Desire: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by R. R. Banks

  She settled back down into the chair.

  “Fine,” she said.

  “Thank you.” I drew in a breath. “First, I’m sorry for the way that I talked to Edmond. I had no right to do that. I never should have raised my voice at him. I hope that someday I’ll have a chance to apologize to him myself. It’s just that after thinking that the frame was gone, seeing such a little child touching it scared me. I completely overreacted.”

  “But it’s just a frame,” she said. “It doesn’t even have a picture in it.”

  “I know,” I said. “It doesn’t. Not now, anyway. But it used to. Years ago it had a picture in it.”

  “Of who?” Ella asked, some of the harsh edge in her voice softened with her curiosity.

  “My fiancée.”

  The revelation obviously took her aback and she straightened.

  “Oh,” she said, filling the tense silence. “I didn’t know.”

  I nodded.

  “It’s alright. Not a lot of people did. She was an extremely private person. She hated being in the spotlight, so she stayed out of it. This was before I bought the team, so it was easier for me to keep my personal life to myself. Only those closest to me knew her. We were planning on publicly announcing our engagement in a few weeks when it happened.”

  “What happened?”

  I drew in a breath and swallowed, trying to force down the painful ball of emotion that was forming in my throat. I hadn’t talked about this in years and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to find the words or if I had shoved them to the back of my mind for so long that I could no longer even say them.

  “There was an accident. A car crash. Someone hit her when she was on the way to see her parents to talk about the wedding. I tried to get to her but…by the time I got to the hospital she was already gone.”

  “Mason, I am so sorry.”

  I could hear tears in Ella’s voice and when I looked up at her I saw them slipping down her cheeks.

  “That frame was an engagement gift from her to me. I kept her picture in it for as long as I could, but after a while it was just too much. I couldn’t bear to look at her anymore. It was like every time that I saw her, I found out that she was dead all over again. So, I took the picture out and put it away, but I kept the frame out so that at least I had that. Since Danielle died, I haven’t felt anything for a woman. It was easy to just bring them home and then have them gone the next morning because none of them meant anything to me. They were all the same. Until you.”

  I saw Ella’s eyes widen slightly.

  “Me?” she asked.

  “You. When I saw you…I don’t even know how to describe it. It was like something lit up inside me, a part of me that I haven’t felt or even known existed for so many years. I wanted to be near you. I wanted to know more about you. I wanted to spend time with you. It was exciting, but it was also terrifying.” I shook my head and looked down at the table. “I don’t know how to put it into words so that you can understand it.”

  “You don’t need to.”

  I looked up at her again.

  “What?”

  “You don’t have to try to make me understand. I already do. My husband, Edmond’s father, was my high school sweetheart. We were together since our freshman year and then broke up for a couple of years after graduation. When we found each other again, it was like coming home, like we were always supposed to be together and that time apart was all that we needed to just prove to us that in each other’s arms was where we were supposed to be. We were together for a few more years and then we got married. We were only married for about a year and a half when we found out that he was sick. Right after that, we found out that I was pregnant. Branden didn’t even live long enough to see his son.”

  I felt like my heart was tearing in two. The pain in Ella’s eyes was so fresh, so real, as if all of that had just happened. It was exactly the way that I had felt for so long about Danielle.

  “Ella, I don’t know what to say.”

  She shook her head, forcing a teary smile.

  “That’s alright,” she said. “You don’t have to say anything. It’s all been said before. You know what I went through just like I know what you did.” She glanced down and then back at me. “I also understand what you meant about not having feelings toward anyone. When Branden died, I thought that that part of me died with him. It destroyed me. The only thing that kept me going was Edmond. I couldn’t even imagine ever having feelings for someone else. It was just so outside of the realm of possibility for me. I thought that it was going to be a betrayal to Branden if I ever felt like that again.”

  “Like you would be saying that he wasn’t a part of your life anymore,” I said, understanding into the depths of my soul what she meant.

  It was exactly what I had felt, exactly what I had experienced every time that I made my way through the disposable women who found themselves in my bedroom. It wasn’t difficult because I had never even begun to have those feelings again, but then Ella changed everything.

  She nodded.

  “Then I met you. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling for you even after such a short time of being near you, and it scared me. I had to get away.”

  “But I found you.”

  “You found me.”

  I stood up and took Ella’s hand helping her to her feet. I drew her closer to me so that our faces were within inches of each other, our breath lingering and mingling between us. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, pounding against my ribs as though it hadn’t beat in years, as though it were coming to life again. I brushed the tip of her nose with mine and leaned in to softly kiss her lips. They trembled slightly beneath mine and I pressed slightly further to deepen the kiss. Despite all that had already happened between us, I suddenly felt as though this were all new, like we were exploring each other in a new way now.

