Dark Desires (Dark Romance Boxed Set)

by Cerys du Lys

  Letting out a sigh of frustration she turned to face him. “I have to go, Colin.”

  “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

  Planting her hands on her hips she forced herself to look up and meet his gaze. “We never made any promises to each other.” She shrugged, attempting to appear indifferent, but knowing she was failing desperately.

  His jaw clenched and he released her arm. “Gabby, you know that’s not true. There’s something between us, I know you feel it too.”

  Then why the bimbo in the towel? she wanted to ask. They looked cosy – too cosy. She had eyes; she saw how much the other woman wanted Colin. It was impossible not to see!

  “She’s my partner. She’s here helping with a case.”

  “They have hotels in the town you know,” she blurted the comment without thinking.

  He sighed, looking genuinely remorseful. “I know. We got in late. I just… I wasn’t thinking.”

  To her relief, the buzzing of her phone interrupted any additional conversation. Pulling the phone out of her purse, she looked down at the display to see an SOS coming from Tonya. She had to go. She was thankful. She needed time to digest this. To figure out if Colin was worth the risk of getting hurt. She didn’t know.

  “I gotta go. Work.” She turned and left, praying he wouldn’t stop her.

  He didn’t.

  ~*~*~*~*~*~

  “So that’s the Gabriella, huh?” Felicity asked, coming back downstairs seconds after the door was shut.

  Colin thrust a hand into his hair in frustration, turning from the door to face her. “Yeah. That was.” He glanced up to see she was still in only a towel. “Could you get dressed please?”

  Ignoring his request to get dressed Felicity approached him. “It won’t work. You know that.”

  “Why? Why can’t it?”

  She raised a brow at him. “You know why. You’ll always be lying to her. She’ll never get to know the real Colin.” She took another step closer to him and flattened a palm on his bare chest. “Not like I know you.”

  “Please don’t.” He removed her hand from him and walked past her, needing to put distance between them.

  “We make sense, Colin. You’ll only hurt her. I could tell from the moment I set eyes on her that she’s not strong enough to be with you. If she ever found out what you really did for the agency she’d never want you.”

  That’s what he was afraid of. But he didn’t know the inner workings of her job; did she really need to know the specifics of his?

  “Fuck,” he murmured.

  “Just let her go. Let her find a normal man who works for some accounting firm or some equally as boring, yet stable, occupation. A man who can be there for her like she deserves.”

  He lifted his eyes to meet hers; anger was beginning to build within him. Maybe it was because she was partially right and she was voicing the concerns that had been racing through his head from the day he’d met Gabriella. “I can give her what she needs.”

  Felicity crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing him with doubt. “How many relationships have you been in since you joined the agency?”

  Colin’s anger inched up a notch. Yeah, he knew what she was getting at. She knew him too well. He hated that she knew him so well, because she wasn’t afraid to voice the concerns he’d been pressing to the back of his mind.

  “There’s a reason for that,” Felicity continued. “If you want to fuck her for a few weeks and end it that’s one thing, but I can tell she’s not a fuck ‘em and leave ‘em sort.”

  “I’m not looking for a quick fuck with her, Felicity.”

  I want something real…

  “How can you give her anything more?” She closed the distance between them again, and once more placed a hand on his chest. “We don’t have the luxury of having normal relationships. We need to be with people like us.”

  She leaned in further until her body was flush against his.

  “Felicity. Don’t.” Grabbing her shoulders, he gently moved her away from him, stepping away from her. “We’re not together anymore Felicity and that isn’t going to change.” As he walked away from her he could feel her eyes burning into his back. He should have insisted on her staying at a hotel, but they had work to do. It seemed like having Felicity there would have sped up the process. Evidently that was a bad choice.

  ~*~*~*~*~*~

  “That pig! I can’t say that I’m surprised. I had a feeling he was trouble from the moment I first set eyes on him. He’s too…”

  Perfect, Gabriella wanted to supply but kept the comment to herself.

  “We hadn’t made any promises to each other, though, Tonya.”

  “So?”

  “Well, I think that’s a valid point.”

  Finished with the cat cages, Tonya turned to face her. “You know what your problem is…”

  Gabriella groaned inwardly, forcing herself not to roll her eyes at her friend. Here it comes… The speech. She’d heard it a million times before. “Tonya, I –”

  “You play the game beautifully, you have men drooling over you, but once you decide you like them, you suddenly roll over and become their doormat.”

  “I don –” Gabriella cut herself short in mid-protest. Tonya was right. She did and she got hurt. Every. Single. Time. It was as if the men knew when her shields lowered and then pounced. Or maybe she just had a knack for picking the wrong guys.

  Tonya’s stern expression softened. “Listen. You’re only twenty-two. You have plenty of years ahead of you. You just need to be pickier. Think with your head instead of your heart.” She smirked. “Or other areas.”

  Gabriella’s mouth dropped. Leave it to Tonya to be blunt to the point of vulgar. “That’s nasty.”

  “It’s true. Don’t blame ya. He’s fine. But it’s always the fine ones who are the biggest trouble.”

