by Mia Downing
He wore the same suit now, his dark hair neatly combed. He’d ruin that in about thirty seconds, and he’d look freshly fucked and hotter than hell. He’d been working on growing a beard, and the neat, dark stubble along his jaw just made him that much hotter. I hated that I stood in a place of work as a professional, and yet he’d already managed to dampen my panties.
“I wanted to ask you something before things get busy,” he said, raking his hand through his hair and destroying perfection.
I smirked at knowing him so well. “Okay.”
Swallowing, he looked around again before he whispered, “Will you unshield for me?”
I only allowed that during sex so I could keep my emotions in check easier. I’d learned how to hide things from him even when unprotected, and I’d tested the waters in a few areas.
I feared I was falling for him—funny, kind, excellent in bed Marek. Loving him would be the worst thing I could do, especially since he’d skirted the whole “will you not leave me in March” aspect. I couldn’t go with him, not unless I overcame a whole lot of fear. The thought of going sent me into an instant panic attack.
Every day, that teal energy that had surfaced after I’d found her letter grew stronger on my side. At first, I’d had no clue what he’d meant about the color…until it had appeared one day after he’d done something so sweet. That teal was a dangerous, cruel emotion that would destroy me. I’d learned to hide it, to camouflage it with the darker blues, squashing it to the back of the energy palette.
How the hell would I hide it here when I’d be so damned proud of him?
“Why?” I whispered, though I knew damned well why.
“I need you,” he whispered back.
I didn’t have time to respond as Grace breezed in from the back, her blue hair matching her silver-and-blue Christmas dress. Her face lit up when she saw me with Marek, and she came to greet him, too.
I ignored the two of them as I fidgeted, gathering all that teal energy and shoving it down under the dark stuff. I almost laughed. I felt like a messy college kid, hiding laundry so people could visit.
His gaze met mine over Grace’s blue head, and he raised his brows, silently pleading. Sighing, I dropped my protection and gasped at what I found. That man was a yellow mess of gray and turbulent chaos that churned and mixed. I sent some soothing energy along the bond, vowing to get him some Tums from my desk as I took his coat back. He felt ready to barf.
Maybe he wouldn’t be able to focus on what I had hidden.
As the place filled with guests, Marek calmed some, greeting some customers with a familiarity that surprised me. But he did run every day he could, and he walked all over town if he had time. He’d probably met half these people on his daily adventures. He laughed and chatted now, having no issues with small talk, unlike me, who hid in the shadows and pointed out the refreshment table.
As he relaxed, his energy changed and shifted, brightening, chasing away the gray like the sun coming out after the rain. I wanted to embrace that bright yellow, thrilled to see it return. It had been tough on him to realize what she had done. And though he hid it well, he still grieved for her, for the life he’d had. For what I couldn’t give him. That stung.
He met my gaze and jerked his head, inviting me over. I shook my head and pointed to the refreshment area. He’d wanted me at his side as his girlfriend, but I’d wanted to work instead, to help customers and ensure things ran smoothly so he could just enjoy his success. This moment of pride didn’t need me in it.
A woman brushed by my elbow, and I turned to her. “Do you need anything?”
Well-dressed in a casual winter pantsuit, the older woman gave me a cool once over. “I heard there’s coffee.”
“There is, through there.”
“I’d love some.” She touched my elbow. “I have to ask…are you Skye?”
Shocked, I blinked and shrank away out of reflex from years of avoiding people.
Before I could answer, she said, “I’m Marek’s agent—Angela. He’s told me a ton about you.” She grabbed my hand and gave it a quick shake.
“How’d you know—”
“I just know.” She tugged me closer and dragged me up the three steps to the fiction room turned refreshment area. “Look. I’ll get to the point. I’ve been pressuring him to finish that second book…and he’s stalling.” Manicured fingers plucked a coffee cup free and added sugar and creamer. “This book is going to sell well, and readers are going to demand the second installment since he left them in a cliffhanger.”
I winced. “That’s not good.”
Her earrings jangled as she shook her head. “Look, can you convince him to get this done? I know he’s started it, but I don’t know why he won’t finish. He mentioned a trip in March, but we can work around that.”
My stomach dropped, and I did my best not to project that to the happy, sunny man in the next room. “When did he say this?”
“Last week.” She finished pouring and took a sip.
So I was right. Everything I’d done to be a good girlfriend was for nothing. He’d still leave me. For her. “Okay. I’ll work on it.”
“Thank you.”
Beaming, she led me back to the doorway. Below, Marek talked to a blonde who worked at the bakery, his deep laugh echoing over my skin and through the bond.
Angela turned to me. “If there’s anyone he’ll listen to, it’s you.”
I snorted. “He’s always been independent.”
“Yes, but you have a way to his…heart.” Her gaze dropped deliberately to his crotch then raised to meet mine. A coy smile spread across her lips. “Convince him.”
“I’ll try.”
Angela parted the crowd to join Marek, and he smiled down at her with genuine affection. But his gaze scanned the crowd, finally finding mine on the stairs. He shot me that lopsided smile I loved so much, and I had to beat the teal back with a swift energy kick.
