Embers of Desire [Sequel to Lighting a Flame] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Serenity Snow

  Tyler backed her against the cool tiles. “I want you,” Danica murmured. God. Why couldn’t she not want him? Why did his touch feel so right?

  He slid his hand down between her legs. “You didn’t bring any condoms, baby.” He kissed her again and stroked his hand over her stomach. “Yes or no?”

  “I don’t have the morning-after pill,” she said.

  “Are you ovulating?” he asked, rubbing his hand down to rest between her thighs. “I really need you.”

  She stroked his chest, feeling the solid muscle of his hair-roughened skin beneath her hands. She swallowed tightly and leaned toward him. Danica rose on tiptoe and kissed his throat. “Yes.”

  Tyler kissed her again before lifting her against the wall and as her legs went around him, he slowly lowered her onto his erection. She drew in a ragged breath as he slid into her tight channel.

  “You feel like a slice of heaven.”

  One of her hands curled around his nape. “You’re the only one I’ve really thought was worth a second fuck,” she admitted breathlessly. She’d been with a man or two since Jon. She just hadn’t wanted them the way she wanted Tyler.

  His hands caressed her thighs and gliding back up to cup her ass. “I guess that’s a point in my favor,” he said and thrust into her, filling her.

  Danica shivered. “Half a point.”

  He gave her a wicked smile and drew almost all the way out before driving back into her. “Let’s see if I can raise my ranking.”

  Danica groaned as he began to stroke her. He was so delicious, hard and warm inside of her. His powerful legs held them firmly against the wall even as she lifted and lowered to match his rhythm.

  Her fingers scraped across his back, nails raking him harder as he took her faster. “Damn you for being so good.” She panted. Her head rolled back against the tiles at her back and a tight moan escaped him.

  “Yeah. Oh, baby, yeah.” His exclamation was ragged.

  Harsh moans filled the air as water poured over them. The fingers of one hand slid into his hair as he powered into her again and again. “Tyler!” She cried out as she came.

  He thrust into Danica again. His orgasm tore through him as his seed pumped into her. He held her gaze, breathing hard. “You’re mine, Danica. I’m not letting you go.” Tyler claimed her lips in a long hungry kiss before letting her slide to the floor. But he held her even as she tried to push him away. “You can run but you can’t hide.”

  Danica swallowed convulsively as he released her. She stepped beneath the steaming spray, feeling tingly inside. Oh damn.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Thirty minutes later, Kaela padded into the kitchen to sounds of quiet conversation. Danica was at the table, but she didn’t see Tyler. She guessed he was heating up dinner.

  “Maybe you can cook a little after all,” Danica said.

  Tyler laughed. “I’m going to teach you to respect my skills.”

  “How? By cooking me dinner every night?” she bantered back.

  “Not every night,” he replied softly. “But nothing would give me greater pleasure than to cook for you and see you every night.”

  Danica went quiet and Kaela shook her head. Danica had a man chopping at the bit to be with her, to care for her, but she was backing away from him. Kaela didn’t understand, but then she saw more clearly the thing she’d never seen.

  Danica had never been going to let her into her heart. She’d never been going to love her the way she craved. On the other hand, she couldn’t be to Danica what she thought Tyler could be. He seemed more patient, more willing to swing. She enjoyed some as a single woman, but she’d never want to indulge in it once she was in a serious relationship.

  No, they never would have made it. Danica needed a woman to dominate now and then. She just needed one woman to love her. She hoped Danica didn’t throw away the gem she had right in front of her.

  “Hi.” Kaela stepped into the kitchen and Danica turned to wrap her arms around her.

  Kaela smiled up at her. There was a softness to Danica’s eyes, a tentative warmth that she’d never seen. “I guess I passed out.”

  Danica chuckled. “That’s okay,” she said. “Hungry?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Want some wine?” Tyler asked.

