Undisclosed Desire (The Complete Box Set

by Falon Gold

  “Bye.” I don’t attempt to hang up before bounding out of his chair, going outside.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Astrid

  The bright morning light predicts a gorgeous day. Might as well be grey and cloudy. In the graveled lot, I pace in front of my truck, grill reflecting in the department’s glass door that I tumbled out of on tingling feet, until a limo is crunching the rocks beneath its tires. No point in talking to Blake now, I know what he wants to discuss; living like the Powers. It’s already started for him with the suits and chauffeurs. Next will come the jet-setting to exotic locations. Might as well be another galaxy for those with lesser breeding and only eight thousand dollars to their name. I can see them now, the tendrils attaching to Blake, drawing him away until we’re passing ships in the night. Eventually, one of us won’t come back. I won’t let our love decline to disposable. Better to set him free now while he’s still the man I fell for.

  I freeze, searching out my Blake, before he becomes theirs and unrecognizable. Both back doors swing wide on the car. Blond and dark hair eclipse the car on each side until similar faces are visible. On their way to me, both men are suited and booted, undiscovered male models, gavel clumping under their soles. It’s almost too much damn testosterone incoming, even outdoors where the atmosphere should be watering it down.

  Outnumbered, I claw at my elbows, while I splinter inside.

  Ashley and Martin called in reinforcements to fight a war against little old me. Waste of their time. I’m not going to be a hurdle that Blake must jump, repeatedly, because they can’t accept me. He shouldn’t be put through this. Somebody has to be willing to do what’s best for him. Let them be the obstacles he needs to get around to see his son. I had Blake for a little while, and that’ll have to be enough.

  When Blake towers over me, he caresses my upturned cheek. “Are you going to hear me out first?”

  “Y-yes.” Stuttering makes it seem as if I’m asking.

  The mystery relative flanks my right. Insults maybe being sharpened on the tip of his well-bred palate. I’m not going down without a fight even if the Powers have already won. They can’t have my dignity too.

  Blake kidnaps my hands in his, incarcerating them in his chest, against his steady heartbeat. “Camron from New York, originally from Italy, meet Astrid Daniels from Utah. Astrid, Camron.”

  “Hello, Astrid.” Traces of an accent fading tinge his baritone. No doubt it drives the women crazy. Then, Camron kisses my cheek.

  What the hell?

  Wondering what game is he playing, I stare at him clueless, waiting for him to say something belittling.

  “Keep your lips to your damn self, Camron.” Blake growls.

  Camron grins, then winks. Blake’s head crooks to the side. His tongue laps at the nook in my lips. Automatically, I gun for his mouth, and go up in flames, or I’m going down. Senses have already crashed. I can’t distinguish which direction I’m heading in.

  You didn’t even try to save yourself.

  Can’t with Blake’s mouth wreaking havoc. Jesus, he’s seducing me right in front of his cousin. Supposed to be backing off so he doesn’t have far to go to leave me behind.

  Then pull back, up, or something.

  Right.

  Breathless, I disconnect. “It’s okay, Blake. You don’t have to choose...” Cracking in my voice takes my ability to speak. “...between me and your family anymore. You never should’ve had to. I bow out gracefully, but I’m not moving back to Harrison. Come see the baby when you want to.” It’s not like I’ll have another man. Who can compare to Blake anyway?

  No one, but you’re on the end of the open alligator’s mouth too when it comes to who compares to living a lavish lifestyle.

  Touché, conscience.

  Blake’s lips swoop down for a swift peck, leaving singe marks on my mouth and me wanting more. “You’re supposed to hear me out first, baby, remember?”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Open your eyes then.”

  I didn’t know they were closed. “Sorry.”

  Camron chuckles.

  Blake’s baby blues dwell into the heart of me. “Castle, private jet, little princes, and princesses running around, destroying things. The option for you to stay at home with them or start your own business and set your own hours. Me coming home to your kingdom every evening. Unlimited opportunities for the babies to choose between or take advantage of everything this world has to offer. Those are the things I want to give you, Astrid. Being a sheriff isn’t going to provide that, not when my job runs out every four years. It’s not guaranteed I’ll get into office again, but struggling until I find another sheriff’s job that pays as much as this one is for sure.”