He was leaving. Being a planner, he’d have that all laid out in exact steps already. He planned everything except for sex. That he liked to be dirty and spontaneous, and maybe he found that freeing. But everything else…he planned.
I had less than four months to enjoy him, or I had to get real brave—quick.
Marek
December 31
I finished showering and turned off the water, wanting to be ready when Skye showed up to celebrate the New Year and tomorrow—her birthday. The New Year meant more for me this year than it ever had. Usually, I spent that day in another time, working. Tonight, I’d spend it with the woman I’d grown to love, convincing her to take that next step with me. No, not one that involved a ring. She wasn’t ready for that. All I wanted was her in my home, in my bed, and truly mine.
Discovering the letters had destroyed me. The woman I’d loved had shredded what I believed in, what I stood for and lived by. I’d clung to this new bond in a darkness that swirled with regret and sadness. To survive, I focused on what made the two women different.
This Skye had never had a real relationship or boyfriend. She hadn’t had someone to care for her or love her, or someone to count on who would be there besides Grace. And as she became used to me doing my best to fill that role, she had changed.
Finding the letters had made her a little bolder, but she still kept her distance. She kissed me more readily. She held my hand in public, and she’d announced me as her boyfriend to Mr. Dexter, the owner of the bookstore. I’d even met her landlady, Joyce—Mr. Dexter’s sister.
At my book signing, she’d wanted me to have the spotlight. I’d been torn. I’d wanted her at my side. But I could understand her reluctance to step into a role the other Skye would have filled eagerly.
Despite her forward steps, this wasn’t the relationship I craved.
I heard a noise in the bedroom as I toweled off. As I fastened the towel to my side, I crept out. Skye stood at my dresser, doing something in my top drawer.
“Hello,” I said as I relaxed, leaning against th
e door frame.
She spun, her cheeks flushing as she held something behind her back. Her hands shoved whatever in the back pocket of her jeans. “Oh. Hi.”
“What’s up?”
Her cheeks grew rosier as she stared at my bare chest. “I was leaving you something for tomorrow morning. So you could have a surprise when you got dressed.”
“But it’s your birthday.”
She shrugged. “Not really. And besides, dates can have two meanings. You can have a surprise, too.”
I knew that all too well about the shared dates. I’d proposed to the other Skye on my birthday.
But my Skye looked odd as she stared at me. I cocked my head. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a towel before.”
No, she hadn’t. We had a lot of sex. A lot. But because she refused to sleep over, most of our sex romps consisted of a dirty, quick fulfillment of the sex list I’d given her. We’d done it everywhere but New York, the shower, and my bed except for the first night. Even the guest room romps were dirty and quick. I liked dirty and kinky, but I wanted to lay her out on my bed and feast on her with my eyes and hands and mouth. I craved waking up in the middle of the night to hold her close. I needed to kiss her when she woke up.
Hopefully, I could get her to take that first step.
“Well,” I asked, “you like what you see?”
Her gaze narrowed as she lifted her chin in that bitchy way of hers. “You know you’re attractive.”
“Yes, but I need you to like what you see.”
She swallowed again, her gaze dropping to the towel and the growing hard-on it barely hid. “I don’t know. Turn around.”
I pushed myself from the door jamb and turned slowly for her enjoyment. I ran every day and did some weights. Not too much. Men from the 1800s weren’t ripped, and I still needed to go back. But I did need to be leaner to fit in.
I glanced over my left shoulder, my tattoo just under my gaze, a reminder of our bond. “Well?”
“Drop the towel.”
I dropped it. Her breath whooshed out in appreciation. I grinned as I hardened even more. She loved my ass.
“Okay, turn,” she said in a breathless voice.
I did and cocked my head, my heart hammering like an anxious teen on his first date. “Well?”
“You’ll do.”
Her words lacked heat, and some odd expression crossed her face that confused me and made me worry. I wished she’d drop her protection and allow me access to the bond. Then, I’d know how to deal with this.
“You know the punishment for being bitchy,” I warned. “Why don’t you try being honest for a change?”
Her gaze softened as she started at my face and worked downward, following the small trail of hair from my chest down to my hard cock to my feet. She swallowed hard as she scanned her way up, lingering on my chest this time. “You want me to be honest?”
“Yes.”
Her light-blue gaze met mine, the inner corners suspiciously damp. “I can’t believe you’re mine.”
Her words hit me straight in the heart, clutching it like a tight band. Heart pounding, I crossed the rug in four strides and cupped her face, bending to kiss her softly, sweetly, telling her everything I couldn’t say. That I loved her. That I wanted her. That I couldn’t believe she was mine, too.
I lifted my head and wiped the moisture from her cheek. “Hey. Stop that. Of course, I’m yours. Even if we weren’t bonded, I’d choose you.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. You are…so much. I understand her jealousy when it came to you.”
“Unshield for me,” I whispered. I needed the bond as much as I needed her.
“No.”
“Skye. We need to talk about that.” I led her to the bed and gently sat her down at the foot. I realized she’d be staring straight at my aching dick, so I grabbed the towel and donned it. I needed our full attention. “You remember when you found the letters? And how you wanted to be more with me?”
