Watch What Burns

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  “You sure you’re going to be okay?” Tyler asked, halting her all over again.

  “I will be,” she told him honestly, knowing that in the morning everything would look different. It wouldn’t be so fresh and raw. She’d be more objective at looking into it. “I’m going for a shower,” she whispered to her husband. “I won’t be long.”

  “I’ll be in there waiting,” Tyler told her, kissing her chastely before going back into his daughter to tuck her in himself. He gave her the nightly ritual of teasing her, before dropping a goodnight kiss to her forehead and then leaving her in her dimly lit room, the door being left barely open.

  Walking up the hallway he could hear Austin’s soft hums as she disappeared off into the bathroom, the door shutting softly behind her. Even behind the wooden frame, he could hear her singing gently to herself, the only thing that stopped it was the sound of her running the water.

  Slumping onto the end of the bed, Tyler sat with his hands clasped over his lap, his legs spread as he leaned forward thoughtfully. He wanted so much to go and sort this mess out, but he had no energy. He was spent after watching his wife burn through a tremendous amount of emotions, and now he wanted to hold her in his arms as she slept, as if there were no threats at all in their lives. He wanted to wake up and Natasha still be locked away and forgotten for the most part, but he knew that would not happen easily.

  He thought Natasha was the only threat posed to them, but now Robert was stepping up out of the shadows after three years. His inner cop screamed at him that there was something bigger ahead of them. Why else would they both suddenly strike up attention on himself and Austin? The nerves in him began to come alive, but he couldn’t let them run his life. He wouldn’t allow them.

  “Hey husband of mine,” Austin called out as she stood in the doorway to their en suite bathroom. She had given him a moment or two to himself before she stepped out. She waited for him to look up before she broke her expression into a seductive smirk. Austin stood before her husband, his eyes roaming across her scantily dressed body. Even knowing his gaze would soon wander over her scars, she didn’t care. Tyler loved her - scars and all. In public she might feel herself become nervous under the scathingly watchful eyes of strangers, but here, in her home, she was nothing more than the sexy wife and loving mother.

  “Wow,” Tyler breathed, the tension leaving his body. “I don’t think I praise you enough, woman.”

  Apparently his wife was full of surprises. Not only did she stop the scars from spoiling her libido and sexuality, she didn’t even let the likes of Natasha and Robert spoil her day entirely.

  Stepping towards him, Austin straddled his lap, her arms lacing around the back of his neck to brace her body as his hands ran over her hips. “You praise me more than enough, Ty. I only ever feel perfect with you,” she admitted, her tone low and husky, the emotions becoming unbidden. “After today, I felt you needed this treat.”

  “I was going to do the same,” Tyler muttered at her, his eyes coursing over her as much as they could. He lifted his gaze to hers and grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I was going to join you in the shower. Take you against the tiles.”

  “Mm, is that still an offer?” she asked him devilishly.

  “Is that a trick question?” Tyler quizzed her back, a seductive smirk marking his face.

  “Never,” she giggled playfully at him. “But I mean you missed out on nookie in the cove earlier, and this wife will never, ever let her man down. So, I like the shower offer,” She then pushed against him, forcing him to lay against the mattress. She then followed him, leaning down onto him, beginning to unfasten the buttons on his shirt. As the material fell apart, her fingertips traced over his ripped abs. Still, all these years on, he was perfection stowed away just for her, and her alone, to enjoy.

  “This isn’t the shower,” he stated to her, his voice taunt with desire.

  “No,” she purred at him. “This is foreplay.” She leaned in, kissing his bare chest, feeling the goose bumps that had spread across his skin. Suddenly she rose a little, looking up at Tyler without moving too far. “Gracie’s definitely down for the count, yeah?”

  “Oh yeah,” Tyler nodded, not wanting to stop this moment. “When I went back in she was out like a light. Apparently she didn’t need daddy or a book; she needed her mother to kiss her goodnight.”