  “You love this job, Blake.”

  His hands encompass my belly; his brow lowers to mine. “I love my family more, and working in the established Powers’ businesses is how I can give it everything. Do this with me, Astrid. I can’t do it without you.”

  “You and the baby are the only thing I need, Blake. I don’t want you sacrificing for me, and I can’t be bumping heads with your parents every time I—”

  “They won’t come anywhere near us. They’re not allowed to. It’s you, me, our babies, and one high-end resort that I run. Two million a year. Whatever your heart desires. There’ll be no sacrifices on either end if you’re standing beside me.”

  “What if you’re miserable at a job you’re taking because you want to give me material things?”

  A hand drops down on my shoulder. Camron’s. “Blake won’t be miserable, Astrid. He’ll have me and you. You and baby Blake will have me too. Just think of me as the great wall. The rest of the Powers on one side. Your family on the other.”

  I squint up at Camron. “You’re only one man. You can’t hold them all off from New York. Why would you? You don’t know me.”

  “Because you make my cousin truly happy. The Powers need shining examples of that.” Camron scratches at the back of his head and looks out toward the limo for a second. “So do I. We don’t usually bother each other if each is making money for the empire. There’s the annual trip where we all descend on Italy just to discuss the branch companies’ finances with my parents. The Powers’ men don’t usually pick women with maternal instincts, so Ashley won’t be stopping by to see her grandchildren or Blake as long as she thinks he’s doing what she wants. I’ll tell Ashley myself to stay away from your home, unless she wants Blake to cut her off again. He knows how to say no to anything else he doesn’t want to do, or he wouldn’t have you in the first place, and dammit, I’m fun to be around. And I do say so myself.” Can one man really be so cocky?

  “How do you fit your head through doorways?”

  “I build bigger doorways, which is why I’m in real estate, and I’ll be scouting architects for your castle. I know all the best ones.”

  My castle with the man I love as king, I like it.

  “So you’ll be coming around, Camron?” I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.

  That’s not saying much, Astrid. You’re trained in self-defense.

  Okay, I trust him about as much as I can see him with my eyes closed then. Can I deal with one Powers to make Blake happy? Damn straight, when he needs me as much as I do him, and I’ll just kick Camron’s ass if he gets out of line.

  “Okay, I’m in.”

  Blake arms constrict around me. Camron embraces us both and jiggles us around. My nose smashes against somebody’s arm. “I can’t breathe, people.”

  Camron backs off.

  Blake doesn’t. “Sorry, baby. I admit Camron’s a lot of fun though. I told you I got into a lot of trouble as a kid. He was worse. Now, he’s a damn train wreck waiting to happen as an adult. You’ll enjoy seeing him get his comeuppance though, and you won’t believe what form it’s coming in. Or maybe you will.”

  That can only mean one thing. “A woman.”

  “Amari Spencer. Brown skin, smurf-size, giant attitude, has manners, a
nd knows an impolite idiot when she works for one.”

  “Blake, you’re not supposed to discuss my feelings with your soon-to-be-wife,” Camron rebukes. “You just tossed the bro-code right out the window.”

  I laugh. “You should’ve brought Amari here.” The enemy of my… not sure if Camron’s an enemy yet, but I’ll still make her my friend anyway.

  “She’s in the car,” Blake informs, highly amused. “Want to meet her?”

  My eyebrow jacks up. “You left her in the car?”

  He pitches a thumb over his shoulder at Camron. “He left her in the car. Ill-mannered bastard.”

  “Sticks and stones, Blake,” Camron wisecracks.

  “Well, get her out, somebody,” I scold.

  “I’ll do it.” Camron retraces his steps to the car. “Amari! Get out already! With the food! I’m hungry!”

  Lord!

  I tune out Camron, going to be doing that a lot. “When were you going to tell me that you got your memories back, Blake?”

  “When we finished discussing the rest of our lives.”

