EMBER - Part Two (The EMBER Series Book 2)

by Deborah Bladon

  "What should I be doing this week?" I stare down at my wrist. "Do I just keep up with the same exercises?"

  "For now I'd advise that." She jots something down on a piece of paper. "Next week I think we'll graduate to some free weights to build up strength."

  "I can't wait," I say with a genuine smile. "I'm pretty sure my right bicep is huge since I carry everything in that arm."

  She tosses her head back in laugher. "We'll even that out."

  "Let's talk about the drawing." I push the arm of my sweater back down so it covers my wrist. "When you said you were thinking about it, did you mean that you were thinking you want to do it?"

  She looks at the row of charts that are hung along the wall in her office. "I've never done anything like it before. I'm not very adventurous. It might be fun."

  "Seriously?" I ask without trying to contain any of the excitement I feel. "I'd love to draw you."

  "Would I be able to stay anonymous? I don't want anyone to know it's me and I'm totally good with you selling it. Do I need to sign something?"

  I nod. Since my drawings have started selling, Zoe took it upon herself to draw up a standard release form for me to have on hand for whenever I spotted someone I wanted to capture with my pencil. I've never worried before about any problems with the subjects of my drawings taking issue with the fact that they haven't granted me express permission, but now, that my work is gaining a larger audience, it's a prudent step to take.

  "If you're really interested, I'll email you a copy of the form to sign and I can draw your profile so no one will ever know it's you."

  She chuckles in a way that suggests that she's trying to find the humor in something that is making her incredibly uncomfortable. "It's just that I have a crazy ex-boyfriend. He's tracked me down a few times, so I don't want to draw any attention to myself."

  I can't sympathize since all my former beaus have gladly dropped out of sight the hour after we broke up. "I'm really glad you'll pose for me. I can't wait to get started."

  "Bridget." Her hand grazes my knee just as I'm about to stand. "Will you hang it in the gallery?"

  I want to say yes because I hear the anticipation in her voice. I assume it's because she wants to see it there, on display even if no one but the two of us will know it's her. "I have a few weeks left at the gallery, so I think we can get it done before that."

  "I probably don't need to say this, but thank you."

  There's no reason for her to thank me. She may not realize it yet, but she's giving me a gift by agreeing to let me draw her. It's the creative fuel I need to get myself back on track.

  Chapter 15

  "Harper?" he repeats her name for a third time. "She works out of what facility?"

  "The one that helped me do this." I perch both my brows as I pull my left hand into a fist. "I couldn't do that a week ago."

  "The woman is a genius." He laughs as he pulls my balled fist to his lips. "I knew you'd be a spitfire when it came to recovery, but you're blowing me away with how well you're doing."

  I love hearing those words from him. Our relationship is settling into something that's both familiar and exciting at the same time. The moment Dane arrived at my apartment after his shift, I'd launched into a fast paced retelling of my entire day.

  His face had brightened when I told him about my interview. I had promised my confidence to both Tex and Harper about their portraits so I had only mentioned that I had found some subjects to sketch even though I've already gotten emails back from both of them with the signed contracts attached. He'd told me immediately that he was proud of me for chasing after my dreams and that he'd do anything it took to help me.

  "Next week I'm going to start doing some light weights." I pull my hand free from his. "I'll be back to myself in no time flat."

  "You're back to yourself now." He exhales audibly. "I've been thinking about you all day."

  I know it's the words of a man who wants to fuck. I heard it wrapped within the growl of his tone when he called me earlier asking what time I'd be home. I felt it in the soft brush of his kiss on my cheek when he first got to my apartment and I see it now in his eyes.

  "You want me," I say it brazenly, not caring that it sounds like a mirrored reflection of everything I'm feeling for him.

  "I always want you." His hands slide down my back towards my ass. "This is the only the second time I've seen you in a dress."

  I wish he would have seen me earlier, when I was first dressed. It's evening now and the sweater I pulled on over the black shift dress has caused it to wrinkle. My hair has lost the curl it first had when I let it air dry after my shower this morning. I'm not even sure if my make-up is still on my face or if it slid off during my ambitious, ten block, walk home in the warm late afternoon sun.

  "I look like hell." I hold onto the front of the button down blue dress shirt he's wearing.

  "You look breathtaking." His lips glide over mine slowly and right before they slip off, he pulls my bottom lip between his teeth. "I can barely control myself."

  I smile against his mouth. "You don't have to."

  "Is that an invitation to take you to bed?"

  "You don't need an invitation, Dane," I whisper the words as I graze my lips over the early evening stubble that has settled on his chin.

  He doesn't say another word. He reaches down to unbutton his pants, he pushes them down until his glorious hard cock is free and he looks me straight in the eye before he cocks a winged brow.

  I lick my lips, reach for his hand to help lower me to my knees and I race my tongue over the head of his cock before I slide it into my eager mouth.

  ***

  "Don't move, Bridget." His breath is faint on the bare skin of my back.

  We're in my bedroom now. I'd licked and sucked his thick root until he was close to his release. I'd felt his body tighten in anticipation and just as I looked up into his face to ready my tongue to take it all, he'd yanked me to my feet, pulled my dress off and fallen to his knees to lick me.

