by Fawkes, Sara
when we’d known each other before, but she’d been strong in her belief that nursing was what she was
meant to do.
Her chin raised in defiance, a shield slamming down in front of her before I could even draw in a
breath.
“I dropped out of school.” She couldn’t have surprised me more if she’d punched me in the gut.
She’d been a free spirit, sure, but she’d known exactly what she wanted and had gone after it with
single minded determination.
Just like she’d gone after me.
Scrambling to think of what to say, I wound up sitting there silently like an idiot.
She narrowed her eyes at my dumbfounded expression.
“I work at Java the Hut.” Her words were clearly a challenge, daring me to comment.
“I see,” I said slowly, trying to assimilate this knowledge with the memories of the girl I’d known.
I was beginning to see just how much Adele had changed.
Adele rubbed her hands on the thighs of her jeans with agitation, then abruptly stood up and
shoved her hands into her pockets.
“I’ve got to go. I have someplace to be.” She seemed like she was deliberately avoiding eye
contact. Panic flared inside of me—I’d just found her again. I couldn’t let her walk out of my life for
the second time.
“I want to see you again.” I thought about asking her for her number, but decided instead to just
tell her what I wanted. I stood as well, watching as her eyes ran the length of me, hoping she’d
understand that I’d changed too.
I wasn’t weak willed like I’d once been. I’d grown up into a man who knew what he wanted.
From the second my eyes had locked with her from across the street, I’d wanted her.
Her eyes seemed fathoms deep as she regarded me back. The urge to reach out and cup her face in
my hands was irresistible.
She shrugged away from the touch irritably, but not until heat as palpable as an electric shock
snapped through both us, ignited by the skin on skin contact.
“Adele.” I wanted to kiss her. If she didn’t stop me, I was going to kiss her.
I wondered if she tasted the same.
“What makes you think you want me so much now when you didn’t then? What’s changed?” Eyes
wary, she stepped back, out of range. “Apart from a handful of phone calls, which I assume were to
apologize for being such a douche, you sure didn’t fight very hard for us.”
Her words were like a knife taken from the fire, slicing and burning at the same time.
“I did,” I finally managed. “I did come for you. But I took too long. You were gone.”
Emotion flickered through her eyes. I reached for her, but she stepped back, staying just out of my
reach.
“Why did you leave, Adele?” I held my breath as she turned and walked to the front door.
With one hand on the door knob, she turned and regarded me again with serious eyes.
“I came for you too, Mal. But I didn’t find you.” Her words didn’t hold any blame, just raw
emotion. “And now it’s too late. I can’t be with you. I can’t be with anyone.”
“Adele!” My voice thundered out of my throat, surprising even me. I’d never heard dominance
layered into its tone before, but I knew, somehow I knew, that I had to do something before this
creature who still held my heart in her hands walked out and never looked back.
Startled, she turned.
“There’s a reason we found one another again. I want to see you again, and I think you want the
same thing.” My voice sounded a lot calmer than I felt. I kept my eyes on her as she regarded me with
a serious stare, but I warmed when I noticed the tiniest bit of softening in her expression.
“The café is right across the street. Hang out in there and you’ll see me sooner or later.” She
nodded, and then she was gone, leaving me alone with a confusing mix of emotions and a cock that
was shouting for attention.
Chapter Five
ADELE
Seeing Mal had shaken me up more than I cared to admit, even to myself. I found myself shaking as I
walked, my muscles trembling like one of the orange leaves that danced in the wind around me.
I had never imagined that he had come for me, that he’d gotten over our stupid, stupid fight just as
I had. It made what had happened to me at that horrific party all the more tragic.
If I’d know I still had Mal, I might have been able to get through the taunts, the humiliation that
had been heaped on top of the pain of what had already been taken from me. I might have found the
guts to stay.
No one had ever gotten under my skin like he had, and it was beyond annoying that time had failed
to diminish his effect on me. When he’d wrapped me in a hug, it had felt like coming home. When
he’d cupped my face in his hands...
The touch had startled me with its intensity, with the need that it pulled from my very core. Half of
me had wanted to jump right back in, to pull him down to that ugly couch and lose myself in the bliss
I knew he could provide.
The other half of me hurt. Malachi Hunter was a reminder of who I once was, back before that one
night had changed my life.
And to top it all off, I was horny as hell, which blew my mind. I didn’t even think about sex
anymore—I wanted nothing to do with it. But while Mal had been gorgeous two years ago, now...
Damn. He looked like sin, like a man any and every woman would kill for a chance to be with.
“Forget about him, Adele.” I lectured myself as I hurried around my condo, stripping off my jeans
and hoodie and replacing them with the spandex shorts and snug pink T-shirt that I wore to roller
derby practice. Though I would wear a jacket or hoodie with long sleeves on the way there, derby was
the one place where I felt comfortable exposing the tattoos that colored my arms.
