Slave to Love (17 page)

“Do you know how to fly a kite?”

I shake my head no. “Hold onto a handle and run?” My ventured guess is bringing out his sexy smile.

“This should be good,” he laughs. “Let’s go.”

Maneuvering both my body and the kite into the Lotus is a feat.

“That just might be harder than getting in here in a short skirt.” There was no way he was going to miss that opportunity to tease me.

Looking over at his beautiful profile and stubble-covered jaw, I realize that I can’t deny how much I really enjoy being in his company.

“I like being with you,” I blurt out as we head down Riverside Drive toward Barton Springs Road.

Taking his hand off the shift, he slides it to my leg, giving my thigh a quick squeeze, before returning it to downshift.

“I’ll one-up you,” he says as we pass a food truck court on the edge of the park, “I don’t like being without you.”

We’ve finally got this damn
thing airborne, soaring into the clear azure sky, the growing Austin skyline providing the perfect backdrop for our wayward rainbow bird. We’re running with it, pulling on the cords to follow the wind and remain aloft. It dips right and I pull hard, catching an incoming gust. Sierra lets out a delighted screech and then pulls her cord before it dips too far and comes hurtling downward… again. She catches it right as the wind kicks up and off we go running as it pulls us across the great lawn. And we run until a shift in the wind has me backing up, trying to rein it in and slow it down. I turn to my left and run right into Sierra, a tangle of arms, legs and cords. Instinct puts me into protect mode and I grab Sierra before I hit the ground, letting her drop on top of me so that her fall will be cushioned.

Splat! We’re down on the hard ground and my right shoulder is taking the heat for this fall, but my grip around her remains steadfast.

“Are you okay?” She’s my first worry.

Sierra’s face is down by my shoulder and I can’t see her eyes.

“Yeah. I’m fine, but I smushed you. Are you okay?” She lifts her head to look at me.

“My shoulder hurts like a bitch, but nothing a hot shower won’t fix.” I smile at the girl on top of me and don’t loosen my hold. Not even a little bit.

Inching up me, I feel her whole body along the length of mine, pressing in all the right places and the pain in my shoulder evaporates as if I’d never landed on it. I feel her breasts against my chest, and my cock, pressing her thigh, instantly hardens.

Moving an arm up to my face, she stares intently into my eyes, her look very serious, as she pushes back hair from my forehead, raking it with her fingers, before running her palm back and forth on the sharp stubble covering my jaw. Looking up into her eyes, I’d kill to know the thoughts running through her head right now. I’m surprised by the way she is touching me. Tender is the only word I can come up with. Tender. This world isn’t tender. My world has never been tender, and I briefly curse her because after this moment, I know I will always crave tenderness. Damn you, Sierra Stone. Tenderness is not part of the bargain.

Her head dips to mine, softly she kisses the side of my chin. This is all so unexpected. Continuing, her lips softly graze my jaw farther back, close to my ear, and then she plants a third soft kiss on the crest of my cheekbone, before pulling back to regard me.

“Three more weeks and we will no longer be working together. Surely I should be able to control myself for three more weeks, right?”

She doesn’t wait for my answer.

“But you know what I really fear. I fear that you are a thrill seeker. Actually I know you are a thrill seeker. Look at your life. Who leaves MIT to go and do what you did? A man who needs to be so far out on the edge that one precarious shift in the wind and it’s all over. But there’s a thrill in that for you, isn’t there, Hale? And so I fear that after the conquest, you move on. And after this event is all over and we have fucked on every surface, vertical and horizontal, you will just be a memory of a guy that wanted to nail me because I said no.”

“Is that what you think?” My anger is rising and my hold on her tightens even more.

She nods.

“I love the edge, Sierra. I’ve faced dangers that would make most men shit their pants and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, without thinking twice. That’s as natural to me as breathing. I thrive on it and I excel at it. It’s why I’m here. So, you got that absolutely right. Where you are wrong, dead wrong, is about us. When I told you that I don’t like being without you, that was a huge admission for me to tell you that. That is really going far out on the edge for me. I have never told a woman that before. But it’s the truth. When you’re not with me, you’re always with me. And that’s why I want you always with me. So if you think I’m in it for the chase and then next, that’s not what’s going on.”

“What
is
going on, Hale?”

“You tell me, Sierra.”

She just shakes her head. I see the emotion building and I know she’s not able to speak.

“You’re seeing three weeks as the end, mermaid. I’m seeing it as the beginning. I’ll be able to touch you without you worrying if you are throwing away your life’s dream, everything you’ve worked so hard for. I’ll be able to be open that you are a special part of my life.” I laugh, “I’ll be able to put out a picture in my office in New York of the two of us together. That’s going to really freak some people out.”

She almost smiles at that, but not quite.

“What happened to you, Sierra?” I’m hoping that lying here, flat on my back in the grass, with her molded on top of me, that she helps me to understand why she thinks I’m such a douche.

Watching her facial muscles twitch in sequence as she licks and bites her lips, I have to wonder what is causing this turmoil. This is not about me, I know that. I just have to convince her of it.

“Talk to me, mermaid,” I implore. “I want to know.”

With a deep breath, her eyes wander and pinpoint some spot across Lady Bird Lake that she fixates on. “I’ve been so focused on my career and relationships have been a distant second because I learned very, very young that you can only depend on yourself.”