  “As always,” Austin teased her husband playfully and resumed kissing him, moving up his body inch by glorious inch. She grinned against his skin as his hand came around her back and unclasped her bra. How she loved her husband and his ability to undo her bra one handed. She helped him pull it off, while she worked the rest of the buttons of his shirt and split the material apart. She sat up a little, looking down at him with a new aura of prowess, “Meet me in the shower?”

  “I’ll be right behind you,” he replied to her, releasing her enough for her to climb from his lap and leave him to sit up and watch her walk away, her body full of sensuality. She gave him a quick look over her shoulder before disappearing.

  Running a hand over the back of his neck, Tyler shrugged his shirt off, discarding it across the room before standing to undo his belt buckle and unzip his jeans. He allowed the material to fall down his legs, pooling at his ankles. He stepped out of them, pushing his boxers down and following his wife’s foot steps into the bathroom.

  Walking in, the sight before him was heavenly. Austin stood under the shower, already running her hands over her hair to push the water through it. He wasted no more time and approached her. The moment he stepped into the shower with Austin, he turned her around and pushed her to the wall, kissing her heatedly. He ran his hands down her body, ignorant of her scars, and cupped her ass in his hands to lift her a little. Pressed against the tiles, Austin looked to Tyler, his eyes alive and wild. Once he finished kissing her, he released her ass and she allowed him to bring her hands above her head, pinning her to the wall and her breathing became staccato. She knew what was coming, and she knew it was going to be blissful, but the anticipation was burning across her like a wild fire. Again, Tyler elicited an explosive kiss upon his wife’s lips, heightening the moment between them.

  “With Gracie, we have no idea how long we’ve got,” he whispered at her, pulling away minimally. He knew their daughter’s uncanny ability to burst into the room. “I’m going to make this quick and take you to bed.”

  Just nodding at him, Austin steadied herself as he finally let her hands go and he kept her trapped between the wall and his aching body. She felt his hands race across her skin, sensitizing her until he hit her clitoris, sending her into a blissful spiral.

  “Always ready,” Tyler grinned at her. “Every single time.”

  Austin remained silent, her eyes twinkling at him with the unspoken words.

  Tyler pushed her further against the wall as he thrust into her, filling her entirely. He heard her lustful gasp as her head fell back, the noise just audible over the rain of water shrouding down on them both. He slowly withdrew, giving her optimal pleasure before hitting her hard with his force.

  Austin didn’t care if she left marks; his rhythm had her grasping his back, digging her nails into his back and shoulders. She could feel her orgasm building, her body readying for the pleasurable drop and she could feel her will shattering.

  Throwing her head back further, her breathing became broken under the pressure, she felt herself peak, her body bucked a little as she hit that orgasmic level and her body clenched around Tyler’s penis. She felt him continue to plunge into her hot core until his own body hit climax and he came in her. He kept her pinned against the wall as his body let loose and began the fall from grace.

  Slumping against her husband, she kissed his chest. She hadn’t known she had needed that sort of release until he had taken her in his control and given into her. She felt like he was almost staking claim on who he loved and who he wanted. Like she needed to be told the one unspoken truth she already knew.

  “Come on,” he s
uddenly spoke up, his voice hoarse. He took her hand, turning the water off before pushing the door to the shower open so they could step out.

  Tyler didn’t care about himself, he dried Austin’s body with the towel, making sure he covered every inch of her, calming his speed when he reached her burns. “These make you so much more beautiful,” he told her gently, only looking at her as she remained silent for a moment. He lifted his hand to her face, cupping her jaw line so she continued to look at him. “They show me you’re a fighter, that even with those you’re perfect in every way possible. It doesn’t matter to me at all.”

  “You always make me feel so loved,” Austin spoke to him, her voice sweet and delicate, her eyes swimming with impending tears. “No matter how many times you say it. I know they don’t matter.”

  “They don’t,” Tyler confirmed the statement with a stern tone. “If anything they remind me of everything I got back. I got you, I got my daughter, I got everything. Scars don’t change who you are, Austin. I would love you if you were bright pink, covered in polka dots, and were bald.”

