by Jada Sioux
“Are you going to tell Damien?” Tasha asked carefully.
“I don’t think so,” Kiara replied, shaking her head.
The pit of her stomach iced over at the thought. She never imagined she would be the kind of woman who would not tell a man that she was carrying his child. But she never thought she’d get pregnant out of wedlock either, so there were a lot of things Kiara was currently going through that didn’t exactly fit into her well-formed plan of how her life should go.
“Why not?”
“Let’s just say that I’ve been told in no few words that it would just make things worse. Besides, do you think Damien Thatch is the kind of man who wants to play house with someone like me and a kid he wasn’t planning on having? I don’t think so. And I don’t want him to have to be with me out of some kind of obligation. This is on me, and I’m going to make it work.”
“I think he has a right to know. At the very least, it should be his decision, you know? Whether he wants to be involved or not. But, it’s your baby and your life, and whatever you want, Kei, that’s how we’ll do it. Now quit glaring at me. You know I’m telling you the truth,” Tasha said, swinging her spoon in Kiara’s general direction.
Yup, Kiara knew. That didn’t make it any less painful to hear it from someone else’s mouth, though. Kiara was more than relieved when Tasha decided to lighten the mood, as things were getting far too depressing for Kiara to handle. Especially because she knew she didn’t have anyone but herself to blame for what was going on.
“Whatever you want, you know I’ll support you. We can make the den into a nursery! I’m killer with a paintbrush. I’m thinking green. Maybe some of those cool nature stickers on the walls. Isn’t that what they’re doing these days? Bringing kids up so they know what nature is all about? I don’t know. I think we need to buy books. Have you bought any books?”
Tasha rattled off questions, and Kiara just laughed a little. It was nice to know that she was still capable of smiling, even if things looked completely hopeless. She was just going to have to suck it up and keep her chin up. There had to be a way out of this that didn’t include hurting anyone, least of all her unborn child.
While Tasha pondered out loud about the best gender-neutral color scheme for the den, Kiara put a hand on her belly. She was going to make it work. She had to.
And Damien couldn’t know about it. Not a thing.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Damien
What the fuck are you doing. When did you turn into that guy? Damien asked himself, standing in front of a rough-looking apartment building.
He leant on his silver Mercedes, his arms crossed over his wide chest. Dressed in a perfectly tailored white dress-shirt, light slacks and Italian leather shoes that probably cost more than the upkeep of Kiara’s entire apartment building, Damien was feeling something he wasn’t quite used to – out of place.
He’d been trying to get in contact with Kiara for days now. It wasn’t only that his time in L.A. was always limited, but also that he didn’t like the way she kept making herself scarce. It wasn’t the coy, coquettish game of a woman, who liked to be chased. Of course, every woman wanted to feel hunted every now and then, but Damien was sure there was more to it. And, if he was right, Eliza had some kind of hand in it.
The last thing he would stand for was Eliza messing with his love life.
Squaring his jaw, he pushed himself away and took the plunge. He entered the building with long strides and just about ran up the stairs, tucking his sunglasses away behind the button of his shirt.
Damien Thatch wasn’t used to hearing no as an answer. In fact, he didn’t recognize the word unless it was him that was saying it. As such, being so unceremoniously ignored by the object of his current interest, Kiara, was more than he was willing to handle. If she wasn’t going to make herself available to him, well, he’d just have to come and find her himself.
It had taken exactly one phone call to find out where she lived. And then it had taken a good few hours of driving around to clear his head before he could actually show up at the address. He wasn’t sure what it was about her, but she was at the same time maddening, captivating and completely impossible, and he couldn’t get enough of her. And when he wanted something, well, he just had to have it.
When he reached the right door, he steadied himself for a moment, relaxing his shoulders. Damien raised his hand and knocked a few times – quick, rasping motions that exuded urgency and impatience. It fit his mood, as even one more minute meant that he might explode from his need to see her.
“Hey. You’re not Kiara,” he said pleasantly, cocking his head to the side slightly and smiling to the tall, curvy woman greeting him at the door.
She had frizzy hair, carefully pulled back into a bun, and lively dark-brown eyes that told Damien that she’d sized him up the second she’d seen him. And she liked him, so that was good. Distantly, he noted that had he met her in a dark club somewhere, he might have fucked her until those pretty red lips screamed his name over and over again. That is, if he didn’t know Kiara. And if Kiara wasn’t doing such a brilliant job at completely taking over his mojo.
“You’re right, I’m not. Let me guess. Damien? I saw your Benz outside. You know, if you leave it for too long, you’re not going to have any tires to drive off on.”
“Just means I’ll get to enjoy the company of the lovely ladies in this apartment for longer, hmm?”
He winked. He couldn’t help it. Once the charm started pouring out, it was like fighting the flood to get it back under control.
“Anyway, is Kiara home? And I don’t think I’ve caught your name.”
“Tasha. And I’ll go see. Don’t you go winking at me, boy. I know you’re trouble,” Tasha said, waggling her finger at him as she twirled around and headed deeper into the apartment.
