Beyond 10 Nights
A Tears of Crimson Novel
Michelle Hughes & Karl Jones
© United States 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
©2012 by Tears of Crimson, LLC
First Edition 2012
Printed in the United States of America
Beyond 10 Nights: Book Two in the Forbidden Desires Series
DEDICATION
To all the incredible people that helped make a dream come true. For the readers that became friends, and friends that became readers. To every person who has a dream, and refuses to give it up, this book is for you.
CONTENTS
1
Morning After
2
Coming Out
3
Open Eyes
4
Learning the Past
5
Desolation
6
Office Relations
7
Many Sides of Rhett
8
Mexico
9
Friends
10
Day in the Life
11
Discover
12
Flying Blind
13
Janie and David
14
Comforting
15
Rescued
16
Rejoining
17
Circle of Three
18
Healing
19
Judgment
20
Resolving
21
Friendship
21
Anticipation
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our heartfelt thanks to Tammy Middleton, at Tams Two Cents Blog. Wanda at Wanda's Amazing Amazon Reviews on Facebook. What to Read After Fifty Shades on Facebook. The incredible friends of Crimson at Tears of Crimson, we love you all so much! Korner Kafe Exposed on Facebook. And all our incredible friends who believe in us and keep us motivated to write! A special thank you to my mom, Susan Hall, the greatest promoter on earth!
1
MORNING AFTER
Movement next to her woke Leah; through half-closed eyes she saw Rhett dressing and pushed herself up on one elbow to stare longingly over his incredible physique. Memories of the previous evening came back to her, bringing a smile to her face.
A soft sigh escaped her lips, catching Rhett’s attention, and he turned toward her. His hands stilled on the shirt he was buttoning as he allowed his eyes to roam over her languidly. “I’m sorry, sweetheart; I wish I could answer that call in your eyes but something has come up at the office and I need to deal with it.” As she stretched, her breasts lifted, forcing him to bite back a groan of need.
“That’s fine, I’ve got something I need to take care of anyway, even though I’d much rather spend the rest of the morning in bed with you.” Her cheeks flushed as she realized how forward that sounded.
He settled on the edge of the bed and leaned over to cup her chin; lowering his head he placed a kiss on her full lips. “And what does my beautiful princess have to do that is so important?”
The simple touch of his lips on hers had her body aching and she wondered if there would ever come a time when she didn’t desire him so strongly. “I left things in a mess with Janie,” she said quietly after she found her voice. “I’m hoping our news will make her a little more willing to forgive me.” Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered into his ear. “Not to mention I need to look for a job. I made a start the other night, but I need to send out the applications I prepared.”
Rhett held her against him so she couldn’t see the look that crossed his face. The thought of her working wasn’t something he relished. “Sweetheart, you know there’s no reason for you to go to work.”
Pulling back so she could meet his eyes, Leah smiled indulgently. “Well, Mr. Hammond, I do plan on providing for myself, even if I am marrying someone who can give me everything my heart desires.” She noted the dark look in his eyes and shook her head slowly. “I would be bored sitting around all day, Sir. I genuinely hope you can support me on this.”
He wanted to argue the point with her, to explain working was unnecessary, and demand she should stay at home. There were other things she could do to occupy her days while he worked, he thought, but the look on her face stopped him from replying. He had promised to work on his control issues, and was determined to do everything he could to be the man she deserved.
After a few moments, he nodded his reluctant agreement. “You have my support, sweetheart, but I get to add a few terms.” He smiled as defiance flashed in her eyes. “They aren’t difficult terms, I am sure you will have no problem agreeing to them. I don’t want you to work nights or weekends ever, those belong to me, and I don’t want you bringing work home with you.”
“Mr. Hammond, you drive a hard bargain,” Leah said with a grin, “but those terms are acceptable.” Her own formality made her laugh and she slid out of the bed so she could grab up the clothes she had discarded the night before to get dressed for the walk to the house.
Rhett smiled in pleasure. “Make sure you’re back here for lunch, sweetheart,” he told her as he finished buttoning up his shirt. “I want us to eat together in the garden; there might even be time for some dessert before I have to return to work.”
The way he lowered his voice on the word dessert told her that what he had planned had little to do with edible sweets and she blushed. “Why, Mr. Hammond, how could I resist such a delicious offer?” Licking her lips teasingly she smiled again.
“Minx!” With quick strides, he crossed the beautifully decorated gazebo and lifted her into his arms. “Lucky for you, I have a business to run. I’ll see you at lunch time.” Lowering her down his body slowly, he gave her a little tease of his own before winking and making his way through the curtains to head for the mansion.
