by Tia Siren
I nodded as Joanna left the kitchen to get ready. After bundling up myself, I accepted a large thermos of coffee from Marcie, who leaned in to whisper, “Please treat her good, Mr. Burke. I really do like her better than your ex-wife.”
“No shit,” I replied with a laugh. “I happen to like Joanna better than Sierra, too.”
Marcie patted me on the shoulder fondly. “Good. Now, enjoy yourself. The both of you.”
I waited for Joanna at the bottom of the stairs. She emerged from her room a moment later in a thick flannel sweater, along with what appeared to be fleece-lined leggings. I helped her slip into her heavy coat before I shrugged into mine with a smile. Taking ahold of her hand, we walked outside together to greet the sunny day.
Water trickled down from the rain gutters from the snow melting off the roof. It was still a bit cold while we walked into the barn. I strapped down the thermos, along with my gun, before hopping onto the snowmobile with a grin.
“Come on,” I said, patting the cold seat behind me. “Would you like a proper tour of my entire property this time?”
Joanna rolled her eyes as she swung a leg over to settle down on the seat behind me. She wrapped her arms around me while I switched over the key to start the engine. The barn doors swung open with a gentle nudge of the snowmobile before I revved up the engine to start down the small slope. Joanna’s arms tightened around my waist while she let out a breathless giggle as we flew down the backside of the property, the cold winter air nipping at our cheeks.
I drove along the fence line to avoid the patch of trees at the center of my property. Acres stretched out in front of us while I cruised at a nice speed along the snowy ground with Joanna’s arms wrapped around my waist. She rested her chin on my shoulder while she enjoyed the peaceful views that passed by us. I kept going forward until I reached the frozen pond at the very edge of my property line. Turning the engine off, I hopped down into the snow to help Joanna off the snowmobile, too. My thighs burned from the ride while I led Joanna through the knee-high snow in the direction of the pond. Clear blue skies plunged down past the horizon. It was utterly motionless and peaceful without a sound of traffic or another human being anywhere nearby.
“This is beautiful,” Joanna said. “I can see why you never gave up this property to anyone who was interested in buying it.”
“Who told you about that?” I asked while I poured us both some coffee to warm our hands up. I frowned as I tried to remember if I had discussed selling this property in front of Joanna.
“Marcie told me,” Joanna said. “She told me that you refused to let Sierra sell pieces of it off to people who were interested in building lots on it.”
She accepted the mug of coffee with a grateful smile. I set the thermos down on a small rock before we both gingerly took a seat on a larger rock to look over the pond. Just thinking about that fight years ago still made my blood boil. Sierra never saw the need for owning so much property. She wanted more money to buy a bigger house or another fancy car. She didn’t care about the sights my property had.
“Sierra treated everything like a walking ATM machine,” I said, sipping my coffee. “I really wasn’t any different to her. She wanted more of everything, so when I refused to give her anything more, she shacked up with some guy who gave her what she wanted.”
“I know that feeling very well.” Joanna sighed heavily as she gazed across the frozen pond. “Before Sid, I dumped my ex-boyfriend for cheating on me with another woman. That’s when I started to first believe there was something wrong with me.”
“There is nothing wrong with you,” I said firmly. “You were being taken advantage of is all.”
She smiled sadly at me. “I know you’re right. I got stuck in this cycle of being used all the time. It was just easy to think that they actually cared, or that Sid would change over time. Stupid, I know.”
“It isn’t stupid to hope that the person you love will see the pain they are causing. I know that one from personal experience.”
“Stings worse than a million bee stings,” Joanna said. She turned to look at me with a soft smile as she leaned her head on my shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here, though. I don’t think about that sting as much anymore.”
Emotions thickened my throat when I leaned down to press a kiss against the side of her head. I didn’t either. I didn’t think about any of that fucked-up shit Sierra had pulled over the years to get what she wanted. More money. More clothes. More of something. Nothing ever felt good enough to satisfy her.
It occurred to me then that Joanna was used to a vicious cycle of men taking advantage of her. It was a fine balance between being dominant in the bedroom but also trusting in the outside world when it came to carrying on a relationship. I gathered the sense that Joanna responded to the part of me that liked dominance in the bedroom. She liked the balance in me even though I was afraid.
I had taken advantage of situations in the past numerous times because it had been easier to do that than sympathize with whoever I had been with. I had just followed the blind need for pleasure to numb the rest of me. Sex had become my drug of choice over the years since my divorce with Sierra.
It had turned into something completely different with Joanna. My drug of choice had become her because she soothed every ache inside me in the best way possible. She saw the parts of me that I hid away from the rest of the world because I had to keep them hidden. Wearing my emotions on my sleeve had never been an option since day one when it came to dealing with people. Particularly in my office.
We returned to the mansion to find a freshly baked apple pie waiting on the counter, along with a finished roast in the crock pot. We ate together while we talked about whatever came to our minds. I didn’t hesitate to pull Joanna into my arms once we had settled into bed for the night to enjoy the sensation of her thighs clenching around my hips. I relished in that feeling of watching her head roll to the side while her eyebrows pulled together as I made love to her. I treasured those soft murmurs of pleasure in my ear while I threaded our fingers together to let myself fall into the sensation of our bodies wrapped around each other. I enjoyed the feeling of her fingertips grazing along my back before grasping my shoulders to anchor herself to me while we both rode out our orgasms.