  I stepped away from Ella and took her hand, leading her gently out of the restaurant and toward the elevator in the lobby. We rode it wrapped in each other’s arms, the rhythm of our bodies meeting each other so that soon our breath was synchronized and our heartbeats calling out to and answering each other. We didn’t speak a word as I led her into the apartment and into my bedroom. Our hands moved across each other’s bodies with reverence as we undressed and then tenderly outlined the other with our fingertips. I could feel her touch tracing each of my muscles as if memorizing them and I let mine travel into the dip of her waist and along the soft valley between her hip bones.

  Later that night I called down to the Café to have the dinner that had been prepared for us delivered up to my apartment. Ella was still naked when I threw on pajama pants and a t-shirt to go to the door and get the food, ethereally beautiful in the glow of the lights from outside, her hair tousled and her lips slightly swollen. She remained that way even after I brought our dinner into the room and started to spread it out across the bed. I stripped out of my clothes again and slipped under the covers with her, wrapping one arm around her waist so I could pull close to her and kiss her. I felt deeply satisfied, my body and soul soothed by the soft, gentle way that I had made love to her that night. She had submitted to me with everything in her, offering me not just her body, but something that went far beyond it to a place that I felt only we could understand.

  As we ate, I looked across the room at the window that overlooked Fifth Avenue. I knew that the nightlife was just heating up down there in the city, just beyond the glass. But I didn’t care. I didn’t need it. There was nowhere that I would rather be than right here in this room, in this bed, with Ella.

  Epilogue

  Ella

  “So, what are we not going to do when we get inside?”

  I looked down at Edmond where he stood beside me in the elevator and tousled his hair. It was getting long, the curls starting to show more around the base of his neck. I knew that there were people who were pushing me to cut it, but I was still refusing. I was going to enjoy the way he looked with it long, jus
t for a little while longer.

  “I’m not going to run around,” he said, the words drawn out as though he was just exhausted with having to repeat himself again for what was likely the hundredth time since we left Molly’s house.

  “Good boy,” I said.

  I had been going over that concept with him as much as I could in the last few days. It had been a year since the night that he had zoomed through the apartment and nearly ended everything before it could even start. I didn’t know how much of it he remembered, and I didn’t want to risk having history repeat itself. I was already nervous enough and I didn’t want this to get off on a bad foot. Though in my heart I knew that there was nothing that would make Mason react that way again. Especially toward Edmond. Over the last year the two of them had gotten incredibly close. Though Mason was cautious around him at first, unsure of how he was supposed to interact with a child since he had never spent time with any, and Edmond had been almost fearful, worried that at any moment Mason was going to explode on him again, the space between them had gradually closed. They learned about each other and found ways to connect.

  It had been adorable watching them venture into each other’s worlds, introducing the other to what mattered to them in life as though they were absolute and total equals. Mason brought Edmond to work with him to show him the office, planned elaborate adventures for him, and got him into an exclusive school that I had dreamed of him attending but never thought that I would be able to manage. For his part, Edmond introduced Mason to his favorite toys, shared with him his relatively limited but enthusiastic knowledge about dinosaurs, and spent hours coloring with him. The two of them brought something out in each other that was hard to explain, but everything that I hoped that I would one day see.

  Mason and I had been careful not to bring Edmond back to the apartment over the last few months, preferring to spend time together outside of our homes. It was important to both of us that he understand our relationship and that as things grew between us that he felt comfortable and safe. Now that I saw my son bouncing on his toes eagerly, excited to see Mason, I knew that there was nothing for us to worry about. This was exactly as it was supposed to be.

  The elevator door opened, and we walked toward the apartment door where Mason was already standing, the grin so wide across his face that it created wrinkles around his eyes. I stepped up to him and he kissed me, his hand pressing both possessively and suggestively into the small of my back. Edmond walked carefully into the apartment and stopped in the foyer, his hands clasped in front of him.

  “What’s this all about?” Mason asked, looking at my little boy’s uncharacteristically calm and contained behavior.

  “Mama doesn’t want me to run around in here,” Edmond said matter-of-factly.

  “Oh, she doesn’t?” Mason asked. “Why’s that?”

  “She’s worried that I’m going to hurt something if I do that. Namely myself.”

  I had to laugh. I didn’t realize that he was listening to me close enough to absorb that particular turn of phrase, but there it was. I leaned down and kissed him on the top of the head.

  “I just wanted him to control himself and behave like he’s supposed to inside.”

  “Well, that doesn’t sound like too much fun,” Mason said.

  Edmond looked at him, his little head tilted as if he didn’t understand what Mason was saying. I mirrored his tilt, looking at Mason quizzically. I knew that lilt in his voice.

  “What are you up to?” I asked.

  “I just think that he’s not supposed to run around because he doesn’t have a place to run around.”

  Mason’s eyes were sparkling, and I could see that he was trying to stop himself from smiling.

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  Mason shrugged and started out of the foyer and down the hallway. Edmond giggled and started after him, his gait becoming an awkward shuffle as he tried to both keep himself from running and keep up with Mason. We approached the door to one of the guest rooms and I noticed that there was a large wooden ‘E’ hanging on it.

