The Complete Tempest World Box Set

by Mankin, Michelle

  I wrapped my arms and legs tighter around him, holding him to me, even as my inner walls reflexively did the same.

  “Shaina,” he groaned.

  I opened my eyes to find his burning gaze blazing back at me, flickering with a deep emotion I chose to project to match my own. Then it hit me, and it hit me hard, and I watched it hit him at the exact same time.

  It was beyond glorious.

  It was the most magical thing I had ever felt, stars shimmering all around. Every yearning, he fulfilled.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Shaina

  I was exhausted.

  A delicious languid exhaustion that felt bone marrow deep.

  After we made love in the bed, he’d stayed inside me and wrapped his strong arms around me holding me tight for a long time. I didn’t know if that was usual for couples or if the way it’d been for us was the norm. I wasn’t brave enough to ask. But I knew I was glad that I had waited all these years so that my first time had been with him.

  Warren was everything I wanted: caring, intelligent, and sensitive, even gentle when I needed him to be, though he tried to hide and deny it. I had seen hints of it all as far back as our first meeting on that bridge.

  The downhill process of falling for him had started even then, but it had accelerated into a freefall when he had reached to me beside his mother’s graveside.

  He was my first, and I wanted him to be my last. There was no going back for me.

  I ran a brush though my hair, my lips curling up under the warmth of the blow dryer as I recalled the way he’d reacted to me touching him in the shower. Though I was new to everything, I got the distinct impression that to him it didn’t matter.

  He had finally given me some time to explore while we’d been in there. With soapy hands, I’d touched his hard chest and traced his corded biceps. Warren was lean, but he was solid muscle everywhere. Even his legs were hard and sinewy. I’d loved the rough feel of his hair there, and I’d also enjoyed tracing the hard contours and indentations of his ass.

  But what I’d loved the most was when he let me get my mouth around him. I’d discovered that it was a powerful feeling to have a potent man like Warren entirely under my control. His groans had made me wet and trembly. And I knew that he’d really, really liked what I had been doing when his hands had fisted in my hair, the warm water cascading down our backs and splashing between our bodies as I knelt before him.

  I’d loved every minute of it.

  I got hot from just thinking about it.

  I switched off the blow dryer and fanned my face, letting my skin cool a moment before drawing on my robe. I wanted to be with him again. I could feel our precious time ticking away, the morning coming hurtling toward us. I shouldn’t have wasted so much time on my hair.

  I went looking for him, but didn’t find him in the bedroom. He was in the living room, sitting on the couch, my iPad in his hands, his legs on the coffee table, his bare feet crossed at the ankles. Whatever he was looking at had him so engrossed that he didn’t look up when I walked in. I took advantage of the opportunity to study him, to memorize every feature: the brow creased in concentration, the caramel locks grazing his cheeks, the hard naked planes of his chest and abdomen, and his long lean legs and slim hips in his jeans.

  He turned, his hair sliding back behind his ears. He’d finally noticed me, catching me staring at him. I guess my sigh had betrayed me. His oak colored eyes glittered with intimate knowledge.

  Yeah, so he knew me that way. I was fine with that.

  “What’re you doing with my iPad?” My tone was free of accusation. I was just curious as I moved toward him. Curious to know everything about him and if I was being honest with myself, I was afraid that I was running out of opportunities.

  “Snooping.”

  I snorted. “Find anything interesting?”

  “Hmm.” He tilted his head. He was holding something back. I just didn’t know what…yet. “Lots of photos saved of you and Alex,” he observed quietly, watching for my reaction with a focus that was unsettling.

  “Yeah. He is my best friend.”

  “You and he…well, I know you never, but hasn’t he ever tried to go there?”

  “No.” I laughed and wrinkled my nose. “That would be really weird.” Was he jealous of Alex? I couldn’t believe that was the case, but found that I liked the idea that he might be. It’d mean he cared enough to be, right?

