Love Renewed (Entwined Hearts #3) (10 page)

“If I didn’t know that it takes precisely thirty-five seconds for this elevator to get to my floor, then I’d strip you naked right here, right now.” His voice is full of promise.

I lean into him, pressing my mouth to his. I feel Dane trying to hold his restraint, waiting until we’re safely in his apartment. I start to run my hands up his shirt, feeling the ridges of his chest, suddenly the elevator stops and he once again pulls me about and positioning me next to what I assume is his apartment door. He fishes for his keys, then once we’re inside he shoves me back against another wall. It’s pitch black as his body leans against me making sure I can feel his hardness pressing against my hipbone. I roll my head back against the wall and notice the outline of his face.

His hand is next to my thigh, the palm laid flat on the wall and his thumb against my waist. Leaning down, his mouth finds mine and again our tongues dance. Slowly his hand moves up the wall still touching my side, it blazes fire along its path. Moving his lips downward, he nuzzles his nose into my neck then slides his tongue from under my chin to the base of my throat. His teeth graze my neck on the way back up and his hand moves around my shoulder sliding to the other side of my body. Hearing a click, I’m surprised when the lights come to life. Low lighting glows around the room, but I don’t have time to take the space in as his hand now clamps around the side of my throat. He pulls back looking at me.

“Dreamt of this for a long time. Now I’m gonna savour it.”

His words don’t have time to penetrate before he’s kneeling in front of me, pushing both his hands behind my legs, they glide down my skirt, quickly grabbing each side of the slit at the back. Suddenly, he rips the skirt apart. I nearly fall as my knees give way. Nobody has ever done anything even remotely close to that before.
Not that I can remember, anyway.
His grip on me tightens, as he looks back up and smirks.

“Maybe I won’t savour…everything.” He winks and my mouth drops open. “Put your leg over my shoulder, Nova,” he commands and I’m still in a fog. So he moves me himself, placing it over his shoulder while keeping me standing with his other arm. Before my brain has kicked into gear, he pulls my panties aside and slips his tongue into me, right into me, he delves in tasting, eating, and fucking me. Then he pulls back and covers me with his mouth, sucking me, drawing me in and lapping me up. I haven’t felt this for years. Sex with Davy was boring, regimented, and he never went down on me, deeming it to be dirty.

“Fuck!” I scream out as my body can’t be controlled anymore and I feel the pulsing in my pussy overtake me. Dane continues to circle my clit until the last tremble subsides. Then he stands again and pulls my head to his, pushing his tongue back into my mouth so I can taste myself on him. I slide my hand down his front until I feel his hard dick. I rub up and down a few times which causes a growl to rumble up his throat.

He picks me up and I automatically wrap my legs around him as he walks us toward what I soon see is his bedroom, my now ripped skirt flapping behind me. Putting one knee to the bed he gently drops me down and then proceeds to prowl over my body.

“You might want to pull this off baby.” He looks down to the rag hanging off me with a grin.

“It’s no good now, Dane. I would’ve thought you might have ripped it completely off, you know…save time?” I challenge.

He smirks. “That won’t be a problem.” Then he kneels back up, grabs the ripped sides of my skirt and pulls it completely apart, slipping it out from beneath me. I stare at him and feel the heat hit me between my legs again. “Keep the stockings and heels on,” he commands then hooks his fingers under each side of my panties and pulls them down. I raise my eyebrow in question.

He shrugs back at me. “Black lace, baby. You can never have enough of these panties, wouldn’t want to rip them.”

I smile back at him but say nothing, deciding instead to pull my tank off. When I do he scans my body and now it’s his turn to cock his eyebrow in question.

“I didn't intend to do this. So I’m sorry, no matching bra,” I reply with a smile as he stares at my boring white bra.

Shaking his head, Dane moves forward once again and pulls the bra south over my breasts allowing them both to pop out. He leans down and glances up into my eyes before taking a long lick in between my breasts, just above where the bra now sits and all the way back to my throat, there he nibbles a route to my mouth, taking it again. Once he lets go, I whisper, “Please take your clothes off.” Nodding he sits back on his haunches and I quickly remove my bra as he starts unbuttoning his shirt. I watch as he slips it over his broad shoulders and I lick my lips at the sight of his chest once the shirt is gone completely. He’s stunning. Rippling muscles, but not over the top. He has it all, the lumps and bumps in all the right places, but I can take my eyes from his upper arms. As he moves to stand, I watch the muscles contort and feel myself getting even wetter. Dane removes his trousers and either he’s slipped the boxers off at the same time or is going commando. Before I realise it, he’s standing naked in front of me. I would be worried about choking on my tongue if it weren’t for the fact that it’s currently hanging out of my mouth. Smirking once again, he moves to me like he’s on a hunt and I’m his prey. As he stops atop me, I feel a momentary fission of fear. This isn’t like me and it scares me for a second. He obviously reads this in my eyes as he moves back on his haunches again.

“This can stop anytime, Nova. I don’t care if we’re right in the middle of it. You say the word, I’ll stop,” he whispers sincerely and I know, this is my time to show him it’s good. All good. In the blink of an eye, I’m sitting up and placing my hands on his face pulling his lips to meet mine. I’m falling back on the bed, and Dane guides us down softly. The next thing I feel, is him, sitting at my entrance.

