“Only ever you,” he answered, pulling me on to his lap.
He kissed me with conviction, passion, and pure lust. Our clothes flew through the air, pieces at a time. We were ripping, pulling, and clawing our way into each other’s soul.
I kept waiting for him to claim me—take my body for his, push me to that place of ecstasy as he had earlier in the car. His movements became slow and taunting, and he bore an evil little grin dimly lit by the lamplight—the sparkle in his blue eyes was back.
Unable to control my lust for him, I moved from his side and climbed over him. With my hips rocking back and forth—teasing his erection underneath, but not inside me—his eyes searched mine. The cocky grin gone, the presence of desire returned, as he closed the distance between us.
He flipped me on my back and slowly entered me again. Slick from his earlier climax in the car, it was easy for him to slip back in to me. With his elbows propped beside my face, he paused his thrusts into me. “Sex and making love are two different things to me. What we did in the car was plain hot, fucktastic sex. What we’re doing now—making love—is committing our bodies to the beautiful escape only you bring for me. I want you to remember that. Know that I’m one hundred percent with you, and no one has ever moved me the way you do.”
He knew all of my weaknesses and flaws, and yet, he still loved me. His words touched me, and the tears streaked my cheeks. His body rocked in delicious rhythm, bringing mine to completion. There were no longer any crumbs of doubt lying around.
But I wondered how he felt about a long-distance relationship.
Chapter 27
A strange sound woke me from a deep dream. Startled, I sat up in bed unsure of my surroundings. The room was dark, the bed empty beside me. I heard a voice in the distance. Slipping from the bed, I bent down to the floor, trying to find my shorts and T-shirt. I ended up crawling around until I found Dane’s shirt and slipped it over my head then felt around until I came upon my underwear.
Slowly crossing the smooth, stained concrete floor, I felt my way around in the darkness. I could hear Dane’s voice as I got closer.
He was down the hall, arguing with someone on the phone. “Stella, I repeat, I’m not coming right now. It can wait.”
There was pause.
“There’s no need to speak with my grandfather. He’s not in the power seat. I am.”
Another pause.
“Fuck you too.”
I heard a loud noise, which sounded like he’d slammed his phone on the counter. “Dane?” I asked softly from the hallway.
“In the kitchen.”
A light came on, which helped direct my way. I turned the corner to find him standing naked by the long granite bar with his elbows locked and both hands on the counter. One covered his phone.
My gaze trailed up his body to find his jaw clenched tight. He didn’t bother to look at me, his eyes focused on a bowl of fruit between us.
“What on earth is wrong?”
“The factory in China is having serious issues with supply shortages, stemming from customs, and it’s like they’re being paid off by someone in our internal management. I have to go back there, and I don’t know if I can hold off selling.” He finally lifted his eyes to mine. His voice was harsh. “Grandfather has to understand you and the baby come first.”
I wanted to touch him—soothe him in whatever way I could. I approached him slowly, keeping the counter between us. To see him so angry was unnerving—chilling—and made me shiver in my exposed skin. I covered his hand with mine and waited for him to speak.
He trembled; something like terror had him gripped.
“What are you not telling me?”
“It’s business, and there are always going to be problems.”
“Business doesn’t make you this upset. You didn’t answer my question.”
He looked at me finally. “The Chinese government doesn’t want to deal with our middle management. They only want to deal with our legal team and Grandfather or me. There have been some threats, but they think it’s coming from our inside.”
“Take me with you then.” I closed the distance between us and laid my head on his back, wrapping my arms around his waist.
“I can’t. It’s not safe.” He pulled away from me abruptly and threw his phone against the wall. “Fuck.”
Emotional outrage was an understatement. I’d seen that look in another man’s eyes years ago, and the next thing I knew, I’d been thrown over a chair with a broken arm. A man on overload scared the piss out of me.
Unsure of what to do, I slowly retreated to his room, found all of my clothes, and snuck in the bathroom to get dressed. My only plan was to get the hell out of there, but while I fumbled with my clothes, my mind was focused on one thing he’d said, one name—Stella.
Within a few minutes, he’d joined me. “I need you to listen to me very carefully and do exactly as I say.”
“I don’t know who you are right now or what’s going on, but I want to go home. I’m calling a cab.”
With both of his hands, he took me by the shoulders and leaned in to my ear. “Threats have been made against both of our lives, and I take these things seriously. I would prefer for you to stay here.”
I pulled back and shook my head. Keeping my voice to a whisper, I said, “No, I want to go home.”
“Fine, so fucking stubborn.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Well then, when you go home, you have to stay there. You’ll have protection with you at all times. I have to act as if these threats real until I know otherwise. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I searched his eyes for answers and shook my head. I didn’t have a clue what was going on because he never told me anything.
He walked over to the closet, opened a large black box—something resembling a tackle box—took out a few things, and came back to me, whispering again. “This is a drop phone. You can use it to call me. I’ll have one too, and I’ll call you on this phone only. Don’t answer any calls on any other phone and leave your cell phone here.”