  She turned to meet his stare. His whiskey eyes held contentment and warmth. She knew Danica had put that look in his eyes. Kaela swallowed tightly, her heart a little heavy with acceptance.

  He brought her a glass half full of red wine. “I’m starving. Why don’t you ladies have a seat? Kaela.” He pulled out a chair for her and then pulled out one for Danica before joining them at Danica’s table for four.

  Kaela’s gaze went to Danica’s. Her expression was guarded. “So, Tyler, how are things coming? Is the production on schedule?”

  “Yes.” He smiled.

  “ Sid showed me some of the designs,” she said. “They’re terrific, Danica. I can’t wait to get one of those belt buckles.”

  “I think they’ll be big sellers,” Tyler said and gave Danica a smile. “Too bad you won’t be in any of the commercials.”

  “I think Kaela will do them justice,” Danica said glaring at him.

  “I’ll try,” she said with chuckled. “But he’s right. You do know how rock a pair of jeans.”

  “Amongst other things,” Tyler said giving her a heated look that made Kaela smile.

  “How do you think they’ll sell overseas?” Danica asked.

  “Well.” Kaela grinned and regaled them with tales of her travels overseas.

  “I did enjoy London,” Tyler said as they finished dinner. “We’ll have to go over some time, Danica.” He caressed her face with his eyes.

  They lingered over the cheesecake for thirty minutes before Kaela announced she had to go and promised to call Danica tomorrow.

  “I’ll walk you,” Danica volunteered.

  “Thanks. Bye, Tyler.” Kaela gave him a wave.

  He gave her nod but didn’t follow them out to the hall.

  “Danica—”

  “I didn’t have tonight in mind when I accept your invitation,” Danica cut in.

  “No, I understand,” she said. “I think it’s a good thing Tyler showed up. If we’d spent too much time together we’d have started seeing each other again.”

  “Maybe,” Danica agreed quietly.

  “That wouldn’t have been healthy for either of us,” Kaela said softly. “We had our time together, and it was never going to develop into what I can happening between you and Tyler.”

  “I told you that was nothing.”

  Kaela shook her head as she captured Danica’s hand. “He’s a great guy, Dani,” she said and swallowed tightly as she let go of what might have been. “He’s falling in love with you. I can see it in his eyes, and the way he gave you this night. I never could have given you this. I don’t want to swing.”

  “I know,” Danica said.

  “Tyler doesn’t mind but Danica if you keep pushing him away, someone with good sense is going take him away from you.”

  “Kaela—”

  “No. I’m good,” she said. “Maybe you can give him your heart when you couldn’t give it to me.” She kissed Danica’s knuckles. “I do want us to still be friends though. I think we’ll be better as girlfriends than lovers.”

  * * * *

  After Kaela drove away, Danica closed the door and headed back to the kitchen where Tyler was loading the dishwasher. She tried not to think about what Kaela had said because she knew her ex was right.

  “You don’t have to do that,” she said.

  “I know,” he said. “Did you have lunch with Kaela this afternoon?”

  “Why?” she asked carefully.

  “I’m curious.”

  “We had a light lunch, a massage and facial at the spa, and then shopping.”

  “Do you want her to be our third when she’s in town?” he asked, turning to face her now.

  “Tyler—”

>   “I don’t mind even though I know she might be a threat to our relationship at some point,” he said. “I can see her trying to get you back.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Danica answered.

  “Your punishment isn’t a spanking or a delicious flogging,” he said. “I don’t want you to see Kaela without me for the next two days. No lunch, no nail salon, no casual hanging out.”

  “Ty—”

  “No, Danica,” he cut in firmly. “No phone calls longer than five minutes either.”

  She stared at him incredulously. “Can you say controlling?” she demanded. “I’m at liberty to talk to whoever I want.”

  “I didn’t say you couldn’t talk to her,” he said. “I said not longer than five minutes.” He dried his hands and went to her where she leaned against the center island glaring at him. He caressed the furrow on her forehead. “I’m jealous I admit, but I won’t cage you, baby. I promise. I’ll never cut you off from your friends. I just want you to see what you’re getting. I won’t always punish you with a paddle or a whip. Sometimes, it’ll be something like this.”