Damien smirked to himself, closing the door behind him and looking around the small hallway. Tasha was right. He was trouble, and that’s what women like her loved so much about him. He was willing to bet that being trouble wasn’t making him any more popular with Kiara, though.
He heard distant murmurs and then rustling covers and hurried footsteps. Damien had to muffle a chuckle as he made out the very obvious sound of two women hurriedly discussing whether or not one of them was presentable. Hell, Kiara could have walked out dressed in a brown paper bag and he would have still only been able to think about how to get it off of her.
Finally, the door Tasha had disappeared behind opened again. First to let out Tasha, who made a point of slinking off somewhere, while giving an encouraging look over her shoulder, and then followed by Kiara.
Damien watched her somewhat uncertain approach, and it took everything he had to keep from pulling her into his arms and kissing the breath out of her. Even in baggy pants and a worn jersey, no makeup and her hair thrown into a ponytail, she looked spectacular. For a moment, he could clearly envision himself waking up next to her every morning and gazing into her radiant face. Kissing the sleep away and worshipping her rich curves until neither of them could take any more of it.
“Hey,” she said, cutting through his revelry.
“Hey, sugar. I see you didn’t get the memo. Get dressed, we’re going out,” he said, improvising on the spot.
No way in hell was he going to let her disappear into her bedroom again and ignore him. He was going to take charge of the situation, and she was just going to have to roll with it.
“I’m not sure,” she said, a slight stutter to her words.
Damien shook his head, his dirty blonde hair falling on his forehead – never take no for an answer.
“Yes you are. You still work for me, remember? Now get that hot ass of yours in something that’s less comfortable and let’s go. I’ll be downstairs.”
She looked incredibly vulnerable. Like all he should have been doing was pulling her into his arms and making whatever was bothering her go away, by any means necessary. But the way she had her arms around herself kep
t him back – as if she wasn’t only protecting herself from whatever was getting her so down and out, but from him as well.
Space. He could give her a little bit of that, couldn’t he? As long as she still came with him, that was.
“Well, okay. I need to tell you something anyway. Where are we going?” she finally asked with a sigh and what Damien took to be the beginnings of a smile behind a worried facade.
The little tremor that went through her when she said she needed to talk to him didn’t go unnoticed by him, and he certainly made a note to remember it. Whatever she had to say, it seemed there was plenty of reason for him to not want to hear it. But if there was one thing he had learned in life and in business, then it was that secrets always came back to bite him in the ass. The less he had of them in his life the better.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” he said. “Now, go get beautiful, gorgeous.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Damien
“I can’t believe you,” Kiara said, her hazel eyes lit with laughter.
She was wearing an absolutely stunning green off the shoulder dress that gave Damien just the barest peek at her cleavage, but that was enough. Her perfect curves were mouthwatering, and again he found himself cursing that he couldn’t just sweep the silverware off the table and have her then and there.
“What do you mean?” he asked casually, kicking back with a whiskey in his hands.
He liked the way it burned as it went down his throat. He needed a bit of fire to fight the one already aflame within him. The stunning, rolling hills of northern California swept around them as far as the eye could see, but his eyes were only on Kiara, and for good reason. The pristine mansion he had brought her to paled next to her. Despite being just about as lavish as Damien could tolerate, it didn’t hold a candle to her. And that, well, should have made him worry.
“The helicopter. The house. The dinner. The pool?” she counted all the things she currently didn’t believe.
Damien smirked and shrugged, taking another mouthful of the intolerably expensive drink. Yeah, okay, so he was throwing his weight around a bit. He knew it probably did nothing for a woman like Kiara – he’d learned as much, considering she still ran from him like an antelope from a ravenous lion. But he had never really tried to sweep her off her feet quite so thoroughly before, and he had to appreciate the fact that she had at least noticed.
“Yes?” he retorted simply.
“It’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
“You think it’s much that I want to give you a perfect evening?”
Kiara sighed, shaking her head and smiling softly. They had had dinner on the porch overlooking his winery, and now, after their stomachs were filled with the most delectable treats Damien’s private chef could manage, Damien’s appetites were turning towards other ventures. More specifically, that scrumptious piece of dessert sitting across from him, bathed in the glow of the candlelight.
“Do you ever turn down the charm?” she queried, her voice quieter.
Damien frowned. There it was again, the same uncertainty he had seen when he came to her apartment, and that he had kept sensing throughout the evening. Not all was right, and she was unwilling to open up to him about it. Naturally, it drove him absolutely insane with curiosity. The emotion was only rivaled by his need to feel that soft, silky skin under his touch again.
“Would you like me to?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. Well… Yes. Being with you is always like something out of a fairy tale or a movie. The fancy dinners, the big yachts, the fast cars, the perfect man… I guess I wonder if this is all real or if I’ll wake up one minute and discover I’ve been asleep the whole time.”
She bit her lip, her white teeth worrying her lower lip in the most inviting way. Damien exhaled deeply and put the glass down. He looked around himself, studying his reflection in the glass windows that looked into his living room, and then took in the rest of the scenery about them. She wasn’t entirely incorrect.