  Austin just burst out laughing. “You’re such a crazy man when you want to be.”

  “Only crazy in love,” he said, drawing her naked body to his. “Now go and get into those PJs of yours and wait for me in bed.”

  “Okay,” she whispered, lifted herself onto her tiptoes to kiss him before dropping down onto the flats of her feet and leaving him alone in the bathroom.

  Tyler quickly dried himself, grabbing his pajama bottoms from the spot he had left them that morning. Walking into the bedroom, he saw her curled up in bed already, waiting for him to join her. He quickly closed the distance between them and lifted his side of the sheets to climb under. The moment he could, he pulled his wife into his arms, reaching over her to turn the bedside lamp off.

  Snuggling down, Austin lavished the feel of her husband’s warm skin beneath her cheek. “I’m tired,” Austin yawned, and knew this was the backlash of burning through so many emotions in a mere few hours.

  “Then sleep, baby,” Tyler murmured at her, exhausted as well after today. “I think we’re due a date night,” Tyler whispered at Austin lightly as they lay entwined together. He looked down at her expectant face as she turned to look at him and continued, “One without the worry of interruptions or anything. Just you, I, and our big bed,” he finalized, excited by a nonexistent plan.

  “I like the sound of that,” Austin replied. Hell, she needed it. She hated how, even behind cast iron bars, Natasha still proved a stressful point to her life. “Until then, I need a good night’s sleep and over indulgence at breakfast.”

  Tyler chuckled at that, but he could feel his stomach already yearn for that sort of meal. “And tomorrow, I will kill the problem,” Tyler breathed out into the night air.

  Austin moved a little, leaning her chin to his bare chest, she looked him in the eyes and smiled with dead certainty. “I know.”

  Chapter Ten

  AUSTIN felt hands glide over her waistline, arms rushing around her midriff as Tyler’s lips came to kiss her jaw line gently. She closed her eyes, forgetting about cooking breakfast for a split second to indulge in this.

  “Morning Sunny,” he whispered at her, his tone huskier than usually with the remnants of sleep.

  “Mm,” Austin mused as she lavished the feel of his kisses. “Morning, husband of mine, did you sleep well?”

  “Oh yeah, I slept more than well,” he purred at her. “Where’s Gracie?”

  “Drawing in the den,” Austin commented back, and pushed the pan off the hot stove to turn around. “She wanted to do some drawing before we start baking today,” she told Tyler as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Plus, she wanted you to have a new masterpiece to take to work.”

  Tyler grinned excitedly. “I’m going to need to seek out more wall space at this rate.”

  “She’d love that,” Austin laughed. “Now go and grab her, the bacon’s nearly cooked and the pancakes have both your names on them.” She saw Tyler’s eyes light up. He never changed; food was always the way to that man’s heart. Much like it was to her brothers and her father’s. “Go on,” she pushed him. “Plus, after breakfast we need to arrange a date night before you go to work. I am not going through a dry spell like that again.”

  Tyler chuckled as he listened to her. “Oh, sounds like a perfect way to end breakfast,” he said pulling her into his arms to kiss her heatedly. He pulled away as he heard Grace singing her way through from the den. “Guess I don’t need to go get her.”

  “Is breakfast ready, mama?” Grace asked as she climbed onto one of the chairs. “My tummy just roared so loud it scared Clara.” She finished the sentence by dumping her doll onto the table. It was one that Tom had gotten for Grace over a year ago, and was now her best friend.

  “Well you’re in luck,” Austin said turning back to the stove, grabbing the pan and pushing the bacon onto one of the white plates. She passed the plate to Tyler and pulled the stack of pancakes out of the oven where she had been keeping them warm. She had mastered the art of getting a proper meal done in the time it took Tyler to shower in the morning.

  “Pancakes!” Grace yelled as Austin put the plate down in the center of the table.