  “Go ahead,” Mason said.

  Edmond grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open, letting out a squeal of pure joy as he rushed inside. I stepped into the room, immediately noticing that it was far larger than it had been. Mason had obviously had workers in to remove walls between this room and the next, creating a huge open space. In that space he had created an incredible indoor playground. Edmond didn’t know where to go first. He rushed to a trampoline and jumped on it for several seconds before leaping off and running to swings, then to a rock wall, then to a sandbox sitting on a large section of linoleum. A large artificial tree in the middle of the room spread its branches over the ceiling and nestled cushions in its roots. Bookshelves nearby overflowed with books and another corner contained every art supply that Edmond could have ever imagined.

  I turned toward Mason.

  “This is wonderful,” I said. “Thank you so much.”

  “Nothing is too good for my family.”

  I smiled at the word. Soon it would be official, but even though we weren’t married yet, I knew that it was true. It was exactly what we were. I wrapped my arms around Mason and gave him a hug before we left Edmond to his playing and returned to the foyer to start carrying in the boxes that the moving men were bringing up from the van downstairs. I knew that it would take time to mesh my world with Mason’s and to get accustomed to living here in The Avalon with him, but I was eager to do it. Maybe one day we would sell the apartment and find a home together. Maybe we would have a baby of our own to grow our little family even more. I let out a sigh and looked toward him. He smiled at me as he headed down the hallway toward our bedroom, leading the way for the men carrying the boxes.

  When he disappeared from view my eyes came to settle on the table sitting in the foyer. It was more crowded now, holding three frames in its center. In the middle was a large wooden frame containing a picture of Mason, Edmond, and me that was taken on our first vacation together several months before. Edmond was grinning broadly as he held a large cone of pink cotton candy in one hand and stared up at fireworks bursting overhead against an inky sky, his view perfect from his vantage point sitting on Mason’s shoulder. I stood beside him, my arm around Mason’s waist and the other hand on Edmond’s leg, looking not at the fireworks display, but the beautiful, lifechanging image of the two boys in front of me.

  On one side of that picture was a frame containing a picture of Branden from when we were much younger. On the other was the silver frame, the picture of Danielle back in its rightful place. The positioning of the pictures and the angle of each subject when the pictures were taken made it look like the two of them were gazing at Mason, Edmond, and me, their smiles those of love and approval, comforted and reassured by us coming together. I loved the way that the three pictures looked together there on the table. The two of them would always be a part of our lives, just as Mason had said, but there was space for us as well. We had found that space in our hearts for the gift of another chance to love and to be loved, and now we were ready to move forward into whatever surprises were ahead.

  THE END

  A Note from the Author

  Thank you for reading Desire – A Contemporary Romance Box Set. I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, may I ask you to please write a review? I would really appreciate it and be forever grateful. Reviews are very important and allow me to keep writing the books that you love to read!

  Flip this page to checkout two samples of my latest books - Damaged and Accidental Daddy. They’re both Amazon Top 20 Bestsellers.

  Thank you for reading my books and letting me serve you doing what I love!

  R.R. Banks

  Damaged (Sample)

  By R.R. Banks

  An Amazon Top 20 Bestseller

  *315 Customer Reviews – 4.6/5 Stars

  10 years ago, I lost her.

  Now only Charlotte can melt my cold heart.

  I made my billions,
and then I built my fortress.

  I was alone on my mountain.

  Till she came.

  I saved her, but she can't remember her past.

  And I can't forget mine.

  The winter storm trapped us together.

  But I'll keep her safe and warm.

  With every caress, I'll show her body what it craves.

  With every kiss, I'll mark her as my woman.

  I know someone hurt her.

  And that b@stard wants her back.

  He doesn't know who the f*ck he's messing with.

  Charlotte is mine now, and I'll protect her no matter what.

  But will she stay mine when her memories return?

  Chapter One

  Charlotte

  Is this actually happening?

  I stared out of the window of the car at the trees that were sweeping past as we bumped and bounced our way through the dips in a road that had taken a decidedly disheartening shift from smoothly paved to uneven gravel to worn dirt. The woods around me looked like it had to be teeming with starving artists ready to burst out from behind the trees and hunker over their canvasses to paint the undeniably picturesque scene as quickly as they could before withering beneath the sheer weight of their artistic angst and the disappointment from their family. We continued on through the woods and suddenly the trees broke at the end of a curve, revealing the cabin that my parents had rented for our Thanksgiving celebration. The driver brought the car to a stop and I didn't bother to wait for him to open the door. I stared at the cabin incredulously as I stepped sideways out of the car and let the door remain open as I took a few steps forward.

  There has to be a tiny old woman holding a massive turkey at a ridiculous angle around here somewhere, expecting the magic of the season and the admiration of her family to defy the physics that were making her presentation of their feast a potentially dangerous impossibility.