  I took a seat beside him, folding my hands in my lap before I looked at him. “Alex and I started the show at the same time. We were two lost teens who found each other on the set. He’s more than a best friend. He’s more like a brother.” I decided maybe I should start at the beginning so he’d understand. “Alex wasn’t always as handsome as he is now.”

  Warren frowned.

  Shooty shoot. That didn’t come out the way I’d wanted. “What I mean was back then he was quiet and cautious, and very shy off camera. And I was…well, lonely and sad.” Broken after Cassie. I still felt that fissure in my soul. Though I didn’t know if that particular wound would ever heal properly it didn’t feel quite so raw at the moment and I knew it was because of him.

  “So we had this basic mutual need. We started hanging out, talking to each other, sharing secrets.” I peered at him through my lashes, trying to gauge how I was doing with my explanation, but I couldn’t tell. “He’s very open about his orientation now, but he wasn’t at all back then. It wasn’t an easy adjustment for him.”

  I didn’t tell Warren how when Alex told his mom she made him feel like he had some kind of disease. Or that his dad never said anything at all, refusing to acknowledge or accept it. But both rejected him by their actions carving him out of their lives like he was cancer. Only his brother cut rank and stood up for him.

  I shook my head. Those detailed specifics weren’t my secrets to share. “We’ve always been there for each other,” I summarized.

  “So no other guys in all that time, romantically, I mean?”

  “Nothing serious.” Anytime I showed any particular interest, I suspected my dad had interfered to put an end to it.

  Warren seemed relieved. His gaze fell, his eyes on the iPad screen as he flipped through more pictures. “This brunette your mom?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Not many of her and you.”

  He was right, observant as usual. “She works a lot. The show takes a lot of my time.” I shrugged. Those sounded like lame excuses even to my own ears. The truth was keeping distance was easier for both of us after Cass. So that’s what we did.

  He ran a finger over one of my favorite pictures, the one of Alex and me goofing around, his arm thrown over my shoulders, both of us grinning widely, Pinky’s bedroom set in the background. I’d been pretty young then. My dad had taken that picture. Shortly after that, he’d started encouraging rather than discouraging me to spend time with Alex. I think he knew how desperately I’d needed a friend my own age. How he could be so intuitive about that and then be so clueless in so many other ways I didn’t know.

  “You were cute, but sad. I can see it in your eyes. Was this soon after your sister died?”

  I liked the way he didn’t dance around the subject of her death like most people did. “Yes,” I whispered. “Close to the one year mark.” I could feel his intense eyes on me.

  He put a hand over my clasped ones and squeezed. My throat closed as I swallowed back the sadness. It was so hard at this time of the year. The missing her, the ache in my heart for all the never will be’s. I started to duck my chin, but he caught it, his silver cold as his fingers curled around my jaw. His eyes delved into mine looking for secrets and his face suddenly softened as if he’d unearthed them.

  He didn’t say anything and neither did I. We both seemed reluctant to move. For a moment, I thought he might bend his neck and kiss me. I wanted him to, but he didn’t. He cleared his throat, the spell broken, lowered his gaze, and started to flip through my music album instead. “Your music selection
is pretty embarrassing.”

  “What’s wrong with it?” I protested.

  His brow rose. “Uh…Rhianna, Swift, Bieber.”

  “It’s good workout music.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Peppy. Upbeat.” I shrugged.

  He stared.

  I squirmed, then admitted, “I downloaded some Tempest stuff.”

  “I noticed.” A mouth twitch. “At least I saw you have some Elton John.”

  “You like him?” It was my turn to look skeptical.

  “Of course. Bernie Taupin’s lyrics are genius.” He twisted at the waist. My gaze dropped to it, my hands itching to trace over the flat ridges again. I was so distracted by my little fantasy that I didn’t realize he’d set the iPad into the docking station until I heard the first few lilting notes of “Tiny Dancer” drifting out of the speakers.