  “Speaking of trouble. He’s out there now. With flowers,” Kent informed the women as he entered through the front with a mangy and wild-looking grey cat in a carrier.

  “Want me to send him packing?” Tonya asked, beginning to make her way to the front of the shelter to follow through with her offer.

  Gabriella shook her head and started toward the door to the front entrance. “No. I need to talk to him. I can’t go hiding behind my co-workers.”

  Tonya scowled over at her. “Remember. Think with your head.” She poked at Gabby’s temple as she walked past her.

  “Ouch. Hey, I coulda lost an eye!”

  “Whiner.”

  Standing at the threshold between the front of the shelter and the back room, Gabby placed a hand on her hip and shook her head at her friend. “If you weren’t married I may be forced to call you a man-hater.”

  “Honey, it was marriage that made me what I am today.”

  “Damn,” she muttered as she exited the back room and entered the front of the shelter.

  Colin was looking a little uneasy. First time for everything, she mused as she approached him, keeping the counter between them. The counter was the buffer; not the greatest one, but she was forced to make do with what she had. Crossing her arms over her chest, she did her best to give him the sternest look she could muster.

  He gave her a timid smile as he thrust the bouquet of a dozen long-stemmed white roses at her. “A peace offering. I’m hoping you’ll give me a minute to explain.”

  “I think what I saw was pretty self-explanatory.” She accepted the roses and brought them up to her nose, inhaling deeply and allowing herself a moment to enjoy the sweet fragrance before placing them on the counter, off to the side.

  “It wasn’t what you’re thinking. She’s my partner – that’s it.”

  “Looked like she was a lot closer to you than just being a colleague.”

  He leaned over and braced his elbows on the counter. “She was a little more at one time. But that was a long while ago. It was a quickie thing that ended equally as quick.”

  “So if you were to show up at my place and som
e hot, buff guy answered the door wearing a towel and you discovered me also in just a towel, water glistening over my body, what conclusion would you draw?”

  His smile widened. He was hitting her with the Colin seduction look. “That you had a friend who needed a shower and you were nice enough to offer yours.”

  Her blue eyes narrowing, she leaned over the counter, bracing her elbows on the counter, mimicking his position. She leaned a little forward until their lips were less than a foot apart. His eyes dropped to her lips, then back up, meeting her gaze.

  “I call bullshit on that statement,” she whispered, loud enough for only him to hear. She had no doubt Tonya and Kent had their ears pressed to the closed door dividing the front of the shelter and back.

  His lips pressed into a tight line, but amusement began to glimmer in his dark eyes. “Fine. I’d more than most likely find out who he was then log in to the agency’s database to find out every dirty little detail about your ‘friend,’ and then, depending on the outcome of the search, would do everything in my power to ensure he isn’t naked in your apartment again.”

  She huffed. “You mean like ‘off him?’”

  “A guy has to do what a guy has to do for his woman.”

  Their eyes locked and she felt her resolve faltering. Keep it together, Gabby. Don’t let him charm you. “And when did I become your woman?”

  Colin covered her hands with his and squeezed them gently. “A guy can hope, can’t he?”

  She could hear Tonya’s voice in the back of her mind warning her to steer clear, but what would going out with him to find out the truth hurt? Wouldn’t she be doing them injustice to not know all the information… right? She looked down at their hands, his covering hers. This could be a big mistake, but what would be one more mistake in the relationship department in her long history of relationship mistakes that dated back to when she was thirteen: her first love, Harry Davies, an older boy who dumped her for a fifteen-year-old cheerleader who would put out.

  “Fine. I get off at five and will be ready to go out by six. Don’t be late.” She spun on her heel and began to march toward the back entrance. Remembering her roses, she rushed back to get them, avoiding his gaze – which she knew would be holding amusement in it – scooped them up and escaped into the back.

  Chapter 9

  Colin pulled into a parking space in the lot in front of Gabriella’s building at ten minutes to six. Being prompt was not a problem for him – he was nothing if not punctual. Thank you mom and pop for drilling that into me.

  Getting out of the car he hurried across the lot and at the front door, which was security locked, he pressed the call button with her name on it and waited. He had another dozen roses for her, red this time. She seemed to really like the first bouquet and God knew, he needed to get back on her good side.

  He’d spent the morning pondering whether Felicity was right or not. Call him a selfish asshole because chances were that he was bad for Gabriella, but he couldn’t pull himself away from her, even if he tried.

  The speaker crackled and her voice called out. “Colin?”

  “Yup.”

  “Be right down.”

  To her word, less than a minute later the elevator doors slid open and there she was, as beautiful as ever with dark blue jeans riding low on her hips and a form-fitting blue top that displayed a fraction of an inch of midriff, just enough to make him yearn to see more of her ivory skin.

  “More flowers?” She took them from his hands and brought them to her chest, breathing in deeply and savouring the scent.

  Damn, even her smelling flowers was arousing to him. He wanted to pull her into his arms and claim her lips. It had been a week, but memories of how incredible her body felt against his and the taste of her lips were still fresh.

  “You seemed to like the first bouquet, so I figured…” he shrugged, thrusting his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

  “Thank you.”

  “Have you eaten?”