“Now,” I whisper into his mouth, opening my eyes to watch the last threads of control slip out of his. He pushes into me.

“Ahhh!” The desire in my voice vibrates around the room. He closes his eyes and swallows a few times. Then slowly opens them again, surveying me, one corner of his mouth twitches and he pulls back out to power back in. Leaning down, Dane bites my nipple and I groan. Placing my hands on his back I pull my nails down his skin.  He grunts slamming into me faster. I lean up and bite his earlobe while simultaneously pinching his nipple in my fingers. He smashes into me now, like a man who has lost all control, and I feel the energy and thrill from that thought fizzle across me. I push one hand into his hair and pull it.
Hard.

“God!” he rumbles and amazingly he goes even faster, harder. I didn’t know men could actually fuck like this. Pulling my hands away from him I grab my breasts and tweak my nipples, which makes him moan, he pushes his hand between us and rubs circles with his thumb on my clit. I start moving with his hand and I know he’s getting close, I’m not sure how I know, but I feel it inside of me like he’s holding back. I’m obviously not quick enough for him, though, as he pulls his hand away from my clit and slips it around my back. Then without realising what he’s doing he pushes his finger between my bum cheeks and puts pressure on my anus, making me instantly and unexpectedly explode under him. As I do, so does he.

Wow. Fuck me.

As we come down from the high of sex. Our bodies are still entwined, a sheen of sweat covers us both.

“I don’t remember that. I wish I did,” I tell Dane, melancholy in my voice, knowing I may never remember our history.

“It was never like that. But it would have been. We were only kids really, I was young and inexperienced. You were my first and I was yours.” As he explains, I feel a grip forming around my heart, but I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m happy that I had that specific experience with him first, or sad because I can’t remember it. And for me, at least with my current memory, Bobby Hadley was my first. Ugh.

We’re both in our own thoughts for a while, I’m basking in my glow and hoping this is the start of something more.

“Dane.”

“Nova.” I smile at my nickname, it makes me feel special.

“I don’t usually do this…have sex on a first date. Actually I’ve never done this,” I tell him and realise I haven’t ever wanted to do this before, but with Dane, he brings something out in me, something that I feel has laid dormant for a while.

“I know, baby,” he replies and I lift my head off his chest to look into his eyes.

“How do you know that?” I whisper.

“I have my ways.” Saying no more, then melting me with his smile.

“I’m a good girl,” I say while softly running my fingertips down his chest.

“No you’re fucking not,” he answers with a smirk. And in about three seconds flat he has lifted off the bed, wrapped his arms around me and I’m lying underneath him again.

Well, I guess once isn’t enough for Mr. Matthews.

Waking up in a strange bed is not my speciality. I’ve never had a one night stand. Not to my knowledge. At that thought, I lie still and ponder for a moment. I don’t really know what I did or who I was before. Maybe I was like that, maybe Dane knows different.

What if this was a quick fuck and I got it wrong. Read it wrong? It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Stop over thinking,” Dane mumbles from next to me and my head jerks at his voice.

“I thought you were asleep?” I return sounding snippy.

He chuckles at me. “I sleep with one eye open.” His words confuse me. I realise that he confuses me quite often, it feels like what he says always has an underlying meaning, but I just don’t catch on. “I can see you’re worried about last night. Don’t be,” he continues.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask feeling more confused and getting annoyed, I’m not a morning person at the best of times.

He wraps his arm around my back pulling me onto his chest. “We’re right where we should be Nova. You in my arms. All is right with the world. Just hold onto that.”

I huff but snuggle into him anyway, and I know he’s grinning at me.

“So what are you doing today?” I ask Dane when we’ve finished breakfast.

His forehead crinkles at my question. “What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m spending my day with you then we’re leaving for Vegas, right?”

I feel my cheeks heat at his answer. “Erm…well, obviously I need to go home and get my stuff and I need to pack, but I’m not leaving until Friday morning,” I reply getting up and grabbing the breakfast things, walking over to deposit them in the sink.

“Why?” He shoots back while following me.

“What do you mean, why?” I return my hands now on my hips.

“Well, the wedding is Friday night. I figured you women like to chat and shit before the day, I thought you’d be turning up today seeing as Saul, Soph, and the rest of them will be there today too?” His voice has softened, apparently noticing the pissed off woman stirring to life within me.

“Oh. Yeah, that would make sense,” I answer, not sure if I want to be completely honest about my situation.

He pulls his hand down his face and sighs. “Nova, listen, there’s a lot of stuff we need to talk about. I want to spend time doing that, and I’m going to stay here as long as I need to for that purpose. But I have to be clear, you have my past, completely. I want you to have my future, I will lay everything I am down for you, which is more than you realise right now. But I won’t cut my family out. That’s a step too far.”

I cock my head to the side, I know men’s brains aren’t always the easiest things to work out, but I’m completely thrown. I have zero clues as to what he’s talking about right now. “What?” I reply.