I wish she’d look at me, but I understand that telling me her story and looking at me is more vulnerable than she’s ready to be. This is step one.

“I was six when my father left us. My sister was eight. My mom was a stay at home mom. My father didn’t want her working, he wanted her home raising us. So, she did. She really didn’t have any workplace skills, so when he left, we were in a world of hurt.”

“Did he pay alimony and child support?”

Sierra finally looks down at me, a small smile on her face does not paint a happy picture.

“Well, that’s kind of where the problem came in. What my mom found out when she went to divorce him was that my father was married. Just not to her.”

“Son of a bitch.” I feel her pain sear my solar plexus. This event shaped her and this man tainted her.

“You’re being too kind. Turns out that mom was quasi-wife number two. There was his legal wife, quasi-wife number one and then my mom. He had kids with all of them and he was very good at figuring out how to go off the grid and not be found. So my mom never collected a cent.”

“Wow. That’s harsh.” I think of my own cushy childhood. Two parents, a beautiful home in Marblehead and a summer house on Nantucket. Growing up certainly wasn’t without pain, but security and deceit were never issues.

“I can’t fuck things up, Hale. And if I do, it can’t be over a man. Do you understand that?”

Removing one of my hands from her back, I cup her small face. “I’m not him.”

“I want to believe that. I do. But you grabbed my ass after a business meeting.”

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath. “We have come a long way since then, Sierra, and you know that. I’ve kind of told you, but let me finally tell you the full embarrassing truth behind the ass-grab. And it is embarrassing. That was not my lame attempt to pick you up.” I stop, here comes the whole truth, the God-awful, embarrassing truth. “I had been fantasizing about you. Throughout that whole meeting I was daydreaming, if you will, about me and you. And before that meeting you had been on my mind non-stop. So, when I touched you, at first appropriately, then inappropriately, it was because my mind was elsewhere, in fantasyland. And in fantasyland, you were mine and touching you was natural, because there, in fantasyland, I always touch you.”

I stop for a moment, then continue. “Yeah, process that. While I lie here drowning in utter embarrassment.”

Throwing her head back in laughter, “That is hysterical. You are so lame.”

“I agree with you there. I am seriously lame.” And what I don’t say is, you scare me more than having a gun pointed at my head, close range, although you both hold the power to stop my heart.

Rolling off me to my side, Sierra stays within my arms, burrowing her head into my shoulder. Absentmindedly, I comb my fingers through her loose waves.

“So what are we going to do, mermaid? Tell me what you want. Do you want me to take you home and I’ll see you in the office tomorrow? Do you want me to ask you out in three weeks? Do you want me to totally back off?”

She’s shaking her head against my chest.

“What are you saying no to?”

“All three.”

“So, you don’t want me to take you home. You don’t want me to ask you out in three weeks and you don’t want me to back off.”

Now, she’s nodding, yes.

Rolling over, I cover her with my body, balancing my weight on my forearms. The rush is physical as I feel her under me, but it’s the emotional onslaught that feels like a blow to the back of my head. “I’m a guy. You need you to spell this out for me or I will get it wrong and you’ll be pissed. Tell me what you want.” I know what I want. The bottom halves of our bodies are molded and it’s taking every bit of willpower not to start grinding into where her thighs meet, especially when she moves her legs apart slightly and my body falls into hers, perfectly aligned for pleasure. My nose is just inches from hers as I await her answer.

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“Waiting three weeks is not going to make you lose me, Sierra. These next three weeks are going to be insane. I’ll start sharing some of the particulars with you tomorrow and you’ll have a better understanding of what we’re tackling and how focused we’ll be until the event is over.”

Snaking her arms around my back, her hands end up in the back pockets of my jeans. She’s pressing me into her. Laying my head face down between her breasts, I warn, “That’s going to get you in trouble, little girl.”

“You’re so not safe.”

Laughing, “No, Sierra, I am not safe. But I will keep you safe. So, what is it you want?” I ask again.

“You said after today things change.”

I nod.

“You said that you’re going to change.”

Again, I nod, “I don’t want you to think it’s anything between us gone wrong, if I go into a very different mode than you’ve seen me. I’m coming back to you. I promise.”

“Then I don’t want to lose one minute of now, Hale, while I still have you.” She presses her hands into my ass.

“Sierra…” The word is part warning, part question.

“Either I have to trust you, Hale, or walk away. You’re going to be my leap of faith.”

“Are you sure?” My hips press down into her as I ask that.

“I’m sure.”

Pressing my face into her cleavage, “Girls, I hope you’re ready to meet me,” I address the luscious nipples that have intrigued me since the King Cole Salon.

Sierra laughs, “Be careful doing that or you’ll poke your eye out.”

Hale groans as he dips
his body into the seat of the Lotus. “Oh man, my shoulder is really feeling that fall.”

“That’s because you’re old,” I tease.

“I’m only thirty-seven, Miss Spring Chicken.” He gives my thigh a squeeze.

“You’re only four years older than me and I think you’ve probably experienced twenty more years of stuff than I have.”

Looking straight forward, he nods. “You’re probably right.”

And I wonder what would make a guy on the path that he was on, as MIT is one of the top technological schools in the United States, exclusive to the brightest minds, veer so far off that course.