Stone Cold Charade (A Stone Family Novel) (33 page)

Ty saw her wrench open another drawer and start
pilfering through it. “Alex you’re not a pawn, your grandfather is just doing
what he thinks is best for you.”

“You’re defending him?” she asked heatedly,
dragging a pair of sweat pants out. Angrily, she reached up to wipe the tears
falling down her face, refusing to look at him. “Why should I be surprised? You
knew what he was planning. Hey, it’s not every day a girl has her grandfather
buy her a husband.” Alex spun around and marched for the bathroom.

Ty, incensed by her outrageous claim, leapt
forward like quick silver, grabbing her arm and yanking her around to look at
him.

“I didn’t know what Max was planning! I only
found out about it this afternoon. As for Max buying me, forget it! I’m not for
sale, got it?” he said scornfully, trying not to shake some sense into her. He
took a calming breath. “Alex, this is not how I planned for us to spend this
evening. If you would just calm down we can talk about it and try to find a
solution.”

She couldn’t see a solution, he wanted things
his way. He wouldn’t settle for anything less than her giving up her career. He
didn’t want to see that she had changed; he just wanted her to be something she
wasn’t any longer. “There’s nothing to talk about. Please leave,” Alex said
bleakly.

Ty watched as Alex dismissed him. She walked
away from him as though she’d had enough. Marching toward her as she had her back
to him, he placed his hands on her hips and swung her around in his arms
causing her clothes to scatter at her feet. If she didn’t want to talk that was
fine, but she was sleeping in his bed whether she liked it or not. Ty picked
her up by her hips as if she weighed nothing, and threw her over his shoulder.
The breath was forced from her body in a rush as her stomach landed against his
shoulder.

On reaching the threshold of her room, she felt
the air once again fill her lungs. She let out a scream of outrage at being man
handled that seemed to vibrate off the walls. “Have you lost your mind? Put me
down this instant!” Alex screeched.

Stepping out onto the landing, Ty glanced over
the railing and made out Steven, Parry and Ridge. They were all gazing up at
him from below. Knowing Ridge, the man had probably come at a dead run after
hearing her scream, and the other two must have followed close behind.

Appraising the situation, Ridge fought not to
give into the humor of the situation. “Need back up, Boss?” he called up
jokingly.

Pausing casually as if he carried Alex around
this way on a regular basis, he leaned against the railing. “Nope, got it
covered,” Ty reassured them. “But you might want to lock up Martha’s knife set
and Emma’s vases for the time being.”

“Oh, I don’t need a knife to handle your boss.
When I get through with him your boss won’t be able to walk for a week! Now put
me down, you imbecile!” she shouted, while leaning on her hands to get a better
view of Ridge and the others.

“Alex, watch the yelling. You might hurt
something important, honey!” Steven captioned as Ty once more progressed along
the landing. She shot daggers at him as she lifted herself higher off Ty’s
back.

“You are so dead! Do you hear me, Steven? When
I get through with you, your status as a stud is over! I’m turning you into a
eunuch!” Ridge chuckled at her predicament and at Steven as he covered himself
at her threat. She didn’t leave him out of her wrath. “And Ridge, I know people
in Bogotá, Columbia. You’re toast mister! Your next of kin will be lucky to
find a toe!” Noticing Parry standing there with his mouth hanging open, she
pointed at him. “And you! You are as worthless as they are, you sissy! I am
going to relish uploading enough spam to your email to crash your fancy
computer!”

Storming along the landing to his room, he saw
Sam open her door to see what all the commotion was about. She took one look at
Alex over Ty’s shoulder and started laughing so hard she was leaning back
against the wall. Alex shot her a vengeful look as they passed.

When he came to a halt to open his door, she
started to beat on his back with her fist to persuade him to release her.
Spying the doorjamb as he entered his room she made a grab for it. It slipped
out of her fingers. He pivoted around and locked the door. Swaggering toward
the bed, he tossed her down none too gently. He followed her down landing on
top of her.

“Let me up you cretin!” she hissed, trying to
buck Ty off of her and slide from the bed.

“That’s a new one, Firecracker!” he laughed.

She froze in terror and stopped struggling, the
color fleeing from her face. He reached down, looking worried at the horror on
her face as he buried his hands in her damp hair. He pulled gently, trying to
get her to raise her head and meet his eyes. He was disturbed at the thought
that he had hurt her unintentionally while trying to subdue her.

Sitting up, cradling her against his chest, he
brushed the hair from her face. “Alex? What is it honey? Talk to me? Did I hurt
you?” he whispered softly.

She shook her head to tell him that he hadn’t,
still too petrified to speak. Her throat was closing because of the emotions
raging through her. Thinking for a moment that he had called her Fire had
thrown her world upside down, devastating her. He just held her in his embrace,
slowly rubbing her back to comfort her. She felt the tears starting to fall
again, knowing with certainty that it would never work between them.

