by Gemma Weir
Carefully climbing out of bed, I grab my robe from the back of my door and quickly cover my nakedness. With my hand covering my mouth to stifle any noise, I creep through the door and rush downstairs, not stopping until my hands are braced against my kitchen counter.
What the hell have I done? Yesterday was such a cacophony of emotions. I faced the memories my parents’ house held and finally admitted what happened to me within its walls. Cam burned the place to the ground, for me. It was the most fucked-up, sweetest thing, anyone has ever done for me, and I don’t think he can possibly realize how significant and meaningful it was to watch my nightmares literally burn to ash. It’s gone now and so is its hold on me. Even though I ran from that house, I never truly left, until now, and he did that for me, he set me free.
Until yesterday I hadn’t realized that I’d been mentally locked in that room since the day of the rape. Because my memories of that day had been so limited, I’d hidden my grief over what had happened and buried it so deep inside, that it had hardened me. Stepping into that room had allowed all of my anger and grief to bubble to the surface and now I felt released.
A lightness has settled over me, and although I’ll never forget what my father and his friend did to me, it feels like it’s time to leave it in my past and move forward.
“Nikki.”
Cam’s voice calls from upstairs and I groan. What the hell have I done? Despite what he did for me yesterday, there’s no future for us; we’re just too different. Blade is fire and intensity, and I want calm and easygoing. Last night was just sex: amazing, mind-blowing, hedonistic sex, but still only sex, and normally I wouldn’t have to deal with the morning after. I definitely wouldn’t have had a one-night-stand with a guy who thinks of my sister as family.
“Duchess,” he calls as he steps off the bottom step and walks into the kitchen. His feet are bare and he’s only clad in his jeans, unbuttoned to reveal the sexy, tattooed V that leads to his hard, talented cock.
“Coffee?” I ask, desperate to avoid the awkward conversation I know is coming.
“Please,” he says, pulling out one of the stools at my breakfast bar and dropping his ass onto it.
My eyes fall to his feet. Like the rest of him, tattoos creep along his feet and up his ankles and I want to take the time to look at all of his body art to see what the images are.
I force myself to walk away, flicking on the coffee machine and grabbing two cups from the cabinet. Uncomfortable silence fills the room and I wish he would just get dressed and leave. I quickly make the coffee and hand a cup to him, then like the coward I am, I back away to the other side of the kitchen, as far from him as I can get without leaving the room.
“Duchess, last night.”
“Shouldn’t have happened,” I say, cutting him off before he can finish his sentence.
“I disagree. We both know it was only a matter of time before we ended up ripping each other’s clothes off,” he says with a smirk, sliding off his stool and taking a step closer to me.
“Cam, are you falling in love with me?” I ask, in a mocking tone.
His step falters. “What?”
“You heard me. Are you falling in love with me?”
“Fuck, Nikki, I’ve only known you for a couple days,” he says, panic flashing in his expression.
I laugh. “Calm down, Cam. I’m not some whack job, I’m just making a point. We don’t know each other and what we do know we don’t particularly like. Last night was sex, pure and simple, but now it’s done and nothing between us has changed.”
His face softens, and a teasing grin appears. “I don’t have to be falling love with you to know that your pussy feels fucking amazing and that I want to see what you taste like when you ride my face.”
Blushing, my face heats and I squeeze my thighs together to stem the wetness that I know is building in my sex. “That’s not playing fair.”
“I don’t play fair, I play to win,” he says with a grin, taking another step closer to me.
“Yeah, well I’m not a prize. It happened, we fucked, but it’s not gonna happen again and we still have to see each other, especially as I’m moving back to town.”
“So you’re telling me you don’t want my tongue in your pussy, fucking you until you scream?”
I gulp, my mouth suddenly dry. “Exactly.”
His responding chuckle is low and full of sexual promise. “You’re a really crappy liar, Duchess. In future if you’re gonna talk crap about not wanting me, it’d be more convincing if your nipples weren’t hard and you weren’t clenching your thighs.”