“I love them, I want you to love them too. If you’re going to the wedding for Con, but avoiding going until the last minute because you don’t like some of them, then I need to know now. I won’t ever cut them off.”

“Seriously.” I snap, crossing my arms.

“What?”

“You’re a fucking dick.” His eyes widen, but he says nothing. “Why would that even be your first thought? I like them all, probably more than I like you…you douche. Men are such dicks,” I mumble the last part to the ceiling. “I’m coming on Friday because I don’t have the money to come before, or to stay for longer.” I sigh and sit down at the breakfast bar.

Looking up at him, I watch as a myriad of emotions pass over his face. “It’s a rare occasion that I can’t read someone,” he tells me, but his voice is full of wonder.

“Yeah, well, I’d be surprised if you could read me all of the time, seeing as I don’t have a fucking clue what I’m doing myself for most of it,” I reply, still ticked off.

He doesn’t say anything and I sit, facing away from him not really sure how we got to this point and also somewhat confused. This is this how you sometimes behave with boyfriends, not someone you barely know, that you slept with the night before. Suddenly, feeling slightly uncomfortable I try to figure out what to do. I twist around to talk to him, but he starts speaking into a cell at his ear.

“It’s me. Yes. Organise another ticket for my flights to and from Vegas…” he pauses and his eyes lift to mine, “first class with me. Yes. No. No hotel, she’ll be in my bed,” he continues and a smirk tips his lips, which makes me narrow my eyes at him.

Chucking the cell down, he’s obviously finished the call.

“Why did you do that? I can’t pay you back, I snap at him.

“I will always take care of you,” he says so softly that it throws me and I shut my mouth, wondering whether I should be annoyed or not. Before I get a chance to decide he stalks to me and places one hand on either side of the bar stool, once again caging me in. I look down at each of his hands then back to him.

“You like to pin me in, don’t you?” At my words, a raw hurt passes through his eyes and he steps back. Walking over to the window he stares out to the skyline.

“There’s a lot you need to learn about me. I
will
tell you everything…eventually. What you need to know now is that I like being in control. With most women that’s fine. I don’t do relationships.”

His words crush me. I take a step backward. I’m not sure why, though. Maybe it’s his words that have had that effect, or the shock of realising how hurt I am, knowing this is where we end and that thought is painful. But I can’t be a booty call, it’s just not in me.

“With you though Nova, you’re the only person I’ve ever had a real relationship with, the only woman I would be willing to be in a relationship with again. With you, I’m all in.” This time, his words make my heart beat a bit faster. “I do like control, but I also realise relationships are different, and I can’t control you. So I will take a step back, but you will have to give me time to adjust. What you need to understand, though…” He swallows and I feel my heart thump faster, somehow knowing this is important. “I lost you once, I can’t do it again. I cage you in, not because of control, but because I’m so scared that you’ll just disappear. I couldn’t…I can’t—”

“Dane, I’m here, with you.” I cut his words off with mine and walk over to him wrapping my arms around his waist. I can see the raw pain blazing in his eyes and it hurts my heart. I don’t know if he shows his emotions to everyone, but to me, I get to see them all. What is even more apparent, is that my body automatically reacts to them, so I feel them like they’re my emotions to overcome. I have no idea what’s happening to me. I don’t know where my head is at, but it’s telling me that I’m totally out of control. For the first time in my life, I feel something, and that makes me want to sink to my knees and thank some higher being. I don’t want to lose it. But for the first time ever, I feel the anxiousness that surrounds the thoughts now swirling, telling me this won’t be forever. Dane won’t be my forever.

I watch Nova as we gather her belongings. I told her small truths earlier. It was painful, but it needed to be said. I can’t hide anything from her, she sees it all in my eyes, just like she always could with me. I need to tell her everything, we need to talk things through, in a lot more depth than we have. But first, I have to focus on my family for a few days. My brother’s day. Tink’s day. They’re what’s important right now, and I know Nova agrees.

I admit for the first time in my life, I was scared there was a problem I couldn’t fix when Nova said she wasn’t coming until Friday. I have no idea why my mind went straight to abstract thoughts, worried that she didn’t like someone. I felt like a weight was pressing down on me, and if that had been the truth, if she had hated one of my family then we would have been done. It hurts to even think that.

Even though Nova has been back in my life briefly, I love her. Still. Even though she might not be
my
Nova anymore. I see more signs that my Elizabeth is breaking through every day. Even so, I wouldn’t ever turn my back on my family. They’ve kept me from completely living in the dark, and I owe them my life. Even if they don’t know it. When she told me I was being a dick, I was so relieved, even though we were kind of having an argument. Nobody will usually argue with me, but Nova will always tell me what she thinks. She’s never been scared of me, and I hope like hell that she never is. I also hope that she doesn’t run from me when I explain what I’ve been doing all these years. I hope she doesn’t hate me when I fill her in on the life she’s forgotten. I hope like hell I can win her back. Most of all, I hope I can find her. Find the real her, because this person she’s being, this isn’t all her. I can see under her surface, it’s like the real Nova is trying to get out. She’s feistier, dirtier, and stronger. And I’m going to fucking bring her back. Then I’m never going to let her go again.