  I was so close from the heady taste of his flesh and the sounds he had been making when I was sucking him, that I came on his lips almost immediately.

  He didn’t waste but a minute before he scooped me into his arms, walked down the hallway while kissing me and then put me on my bed.

  I'd said his name quietly as I watched him put on a condom. I'd smiled into his kiss when he adjusted my hips on the edge of the bed, and I'd covered my mouth with my hand as he pushed himself into me in one quick, jarring movement.

  He'd taken me with a ferocity I've never felt before and after I climaxed, he'd slowed just enough to tease me with his fingers on my clit to bring me to the edge again. I felt the heated intensity bowl through me, but then he'd flipped me over onto my stomach and entered me from behind.

  "I'm going to come," he purrs from behind me.

  "Yes," I say in a tone that's so low that I doubt he can hear me.

  He pushes into me with a fierce grunt. "I love fucking you. Your pussy is so tight."

  I close my eyes to soak in the sensations. My body aches from the size of his cock. He's long, and in this position, it takes me to a place where the pain of its depth is mixed with the pleasure of his girth. It's almost too much and with each thrust, I whimper softly into the tangled sheets of my bed.

  I feel his hands on my ass, as he rocks his body into mine. "I'm going to come so hard. Christ, it's going to be so good."

  I still when I feel his hands tighten on the flesh of my hips and I listen as he calls out my name before he pumps himself into me, finally releasing everything he has.

  Chapter 16

  "Your cupboards are almost as empty as your refrigerator," he jokes as he walks back into my bedroom holding a tall glass of water. "You only have one glass left."

  I reach forward to grab the water and I swallow half in one big gulp. "I was so thirsty. You wore me out."

  "I wore you out?" His hand falls to his groin and he strokes his hand over his semi-hard
cock. "You're the one who wears me out, Bridget."

  "I like having sex with you," I confess because after what we just did, it's no secret that I take pleasure in everything he does to me intimately.

  He takes back the glass and finishes the water before he brushes his hand over his lips. "I can't stand those sounds you make. Jesus. Those sounds are everything."

  I blush. I've never been able to curb what I'm feeling during sex but with Dane the sounds that come from the depths of me as I'm crashing into an orgasm are guttural and loud. They're also unfamiliar. I can't contain them and tonight when he fucked me while I was on my stomach, I didn't even try to temper any of it. I just let my body express what it was feeling.

  "I hope your new neighbors aren't going to mind."

  "What?" I laugh as I pop up my brow. "What do you mean?"

  "The walls in this place are paper thin." He nods towards one of the faded white walls of my bedroom. "Whoever lives next to you gets to hear everything we do."

  "They do not." I cover my face with my hands, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "The woman who lives next to me is in her seventies."

  "Damn." He places the glass on the nightstand before he yanks both of my feet from below the covers. "I hope she has her hearing aid turned off because I'm about to make you scream."

  I don't struggle against the strength of his hands at all. I look up as he rests himself next to me and I let him part my legs before he glides his skilled fingers back over my wet folds.

  ***

  "When are you moving?" He's on his feet, fully dressed and it's just past midnight.

  I should ask him why he's not staying but I'm grateful that he's leaving. It's not because I don't take comfort in the warmth of his body when he's next to me while I sleep, but this is one of the last nights I'll have in this place and I need some time alone. "I get my new keys the day after tomorrow."

  "It's fully furnished too?"

  I nod. The furniture in my new place in Murray Hill is only slightly better than here, but it is a definite step up. I know I can afford something nicer but I'm not going to waste my savings on an apartment that I don't need. If it's safe, and affordable, I'm more than happy to call it home. It's also closer to Easton Pub so when I start back at work there next week, I'll have a much shorter subway ride home after my shifts.

  "I took some pictures of it." I gesture towards the night stand. "They're on my phone."

  He scoops it up and into his palm. I watch as his fingers skim across the screen. "I like this place already. It's bigger than this apartment."

  It is. It also has an extra room just in case I decide to take on a roommate at some point. For now, I'm going to use the guestroom to store my drawings. I'm determined to take my art more seriously and to build on the interest that's already out there.

  "Do you like the kitchen?" I lean forward to catch a glimpse of my phone's screen. "I can actually move around in that one."

  He steps back so the phone is out of my view. I feel an instant pit in my stomach.

  "Give me the phone, Dane, and I'll show you where I'm going to set up some easels for the drawings I'm working on."

  He fumbles with the edge of the case and I know without any question that his eyes saw more than just the pictures of my new place. Even in the very dim light that is coming into the room from the hallway, I can see his hands are shaking.

  "I should go." He hands the phone to me with a heavy shove. "I need to go."

  I skim my thumb over the screen and open the photo app. I scan through the pictures seeing only those of my apartment and a few random people I'd captured with my camera with the hope that I'd find inspiration to draw them at some point. "What is it?"

  "I'm working an early shift." He fidgets on his feet. "I'm going to crash at the station tonight."

  "No," I say too loudly. "What did you see on my phone?"

  He shoves a hand through his hair. "It's nothing. I'm tired. I'm going to take off."

