Burning Ember (49 page)

“Not at first. It was more subtle. And honestly, the hitting wasn’t the worst part. His need to control me was. He didn’t want me leaving the house. He wanted me to look a certain way. Act a certain way. After I moved in, I started to see a different side of him. He lost his temper more times than not. He’d kiss me aggressively, but not in a passionate way, it was almost like he was angry with me.”

“Did he . . .” Mav’s voice is hard. His eyes, fierce. And I don’t think he realizes it, but his fingers are digging into my skin at my waist.

That night comes back to me. Looking away, I say, “I don’t know what set him off. All I know is he was angry and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.” I take a deep breath and finish, “I fought back. I pleaded for him to stop. I just . . . I couldn’t reach him. I’ve never felt so weak in my life.”

Luce appears in an instant. A savage fierceness flashes over his features and I watch as he fights the rage building inside of him. He growls, sits up. “Who is this guy? What’s his last name?”

I grab him and hold on to his arm. “Mav . . .”

His fists clench and unclench. “Who is he?”

“Why? What are you going to do?”

His biceps and his jaw pulse at the same time. “Do you want the truth?”

“Of course I do.”

“I want to know who he is because I plan to pay back every bit of the pain he’s caused you.”

My fingers tighten on his wrist. “Mav! It’s done and over. I just want to forget it ever happened.”

“Which is what you can do after he pays for how he hurt you.”

“We weren’t even together then.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He pulls away from me.

My temper and tongue get the best of me. “What are you going to do? Beat him up? Kill him? You can’t do that. He has cops and powerful people, even judges in his pocket. His father’s a state senator. That’s why I ran instead of going to the cops. And I don’t want you getting locked up because you think you need to avenge my honor.”

He finds his jeans and yanks them on. “Babe. You’re underestimatin’ me and the powerful people I got in my own pocket. He won’t even see me comin’.”

I glare up at him with an exasperated look that has him smirking. “Where are you going?”

He zips up his jeans and buttons them. “I’m gettin’ away from you and your gorgeous body so I can think straight. I want to know what I can about this guy. Where he is. What he does. Where he goes. And who his friends are.”

He comes back and kisses me, lays me back down, and pulls the covers up to my shoulders. “You stay here and keep my bed warm.”

As he pulls away, he asks, “You need anything?”

“Yes.” I grumble, “You to stop being my hero and get back in this bed with me. This is stupid.”

He laughs. “I plan on gettin’ right back in that bed with you after I make a phone call.”

I’m starting to see that Mav does have a mercurial personality. His emotions are always passionate and sway depending on where his head’s at. He’s an artist after all, so I probably should have grasped that sooner.

“You’re not leaving the house are you?”

“No, Doll. I’ll be right back. Why? Are you gonna miss me?”

I try but fail to hit him with the pillow as I throw it at him. “No.”

He chuckles and pulls his phone from his pocket. He hits a few buttons and places it to his ear. He’s almost to the door when he says, “Yeah, I know, but I need you to find someone for me. Warner . . .”

He turns and looks back at me from the doorway. “Doll, what’s his last name?” We stare at each other and his eyes narrow. If I tell him Warner’s name, he’s going to easily find him and find out about everything else. The fire and how the police are looking for me. I was planning to tell him all of it anyway but he cut me off.

Just like all the times we’ve stared each other down, he freaking wins. “McTearney.”

Mav’s jaw clenches and then he relays into the phone, “McTearney. He’s the son of some senator in . . .” Again he pauses and I feel the intensity of his gaze. “Where’s he live, Doll?”

“California. But there’s something else you need to know.”

“California.” He holds his hand over the phone. “What else do I need to know?”

I grip the blanket tighter. What if he doesn’t want me around once he knows the police are looking for me? What if he doesn’t want that kind of attention on the club? I know the HOCs aren’t law-abiding citizens. They move money, or “clean it.” From the little things I’ve heard around the club, they launder it illegally through all their many businesses. I keep the fact that I know this to myself. This is exactly the kind of thing Davis would want to know.

“The police are looking for me.”

He gives me a blank expression for a minute. He uncovers the phone and says, “I’ll call you right back.”

He comes to sit on the edge of the bed. His muscles are tense. “Why are the police lookin’ for you?”

I look away and bite my lip. He grunts in disapproval and reaches forward to pull my lip from my teeth. He lifts my chin so I’m forced to look at him.

“Why, Doll? Come on. Don’t make me break out the boxing gloves.” His smirk disarms me and my nervousness fades.

“You wanted to know how I got the scars.” He nods. “He started to handcuff me when he left the house. He knew I was planning to leave him.”

Mav’s expression darkens. Once again, he fights a rising tide of anger. I can see in his eyes, Warner is going to be meeting him sometime soon.

“What does that have to do with the cops lookin’ for you?”

My gaze drops to the bed. “I burned down his house. I needed time to get out of town. I needed him to think I was still inside while it burned so he didn’t come looking for me right away and drag me back.”

The silence between us is thick with tension until Mav lifts my face and palms my cheeks. “You’re so fuckin’ strong, Doll. The fact that you can survive all you’ve been through and still be this whole.” His eyes search mine and he shakes his head.” Baby, you’re like a diamond. Precious, fuckin’ beautiful, and unbreakable.”

“I assure you, I can break. I’ve been so close many times.”