Afterward, I cradled Joanna close to me while she turned to her side to drift off peacefully into slumber. I listened to her breathe softly next to me while I stared up at the dark ceiling with the sound of the fire smoldering slowly in the fireplace. I was falling in love with her. I had been falling in love with Joanna for a very long time.
It was only now prominent because I had her in my arms, like I’d wanted for a while. I pressed a kiss to the back of her head before settling down next to her. I refused to let my apprehension speak up again. I didn’t dare to push her away again, even though there was a good chance I could fuck it up.
Chapter 24
Joanna
The sound of a phone ringing on the bedside table drew me out of a peaceful and deep sleep. I groaned in disappointment while I tried to cling to the remnants of whatever dream I had been having. It had been something that involved Bastian’s lips on me.
I felt a strong arm unwrap itself from around my waist, followed by a string of curse words as Bastian woke up, too. He rolled away from me to where his phone was ringing on the bedside table.
“Why the fuck is she calling me?” he grumbled, pushing the sheets back.
I rolled over at the question to stare up at him sleepily. “Who is calling you?”
A ping of a voice mail filled the bedroom. Sunlight hadn’t yet even filled the sky. Darkness clung to the world still. I sat up on my elbow to watch as Bastian moved around in the dark to the dresser, from which he pulled out a pair of what I assumed were sweatpants.
“My lawyer,” he said, his voice tinged with irritation. “I’ll be back. It’s not good when she calls me this early on a Sunday morning.”
Concern filtered through the sleep wanting to cling me still. I
sat up to gather the blankets around my bare chest to fend off the cold.
“Do you want me to get up, too?” I asked.
“Go back to sleep,” Bastian said. “I’ll come back to bed after this phone call. I promise.”
“If you’re sure…”
“I’m sure.”
He walked to my side of the bed to press a kiss against my forehead. I settled back down into the pillows to gladly bury myself in the cocoon of warm blankets. Sleep took me again before I could even think about anything else. It was a few hours later that I woke to bright sunlight in the room and the bed cold alongside me.
I rolled over with a frown to find Bastian’s side of the bed still empty. Down the hallway, I could hear his muffled voice coming from what sounded like the privacy of his office. Clearly, that phone call had been far more important than coming back to bed for a few extra hours of sleep.
Unease knotted in my stomach as I pushed the blankets and sheets away. Finding a large shirt to slip into, I walked along the chilly hallway in the direction of Bastian’s office. I lingered outside the door for a moment before pressing my ear against the thick wood.
“I don’t fucking understand this crap,” Bastian was saying angrily. “Where did this shit come from, Shelly? I don’t get it.”
I knocked on the door out of concern. I took a step back when I heard Bastian cross his office to open the door.
The forced smile on his face indicated that something was wrong. Horribly wrong, judging from the tense expression despite the smile stretched over his clenched teeth.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Everything’s fine,” he said in a tight voice that suggested otherwise. “I’ll be out in a little bit. If you can start coffee, that would be great.”
“Are you sure that—”
“I have to take this call,” Bastian said. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
He closed the door in my face before I could reply. Baffled, I went into the guest room to pull on a pair of sweatpants beneath my shirt. I ventured down to the living room to add a few logs to the fireplace there before kicking the furnace on to warm everything back up. I brewed a fresh pot of coffee while I set about making us both breakfast to distract myself from the anxious feeling that was quickly building in my stomach.
I knew that look on Bastian’s face well. Shit had hit the fan somewhere. I didn’t know where, but it was enough to cause Bastian distress.
It was a few minutes later that Bastian entered the kitchen with a shirt now tugged over his sweatpants. He glanced at the stove with a tight smile. The tense expression had yet to shift from his face while he helped himself to a cup of coffee.
“What’s going on?” I asked anxiously. “I can see that there is something going on. You’re obviously upset about something.”
“It’s nothing,” Bastian replied coolly. “Just a few things that I need to take care of in Salt Lake tomorrow.”
“Work related?”
“Yes, work related. I’m not really hungry to be honest with you.” He sighed as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “I have another phone to call make in my office. Why don’t you go for a swim or something?”
I set my coffee mug down on the counter next to the stove while I clicked the burners back off. I didn’t buy a damn word he was trying to sell to me. Something was off. I didn’t know what it was, and I wanted to know.
“I know that there is something going on,” I said. “You don’t act like this for no reason. What is it?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Bastian replied as he poured himself another cup to take upstairs with him. “I’m handling everything the way it needs to be handled.”
“If you’re going back to the city, then I want to come back, too.”
He paused to glance over his shoulder at me. “I don’t think that would be a good thing for you to do right now. It’s better if you stay out of Sid’s sight because I don’t know what that fucker has planned.”
“I can’t stay put in this house if you are leaving,” I said firmly. “I’d like to get back to work in the office if you are heading in that direction.”