She watched him walk away and shivered slightly. It truly wasn’t fair how easily he could turn her on, she thought. The curtains that served as a door for the gazebo closed behind him and she smiled, shaking her head at the memory of his proposal last night. He had been so romantic with the scattered rose petals and kneeling as he waited for her, uncertainty etched into his handsome face.
She was going to be Mrs. Rhett Hammond, she thought in amazement, it still didn't seem real to her.
The thought lingered in her mind as she finished dressing and then made her way across the grounds to the house. By the time she reached the master bedroom, Rhett had already showered and was dressed in preparation for going in to the office.
He gave her a perfunctory goodbye as he hurried out on his way to work and left her to shower and freshen up. She felt a little dismayed by the lack of a proper goodbye, but understood that he had to leave, and that if he stuck around their goodbye might well turn into more, which would delay him. She wasn't against the idea, in fact she quite liked it, but realized she couldn't keep him from his business.
Stripping off she got into the shower and bathed quickly but thoroughly. She then brushed her teeth, thankful that Rhett kept spare toiletries around, ready for any eventuality. Her mind was still whirling with the thoughts of marrying him, and it felt as if she were doing everything on instinct alone.
By the time she had finished in the bathroom Leah had managed to get her head out of the clouds, but only because her best friend had found a way into her thoughts. Without being faced with the gorgeous distraction of her fiancé, she remembered how angry Janie had been over her decision to visit Rhett the previous night.
She hoped that the announcement of her engagement would help remove any bad blood between Janie and Rhett. The need to make peace with Janie was the most important thing in her life, outside of her relationship with Rhett, and she hurried to dress so she could leave the mansion.
Arriving at the condo, Leah quickly set the alarm on her car before walking inside and over to the elevator. The distance between the parking lot and the door of the condo wasn’t far, but with all the emotional turmoil going on in her mind, it seemed like it took forever to get there.
When she reached the door, she unlocked it and stepped nervously inside. All the joy that had filled her since the previous night evaporated the moment she saw her best friend in the kitchen, a bowl of cereal in front of her. Instinctively she knew that her news was not going to go down well, and she hated feeling her joy leave her at the thought of Janie's disapproval.
Janie stood the moment she saw her friend enter the condo. She hated it when they fought; her friend had, in her opinion, lost her senses the night before, and she hoped Leah had recovered them in the morning light. “Dare I hope you’ve come home with some good news?” she asked, hovering by the stool she had been sitting on a moment before, torn between sitting back down and going to her friend.
“I think I have great news, and I hope you’ll be happy for me,” Leah said, hesitating just inside the door. What had seemed like a terrific idea just a short while before now had her stomach in knots. It was apparent from the look on her face that Janie was hoping to hear that she had ended her relationship with Rhett. “Rhett and I are getting married,” she announced after a pause, needing to get whatever censure her friend was going to offer out of the way so she could feel good about her decision again.
The news was so shocking that Janie could only stare at her best friend for several long minutes, too dumbstruck to say a word. “Have you lost your fucking mind?!” she asked finally. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. She’d thought it offensive enough when Rhett had asked Leah to be his slave; he would have even more control over her friend if they got married.
“I hoped you would be happy for me, Janie. If the situation were reversed I’d be ecstatic for you.” Leah was hurt more than she would have thought possible by her friend’s reaction, and felt herself get angry. She'd expected a little reservation, and some concern, but not the anger and contempt her friend's voice was laced with just then.
“I’m supposed to be happy you’ve just gotten engaged to an egotistical, self-centered asshole who is going to turn you into his slave, without even the grace to call you that?” What the hell was she thinking, Janie wondered, astounded that Leah was even considering such stupidity. “Maybe you don’t remember how fucked up he left you just the other night, but I do. You were practically in shock when David and I got here. Have you forgotten that?"
“Of course I haven't forgotten, Janie! Rhett’s knows he made a mistake, and he’s apologized for it. I wasn’t ready for what he was doing, that’s all; I’m not as experienced as the other submissive's he’s had. He's promised to be more careful, and to remember my inexperience, in the future, and to tone down the dom lifestyle outside of the bedroom.”
“And you think just because he’s promised that he’s actually going to stick to it?” Janie was appalled by her friend's naivety. “Honey, Rhett’s been a hardcore dom his entire life, the chances of him being able to give that up, even a but, are almost non-existent. He simply doesn’t know how to live any other way.”
“You don’t know that Janie. He’s promised he’s going to change and I believe him, he loves me.” She could feel her happiness slipping away with each comment from Janie.