His life was a bit… farfetched, perhaps. But there was a reason why he hid behind that carefully coiffed, spotlessly kept persona of an impossible letch and a billionaire bad boy extraordinaire. It had been a long time since anyone had been able to bring him out of his bubble enough to really pay any heed to it.
“What do you want to know?” he asked, resting his blue eyes on Kiara.
He didn’t challenge her on it, but it wasn’t because he didn’t want to. Damien didn’t mind when he had to fight for something, if anything, it helped him thrive. If this was how Kiara wanted to play it, he was game – at least for now.
“Anything. Something to make you human. Something that isn’t all flash and distraction,” Kiara said, her eyes almost pleading.
She cleaned up damn good, but he could still sense the sadness in her that he had when he’d gone to her apartment. That insecurity he hated to see in her, knowing that she was better than that – far too good to let anything gnaw at her like that.
“Something real… Alright.”
He rolled up his already rolled up sleeve even further, revealing a long gash that ran up his right bicep.
“This I got while I fell down an apple tree in my grandmother’s yard when I was six. Not from base jumping in the Alps.”
She giggled and spurred Damien on.
“I think you remember the scar I have right below my ribs? Emergency surgery, got T-boned by a drunk driver.”
He fell silent for a moment, but continued through the bubbling pit of discomfort that gathered in his gut.
“My older brothers, David and Devon, died in that crash. My father had passed a few years earlier. So, at sixteen, I suddenly became the man of the house.”
Kiara covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes sparkling with compassion.
“Damien, I’m so sorry…”
He raised his hand, hushing her. He knew. Everyone was always sorry, mortified, and he knew she meant it. Still he had to keep his composure when he talked of things that were neither comfortable nor happy for him. His past explained far too much for anyone bright enough to see the connections, so it was something he kept out of the tabloids with the utmost care.
“It’s alright. It was a long time ago. I think it taught me very quickly what kind of man I want to be. The kind of man that is there for his family. The kind of man who can go through tragedy and walk out stronger, if not better. My brothers were good men, and I doubt I’ll ever measure up to them, but I can dedicate my life to trying. Whether I’ll succeed or not remains to be seen.”
He put his glass down, suddenly finding himself without appetite for the soothing alcohol. As always when thinking of that fateful day and his brothers’ passing, the walls he had built around himself threatened to crumble. All that work he had painstakingly put into building himself, his brand… It all teetered on the edge of a dark abyss he had pulled himself out of far too many times.
“I have an addictive personality, Kiara. Sometimes, my addictions are good. They drive me on, spur me to greatness I wouldn’t otherwise achieve.”
He gave her a pointed look, considering her doe-eyed features and the way she almost held her breath as his gaze brushed over her. Even when strong, she was so delicate that he feared a gust of wind would take her away and crumble her to pieces right then and there. It was an almost ethereal softness he hadn’t seen in her before. It made her glow. It made her more beautiful than words could describe.
She was one of those addictions, and he hoped he wouldn’t have to cure himself of her any time soon. Lords know, so far any attempt at that had proven to be nigh impossible.
“Sometimes, they push me down and keep me there. This is not something I admit freely. I don’t pride myself in being what I am, but I want to. Being better than what I am is something that I work towards, that I wish and strive for. If you wanted to know something real, well, I think that’s the best I have.”
He fell silent, his blue eyes fixed on the late-nigh
t scenery. The lights dotted around the vineyard made the lines of grapes look ghostly under the star-dotted sky. Damien wasn’t the kind of man to dwell on things, but when his thoughts were led down those gloomy paths, it was hard to see the joy in life that had just surrounded him moments ago.
“Thank you,” Kiara said softly, reaching her hand over the table and resting it on his.
Her velvety touch made him inhale sharply, and then his hand locked around hers and kept her long fingers in his soft grasp. Damien looked back at her, and the way she smiled made his heart jump. It was the most peculiar thing.
Over the years, he had taken the most beautiful women in the world to his bed and kept them there until he got bored of them, never to see them again. Yet, here was Kiara – elegant, intelligent, a little bit wild, a little bit fragile. And she could keep his attention rooted to her like no one before, shunning any thought of anyone else by his side. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with this sudden shift in his mentality, but what he did know was that he’d do his best to enjoy her company – for as long as she would have him.
“For what?” he asked, tracing a trail up along her arm until he reached the crook of her arm.
He caressed the soft flesh, making slight circles on it ever so gently.
“For… Well, for being you. It’s good to know there’s a man behind the shark that’s been swimming the waters around me.”
She smiled, and he let out a chuckle. A shark? He couldn’t disagree with that. Damien pulled Kiara to her feet and to him, sliding an arm around her waist with trained grace.
“Are you calling me soft?” he asked, his lips intolerably close to hers but not kissing them.
“Ah! No, I don’t think I could call you anything but hard,” she said, biting her lip again as she glanced downward.
He wasn’t even trying to hide how she made him immediately hard when he touched her. It had been far too long. That day on the boat was almost like a distant memory by now – one that was badly in need of rekindling.