  Sorrow pricked my chest. If a heart could weep, mine would have bled crimson tears. I could never hear that song without being reminded of her.

  “Dance with me, Shaye.” Warren stood and held out his hand.

  Oh my God! I looked into his serious gaze as the music and emotion of the song swept over me. How could he understand so much about me in so little time? What we were doing here didn’t feel at all like the end of something. It felt like a beginning.

  As soon as I took his hand, his strong fingers closed around mine. He drew me closer, bringing my hands up into position on his wide shoulders. I wrapped them around his neck and threaded my fingers into the silky strands at his nape.

  “Feet up on mine, darlin’,” he ordered softly. Tears brimmed in my eyes. Those were the last words he spoke because the rest… he sang.

  In. My. Ear.

  My body trembled as his warm breath and his alluring voice touched my soul like a beautiful lyrical healing caress. He held me, his hands low on my back, his body hard and strong, and I became soft and pliant, and even more his. He controlled me, and he controlled this, swaying our bodies in perfect sync with the soaring rhythms of the familiar, irresistible refrain.

  Another heavenly moment with this captivating man.

  A music man and his ballerina dancing in the sand while their true love healed them, the words rolled off his tongue and soaked into my parched soul, changing everything. Did he even know what he was doing to me?

  By the time he twirled me around on the last line, I was ruined. Ruined for any other man but him. Who could compete for my heart after this? None but him would ever do.

  How had he managed it? Bringing our hearts together and intertwining them with the memory of me and my sister dancing like this? A memory that used to bring me pain, now felt only poignant. Could he be so in tune with me that he sensed that I needed a new memory to blend with the old?

  As the last notes of the piano faded away, a harmony that had always seemed out of reach settled deep within me.

  I couldn’t speak, but I knew Warren Jinkin’s heart wasn’t nearly as black as he declared it to be. There were cracks, and through them a sensitive spirit was revealed that I didn’t think many ever got the opportunity to see.

  It had taken a lot of hits in his life, but I believed that it still held the capacity for love. Maybe I was being naïve. Maybe I was seeing things that weren’t really there. Maybe this night would be all that we had, but I hoped I was wrong.

  I went up on my toes and tilting my face toward him, he knew what I wanted. He met me half way. His lips touched mine and the kiss we shared was as complex as the emotions swirling around inside of me.

  I wasn’t falling in love with Warren Jinkins.

  I was already there.

  • • •

  War

  I stared down at the incredibly beautiful woman in my arms. Despite my warnings, there were stars shining in her eyes. She was still hoping this was something more. I knew because deep down inside that’s what I wanted to believe now, too.

  “Let’s go to bed, darlin’,” I said low, taking a step back and holding out my hand. “I’m tired.”

  “Me, too,” she whispered like the moment was too sacred to speak any louder. I knew she was surprised that I was staying. I was surprised myself, but I was going to see this through, take a chance, see what happened.

  I’d be a bigger fool than I already was if I did anything else.

  In the bedroom, she went to the right side of the bed and I went to the left. Automatically, as though it were something we did every night. I unbuttoned my jeans, let them and my boxers drop to the floor, and saw that she was staring at me with sultry eyes.

  “Darlin’ don’t look at me like that.” I took off my rings, setting them on the top of the night stand. “You’ve worn me out. I’m totally wiped. In the morning, yeah?”

  “Ok.” Her cheeks blushed her trademark pink color. She climbed in the bed, grabbed the hair tie I’d taken off of her earlier, and wound her hair into a loose ponytail.

  “You look beautiful with your hair down, Shaina,” I shared.

  “I know you like it loose, but it gets tangled if I leave it that way at night,” she explained.

  “Understandable. Lose the robe though. I wanna feel you skin to skin… and I don’t want anything in my way in the morning.”

  She nodded but her cheeks darkened a shade before she switched off her bedside lamp.

  So sweet.