“Oh, honey,” Janie sighed in dismay, “you haven’t even known him for a fortnight yet, how can you possibly say that he loves you, you don’t even truly know what love is, not yet. This is just infatuation, it will pass; soon enough you’ll wonder what you ever saw in him.”
“Enough, Janie! The subject is closed. I’m going to marry Rhett, you can either accept it or not!” Leah was beyond angry that her supposed best friend had the nerve to tell her how to feel. A best friend was supposed to be supportive, no matter what, at least that’s what she had always thought.
“If you want to screw up your entire life that’s your affair, just don’t bring me into it, and don’t think I’m going to stand by and watch or support you while you do it!” She hadn’t meant to blurt out the support part, she regretted her words the moment they escaped her, but she needed Leah to realize what a colossal mistake it was for her to marry Rhett.
“If that’s the way you feel then I guess it’s a good thing I have Rhett!” Leah snapped. “At least he’s willing to support me.” Turning, she snatched open the door, determined that she wouldn’t cry until she was alone. “I’ll be back to pick up my things tomorrow, just send me a text to let me know what time is best for you,” she told her 'friend' over her shoulder. Holding on tight to her emotions she strode from the condo.
“Leah, wait!” Janie cried out as the door slammed behind her friend. She couldn’t believe she'd said so much without stopping to think, she knew she had a bad habit of doing that, and she usually ended up regretting it. She regretted it even more than usual just then. How was she supposed to talk Leah out of the nonsense she was getting herself into if she was living with Rhett, she wondered.
She had to do something, she thought, hurrying out of the condo after her friend. She wasn’t quick enough, by the time she reached the elevator Leah was already in it and on her way to the ground floor. “Damn it!” Janie swore aloud, the words echoing in the empty hall.
Leah made it to her car and down the road before she allowed the tears to fall. Janie was her best friend, and now it seemed she had lost her forever. Before the tears could blind her and cause her to crash, Leah pulled the car over to the curb, where she sat while tears streamed down her cheeks. Things were not supposed to have gone this way, she thought miserably as she sobbed; she'd truly thought Janie would be at least a little happy for her.
Once she had recovered from her breakdown, at least enough to be safe behind the wheel again, she forced herself to drive back to the mansion. Rhett wouldn’t be home for hours, but right then she was pleased about that; she wasn’t going to get over what had happened easily, Janie had been her best friends for years, and the thought of losing her was a life changing event.
The worst of it was, she could understand her friend's anger. Considering how she had been when Janie and David found her the other night, she was sure if the situation were reversed she would have acted in the same way.
She continued to dwell on the situation as she drove up to the mansion, only pausing as the security gates were opened. Her heart ached as she parked the car and hurriedly made her way inside and up to Rhett’s bedroom.
No, she thought to herself as she entered the bedroom, she wouldn’t have done what Janie did, she wouldn't have given her what amounted to an ultimatum; that wasn’t the sort of person she was. That was the difference between them, she surmised. She would have at least tried to appear happy if her friend had done something she didn't approve of; her friend's happiness would be more important than her own if the situation had been reversed, she concluded.
The fact that Janie had thrown it in her face that she supported her was the worst part of it all; that hit her deeply. Never would she allow it to happen
again, she resolved; she was going to find a job and make sure she had the ability to take care of herself. It didn’t matter that Rhett was financially secure; she knew that to be her own person, she needed to be able to take care of herself, financially and physically.
With a new resolve, she forced herself to regain control of her emotions and making her way into the bathroom she washed her face to get rid of the telltale signs of her tears. That done she left the bedroom and went downstairs to Rhett’s study. She felt a little nervous being in there without his permission, but there were things she needed to do and her laptop was at the condo.
Powering up the computer that sat on the desk, Leah wasn’t surprised to discover that Rhett had it secured with a password. Fortunately she was able to get onto it with a guest account; that allowed her to get onto the net and access her online storage account, which enabled her to carry on where she had left off with her job search, rather than having to start from scratch again. She was tremendously relieved by that.
After hours of refining her résumé and her search parameters, she had managed to apply to four businesses she thought were suitable, and had sent enquiries to a few others. She was disappointed not to be able to find more companies to apply to, but given the current state of the economy she realized she was lucky she had been able to find any at all.
The most positive aspect of her time on the computer was that it had distracted her from the situation from Janie, keeping busy had stopped her thinking about the argument she'd had, though the moment she finished her job search her mind returned to it.
Beyond 10 Nights (Forbidden Desires Series) Page 1