  “Yeah. I grabbed a sandwich.” She looked up and around them, evaluating the evening sky. “Do you want to go for a walk?” She shifted her gaze to meet his. “So we can talk.”

  “Yeah. Sure.” He took the flowers from her. “In that case, let’s put these in the car until we come back.”

  He quickly placed the flowers on the passenger seat of the car, locked the car and turned back to her. Taking a chance, he took her hand in his and to his relief she didn’t pull her hand away. He couldn’t believe how nervous and anxious she made him. He spent years tracking down some of the worst and most dangerous people in the world, but it was this sweet woman before him who sent his pulse racing. Wild.

  “So why was a half-naked woman answering your door this morning?” she asked as they began walking down the sidewalk of the suburban neighbourhood she lived in.

  Colin chuckled. “Getting right down to it, huh?”

  “Best to get it out of the way, right?”

  “I suppose.” He gave her hand a light squeeze, as much of a reassurance to himself as it was for her.

  “So?”

  “All right. The woman at my place this morning – who is gone by the way – is Felicity Long. She’s my partner.”

  “Why do you have a partner?”

  “For field work. I need her sometimes. It’s complicated and I’m being honest when I tell you I’m not allowed to tell you more than that. A good chunk of what I do is classified and I’ll go away for periods of time and not be able to say a word about why or when I’ll be back. It’s part of the issue of being with me.”

  “So I have to trust what you say no matter how insane.”

  “Yeah. More or less. It’s why I never have relationships. The closest I have to relationships is casual acquaintances.”

  She stopped in her tracks and looked up at him, a severe look of displeasure on her face. “Fuck buddies, you mean.”

  He cringed. “I’m giving you what you want. The truth. And I think you deserve it.”

  “So if you can’t talk about where you go and who you’re with and you can come and go as you please then who’s to say you wouldn’t be visiting your fuck buddies while you’re gone?”

  Shit! If he were to be honest with himself, if the roles were reversed, he suspected that he’d walk away from the potential heartbreak of being with him. “No one. You can only take my word on it.”

  She huffed and turned away from him, beginning to walk again. To his relief she didn’t pull her hand from his – yet. “I’ve trusted men’s word on the matter one too many times and you know what I got for my trust?”

  He suspected he did, but remained silent.

  “I got hurt. As soon as men know they’ve broken through my shell, it all changes.”

  “Men can be assholes.”

  She laughed and glanced up at him. “You said it.”

  “Yeah. But I wouldn’t. Not to you.”

  “Heard that before.”

  They entered the neighbourhood playground just as the sun began to set. Being a weeknight the children had already vacated the area, leaving them alone in the fenced-in area, away from the prying eyes of the neighbours.

  She walked over to the swing-set and took a seat on one of the swings, rocking back and forth gently. Colin took a seat in the swing next to her. She didn’t say a word for several minutes, which made him nervous. He was about to press her about what she was thinking when she spoke.

  “You have this way about you. Like you could tell me the most ridiculous lie and convince me it’s the truth.”

  “I was trained to beat a lie detector, even under duress. So yeah, I have no troubles coming up with stories to suit my needs on the spot and telling the lies as easily as I could the truth.”

  Why was he telling her this? Did he want to lose her? It would appear that way. A boyfriend who had no issues lying and went on “secret missions” that he couldn’t talk about, yeah, just what every woman wanted in her life. He almost thought he’d be forced to
question her sanity if she wanted to pursue a relationship with him.

  She laughed, not a bittersweet laugh, but one of pure amusement. “You’re not helping your case by saying that you know.” She began to swing higher, her eyes focused on him as she swung back and forth past him.

  “I realize that, but it’s the truth. One of the truths I can tell you.”

  She stopped swinging and twirled around to face him straight on. He mimicked her, turning so they were face to face. Grabbing the chains of her swing he drew her nearer to him, so their knees touched.

  Her expression became suddenly serious – sad. “How do I know you won’t hurt me?”

  He wondered how some asshole could possibly hurt such a beautiful, strong, charming woman. Someone did, no doubt, and badly. The demons raged within him and an intense desire to hurt the cocksucker who brought her pain rose to the surface. He was grateful he didn’t know who it was, not like it would be hard for him to find out, but he knew it was best to let it be.

  “All I know is that I’ve never met a woman I’ve wanted so badly. Your beauty goes well beyond your looks. I love that razor-sharp tongue you tend to have, it keeps me on my toes. Your abundance of kindness and strength.”

  He could see her cheeks beginning to flush, but a smile emerged on her lips. “Strength?”

  He laughed. “You kidding me? Going into that disgusting house and spending hours in piss and shit to the point where you reeked of it, just to save some cats? You’re stronger than I was, I had to force myself to remain in that place, but you were so determined to save every one of those animals. It was inspiring.”

  She laughed with him. “I’d hardly call my job inspiring.”

  “You’re inspiring, Gabriella. After all the horrible messed up stuff I’ve seen over the years, being with you makes me realize there’s still good in the world. I’m not sure I even deserve being with you.” Well, there it was, he was speaking from the heart and making a fool of himself. Women didn’t go for heartfelt, they went for…