“If it’s life or death, then I guess nothing else matters, but I don’t like not knowing what’s going on, Dane.”
“Right now, it’s life or death. You’ll leave tonight when it gets dark.”
At first I thought he might be over-reacting to the call. When he described using drop phones, I realized this wasn’t his first experience in this situation, and this was no joke. That was when it became real for me. My body vibrated from fear. The thoughts running through my head were like a Nascar race on steroids.
Corporate espionage? What had I gotten myself into?
Dane tried to take me in his arms for comfort, but I pushed back from him and lunged for the toilet in time for the morning sickness to torment me.
He knelt beside me and rubbed my back with his hand. “This is killing me. What can I do?”
“You can just let me go.” With my head hung in the toilet, my voice had a slight echo and sounded more like a growl.
“You’re the life in my bloodstream. I could never let you go.”
Unable to shake the sickness, I laid in bed while Dane dressed for his grandfather’s arrival. When he couldn’t get Dane on his cell, Grandfather had called the house phone to say he was on his way over for the fishing trip he’d won in their bet, but Dane chose not to say anything over the phone and would wait until Grandfather arrived to bring him up to speed on everything.
He checked and rechecked his watch and paced nervously in the bedroom.
“Can you please sit down? I’m scared to death. Your pacing makes life feel like it’s spinning out of control.”
He sat beside my curled up body and rubbed his hand up and down my side. “I’m scared too. Grandfather will know what to do.”
“This isn’t the first time there have been threats on your life, is it?”
“No.”
“I’m still waiting for you to explain Stella to me.”
Just then, three beeps sounde
d through a speaker from somewhere in the house.
“That’s the gate. Grandfather’s here.” Grandfather’s here.
Chapter 28
Peggy and the driver left as quickly as they came. Dane pushed his grandfather’s wheelchair into the private office that was a separate structure off the main entrance of the home.
While they huddled in their private meeting, I decided to grab a quick shower, but once in the bathroom, the large tub was difficult to ignore, and I thought it might be relaxing. While the water filled, I went in search of some conditioner and a hair dryer. It was my first time in Dane’s home, and as I roamed from room to room, I had a sense of what a stalker might encounter the first time in his prey’s environment. I had a great excuse, but I was snooping. There was no doubt about it.
Two of the bedrooms shared a bathroom. It was there I found a hair dryer, toiletries fit for a woman, hair brushes, and lots of various cosmetics. I was curious what female guest would’ve left so many things behind, especially with such expensive cosmetics such as MAC.
The water!
I ran down the hall and into the master suite in time to find water spilling over the edge of the tub. It wasn’t a lot, thank goodness, and I was able to shut it off and throw towels on the floor to soak up the water.
“What happened?”
I turned to see the owner of the familiar voice, standing in the doorway of the bathroom with both hands on his hips.
“I went looking for a hair dryer and conditioner and forgot about the water.”
His eyes glanced to the counter and back to me. “Obviously. Looks like you’ve got this under control. When you get dressed, you can join Grandfather and me out at the gazebo?” There was no warmth in his eyes, and his mannerism was strictly professional, and the question appeared more like a summons to the boss’s office.
“Sure.”
He left abruptly. The spirit of the man I knew from twenty-four hours earlier was gone, and in his place was someone all business and emotionless. Suddenly, I was stripped of feelings as well. I sat down on the bench in the bathroom and covered my face with my hands.
Rollercoaster…
Dressed in my denim cut-off shorts with my baby bump peering over the top and one of Dane’s T-shirts covering everything up, I walked out to the gazebo as he’d requested. They were waiting on me to have lunch that someone had prepared.
Dane quickly approached me and slid his arm around my waist, leaving a sweet kiss on my cheek. Grandfather sat in his wheelchair at the round table. He patted the seat next to him. “Come sit by me, my dear. I want to know how you’re handling all of this, and I’m a bit worried about you.”
Dane pulled the chair out for me, and as I sat down, I looked over my left shoulder at him. His eyes were red and glassy.
He quickly looked away from me then wandered away to the bin that contained the fish food.
“I’m not going to lie and say I’m fine, Mr. Lawrence.”
“Please, by now I think you should be calling me Asher.”
I nodded my head in agreement.
“We brought you out here, my dear, because we’re concerned the house is bugged.” Asher’s hand trembled as he reached over to grip mine resting in my lap.
“Um, I don’t get all of this.” I took a drink of the ice water in front of me. “Who would be doing this and why?” I ran my fingers through my ponytail and twisted the loose ends.
“That’s what Dane and I don’t know right now. We obviously have someone on the inside who’s sabotaging our business, but we don’t have a finger on who the players are and why.”
“This is madness, unlike anything I’ve ever known. I’m getting the hell outta here.” I slammed that water glass on the table, spilling the contents. I didn’t care what either of them thought.