  “Well, I know you’re not supposed to be driving, cooking, skiing, swimming, using heavy equipment, and working, for at least a week.”

  “How do you know I’m not supposed to be doing anything but breathing and sleeping if Dr. Ellis gets his way?”

  “I called him after Councilman Alder left, to check on you and get the details of your release. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

  “Actually, I didn’t think about it, love, because it never occurred to me that you wouldn’t care, which is why I couldn’t wait to get back to you. You can drive us home if you want to. Me and my son haven’t talked all day. Well, I talk and he kicks. Same thing.”

  “Blake, you’ve been gone an hour. That is not all day… but I’m damn glad it feels like it to you.”

  “It always will, Astrid, so get use to me cyber-stalking you when I’m at work. I’m going to need pictures of the baby and several ‘I love yous’ back.”

  “Done.” I tilt his chin downward.

  “Don’t you two start kissing!” Camron cock blocks, on his way back. “Nobody else is doing it!” And he’s irked about it too.

  A very attractive woman carries a massive basket, stumbling over the gravel and catapulting daggers at Camron’s back with midnight black eyes whenever her shoulder-length, jet-black hair isn’t swinging into them.

  “Oh, she definitely hates him, Blake. Love is not going to come easy for those two.”

  “Well, he’s promised to stay in contact. Wants us to visit him in New York soon and he’ll come to Colorado more often, so we’ll have lots of chances to convert him into a decent man, Astrid.”

  “We hope.”

  *******

  A month later

  Blake

  Long exhales of my name and whispered moans disturb the edges of my sleep until I roll toward the origin of them, drowsily, finding Astrid asleep on her side. A hand is tucked between her thighs, the other cradling her head. Her ass cheeks, round as two full moons, gyrate against my hard-on.

  God, she is killing me.

  Blake Jr., or BJ, is only three weeks old, with three more to go before Astrid can resume sex and go back to work as acting Sheriff.

  Evidently, she can’t wait that long if she’s pleasuring herself while unconscious.

  I gently jostle her into a prone position, spread her legs apart slowly then kneel between them. It’s fucking sexy to watch her masturbate by early morning light that’s blitzing the room with slivers of its luminosity falling across her body. Giving her what she wants the most will give me so much more pleasure. I grab her wrist lightly and remove it to her flat stomach with little gray streaks on it. She groans, displeased with my meddling.

  Placing my hands in the bends of her thighs, I lap at her clitoris. Her legs seal shut around my neck, like a noose. When she’s quivering and her juices are coating my chin, I walk up the bed on my hands and knees and slide an inch into her with controlled enthusiasm. I could drive into her with one stroke since she’s so damn wet, but she’s still healing and I’m damn sure not about to hinder that.

  Her knees coast into the air as I work myself unhurriedly deeper into her depths. A lengthy breath filled with satisfaction blows softly out of her lips. Her head starts to thrash around on the pillow, her hands grabbing for my waist to hold on to something solid. My anchor is her pillow cocooning my hands.

  I withdraw, and a whiny sound dispels from her tiny nostrils. She’s unhappy again. I can’t have that, so I swing forward until every inch of my rod is lost in her. She smiles sluggishly then grabs two handfuls of my ass, holding me in place. Her muscles start to contract and release, milking the base of my length. Good God.

  If she keeps this up, it’ll be over in a matter of seconds, after I barrel into her like an eighteen-wheeler. Jerking backwards, taking half of my length with me, I begin a short, pumping rhythm, hitting her g-spot and nothing more. She lifts her hips, seeking the bottoming out of my cock in her. Begrudging her, I draw my knees under her thighs so she can’t ambush me, while she gasps from the exquisite torture I know I’m laying down. I can’t give her what she wants the most without hurting her, and that’s all of me. I can damn sure deliver what she was hunting for in her dreams; an orgasm. At least two to make up for what she can’t have.

  “Blake, please,” she begs, for me to slam into her.

  “No, sweetheart, you can’t handle that right now. And I’ll only fuck you harder if I give in to you.”