“Fuck you, Blade,” I cry indignantly.
“Oh, it’s Blade again now, is it?” he drawls, suddenly close to me, his hot breath on my neck. “Last night it was Cam. It was my real name you were screaming when you were coming. Cam, Cam, Cam. That’s what you were chanting when my cock was so fucking deep inside of you I could feel your cunt pulsing when you exploded.”
I push at his chest and he steps back, a smug smile on his lips. “Don’t be a dick. The sex was great, but it’s done, and now we can go back to hating each other.”
Backing further away, Cam’s smirk fades. “Whatever you say, Nicole. I’ll go grab my stuff and get out of your way.”
My eyes don’t leave his retreating form and I watch as he walks away from me, quickly disappearing from sight as he mounts the stairs to my bedroom. My chest hurts with something that feels a little like regret, but I push it away. I don’t want Cam, he’s one hundred percent wrong for me. Yesterday’s actions were just a reaction to the extreme stress of the day and now it’s done we all need to get back to the status quo.
A moment later I hear his heavy boots descending the stairs and he pauses, fully dressed in the doorway of the kitchen. “See you later, Duchess,” he drawls, his voice pure sin. Then he turns and leaves, without a backward glance.
Shaking my head, I shut Nikki’s front door behind me and then stop. My feet simply refuse to move, and I puff out a frustrated sigh.
In all my forty-four years of life, I have never, not once, been kicked out the morning after by a woman I’ve fucked. Sure, on plenty of occasions I’ve beat a hasty retreat and left in a hurry, but never once has a woman basically pushed me out of the door, like Nikki just did.
I have no idea what to do with that. I should be happy, this could have been the morning after from hell, but instead I’m equally pissed and kind of impressed. I wasn’t ready to leave, and I’m definitely not finished with Nikki’s insane body, but I’m also kind of proud of her. She pulled absolutely no punches, telling me that last night was just sex and that she had no interest in a repeat performance. Obviously, she’s talking absolute crap, but still, she was sexy as fuck when she was kicking my ass to the curb.
Last night was one of the most intense, fucked up, amazing sexual experiences of my life. Arson makes my Duchess horny and for a second chance at what she gave me last night I’ll happily burn down any building she asks me to. My cock hardens again and reaching down I adjust myself in my jeans. I’m still standing, frozen outside her front door, and I contemplate turning around and going back inside. Right now, I think I’m more likely to get her knee to my balls than a chance to feel her mouth around my dick, so reluctantly I force myself to walk away from her house and down to the van that’s parked at the curb.
Wishing I’d got my bike, I climb into the van and close the door. The oppressive, cage like feeling closes in around me and immediately I crank the engine and roll down the windows, until the cool morning breeze fills the air.
I reach awkwardly into my pocket and retrieve my cell, and a small silver key with a tag that says ‘spare front door’ hanging from it. It’s only a key—small and unassuming—but filled with importance, because I just stole it from the hook in Nikki’s hall. Chuckling to myself, I pocket the key again and put the van into gear, slowly pulling away from the curb.
A strange hum is coursing through my body and I try to assess why it is that
I feel a little odd this morning. I’d love to say it was the sex, but I rarely go without. Club whores are easy and have incredible stamina. Then it dawns on me, why I feel different. I’m not tired. It’s been years since I got a good night’s sleep, and I usually rely on a gut full of whiskey to get anything more than an hour or two.
But last night, despite how late it was when we finally got back to her place and the multiple rounds of sex we had, I slept soundly, dreamlessly. Slamming my foot on the brake I glance over my shoulder at her house in the distance and blow out a shaky breath. Last night, with my Duchess in my arms, my demons didn’t find me. Maybe it was simply a reprieve for a night because I slayed her monsters, or maybe it was the unbelievable sex that wore me out, or maybe, just maybe it was her.
I pull into the Sinners compound fifteen minutes later and park the van at the back of the barn, ready for the girls to use when they next do a grocery run. Climbing out, I sling the backpack from last night over my shoulder and make my way into the clubhouse for breakfast. As usual the girls have put on a full spread, and dumping the backpack in my room, I quickly make my way back out to the buffet.