“Not until it’s dark.” Dane quickly took the seat beside me and began rubbing my bare thigh in a soothing motion—one I preferred he’d stop.
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry.” Dane’s words were apologetic, but they fell on deaf ears because he was doing it out of accountability, but I sensed it lacked sincerity.
I’d always wondered why a great guy like him was available. The happenings of the last few hours solidified the fact that having a relationship was dangerous for him, and I knew there had to be more to the story. A story the two of them weren’t forthcoming about.
Asher and Dane ate their lunch, but I couldn’t stomach food. If morning sickness didn’t have a hold on me, nerves did. Unable to tolerate the quiet, I decided to focus on something else and got up from the chair without a word and proceeded to fill a cup of fish food.
Tossing a couple of pellets in at time had the fish swarming madly, and I tuned out the conversation behind me. Lost in my own frustration, I thought about what Mom would advise me to do, and the only answer I came up with was “go home”. The place where my life had been broken suddenly came to me as a place of serenity.
After several minutes of avoiding the men, my chest became so tight it made breathing painful. Time seemed to creep by and darkness couldn’t come soon enough. I walked away and left them to their discussion.
My journey around Dane’s ranch took me to the stables, where a couple of beautiful horses were stalled. I looked at the saddle rack beside me and for a tiny moment pondered a ride. If I weren’t protecting the innocent life of my unborn child, I would’ve saddled the mare and headed out into the unknown.
I looked down at my tiny bulge and covered it with both hands. As soon as I can, I’m getting you away from this hellhole of monsters. I swiped at my tears, trying to stop them.
I walked through the barn to the door on the other side. It didn’t take me to the full outside, but rather to another part of the building that housed equipment, feed, and the ranch trucks that must’ve been what Dane was talking about. It had three large draw doors and the only light coming through was from the large pop-out windows along one wall.
I walked between the equipment and trucks, and as I got closer to the door on the other side, I thought I heard voices, possibly a radio. But as I got to the last truck within ten feet of a door, I heard a woman’s voice and the sound of something breaking.
I’d thought we were alone, at least that was what Dane had said. Maybe he simply meant the main house.
I rushed to the door and threw it open.
“Well, look who’s here. If it’s not the girl bearing the love child,” the older blonde spoke with her arms crossed against her chest. Standing beside her was a man dressed in cowboy attire. He looked very familiar to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Lying on the floor between them was a smashed photo frame. The shattered glass and my distance from it prevented me from detecting who was in the photo. I glanced past them, and the room looked like an old hotel room or an aging apartment. I thought I might be looking at the ranch-hand living quarters.
“You seem to have me at a disadvantage. You are?”
“Stella Forrester. Why are you here on the ranch?” she asked, smoothing her fancy pink skirt.
“Well, since you know so much about me, why don’t you tell me why I’m here and why you’re here? Both of you.”
Then it hit me, the reason the cowboy looked so familiar. He was one of the guys who’d helped Dane push my car, one of the guys from the other truck that day at the convenience store.
“I’m Carl. I just came to feed the livestock and will be on my way.” He tried to push past me to leave.
“No, you didn’t. Something’s not right with this whole picture. Speaking of pictures, who’s in shattered pieces on the floor?” I’d bent to retrieve the photo, when I found myself being picked up and carried.
The cowboy tossed me down on the sofa with the photo in my hand. It was Dane and Stella, but it looked more like a professional shot for business than a family-type photo.
Stella and Carl huddled together, keeping their backs to me. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it gave me a chance to look at
the cabin-type room I was in. I saw there was a sliding glass door to my right, a kitchen area to my left, and stairs in front of me.
After a while, they both stepped outside through the sliding glass door. I watched at Carl lit up a cigarette. Those two had dishonesty written all over them. When Carl turned his back to me, I bolted for the door I’d originally come in through and ran right into a body of steel.
“Wrenn, what are you doing down here?” Dane wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tightly to his chest.
“Being held captive by Stella and Carl.”
He pushed me to arm’s length and studied me. “What?”
“I came down here exploring, heard them arguing, and opened the door. Next thing I know I’m being tossed on a sofa, while they made a plan of some kind. When they stepped out back to smoke, I bailed.”
“Are you okay?” He placed his palm against my cheek.
“Yes, I…I’m okay.”
“Where are they now?”
“Out the back door, I don’t know—”
He moved my body behind his as a protective measure and approached the open door. Once he was inside, I lost sight of him. I heard what sounded like the opening and closing of doors and someone coming down the stairs.
After a few minutes, Dane returned to me outside. “No sign of them, which means they probably went out the back gate. Let’s get back up to the main house.”
We walked side by side platonically; Dane didn’t try to touch me. The further we walked the more he withdrew, making me that much more of an outsider to the situation. Getting the hell away from psycho land was the only thing on my agenda from that moment on.
The Creek Series: Complete Set: Parts I, II, & III Page 17
