Captivated Hearts

by Yahrah St. John

  “Fine. If lust is all we share, then we should damn well enjoy it for however long it lasts.” Damian reached for the clothes in her arms and tossed them away. Then he pushed her backward into the bathroom and toward the shower stall.

  “Damian …” Jada’s eyes were large and stunned when he untied the robe she’d been wearing and it pooled at her feet. Then he quickly flung his robe off to reveal an erection. Jada looked downward and blushed. “Have you no shame?”

  “None when it comes to you.” Damian pushed her inside the shower. Then he leaned over to turn on the taps, and soon the water began to steam around them. Damian tried to grab her, but Jada moved away and ducked her head under the showerhead. He watched the water sluice over her shapely curves, and he groaned. He needed to be inside her. Needed to claim her and make her his. Despite her protests to the contrary, Jada was not immune to him and he wasn’t about to let her treat him like one of her boy Fridays.

  He sidled up behind her and heard her gasp when she felt the hard length of him on her ass. He kissed her neck and shoulders, but she didn’t speak, didn’t even look at him. He let his fingers glide south to cup her breasts, rubbing them with his thumb and forefinger until they puckered for him, but still she said nothing. And he wasn’t having it. He eased her backward against the marble, then knelt before her.

  Her eyes were large and flaming. She knew what he was about to do, but still she asked, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to taste you.” He gripped her hips, spread her legs, and lowered his head between her thighs as visceral need filled his loins.

  “Damian.” She groaned his name, but he could barely hear her. She’d stirred a passion in him that had unleashed the beast. His mouth began worshiping her, arousing her until she began to shake and quiver and toss her head from side to side, but still his tongue continued going deep. He slid between her damp folds to find her tight nub, and he centered there on the sensitized flesh until she couldn’t breathe and began to protest, “I, I can’t—”

  “Yes, you can,” he growled. “Come for me, baby.” His hands worked north to work her nipples, teasing them as his tongue slid faster in and out of her core. Her hips rocked against his mouth until shudders racked her body and he tasted her very essence.

  After the shower session, Jada toweled off and dressed in the clothes she’d had on the day before. What kind of mind game was he playing? Was he trying to show that he could make her a quivering mass of limbs? Well, he’d succeeded. He knew exactly where and how to touch her until she couldn’t bear it anymore and had cried out in his arms. Jada couldn’t make sense of the emotions he aroused in her.

  When she heard his boots hitting the floor, she turned to find him coming out of the bedroom. Damian was no longer in the cowboy gear she’d bought him. He had returned to the sophisticated Damian she knew in San Francisco. He was dressed in dark trousers and a black silk shirt with a few buttons opened. He looked scrumptious. Jada willed her riotous emotions to calm down.

  “Are you ready to go back to the ranch?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll drive you.”

  They were silent when they left the penthouse and hardly spoke on the car ride back to the ranch. Jada was lost in her thoughts. She was starting to understand the past that had shaped Damian into the man he was today. It’s also what drove Damian to succeed at all costs and made him such a feverish workaholic and a loner. But it had stunted his emotions. The only way he knew how to show Jada how he felt was in the bedroom.

  Jada couldn’t allow their relationship to operate according to Damian’s rules only. Yet, she hadn’t exactly figured out what she wanted either. He wanted to see her once they were back in San Francisco. Did she want the same? If they continued the relationship, it would complicate her work life and she’d just found her footing at the studio. Maybe she should leave the incredible lovemaking they’d shared here in Dallas and move on?

  When Damian drove the Range Rover past the Hart family insignia on the ranch’s gates, Jada realized she didn’t have to decide today. She would spend another day or so with Bree and her family, then figure it out.

  Damian cut off the engine and leapt out of the car to open her door. Jada accepted his hand as she exited. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll walk you inside.” Damian started walking in step with her, but Jada placed her hand on his chest.

  “There’s no need. I can take it from here.” She was trying to get some distance from this man who had set her blood on fire.

  Damian’s eyes were cloudy and faraway. “No, I’ll walk you inside. I promised your father I’d bring you back safely, and I’d like to say my goodbyes if it’s all the same to you.”

  “Of course.” Jada was suitably chastised and walked up the steps to her family’s home. She let them inside and walked down the hall to see if anyone was in. She found her father in his study with his reading glasses, poring over papers. “Daddy.” She walked behind his desk and gave him a peck on the cheek.

  He glanced up. “Baby girl, you’re back home.”

  “As promised,” Damian said from the doorway.

  Duke grinned. “Good to see you’re a man of your word.”

  Damian nodded. “I am.” He stepped toward the desk. “I’ve also come to say goodbye.”

  “So soon?” a female voice said from behind him. That’s when Jada realized her mother was sitting in Duke’s oversized chair knitting. She hadn’t even seen her there. How could she when the two men in her life filled the room with a buzzing energy?

  “Yes, ma’am,” Damian said with a sincere smile. “I have to get back to my businesses.”

  “I’m sorry you have to go.” Abigail stood up and walked toward him with outstretched arms. “But I’m so glad we got to meet the new man in our daughter’s life.”