“Yes. I have been trying.”
“Yes, you have. And it’s time for the next step.” I lifted her chin, so her anxious gaze met mine. “I feel like what it must be like to be in your high school with a quickie here and a quickie there. I lived like that until I was eighteen. I’m a man; you’re a woman. We both have houses, and beds, and being under the same roof isn’t going to make us feel more for each other.”
She swallowed nervously. “It might.”
I bit the proverbial bullet and said, “I love you. I have all along, and as I learn more about you, it’s grown.”
Her face drained of color. “No.”
I ignored her and pressed on. “I know you have feelings for me, too.”
“I don’t.”
“Then what’s the teal on the bond? And why do you try to hide that from me?”
She shrugged and tried to look away, but I held her chin to keep her escaping.
She blew out a breath that scattered a coppery lock of hair from her face. “I’m…happy. That’s all it is.”
“Sure.” I bit back the disappointment. She’d had a shitty life, and that was my fault. I sensed that teal was something unique that she hadn’t felt before. I was hoping for the beginnings of love for me, and maybe that scared her.
We stared at each other, and after a long moment, her gaze narrowed. “So you tell me why you won’t finish your book. I had thought when I said we’d be more, that you leaving in March was off. Yet at the book signing, your agent begged me to suck your dick to get you to write the second installment before you took your ‘trip.’”
I pulled back in shock. “She didn’t.”
“Not in so many words, but yeah.” She batted my hand away from her chin. “You wrote a cliffhanger, Marek. You can’t do that and not write the sequel. Your fans will hate you.”
Fans. Now, I swallowed. “I don’t know how the next book ends. Not until I go back. And I have to go back.”
Pain flashed across her face, and she glanced away. “Then make it up. Whoever knows you will know the first book was real. Write the second for you. Let it be how you want it to end. But if it ends differently, then just write a note in the back for those in the future who need to know.” She withdrew something from her pocket—a page of a newspaper—and held it out to me. “This was your surprise.”
I took it from her and read it—“New Authors to Read in the New Year.” My name and Diary of a Time Traveler were the first on the list. I blinked in surprise and read it again. And again. The book had been selling well, but this…this meant I was an author.
“You want me to start something new. Well, you need to finish what you started.” She turned and grabbed something beside the bed, pulling up a tote bag. “And for the record, I was ready to stay over without your lecture.”
“You were?”
“Yeah. I regretted not staying for Christmas Eve. I hated waking up alone. I want to wake up on my birthday with you.” With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the bag. “That was part of the surprise, too.”
Joy overwhelmed me, tightening my throat. She wanted to stay. “Unshield for me.”
“No.”
“We’re gifted,” I insisted. “I need and want all of you.”
“She had all of you and look what she did. I’ll unshield for sex because you need that. But if I had my way, there would be no bond.”
Fear tingled my skin, raising bumps along my arms. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
Closing my eyes, I breathed deep. She hadn’t lived half her life being bonded, hadn’t been prepared for it from age two when she was labeled as gifted. Could I live without it?
No, but I had time to change her mind. I opened my eyes and forced a smile. “Baby steps.”
“Okay.” She returned a guarded smile. “What does that mean?”
“Well, we start with tonight with you sleeping here and letting me make love to you, and we’ll enjoy the bond.
” I raised a finger and placed it against her parted lips for a second to stop her from speaking. “I don’t want a dirty fuck. I want to experience what we had that first night. You liked that, right?”
Licking her bottom lip, she nodded. “Yes.”
“Then we start there.” But I owed her something, too. “And tomorrow, I’ll start to finish the book with the ending I want.”
She gave me a genuine and encouraging smile. “Okay.”
“But…you have to read it before I’ll submit it. Because it is…in essence…you.”
She didn’t want to comply, but she finally nodded. “Okay. Deal.”
“Deal.”
Skye
January 1
I woke with my fist against my mouth to bite back the scream, jolting upright in a strange bed. Breathing ragged, I wildly glanced around, trying to get my bearings. In the gray of dawn, unfamiliar posts loomed at the foot of the bed, and somewhere down the hall, a clock chimed. Marek’s.
Beside me, he shifted and rolled, revealing his tattooed back in the dim light.
I laid back down next to him and flung a hand over my eyes to erase the scattered but lingering images.
I’d never had this nightmare. The hairs on the back of my neck still stood, the skin tingling as I tried to rub the sensation away.
In the dream, I’d awoken to find I’d been tied up in a dark place full of dust with cobwebs hanging down, rasping over my skin. A floor or so above me, Marek lay somewhere, immobile. Unresponsive. That handy locator on the bond relieved some of my fear as I tried to breathe around the soaked gag that dug into the corners of my mouth, the knot boring into my aching head. I had a knife, and I wrangled my tied hands under the piles of fabric of my dress to find my boot. Heart pounding, I released the blade and maneuvered it to saw on the ropes between my wrists. I had to hurry. My life depended on it. So did Marek’s.
Just as the knife broke through the last strand, a door cracked open, flooding me with golden lamplight.
I’d bit back the scream, and that had awoken me in the present. My heart still hammered in my chest. I had no clue who was coming for me, but I would have died.