  Astrid caves in on herself suddenly, her knees digging into my diaphragm. The clenching and releasing of her muscles rockets up my need to cum. Lightning bolts electrocute my spine. A blinding climax that would bring me to my knees if I wasn’t laying down, dislodges. Too damn intense to withstand, I crawl up the bed on my elbows, going deeper into her slowly, needing to escape the avalanche raining down on me.

  A cry splits the air wide open. The blonde-hair, hazel-eyed, eight-pound boss in a diaper is awake next door in his nursery. I smack Astrid on the mouth before emptying her body. “Sleep, baby. I got him.”

  She doesn’t argue. I rescue my robe from the floor and snatch my phone off the nightstand. After taking an immediate right, I pick up the baby boy who quiets down immediately. I confess it’s much more fun interacting with him outside the womb. Astrid and I have had several friendly disagreements about if he’s smiling or just gassy when I’m talking to him.

  Quickly changing his diaper, we stash a bottle in the warmer in the kitchen. I dial Camron, who’s awake at six in the morning, at the office, where he often sleeps in a hidden bedroom built behind a wall.

  “Camron, did you get it?”

  “Morning to you too, Blake. And no, I didn’t get it.”

  “Why not?” This is what I get for letting Camron be my accomplice.

  “Because your mother got it.”

  “Who?

  “Your mother. I told her what I was doing for you so Astrid didn’t catch wind of it before the big day. Ashley took it upon herself to pay for Astrid’s ring I had designed, had an extra carat added, secured a vineyard upstate for the surprise engagement party, and is currently taking care of the menu and the guest list. Every person she and you know will be there. And I mean every damn one. The Owens. The Daniels. Friends. And… the Powers.”

  Good goddamn.

  “Astrid is going to have a stroke. Why didn’t you tell me this before now?”

  “Because I think your mother has honorable intentions for once in her life. I thought she did a pretty damn good job of getting all of this done with just phone calls from hundreds of miles away. I hadn’t prepared for the hell you were going to raise yet, and I can’t see Astrid denying an older lady her last wishes after giving your father a chance to be a part of his grandson’s life.” He’s forgetting Astrid was in an extremely joyful mood, welcoming her son to the world, when my father arrived at the hospital with a sincere apology for Ashley mistreating her, and wan
ting to be a better father and grandfather. We haven’t seen hide nor hair of the mother since my hospital stay.

  “What do you mean an older lady’s last wishes?”

  “Well, something’s wrong with Ashley. Something has to be. She’s being nice, or she’s jealous since Martin’s allowed to spoil BJ and she isn’t. I haven’t pinned down the reason yet, but she wants to apologize to Astrid publicly at the party and be the first to welcome her into the family officially. I think you should give them a chance to work things out between them.”

  “I keep hearing ‘you think’. What I’m going to do is take the surprise out of the engagement party. I’m not letting Astrid walk in there unprepared. And Camron, if Astrid divorces me before she even marries me, I’m killing you for it. You were not supposed to let the mother take over.”

  “It’s fine, Blake,” Astrid says from behind me, spooking the hell out of me.

  I whirl around. “Jesus, woman!”

  She giggles and tests the bottle before feeding BJ in my arms. “You should turn the volume down on your phone’s speaker and your dial pad. My hearing is like a superpower now that BJ is here. Your mother coming to the engagement party is fine. What kind of woman would I be if I hold grudges and exclude someone because of who they are? That’s the type of crap that had me moving to Arrow, and would make me a hypocrite. There’s enough of those in the world. People do change. And if there’s a chance you can have everyone in your life who should be in it, then who am I to put up roadblocks?”

  “The Powers are not going to be the same after you, baby.” Maybe Camron did the right thing letting the dragon lady in where Astrid and I wouldn’t.

  “We can hope, sweetheart, but I haven’t forgotten my self-defense training. If anyone of your family members comes at me sideways, you’ve been warned.”

  Camron cracks up on the phone. “I’ll be at this party with bells on.”

  “Bye, Camron.” I lay the phone down on the counter beside Astrid’s hip. “I hung up so I can steal a kiss from you in peace. You are my everything, you know that?”