  Abigail hugged Damian, and Jada saw his eyes find hers across the room. Clearly, Damian wasn’t used to being treated so affectionately, but eventually he returned her mother’s spontaneous hug. When they parted, he looked toward Jada. “Walk me out?”

  Jada glanced at her parents, who were beaming with approval. “Yes, I’ll be right back.”

  She walked ahead of Damian until they reached the front door. She was opening it when he pushed it firmly shut. She spun around to face him.

  “Can I get a kiss goodbye?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. He covered the ground between them in a split-second, causing Jada’s heart to race as one of his arms circled around her waist and crushed her against him. Her eyes fluttered closed just as his lips descended on hers. The kiss ignited an electric spark, and at first it was soft and gentle, with his tongue flicking over the seam of her lips seeking entry. Jada eagerly gave in even though she was conflicted about her feelings. But her body wasn’t. It wanted more, deeper sensations that only he could give. Jada surrendered her mouth to the intimate connection.

  This wasn’t just any kiss. It was a branding, and when their mouths burst apart, they were both breathing unevenly and Jada’s heart was pumping so hard, she thought she might pass out. But Damian seemed to be very much in control.

  He stared down into her wildly dilated eyes. “I’ll see you when you get back to San Francisco.” He pulled away, and she watched him as he walked out the door.

  Despite herself, Jada followed and saw him hop into the Rover, kick the engine into gear, and speed off. She couldn’t reason away what was going on. She was falling hard for Damian and wanted him more fiercely than anything she’d ever desired. Including my career? Because when she got back to San Francisco, she would be put to the test and find out how much she was willing to sacrifice to be with him.

  Chapter 14

  “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Jada heard her mother ask from behind her as she closed the front door.

  “Mom, how long have you been standing there?” Jada was trying to evade the que
stion.

  “Long enough.”

  Jada blushed as she imagined Abigail catching her and Damian in the heated liplock a moment ago. “You’re mistaken.”

  “I know love when I see it,” her mother said with a knowing look. “And you’re head over heels for that man.”

  Jada shrugged. “Mama, I think you have stars in your eyes because of you and Daddy.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “C’mon, Mama, we’ve all seen it.” Jada nodded in the direction of the study. “You and Daddy have been inseparable for over a year, yet you’re keeping him at arm’s length. And you haven’t told your children what’s going on between you two.”

  “Because it’s grown folks’ business.”

  “Ah.” Jada smiled. “You can use that excuse, but I can’t?”

  “It’s different and you know it, Jada Hart. Your father and I have decades of history. Children. A divorce between us. If we’re being cautious, surely you must understand why.”

  “I do, Mama. I know what Dad’s infidelity did to this family. It tore us apart, but don’t you know what having a reconciliation between you would do for all of us? It would give us faith to believe in love—that two people can make it work despite their differences and the past.”

  “Is that what’s holding you back from admitting how you feel? Because of your father and me?”

  “No, not entirely, but it has affected my view of happily ever after. I’ve seen what can happen when two people love each other yet still manage to hurt one another.”

  “I admit that forgiving your father hasn’t been easy.”

  “And?”

  “But I have forgiven him because I love him—always have and always will. He’s the only man for me, Jada.”

  Jada smiled. It warmed her heart to hear her mother speak about Duke this way. She and Bree had always hoped for a reconciliation between their parents, and now the day had come. “I’m so happy for you, Mama.”

  “So am I. I think the last time I felt this giddy was when Duke and I first met. I was so enamored with him. He was so strong, confident, and powerful. I was immediately drawn to him. I imagine it’s the same with you and Damian.”

  Jada nodded reluctantly. “It is, but we’ve also butted heads since day one.”

  “Because you were fighting the attraction between you.”

  “Well, in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve stopped fighting or at least we’ve called a ceasefire the last few days.”

  “I noticed.”

  “Mama.” Jada looked upward. “I’ve never felt this way about a man before, not even Joshua. Looking back, I think that was puppy love in comparison to this … and it scares me. The intensity of it frightens me.”

  Abigail smiled knowingly. “That’s what happens when you meet the one. You’re unable to deny the force of nature that draws you to them.”

  “I’ve tried.” Oh, how she’d tried. And look where they’d ended up: a charged encounter at the television station against the wall, and in Dallas at the penthouse for the last night they’d sexed each other crazy. “I don’t know what to do. Damian’s my boss. This is complicated.”

  “It always is,” her mother said, “but you can’t be afraid, Jada. You’re a Hart. Go after what you want.”

  Abigail’s words reverberated with Jada long after they parted, leaving Jada to wonder if she had the courage to do as her mother had suggested.

  When Damian’s jet landed in San Francisco, he was happy to be on solid ground, literally and figuratively. While in the air, he tried to concentrate on work, but it had been fruitless. Instead, he thought about Jada and the last few days he’d spent in her company. He’d never seen such solidarity in a family. The Harts were a tight bunch. He envied them because since the Locketts had died, he’d felt alone.