Grabbing a plate, I pile it high with breakfast foods and then make my way to the table where Daisy and Dove are sitting. “Morning,” I say in greeting. Two sets of eyes lift to me and I smirk in response.
“Someone looks like they had a good night,” Daisy says, with an appreciative lift of his chin.
I want to boast, to tell Daisy that my night was out of this fucking world, but something stops me. A sense that telling anyone what happened between Nikki and I last night, would somehow ruin how sincere and real it was. I didn’t burn down her parents’ house for any reason other than I didn’t want her to have to see it and think about all of the memories it stirred up. Nothing else mattered, except that I didn’t want her to suffer, and the sex, well she’ll fucking kill me if I tell anyone that happened.
I sit and chuckle lightly. “You have no fucking clue,” I say quietly and then dig into my breakfast, stopping any further conversation. We eat in companionable silence and my food tastes better than anything I’ve eaten in years.
“Did you hear about my parents’ house?” Dove asks, her hands wrapped around a steaming cup of coffee.
My fork freezes halfway to my mouth and I swallow, then turn to face her. “What?”
“There was a fire, and it burned down. The sheriff called Anders,” she says.
“Do they know what happened?” I ask cautiously.
“They think it was a problem with the wiring. The fire investigation people said it looks like it was an electrical fault.”
Daisy reaches over and strokes the back of her neck with his thumb. Suddenly I wonder if Dove is upset about the house being gone. When I’d decided to get rid of it for Nikki, I hadn’t considered that it had been Dove’s home too. My thoughts had only been on my Duchess and how she felt about the house. I hadn’t given Dove a second thought. “Are you upset about the house?” I ask, watching her carefully.
She looks at Daisy and then back to me. “No, I don’t think so. It’s just a house. I haven’t even been past it since the day I left. Until I saw the photos on Nikki’s cell I hadn’t really thought about it at all.”
A relieved breath escapes me, and I feel the tension bleed from my shoulders. I love Dove like a sister and I’d never want to do anything to hurt her. I catch Daisy’s assessing look from the corner of my eye. He must see something in my body language, or perhaps he can see the difference in me, as much as I can feel it. Either way, I need to watch myself around him, unless I want to admit that last night I had the most amazing time fucking his new sister-in-law.
I finish my breakfast and quickly excuse myself from the table, heading straight to Anders office. Knocking on the door, I finger the key that’s still in my pocket. I don’t know what possessed me to take it, but this morning something inside of me just needed a way to get back to her and when I’d spotted the key, I’d reached out and taken it before I’d thought too deeply about it.
“Come,” Anders calls, so I push open the door and make my way into the office.
Anders is sat behind his desk, the glasses he rarely wears perched on the end of his nose while he reads the letter in his hand.
“Boss,” I say, lowering myself into a chair in front of the desk.
“What’s up, Blade?”
“I, err, I found out why Nikki ran.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret saying them. I don’t want to tell Anders the details of all the shit she suffered through, she’d told me that in confidence. What had she called it? Sharing secrets. Nothing she told me last night was for anyone else, only me.
Anders drops the letter he’s reading to the desk and gives me his full attention. “Okay, so what happened?”
Cursing myself for my big fucking mouth, I clear my throat and try to think of a way to get out of telling him exactly what happened, while still assuring him that Nikki isn’t a threat. “I don’t really want to discuss the details, it makes me fucking violent. Let’s just say that it was bad and I’m really fucking glad that her asshole of a dad is dead, because if he wasn’t I’d have to kill him.” I pull in a deep breath and then continue. “And it wouldn’t be the clean, tidy kill I usually do; it would be a messy, fucked-up death, where by the time I’d finished there’d only be bits and pieces of him left.”
Anders eyes widen dramatically. I’ve surprised him. I’m not sure that’s ever happened before, Anders is usually unshakable. “You’re not gonna give me the full story?”