“I don’t even know if I am going back,” Bastian said. “It depends on a few things, but it probably won’t happen. Eat some breakfast. Go for a swim. Don’t wait around on me.”
I watched him leave the kitchen before dumping the pans into the kitchen sink with angry tears stinging the back of my eyes. Typical. Very fucking typical of men. The closer you got to them, the more they pushed you away. After the past few days, I supposed I should’ve braced myself for something like this. I didn’t quite believe Bastian’s excuse of work-related calls, but I had no other choice other than to accept it for now.
I went upstairs to take a long, hot shower to ease the soreness out of my muscles. My stomach churned nervously as I paced around in the guest room. I didn’t feel right going back into Bastian’s room until I knew what was going on. I finally heard Bastian’s office door open before the door to his bedroom closed. The sound of water rushing through the pipes indicated that he had retreated to the shower.
It was sorely tempting to rush into his office to look for any indication of what had upset him. It wasn’t work related. It had something to do with me. I had seen it in his eyes when he’d refused to look in my direction.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I twisted my fingers anxiously while I waited for the shower to turn off. It was close to an hour before I finally heard Bastian do so. I gave him a few more minutes before treading down the hallway with a queasy stomach to push his bedroom door open. He was packing a suitcase on the bed.
My heart sank to the pit of my stomach at the sight of him rifling through a few dresser drawers before folding things neatly. He was leaving. He was leaving me.
Chapter 25
Bastian
“None of this bullshit even makes any sense. Who the fuck is claiming sexual harassment charges against me?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose to fight off the pressure mounting there. My blood pressure was rising too judging from the headache pounding in my temples. I was close to bursting from frustration. I clutched the phone tightly to my ear while I paced around my office.
There was no doubt who was behind the “sexual harassment” charges. Sid. The seedy fucking bastard had convinced someone to file against me, but I had no clue who it would be. My entire office had been steadfast about not giving out any information about Joanna’s whereabouts. He had obviously slipped through the cracks like the slimy worm he was.
Shelly Combs, my lawyer, had been the one to inform me earlier in the morning that there were indeed sexual harassment charges in the process of being filed. She had been notified of the charges through another lawyer.
“They haven’t formally filed yet,” Shelly said. “A complaint was reported at the police station. I imagine an investigator will be seeking you out to talk about what was said.”
I froze mid-pace at that. “You mean a cop is going to come out here?”
“Possibly. They will stop by the office. They’re getting the union involved too, Bastian.”
“Fuck.” I groaned, pondering if it was too early to have a shot of Jack Daniels to take the edge off my shoulders. “I don’t get this. No one in my office has ever complained about something like this.”
“It’s not against another employee. It’s against you, so whoever is complaining wouldn’t go straight to you.”
I ran a hand over my head in aggravation. “Please tell me you don’t believe any of this horseshit. You know me, Shelly.”
“I do know you,” she said empathetically. “I don’t care to know the rumors that swirl around about you because what you do in your personal life is no one’s business. I do, however, know that you keep your personal life separate from the workplace.”
Hot guilt trickled through me at Shelly’s confident words. I couldn’t tell her that I had technically crossed that line by fucking Joanna every single
night. I couldn’t tell her that Joanna had been staying in my mansion for the past week to avoid her ex-boyfriend.
“The only problem I see you facing at the moment is a trial.” Shelly continued on, oblivious to my guilty silence. “I know you’re innocent, so if these charges are filed, then you’re going to fight them. That’s where you’ll get to say your piece in court.”
“There’s only one problem with that, though,” I said grimly. “Do you know how many corrupt police officers there are in this system?”
Shelly laughed shortly into the phone. “Too many to count, Bastian. I’m a lawyer. You don’t have to tell me that there is corruption in police departments.”
“It wouldn’t be a very fair ordeal then.”
“I’ve been your lawyer for a long time now, Bastian,” Shelly said. “Is there anything that you need to tell me? Because I get the feeling that you have an idea of what prompted this type of lawsuit. It’s better that you tell me everything now before it comes out to blindside me. I can do some damage control if I know what is going on.”
I sat down in my office chair with a weary sigh. Twisting around, I faced the window where warm sunlight was streaming in through the curtains. Clear blue skies stretched on forever over the snowcapped trees. It was peaceful out here. The last thing I wanted to do was return to the city to face the problems Sid was stirring up from inside the police department. He wanted Joanna back. It was starting to become clear that no matter how hard I tried to shelter Joanna from him, eventually he would find his way to her.
I took a deep breath. “I’m not sure if anyone has said anything to you—”
“Nothing,” Shelly interrupted. “Nobody has said a word to me, but I get the feeling that they know what is going on, too.”
“My secretary, Joanna Lind, has worked for me for a few years. We’ve always had a good and professional relationship. I care about her well-being. It was over a week ago that I found her boyfriend, who is currently a cop here in Salt Lake, roughing her up outside a club we were both at to watch a band. I tried to intervene, but he pulled a gun on me before Joanna entered his car. She showed up to work the next day with bruises all over her neck, so I helped her move out of her house and into my place here in Park City.”