The ones that reminded me, as Mal had, of the wild, carefree girl who had once lived inside my
body.
I threw myself into practice with even more vigor than usual. I’d always loved to roller skate, had
been drawn to the solidity of four wheels beneath my feet even after my mom had decided that skating
was no longer an appropriate activity—and when I say she had decided, really I meant her husband.
I’d gotten into derby just over a year ago after seeing a posting for tryouts on a flyer at Java the
Hut.
Derby was wild and unpredictable, full of strong women who didn’t take any shit. When I skated
with my team, I basked in that strength, pretending that some of it was mine.
“Watch out for fresh meat!” One of my teammates called to me, and I feinted to the side just in
time to avoid tripping over one of our newer teammates, who had clearly not yet learned to fall small.
I smiled at her reassuringly as I whirled past.
I noticed that her attention was fixed on the bleachers of the high school gymnasium. Trying to
focus as I continued to push past the burn in my thighs, I made out the good looking face and long,
rangy build of some random hottie who was otherwise alone on the bleachers.
For the second time that day, I felt my libido perk up. Huh. Maybe I wasn’t dead down there, after
all. Still, just noticing him made me feel guilty, like I was cheating on Mal or something.
And that made me panic. Finding out that Mal hadn’t abandoned me after all had thrown me for a
loop, but I was no longer the kind of girl who could even
contemplate a relationship... and I knew,
deep down I knew, that Mal would settle for nothing less.
But maybe... maybe I was ready to think about having sex again. Of touching, of being touched.
After what I’d been through, surely no one could blame me for that. And so I found my gaze
narrowing, zeroing in on the stranger in the stands.
He was sex on a stick. No wonder Marianne had tripped over her own feet. I could feel my own
interest percolating as I skated, no doubt an overflow of the lust that Mal had stirred up in my gut that
afternoon, but still.
I was feeling something other than the chill of the ice that had coated me for so long. I’d been cold
for two years, and I didn’t think anyone could blame me for reaching towards the warmth.
Still... if he was here watching practice, then he was probably somebody’s boyfriend. And you
didn’t mess with a teammate’s man—derby girls were fucking vicious.
Completing the last circuit of the drill, I skidded to a quick, neat stop beside the water cooler.
Grabbing my bottle, I filled it and then chugged greedily, the icy liquid spilling down my cheeks as I
drank.
When the bottle was empty I slammed it back on the table and wiped my mouth off with the back
of my hand. It was then that I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to find the hottie
watching me intently.
He was better looking than any guy had the right to be.
Arching an eyebrow at his blatant stare, I bent to refill my water bottle. When I straightened back
up, the blond god of sexiness was ambling over to me casually, a rakish smile curving his lips.
Despite my own better sense, despite the confusing sensations that Mal had churned up in me only
a couple of hours ago, I felt interest stir, hot and tangled in the pit of my belly.
“You’re ace on those things.” He nodded to my feet, on which my skates were still tightly laced,
edging into my personal space like he had every right to. “You look good.”
Usually if someone moved closer to me than I liked I would give them a ferocious glare while
retreating post haste.
This guy, however... he wasn’t setting my nerves to screaming. And he smelled good. Like, really
fucking sexy good. And he was eyeing me with undisguised interest.
You’ve got to get back out there sometime, Adele. And no matter that Mal was still able to peak my
interest, there was too much history there. Heartbreaking history.
Swallowing deeply, I turned and offered a cautious smile. The satisfaction that crossed his face
was panty-melting in its intensity.
“We don’t get many spectators at practice.” I tried to throw some flirtation into my tone, and the
words felt heavy with rust. “Are you with someone?”
He shook his head, running his tongue over his lips.
“I like derby girls.” The stranger shrugged, unabashed, as heat shot straight to that space between
my legs. “Actually I was walking by and saw the sign. Never heard of derby before and I was curious.
Apparently I don’t get out enough... cause now I know that I like really derby girls.” He wiggled his
eyebrows at me lasciviously. Damn it, he had an accent. British or Australian, I never could tell, but
combined with the thick, messy gold hair that looked like he’d just rolled out of bed, the densely
lashed hazel eyes, the scruffy chin, the devil may care expression and look that said he got whatever
he wanted, when he wanted it...
Something churned in my gut, a kind of need that I hadn’t experienced for a long time. The kind
that had once led me to approach hot guys at parties and the bar for no reason other than hot sex.
“I’m Dorian.” He held out a hand for me to shake. I stared at it for a beat before offering my own,
which he lifted to his lips for a hot, moist kiss.
“Smooth, aren’t you?” The rustiness was receding, and I felt a hint of my old tendency to flirt
pushing through the layers with which I’d surrounded myself. “I’m Adele.”
