Blaze were just like everyone else after all: people fell in love with the idea of someone, then they fell out of love when faced with the real thing, and before long they were divorced. Thank God there were no kids to suffer through their marriage’s seemingly inevitable fade to black.

  Rain pressed her hands flat onto the console table, her head and shoulders drooping as she closed her eyes and took a slow, shuddering breath. All she had to do now was figure out how to leave a man she couldn’t live without.

  She could hold her own financially. As a popular illustrator of several bestselling children’s books, her imagination was off the charts. Maybe she’d finally write a book of her own. She’d had a persistent idea for a decidedly adult plot for a while now, but worried that the story wouldn’t be innovative enough, or that it would explore dark issues that no one would want to bring out into the light. Love vs. hate. Good vs. evil. Angels vs. demons.

  Rain had been labeled as ADHD as a small child and, as much as she hated labels of any kind, she had made peace with the idea of it long ago. In fact, she liked to think her rapid-fire thought process powered her creativity. When ideas for the book weren’t keeping her up at night, the vivid images haunted her dreams: celestial beings battling forces of unspeakable evil for mankind’s very soul.

  Rain straightened and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, her movements jerky and rushed as she fought a surge of unwelcome emotions. She grimaced at a few stubborn curls that fought her efforts to restrain them. She would do what she always did when unwanted thoughts ravaged her brain: she would run. And not a nice, relaxed jog, either. Tonight she was going to hit the streets of Louisville hard, as if the fires of Hell were licking at her heels.

  Blaze’s eyes narrowed when the front door quietly clicked shut. His leather desk chair creaked as he leaned back, resting his head against the tufted, high seatback. From his vantage point behind his desk, he took in the view from the bay window that faced the street.

  As he sipped his Kentucky bourbon, he could see Rain’s departing shadow slide along the columns on the front porch. Polite society would probably say it was too early to be drinking–even the good stuff–but fuck it; it was five o’clock somewhere.

  He knew a typical husband would be worried about his wife jogging alone at dusk. Although the idea itself didn’t please him, the thought of harboring such a concern only made him chuckle. His wife was a certified sixth Sigma black belt. God help any fool who tried to give her trouble. With her girl-next-door ethnic looks and that sexy sprinkling of freckles over her nose, it would be easy for a foolish man to think he could overpower her, and even easier for her to prove him wrong. There were a number of foolish men in her village who could attest to that and had the scars to prove it.

  Blaze and Rain were the epitome of ‘opposites attract’. The impeccably dressed Silicon Valley business shark and the streetwise Dominican femme fatale. He was proud to be the man she chose to spend her life with, proud of how people seemed to gravitate toward her without understanding why. Her special brand of understated, sexy charisma had certainly worked its magic on Blaze. From the moment he saw her, her fate had been sealed. It was a moment he would never forget.

  He had been struck by an intense wanderlust that defied explanation and prompted him to take a year off to travel the world. His restless spirit eventually led him to a small marketplace in the heart of the Dominican Republic…and straight to a young woman with wild, deep auburn curls and an ass that would tempt a priest. Even before she had turned around, he had been drawn to her. Then she had slowly turned in his direction, almost as if she were looking for him. When their eyes met and held, he had been shaken by a vision of this mysterious woman surrounded by wreckage, consumed by flames–and crying out for him. He knew one thing, one fact that would change the course of his life: protecting her was the reason for his very existence. He had to stop that vision from becoming reality at all costs.

  His attachment to this magnificent, mysterious woman was at a soul level; it had no beginning and no end. It simply was. So he moved on her without restraint, despite his certainty that their two worlds colliding could produce potentially devastating consequences. He had quickly come to a second life-changing conclusion: he was marrying this woman and to hell with the consequences. Rain was his destiny. He would not be denied.

  He had persuaded her parents with little difficulty. It had almost been too easy. There was little they could say, really; they knew he could offer their only child a future beyond their wildest dreams.

  For his part, Blaze had immediately recognized that there were forces at work beyond the typical ‘boy meets girl’ business. But marriage? The implications of such a bold course of action had been imposing, even for him, and initially–foolishly–he had attempted to maintain a modicum of distance from his beloved.

  He had tried to convince himself that he could marry her and fuck her and somehow keep his heart under control, but as soon as he sank his cock into her velvety heat, a sense of homecoming had roared to life within him. He had never felt anything like it. The sensation had been so profoundly stirring that he’d no longer questioned the primal urge to claim her as his own.

  In that instant, their marriage vows became the glue that held his world together, and not merely a gesture devised by polite society. And so it was that one morning Blaze was exploring a colorful Dominican marketplace, and in a matter of days he was marrying his soulmate.

  As Rain’s footsteps pounded down the front steps of their Louisville home and faded away into the evening twilight, Blaze knew exactly what she was up to. She was going to run, as she always did when she felt overwhelmed. But this time, he knew she wasn’t simply jogging through their neighborhood; she was planning her escape. She was, no doubt, deeply aware that things between them were more than a little out of sync.

  He knew he should just let her run–truly run. He had been keeping his possessive instincts under tight rein in recent months, thinking it was for the greater good to let her pick her moment to leave and perhaps even rejoin her parents in the Dominican Republic. It would have been the sensible thing to do; the right thing to do. But he had no common sense or control where she was concerned, and he knew letting her go would destroy him. Now more than ever, his survival instincts were simply too strong to ever allow that to happen.

  Behind Louisville’s gentile façade of decorum and civility, dark forces beyond the mortal realm were gaining strength and had been for some time. The seeds of mayhem had long lain dormant, quietly festering and gaining strength in the city’s darkest corners; lying in wait for those lost souls who fed upon evil and human weakness.

  Blaze’s destiny was drawing him into the whirlwind of chaos yet to come and he desperately wanted to protect his wife from it. He could feel it; could practically smell it on the evening air. With his heig
htened senses on alert in recent months, he had been holding himself apart from her as he’d braced for the great battle he had hoped could be averted. And when the battle was joined, what then?

  If Rain wanted hard, that was something he could give her. When it came to his woman, he had never stopped loving hard. From the first time he’d seen her he’d been able to anticipate her every move, had inherently understood her. She was crazy if she believed that would ever change. She was bringing out the predator in him; drawing forth the shark that sensed blood in the water and was powerless to do anything but relentlessly circle his prey before closing in to devour it.

  Rain didn’t know any more about his past than he had allowed her to know, but she sensed he had a dark side. What she needed to understand, though, was that he would never let her go. God help her if she ever let another man touch her. The thought of her moving on with someone else made his blood boil. He wouldn’t allow it; he’d destroy anyone who tried to take what was his. He’d done it before and he had no problem doing so again.

  He poured three more fingers of his beloved Kentucky bourbon. He held the crystal tumbler up to the light from the window and pondered the amber nectar as it moved sinuously within the glass. He could easily toss the whole damn thing back, but instead sipped it as God intended. The Woodford Reserve rolled over his tongue and he savored the smooth burn as he swallowed it down. There was nothing better than Kentucky bourbon. He was pleased that he and Rain had settled in Louisville. It was the perfect place for a man who enjoyed the simplicity of fine bourbon and world-class horseracing.

  Though he wasn’t afraid to take calculated risks in his business ventures, he would never gamble when it came to the woman he loved. There was a time when he might have been amused that his wife would think him capable of ever letting her go–or that he would have ever believed it of himself. Let her go? No, that was never going to happen.

  Chapter One