  My chest tightened again with that warm feeling I was starting to get used to having around her. As soon as she ditched the robe, I switched off the lamp on my side and pulled her into me, wrapping my arm around her waist and tucking our joined hands together between those luscious breasts of hers.

  “Warren?” she called softly.

  “Yeah.”

  “Tell me about the guys in Tempest.”

  “Darlin’, stop trying to fix things.”

  “Please, Warren. I just wanna know.” She paused and I heard the sheet rustle. “They were a big part of your life.”

  What possible barrier could I throw up to keep her out? Besides, maybe it was just curiosity on her part.

  So I told her what it had been like for us starting out, carrying our own equipment from club to club. About the old shower curtain we used for a backdrop that Sager had painted with the Tempest hurricane logo. How I actually missed those times. How cool it was being up on stage looking out into an audience, the fans holding up cells to record us, their arms swaying back and forth to the beat.

  “So Sager’s an artist?”

  “Definitely, yeah. He sketches all the time. You should see his ink. They’re all his own designs.”

  “And the drummer…King?”

  “He’s a cut up… most of the time. He’s got a wicked temper, though. He and Sager are best friends. They got tangled up in some gang shit that went really bad. They’ve been tight ever since.”

  “Who’s the cute guy with the spiky hair?”

  “Dizzy.” My grip tightened. I didn’t like her noticing that Diz was good looking. “He’s Lace’s brother.”

  “What’s his story?” She yawned. That I liked. It made it seem like she really wasn’t all that interested in Dizzy after all.

  “Same as Lace. Their mother was a crack head. They had it worse than any of us.”

  “That’s terrible.”

  “Southside ain’t Sesame Street, darlin’.”

  I felt her body move as she nodded silently.

  I braced, but still wasn’t ready for her next question and realized that I’d hoped she wouldn’t ask.

  “Bryan?”

  So many memories rushed through my mind. I must’ve been quiet a long time because she said, “It’s ok. You don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want to.”

  Surprisingly, I found that I did. “We’ve been friends since middle school. I’d tell you about the Jell-O incident, but it’d take too long. Before it all went bad, we were brothers. We hung out, got into trouble, picked up chicks. Got real tight the summer before high school when his old man came back. That’s somethi
ng we have in common. Shit-for-brains fathers. He hates his as much as I hate mine.”

  “Why?”

  “His dad treated his mom like trash. And he was real two faced with Bryan and his sisters, but you know…” I trailed off.

  “What?” she prompted softly, turning over. I could feel her eyes on me even in the dark. She laid her hand on my chest and I spilled my guts all over her, and it wasn’t pretty.

  “I was jealous of what he had. I remember thinking at least he had a dad who pretended to like him. At least he had a mom who gave a shit what happened to him. I had jack, except for Lace.”

  I heard the venom in my tone as the telling words leeched out of me. Fuck me. The truth slammed into me with the force of a freight train. Ugly truth. Truth I’d never wanted to acknowledge, though it was always there. My main motivation for wanting Lace. The reason I’d warned Bryan off all those years ago at her uncle’s garage. I’d wanted to have her for other reasons, sure, but especially because it’d mean I’d have something that he wanted but couldn’t have.

  I was one sorry ass motherfucker.

  I felt her lips touch gently over my heart. The real and the ink one weren’t matched. The one inside my chest was much blacker than the one tattooed on it.

  “I think anyone in your shoes would have similar feelings, Warren.”

  Doubtful. And she didn’t know the half of it. “Go to sleep, babe,” I whispered into her silky hair, laying my cheek against it. Eventually her breathing leveled out, and I felt her relax against me. My arms tightened around her.

  There was no way this was going to last, even if I tried.

  I was poison.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Shaina

  I woke before him.

  His arm was draped heavily over my abdomen. I shifted cautiously to avoid waking him. His handsome masculine profile and the dark dusting of stubble on his face held my attention as the soft light of dawn lifted over the city. Except for the shadow of his beard, he looked more boy than man, his features relaxed innocently in sleep.