  “Why are you jealous?” She drew in his scent. He had the clean smell of antibacterial soap. Everything in her wanted to touch him, to lean into him and revel in his being hers.

  Tyler cupped her face. “I know I can’t stop you from choosing her or another man, but I am going to fight for you.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. She wanted him, needed him. He wasn’t just something new. He was emerging as something bright and beautiful in her life. He warmed her to her soul when he looked at her with those whiskey eyes. “You’re crazy.”

  He kissed her and she melted against him.

  * * * *

  The next morning, Danica stepped into her office to find a bouquet of flowers on her desk. She raked her fingers through her hair as her stomach knotted. She rolled her shoulders, but the tension didn’t go away.

  What was she going to do? This was so damn complicated. She was falling in love with Tyler. It was happening so fast she didn’t know how to break the fall, and it left her terrified and exhilarated at once.

  She plucked the card from her desk next to the vase and opened it.

  I’ll see you tonight.

  “Hey, girly,” Vinessa said from behind her. “What’s up with the flowers? Tyler?”

  She nodded and faced her friend.

  “What’s wrong?” Vinessa took her hand.

  “I’m falling for him, Vin.”

  Vinessa’s brows lifted in query. “Really?”

  “What am I going to do?” she wailed and pulled her hand from Vinessa’s to perch on the edge of her desk. “How am I supposed to deal with this?” Her chest tightened.

  Vinessa gave her a tight smile. “I can’t tell you how to work it out, baby,” she said quietly. “You know you have to let go of the past. Jon’s wife was the one that tortured you and tried to kill you.”

  “But it was because of him,” she snapped.

  Vinessa shrugged. “They’re both crazy, and no matter what you decide about Tyler, I’m here for you.”

  Danica nodded giving her a faint smile. “Same.”

  Vinessa reached out to take her friend’s hand. “Always.”

  “Always,” she agreed.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Four days later Danica finished up a few calls and sat back in her chair. Production for the belt buckles was on schedule. Her emotions were slightly frayed from so much contact with Tyler. The more she tried to disentangle herself from him, the more he seemed to be there.

  He texted her parts of a Shakespeare Sonnet once a day, sent her pastries for breakfast the last two days, and he’d showed up at her home even though she told him she had plans. Vinessa told her he was courting her, but she thought he was trying to break her.

  It was working. He’d worked his way right past her defenses leaving so many chinks in her armor she had no idea how she was going to pull herself together when he was done with whatever his master plan was.

  A knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts. “Come in.”

  The door opened and Tyler stepped in giving her a smile. Damn he was so gorgeous in his navy suit and crisp green shirt and red tie. His hair had a curly texture today where it was usually wavy. “Hi, Dani.”

  “What are you doing here?” She winced at the harshness of her voice. “You’re crowding me.”

  He chuckled as he moved around her desk and reached into the pocket of his slacks. “I want to take you out to lunch,” he said. He held the jeweler’s box out to her. “Where would you like to go?”

  Her skin went hot and cold. “What is it?” She put her hands on her stomach.

  Tyler frowned. “It’s a gift. Open it.”

  “I don’t know…” Her voice trailed off as she continued to stare at it.

  He flipped the lid. “It’s nothing much just a little trinket.”

  She studied the heart. It was a simple piece, a small locket of an intricate design. Why would he give her something so special? It was the perfect everyday collar. “No.”

  “Yeah, it would make a great collar, he said with a faint smile. “But it’s just a symbol of my feelings for you.” Tyler removed it from the box and moved behind her. “Will you wear it?”

  A symbol of his feelings and her acceptance of them. She closed her eyes with her heart thudding against her ribs and her palms damp.