  But Jada, she had divorced parents who were clearly in love even though they tried to hide it. And the deep affection she had for her sisters was undeniable. Damian longed for what they had, and he hated that because it made him feel weak. If he didn’t allow himself to feel, he could cope with life’s inequities. It’s why he always kept himself removed from forming any real attachments. Yet, as soon as he met Jada, something in him that he thought was dead had come to life. Suddenly, he was feeling more than he’d ever allowed himself.

  He’d started to care about what happened to Jada.

  Care about her sister and be invested that she and her baby pulled through and thankful when they had. Damian never prayed, but he had when he sat by Jada in that hospital chapel. He silently prayed to God or whoever was listening that life shouldn’t be so cruel and take Bree’s baby when she was so close to delivering a healthy child. When his prayers were answered, Damian had released a long-held sigh of relief.

  After Bree’s drama was over, his deep feelings for Jada had come bubbling to the surface. She was more than a breath of fresh air—Jada Hart was an original.

  In Dallas, he’d seen a pluckier, down-to-earth Jada who wasn’t afraid to be seen without makeup, who wasn’t afraid of putting him in his place by making him wear Western clothes and forcing him to face his unease about horseback riding. He’d been out of his element but had played along because he’d loved seeing Jada’s smile. Loved watching her black shimmering hair blowing in the breeze underneath her cowboy hat as she’d kicked the horse into galloping and left him in her dust. And when she’d become relaxed around him, softening toward him, he’d gone in for the kill. Jada hadn’t been able to deny what he’d known since he laid eyes on her: They were joined by some invisible thread, and the chemistry between them was electric, culminating in the most incredible lovemaking Damian had ever experienced.

  Damian had thought if they were together again, he could exorcise Jada out of his system, but that didn’t happen. Her almond-brown eyes haunted him and made him want to see the smile on her teasing, pert mouth, a mouth that had brought him pleasure over and over last night.

  But today was another day, and they would have to figure out how to navigate their workplace in lieu of their sexual relationship—because Damian wasn’t about to stop being Jada’s lover. If she thought she could relegate him to the backburner when she returned, she would find out that she was mistaken. He intended to be a fixture in her bed for the foreseeable future.

  But he worried over just how much Jada would fight him and herself on this inevitability.

  “Jada, you’re still here?” Bree asked when Jada stopped by the Wells mansion later that day.

  Jada frowned. “Of course I am. Where else would I be right after my sister nearly suffered a miscarriage?”

  “I’m sorry. I just assumed you had to get back to work, plus Duke mentioned that Damian had already left.”

  “And you assumed I went back with him like a good little puppy dog?” Jada snapped. “I don’t follow behind any man. I follow my own path.”

  “Jeez, I know that, Jada,” Bree said tightly. “What’s got you so riled up?”

  “Nothing.” Jada busied herself fluffing pillows that didn’t need fluffing.

  “I would beg to differ. You’re wound up as tight as a drum.”

  Jada rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry if I came off abrupt. I came to check on you is all. I have to be sure you’re OK before I leave.”

  “And I am.” Bree patted her large belly. “The baby and I are fine.”

  Jada’s brow turned up questioningly.

  “We are. You can get back to your life.”

  Jada knew what Bree wasn’t saying. “You mean get back to Damian?”

  Bree grinned. “If the shoe fits.”

  “What do you think you know, Bree?”

  “I know you stayed out all night and didn’t come home.”

  Jada laughed. “Do you have spies at the ranch? You haven’t lived there in almost two years.”

  “Yeah well, I’m
still a Hart and I hear things. Anyway, don’t try and be coy with me, sister. Just spill the beans and admit you got busy with Damian.”

  “Alright, we spent the night together.”

  “And? Why am I having to pull this out of you? I’m six months pregnant, and you know how some women feel horny at this time in their pregnancy. Well, I don’t. I just feel like a big beached whale. So spill, damn you.”

  “Alright, alright.” Jada held her hands up in defense. “It was good. Real good. No, correction: It was great. Fucking great. The best I’ve ever had. There, are you satisfied, Ms. Hot Mama?”

  Bree grinned. “Actually, I am, but it sounds like that took a lot out of you to admit. Why? What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just confused. You know we work together.”

  “So did Grayson and I, but we made it work.”

  Jada remembered, but it wasn’t without drama. Grayson had hurt Bree with his lies and deception, and it had taken months for him to win her back. “It’s more than that. Damian is not open. When I tried to get him to talk after our amazing night together, he clammed up. It was as if I was only good for one thing, but not to go deeper.”

  “And that hurt you?”

  “Of course it did. I know I may put on an air of ‘I don’t care,’ and with most men that’s usually true, but—”

  “But Damian is different?”

  Jada nodded. “I’ve never felt this way, and it’s unnerving. I’m used to setting the pace with men, and when I’m done with them, I move on to the next one.”

  “But you’re not in control with Damian?”

  Jada snorted. “Not in the slightest. And the funny thing is, I think neither is he. I think he’s scared too by the depth of feeling we bring out in each other. I’m not sure I should explore it—not when he clams up like a tortoise.”

  “I thought I heard he grew up on the streets. Maybe it’s hard for him to show emotion. I can’t imagine he could show fear when he was out there.”