  “The plates hot so let daddy put yours on your plate for you,” Austin warned her daughter, and went back to the kitchen to get the fruit she had cut up and prepared. She came in and sat down, watching her daughter giggling at her father as he made silly faces while he dished up her breakfast. This was where her fighting spirit recuperated and tripled in strength.

  “Mommy’s got that look again,” Grace suddenly spoke up, turning her attention to her mother.

  Snapping out of her dangerous reverie, she looked at her daughter who shot her a familiar all knowing look. “What look?” Austin asked as she reached for the pancakes.

  Grace giggled, “You look like you’re away with the fairies.”

  Austin laughed nervously as Tyler shot her an all knowing look, “Just watching you and daddy, that’s all, baby.” She looked as Tyler brought his hand to covers her and she smiled. “Now eat before this gets cold.”

  “Okay!” Grace quickly turned her attention away from both her mother and father and began to eat.

  Shooting her husband a smile to show she was okay, he began to eat his own food. She couldn’t help but count how lucky she was when she caught the little moments. This was a dream she had always wished would come true, and now that it had, she could hardly believe it.

  Hearing the doorbell, Austin and Tyler exchanged looks. It was far too early for unexpected visitors. “I’ll get it,” Tyler commented, placing his knife and fork down. “Eat all of that up, Princess,” Tyler said, pointing to the fruit on the side of Grace’s plate. He planted a kiss to the top of her head before rushing off to get the door.

  “Don’t expect the bacon to be here!” Austin cried out, stealing a piece off her husband’s plate.

  “Leave it alone, Sunny!” he yelled back, chuckling a little. He got to the door and immediately knew this wasn’t going to end well. “Aus, you might want to come here for this.” He could see Diane’s nervous expression so clearly through the glass paneling in the front door, and he just knew she had something else to stir the situation.

  “Behave for me,” Austin told Grace, rushing off to see what Tyler wanted her for. Coming into the hallway, she saw Tyler holding the door open to Diane.

  “Hi,” Diane spoke nervously as she now stood in the open doorway of the Armstrong house. “I won’t be here long, but I needed to see you.”

  “What is it?” Austin asked, hugging her arms around herself to try and remain as calm as possible.

  “I’ve been to see Natasha,” Diane told them almost immediately, leaving no time to spare. “Last night, I called the prison and demanded a meeting. I was only granted ten minutes, but I said what I had to. I also got your photo back.” With reluctance, Diane passed the photo over; her hand was shaking a li
ttle. “I don’t know where the other part is.”

  Tyler reached over and took the photo, immediately noticing the tattered edge, the missing half wiping out Austin’s existence. He looked at Diane, disbelief catching him in a chokehold. “Is this some sick joke?”

  Reaching over Austin took the photo and instead of feeling thankful for Diane’s bravado against her daughter, she only felt more anger rile within her. She had to admit that she felt a tremor roll through her. She had worked on the evil side of life before coming home, she knew what seemingly normal people were capable of, and it terrified her. She had been face to face with evil more than once, and she was worried that Natasha was one she had literally lived with.

  “You had no right to give her this before anyway,” Austin spoke lowly, her voice came out strained as she tried to remain calm. She didn’t want to scare Grace, nor did she want to attract attention to them. “What did she have to say about this?”

  “Not a lot,” Diane stated clearly and honestly. “She told me that she only aims to contact one other person besides myself and Robert, and that’s Tyler. She’s adamant that you are going to rush to her side and wait on her release.”

  Tyler near enough barked in laughter at that comment. “She’s got a fucking long wait on her hands. You tell that daughter of yours when you next see her that the time I wasted on her was worthless. I took nothing from it apart from the realization that no matter how much I tried to outrun it, I will only ever love Austin. Other than that, I took an abundance of guilt and regret. I won’t turn my life over for that again.”

  “I know that, but she’s not seeing that,” Diane defended her daughter.

  “Yeah,” Austin snorted, and uncharacteristically spoke out of turn. “She’s a fucking psychopath; of course she’s not seeing it.”