“I try.” He grinned and kept hold of my hand, like he had every right to. The prolonged contact
should have made me freak out, and instead I felt pleasant little frissons of heat radiating outward
from the touch.
I’d spent two years avoiding the males of the species entirely, and now here in one afternoon were
two who not only didn’t completely freak me out, but who made my body respond.
Maybe it was a sign. It was time for me to try to move on with my life.
“Nice tats,” Dorian massaged the tender spot between my thumb and forefinger. I shivered, partly
from the touch, and partly because my instinct was to grab my sweatshirt and hide the ink, the symbol
of who I used to be.
Fuck it. Let him look. I wanted to bring that old me back.
“Thanks.” Not sure what, exactly, had come over me, I leaned forward and lowered my voice to a
conspiratorial whisper. “I have more.”
Oh my God. Where were those words coming from? Surely then weren’t mine.
My heart thudded in my chest when Dorian whistled, long and low. “Don’t make promises you
can’t keep, sweetheart.”
I couldn’t help it—I grinned. Something about this guy’s ridiculously overt style of flirtation was
irresistible, though I sensed a core of steel underneath. Maybe it was the fact that I couldn’t have
found someone more different from Mal if I tried.
Or maybe I was just ready to move past that awful night, to take control of my life again. This guy
was a stranger, but he made me feel relaxed, like the girl I’d once been.
“What are you doing after practice?” The teasing was gone as Dorian looked down into my eyes,
and I shivered at the intensity I read there.
The last guy I’d been this attracted to had been... well... Mal. And though I’d admired him from
afar for a bit before finally deciding to approach him, the attraction had been a slow burn compared to
what I felt right now.
Instant heat, the kind that might burn me but would be intense and amazing before it did.
Pulling my hand free, I considered, still not able to make a snap decision like I once would have
done. On a normal day I would never have considered encouraging attention from any guy, not even
one as hot and overtly sexual as this one. But seeing Mal had stirred me up, and I was feeling all kinds
of reckless.
All kinds of needy.
“You tell me.” I smiled slowly before skating backwards, away from Dorian, giving him time to
peruse my body with his eyes, which he did. Blatantly. A tremor of nerves made my knees shake when
I realized what I’d just done, but I set my resolve and stayed the course.
I’d fought my way through some serious shit, and had triumphed. But I was an empty shell of what
I’d once been.
Was it so bad to welcome a little bit of recklessness back into my life? Just a bit? I’d be careful of
course, but the events of the day had teased out a need to do something a bit wild, something that
would remind me that I was still alive.
Surely if anyone deserved just a moment of happiness, it was me.
DORIAN
The little sheila was bloody fascinating.
She was so reserved as she skated, almost prim compared to her teammates, who were hollering
obscenities and swapping dirty jokes. Her focus was entirely on the drills, and my admittedly dirty
mind imme
diately wondered what it would be like to have that kind of attention focused on me.
Not to mention that her tight ass looked bloody fantastic in those tiny spandex shirts.
When I’d approached her at the water cooler, she’d looked like a cornered animal for a moment. It
had set all of my protective instincts firing, made me want to hold her in my arms and show her that
she would be okay because her problems were now mine. Then in the blink of an eye the caution had
disappeared, and she’d been on fire.
The small, cautiously flirtatious smile she cast me now as she shrugged into her sweatshirt and
slung her skates over her shoulder had my cock going rock hard, pressing against the worn denim of
my skinny jeans, demanding to be set free.
It quickened my pulse. Here, finally, was a woman who intrigued me in the way I’d always
imagined that a woman would someday. Sensing that she was special, I was inclined to actually have a
chat with the woman, maybe even some food and a drink before I moved in for the big event.
Something about her combination of fragility and steel interested me like I hadn’t been in a very long
time.
Which isn’t to say that I didn’t appreciate the view of her tight ass in those little shorts on the way
out of the gym. Hey, I could have feelings and still be horny as hell.
“Where to?” I rocked back on my heels, captivated as she sucked in a great lungful of cold twilight
air. Her lips were bare of any of that paint that women use, and I could just imagine how that pale pink
would look wrapped around my cock.
Down, boy. I was the lead singer of a pretty popular band, formerly of Australia, currently local,
and because I looked okay when I was up on stage, I’d never had any problem getting sex, if I wanted
it. But I was also used to control when it came to doing the nasty—complete control—and I had yet to
meet a woman who was okay with that for more than one or two times.
It was inexplicably important to me that this woman stick around. So I reigned in my dominant
side, and consciously decided to let her call the shots.
For now. And if she wanted to ride my cock, I probably wasn’t going to turn her down. She was
fucking hot.
She looked up at me with assessing eyes. Again I got the sense that she was fragile somehow,