“Well, we’re not gonna test that theory because I’m not gonna break your heart, and you’re not gonna break mine. And that fucker is never gonna lay eyes on you again. Okay?”

“Okay.”

The room is pitch black and silent. Something wakes me. It’s not until the hand on my thigh moves up higher that I know what it is.

Mav’s fingers are long and calloused but they feel oh so good as they move up my skin. He’s spooned against my back and his hot breath washes over my neck, as his hand slides up over my chest and cups my breast. He tweaks my nipple and with the hint of pain, my body is suddenly awake and attuned to him. Turning my face, his lips meet mine. Our kiss is heavy with emotion and unhurried. His other hand moves underneath me until he’s able to curl it around to where the tips of his fingers can stroke my clit.

I whimper at the first touch. In seconds, he’s working over my mouth, and has me yet again on the brink of an orgasm that’s ready to spill over.

I moan and start rocking. Mav separates my legs and pulls my thigh over the top of his, spreading me open for him. He moves closer and when I feel his erection at my opening, I whisper his name.

His first thrusts are torturous, slow, and deep. I reach back and hold on to his neck.

He breaks our kiss and, in the voice with the power to make my body shudder, he says, “You make the darkness fade and breathe life back into my world.”

Against my will, my fears tumble out of my mouth. “Mav . . . you can’t say these things to me . . .”

“Why?”

“Because you make me feel something I don’t want to feel when you do. My heart opens and lets you in, and I don’t know if I’m ready for that. What if this doesn’t work? What if you change your mind about me? What if something from my past makes you look at me differently?” I squeeze my eyes closed. “The more I let you in, the harder it’s going to be to move on from you.”

“Is this where you want to be?”

“Yes.”

“Then this is where you stay, and it’s my fuckin’ job to make you happy. I see who you are, Doll, and I want all of you. Every fuckin’ piece of you, you’ll give me. I’m not gonna change my mind about that.”

I turn and kiss him. His thrusts get faster, and his breath and my breaths get heavier. Our moans collide as he strums my clit and slides deep and shallow. Mav leans up and pulls his arm from under me so he can push into the bed and work himself deeper into me, hit the bundle of nerves inside me that puts me on the verge of exploding.

He backs away slowly from our kiss and smirks down at me. His pace changes.

“No, faster.”

He laughs.

“Luce, give me what I need.”

He growls and starts fucking me hard, fast, and deep, and doing it so relentlessly like only the devil could do.

“Fuck. You grip me so tight, Doll. Come for me, babe.”

He rubs my clit rapidly and it’s my undoing. I cry out and my body goes tight. I have never once seen the Northern Lights, but I’d bet my life that’s what flashes behind my eyelids when my orgasm sweeps over me in a rush of blinding pleasure. It hits me in one big crash and then tapers out in waves.

Mav shouts and buries himself inside of me as his body releases into mine.

Afterward, he pulls me into his arms and wraps me up nearly to the point I can’t move.

I keep thinking, I should hate it. I shouldn’t want to be locked down and caged by another man. But I love it. I feel safe in Mav’s arms. I feel safe and guarded from all the wrong in the world. And maybe in his arms, I am like he says . . .
unbreakable.

I’m amazed that in one day Mav’s destroyed the image of the man I thought he was. He’s revealed he’s so much more than I ever could have hoped for, and he’s shown me that sex is unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Mind-blowing, beyond intense, and soul-searing deep. I never realized sex could be about pleasure and wanting to be so close to someone, that it consumes you.

I feel like some precious rare thing he can’t get enough of. And I’ve discovered a side of myself I never knew I had. A passionate side that might easily get addicted to all the wonderful ways he makes my body sing for him.

Before I drift off, Mav whispers in my ear. “Tell me I’m not alone, Doll. Tell me you feel how good this is too.”

I wrap my hands over his and snuggle back into him. “I feel it. But it scares me. Like it’s too good to be true.”

“It’s true, Doll. I’ll prove it.”

Smoke isn’t always the first warning of a fire.

EMBER

I wake to the sound of a low hum, a clank of metal against metal, and a string of curses. But where they’re coming from or why is too much for my sleep addled brain to handle.

What I do know is that the warm body that blanketed mine throughout the night is gone, and the black, silky sheets surrounding me are empty. I’m alone although a familiar musky scent lingers on my pillow. I move and nuzzle closer, drawn by the smell, and as I do, a pinch of pain zips through my core.

In quick flashes, I relive last night.

Mav kneeling, kissing my knees. His patience and willingness to wait until I was ready. Every sweet word that left his mouth and how they tore away at the protective wall I’d been trying to hide behind.

God . . .
he definitely fulfilled his promise.

He took me over and over, until neither of us could move. Evident by the delicious soreness rioting though my muscles, and the wetness still residing between my thighs.

A smile tugs at the corner of my lips. I touch them and find they’re puffy, swollen from overuse.

The knowledge that we had unprotected sex threatens to send me into a tailspin of stress, and honestly for a second, it does. I have no idea what I would do if I also had to protect and support a child. I need to get the day after pill from the doctor today and ask Mav to use protection from now on. It was stupid. Irresponsible of us both. I won’t deny it. But hell, it felt good to just do what felt right. To let go and for once simply enjoy myself.

After rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I sit up, and groan in protest of my aching body. The room looks different in the light of day. But it fits Mav to a T. Architectural art on the walls, a matching coffee table, and a black leather couch. The dressers and end tables are the same sleek style as the bed.