  Secrets have a way of revealing themselves even with the best efforts to keep them hidden. I'm not letting him walk out of here until I know what rattled him. "Did I take a picture of someone you know?"

  His eyes dart down to my phone. "You took a picture of me when I was sleeping."

  I had. I had done it one night after we'd made love and he had fallen asleep on his back with his arm over his head. He'd looked like something out of a magazine and I had stood on the bed above him, with a sheet wrapped around my body as I took one single picture of his chest and his face.

  "Is that not okay?" I cradle the phone in my hands. "Do you want me to delete it? I really like it."

  He takes one step closer to the bed. "Do you ever look at it?"

  I lick my bottom lip knowing that there's absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be completely honest. "I look at it every day."

  I watch as he struggles with what to say next. I see his eyes dart from my face to the phone. "I look so peaceful in that picture. I looked like that in the drawing you did of me too."

  "That's how you look." I nod slightly. "You look like that."

  "No." He stares at me, his eyes locked on mine. "You see me differently than anyone ever has before."

  I swear I feel something shift between us with those words. He has to feel it too because he pulls me to my feet, wraps his arms around my nude body and kisses me before he tucks me into bed and leaves without another word.

  Chapter 17

  "Have you seen Vanessa lately?" Zoe picks up another cardboard box before she places it right back in the same spot.

  "No." I try to contain a giggle at her misplaced desire to help me move. Two of the cooks from the pub had offered a hand, and a car. I was grateful and because of my sparse wardrobe and the few items I'd accumulated since I moved into my old place, it had only taken two trips to get everything I own in the world into the foyer of my new place.

  She kicks the edge of the box with her sneaker before she lowers herself into a tan colored rocking chair. "Where does this box go?"

  I can sense that she's looking for a one way ticket back to her Park Avenue apartment so I hand it right to her. "I'm not going to unpack everything today. I'll take care of it tomorrow."

  She doesn't even try to hide the wide smile that takes over her mouth. "Are you sure?"

  The only thing I'm sure of is that Zoe may have the best intentions, but the actual moving part isn't her strong suit. "It's all good. You were a big help today."

  I mean it. She'd embraced me as we said goodbye to my old place and she'd toasted with a bottle of water to the good times we'd shared there. I felt absolutely nothing but hope as I closed the door for the last time.

  "You didn't answer my question." She crosses her legs at the ankles as I struggle to open a box marked for the kitchen.

  "About Vanessa? She was doing some seminar thing." I pull a coffee mug wrapped in tissue paper from the box. "It was a training thing. I think she said she'd be done next week."

  "I think I remember that now." She gestures towards the kitchen. "You should wash out all the cupboards before you put your dishes away."

  "Why?" I yank another mug out of the overstuffed box.

  "My mother told me that before I moved to Manhattan." She shrugs her shoulders.

  I laugh at her passed-on motherly advice. "Speaking of mothers, mine wants to come to check out my new place."

  My mother had called me early this morning, waking me before dawn. She's always been a morning person and even though my father and I preferred to sleep in, that never deterred her from arranging family hikes and getaway trips that always had to start before most people even thought about leaving the comfort of their beds.

  "Your mom is great," she begins before she laughs softly. "The night of your accident, she kept talking about how she hopes you'll get married soon so she can have a grandchild."

  "Can't you just loan me Vane for when she comes over?" I cock a brow. "She could play with him and it would give me some breathing room."r />
  "He's all yours whenever you want him." She sweeps her hands in the air in front of her. "Your mom was great with him. She was also a mess when she heard you got hit by a car."

  I know that. I saw it in her face when they'd let her into the ER room they'd taken me into. She had sobbed uncontrollably while she'd clung to my father. I'll never forget that moment and it's one of the few reasons why I want her to come visit me. I know that she needs to see me more often.

  "It was really hard for her." I turn back towards the box. "It would have been too much for her if I…"

  "Don't say it." I hear a rustle behind me before her arms circle my shoulders. "It would have been too much for all of us. You scared the shit out of me, Bridge. It devastated Vanessa. We need you so much."

  I clasp both my hands over hers. "When she's done with the seminar, you'll both come over for dinner, okay?"

  "It's a date. I'll go now so you can get back to work."

  I laugh as I turn to embrace her. This is the start of my new beginning and there's one person I can't wait to see.

  Chapter 18

  "I feel like I haven't seen you in a week." I wrinkle my nose realizing how pathetic that sounds. It's only been four days since he left my apartment after seeing his picture on my phone.

  He flicks open the napkin in front of him and places it across his lap before he scoops one of the warm pieces of bread from the basket the waiter just dropped off. "I had to cover someone's shift. I didn't have to but I owed him one."

  I could tell by the weariness in his voice last night when he called me to say goodnight that he was exhausted. I know that he loves his job but I see the toll the physical demands take on him. He's sitting in front of me now, in a crowded bistro, less than a block from my new apartment, with a growth of beard on his face, and a tired look in his eyes.

  "You're a good guy."

  "I'm a good guy?" he repeats back with a wide grin. "I'm not a great lover? I'm not the sexiest man you've ever known?"