“No,” I say resolutely. “But you can take my word that it’s nothing that’s gonna bounce back on the club.”
Anders nods, his studious gaze on me, and I feel measured and studied. “There anything I need to know about you and Nikki?” Anders asks finally.
A low chuckle escapes me, and I slide down further into the chair. “I haven’t got a fucking clue. It’s only been two days and she already drives me crazy, but there’s… there’s just something.”
Anders bark of laughter is stark and loud.
Surprised, I furrow my brow and look up at him. “What?”
“Nothing. Go do some work. I’ll tell Puck to stop digging into her past.
Rising from my chair, I tap once on Anders desk with my knuckles and then leave the office. Work, that’s what I need, a distraction, and then tonight a few drinks and a woman or two. By midnight I’ll have forgotten my Duchess’s name.
My clients are all going to fire me if I don’t get my head out of my ass and actually start doing some work. So far this morning I’ve spent an hour staring at my front door and being both relieved and saddened that Blade is gone. My nipples are overly sensitive and every time I move they rub against my bra, reminding me of the way his lips, tongue, and teeth had played with them last night. My body aches, my muscles are sore and well used, but it reminds me of the way he used my body, twisting me into positions while he pushed me to orgasm after orgasm. My pussy throbs. Though I’m a little sore, I’m also so fucking turned on I’ve been fighting the urge to go to my bedroom and use my vibrator to take the edge off.
I’m glad he left so easily, but I can’t help wanting him to come back and satiate this need for him that has me distracted and edgy. Glancing at the clock on my desk, I curse—12:30 pm. I’m meeting my sister for lunch at 1pm and I’m still in my robe and nothing else.
Closing down my laptop, I climb the stairs to my bedroom and quickly shower and dry my hair. I pull on a pretty black and white sundress and a pair of black wedge sandals. It takes me another fifteen minutes to coax my hair into sleek waves and apply some makeup, before I’m finally leaving the house, twenty minutes late.
I drop my sister a quick text to tell her I’m on my way and then reverse my car from the garage and head toward Archer’s Creek. When I push through the restaurant doors, I spot my sister sat with Daisy in the corner. They’re laughing and the smile on her face is so bright that I feel mysel
f smiling with her.
She lifts her eyes and although I wouldn’t have thought it possible, her smile gets even wider when she sees me. “Nikki,” she cries, standing and waving me over.
I wave off the hostess when she approaches and quickly make my way across the room. “I’m so sorry I’m late. Today has been one of those mornings.”
Dove laughs and pulls me into a hug. “There must be something in the air. Blade was all over the place this morning too.”
I freeze, my heart speeding up and my stomach churning; but then quickly laugh, hoping that she didn’t notice how just the mention of his name affected me. “Must be,” I say, awkwardly.
Dove sits down just as Daisy stands. “I’ll leave you ladies to it,” he says, leaning forward to kiss my sister.
“You don’t have to leave. Stay and join us,” I say sincerely.
Daisy smiles, his eyes running over my sister, a knowing look on his face. “I can’t. I need to get to work. Nice to see you again, Nikki.”
“You too,” I say.
“Love you,” Daisy says to my sister and then leaves.
Dove watches him until he’s out of sight and then she turns to face me and sighs. I can’t help it, I laugh. “Oh my god, Dove. You’re so smitten, it’s ridiculous.”
She smiles a blissed out, loved up smile. “I know, and I don’t even care. I love him so much.”
The waitress arrives and we both order sweet tea and take the menus she hands us. “So, guess what?” I say.
“What?”
“I got the house.”
Dove’s mouth falls open, then she jumps out of her seat and dives on me. “Oh my god,” she squeals. “That’s amazing.”
Laughing at her enthusiasm, I hug her back. “I know and at a great price. Trish thinks I should be able to get the keys on Monday.”
Dove releases me and makes her way back to her chair. “This is amazing. Are you going to sell your house in Chestnut Grove?”
“No, I’ll probably just rent it out. I was looking to increase my property portfolio anyway.”