  He slipped it around her neck and kissed the top of her head. “You can take it off whenever you want. Now, come on. Let’s go to lunch.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Okay, then we’ll go to the drive-in, and you can watch me eat a burger.” He took her hand and pulled her out of her office. At his sports car, he opened her door for her. “It’s a nice day. Want to eat in the park?”

  She almost laughed. “Sure.”

  He smiled. “Good.”

  Tyler drove them to the drive-in and ordered a burger for himself and a hot dog for her. Danica found that amusing but didn’t protest. The park he drove them to was only a short distance from the drive-in. They found an empty picnic table in the nearly vacant park.

  “There is a production at the Playhouse,” he said. “It’s a production of Othello. Let’s go see it.”

  “A play?”

  “Yeah, I’m not a total Neanderthal.” He flashed her a grin.

  “You asked Connor what I liked didn’t you?” she asked softly.

  “I did,” he admitted. “He didn’t know much to tell me. In fact, he suggested I ask Vinessa, but I thought I’d play that card some other time.”

  She looked down at her half-eaten meal. “I was eighteen when I met him. I wanted some extra training in BDSM, and he offered to help. We got involved and by the time I was nineteen I was so deep in love with him, I would have believed anything he told me.” She laughed self-deprecatingly. “I did believe everything he told me. Jon was a lawyer, the perfect epitome of control and confidence. He was a little manipulative, too.”

  “And you thought that was love?” he asked carefully.

  “He was charming, sexy, and such a good Dom,” Danica told him. “I was almost twenty when I found out he had a wife and kids.”

  “Asshole.”

  The anger in his eyes touched her inside and made her smile faintly. “He said he was going to leave her. He just wanted to do things right.”

  “He never did,” Tyler said in a hard tone.

  She shook her head. “No. I started getting gifts. Flowers with maggots in them, dead things, and someone vandalized my car and apartment. There were calls and hang-ups.”

  “The wife?” He guessed.

  “Yes. She kidnapped me one day at gunpoint, and she tied me up. She cut me, beat me, and even burned me with the flame of a candle and wax. She raped me with a dildo. She held me for two days torturing me over and over.”

  “Shit, baby,” he said and reached across the table to put his hand on hers.

  “The last day she had me
, she brought her son there,” she said softly.

  “Dani, you don’t need to tell me anymore,” he said squeezing her hand.

  “She ranted and raved about how Jon was a son of a bitch and their son was going to be just like him. He was going to be a sociopathic bastard who hurt women. She stabbed him and let his blood run over me. Then, she used his blood to write on me and the wall next to the bed.” She clenched her hand on her lap as the memories came rushing back. She’d never talked about them to anyone except the psychiatrist her parents and Vinessa had insisted she see.

  “How’d you get away?” he asked.

  “Vinessa. She hired a detective to find me because the cops weren’t doing enough in her mind. He broke into the cabin where she was keeping me just as she started strangling her son.”

  “Did the boy survive?”

  She nodded. “His mother ended up in a hospital for the criminally insane. I blamed Jon for what happened to me instead of thinking women were going to hurt me. I thought men would. I haven’t been in a relationship with a man since.”

  “Have you let women get close to you?”

  She shook her head. “Not really. I was starting to fall for Kaela, but I grasped onto the first excuse I could to break up with her.”

  “Her career.”

  “Yep. She’s a great woman. I’m the problem.”

  “You’re not a problem, Dani,” Tyler murmured. “You’re the woman I love, and I’m not giving up on you.”

  “I don’t want you—” She broke off as a man wearing black approached them. She frowned thinking the guy had picked a hell of a moment to come strolling over. He probably wanted to ask for a cigarette and a light.

  Tyler turned at the same moment the guy pushed his hand into his pocket.

  The man’s eyes were hard and cold as he stared down at them and yanked his hand from his pocket and her eyes widened in shock.

  “I want the wallet, and the keys to the car,” he said. “Now.”

  Tyler held up a hand. “Okay, man,” he said. “Just take it easy.”