Alex would spend tonight with Ty, but tomorrow
morning she would have to leave. She hoped he would not pursue her because once
gone she didn’t plan on looking back. But, even if he did, he would have a hard
time tracking her down. As Fire she could simply disappear.

She suspected Ty had married her because of his
desire for her, it had overruled his head. That passion could never hold up
against the pressures that he would feel living with her. The press would never
leave them alone. Fire was too much of a newsmaker. The press followed her
relentlessly. If they suspected she was involved with him, the life he lived
would be over, his privacy would end. The press would increase their efforts
until they discovered who she really was, unmasking her to the world as
Alexandria Stone. The only reason they hadn’t followed her to the ranch was
because she had disguising herself as Alex before leaving the airport. The
press never paid as much attention to her when she was Alex. Alex Stone was
news worthy, but Fire was a real prize.

She couldn’t bring herself to sentence Ty to
that kind of life, it would kill him. He was content on his ranch and working
his jobs. She couldn’t ever ask him to make that kind of sacrifice, giving up
his quiet life for the life she led; constant travel, recording dates, video
shoots, and the press. She had no choice but to let him go. She only hoped she
could survive without him.

Clinging to him, she reached up to thread her
fingers through his thick hair, pulling him down to her mouth and kissing him
with all the emotion raging in her heart. If this was to be all she would ever
have of him, she intended to make the most of it. She would have to carry the
memory of this night with her for the rest of her life, relying on it to keep
back the darkness she would feel once she left without him.

Alex knelt on the bed, raising herself up to
lean against him before cradling his head in her hands to hold him close to her
mouth. She broke the kiss and reached for the hem of his shirt. She looked deep
into his eyes, watching as they darkened with the fire building in him. He
raised his arms, keeping eye contact, to let Alex pull his shirt over his head.
She did, and then she pushed him backward onto the bed and moved her mouth over
his chest. Alex laughed huskily from deep in her throat at the look of wonder
on his face, and when he didn’t try to stop her, she kissed him as she had
longed to when they first made love. She explored his body unabashedly, and
smiled as his muscles rippled and twitched under her exploring hands and mouth.
She watched him intently as he closed his eyes in pleasure when she swirled her
tongue over his nipple. Unable to stand it, he reached down and wrapped his
hand in her damp hair to pull her up to his lips. Alex answered the passion in
his kiss with the fervor that burned in her.

Ty could feel his body heating to a fever pitch
as Alex slid seductively over his body. Reaching between them, he found the
sash on her robe. Parting it, he moved his hand to take the weight of her
breast into his palm. He teased the tips of her breasts with his fingers,
satisfied by hearing her moan deep in her throat. She rubbed her hips against
him and he could feel her heat through his jeans. He rolled her onto her back
guiding his mouth to her breast.

“You’re right Alex, why talk when we
communicate so much better in other ways?” he said huskily.

His attentions at her breast had Alex throwing
her head back, savoring the heat she felt gathering deep in her body from
watching him take her into his hot mouth. He ran his hands along her body,
nudging her legs apart to reach her thighs. He ran his hands down them
teasingly knowing she longed for his touch at the core of her hunger.

Ty’s hands on her body were torturing her,
never moving close enough to her core, always sliding away before reaching her.
Alex cradled his lower body against hers, not fighting the urge to press
against his hardness with her hips. His jeans stopped him from being where she
needed him to be so she reached down and unbutton them, wanting him out of them
now.

Alex freed him from the confines of his jeans
and took him fully into her hand to stroke the length of him. She had him
losing what little remained of his control. He left the bed to hastily remove
his jeans and kick off his shoes. As he climbing back onto the bed, she reached
up and pulled him into her embrace, sliding her legs over him to wrap them
around his hips showing that she wanted him.

“I did create a monster. Alex your killing me
here, honey!” he said softly, leaning down and bracing himself over her,
fighting to go slow for her.

“I need you, Ty please!” she pleaded staring up
at him though passion glazed eyes.

“Honey, believe me, by the time I get through
there will be no doubt you’ll need me.” Ty bent down and nipped her lips with
his teeth.

“Pretty sure about that are you, cowboy?” She
raised her eyebrows at him.

Ty ran his fingertip over her lower lip,
staring into her eyes as she pulled it deep into her mouth stroking it with her
tongue. He felt the caress in his lower body, causing him to harden even more.
“Lady, I told you never to bet with me. As much as I love hearing you make all
those lovely sounds try not to cry out honey. Do you understand?” he cautioned
her.

Nodding her head, letting him know she
understood they weren’t alone in the house this time. Bending down to her neck
he ran his lips along it. Alex arched her neck back to let him have better
access to it as he slid his lips up to her ear, whispering all the things he
planned to do to her.

Hearing every word, Alex slowly went up in
flames at his suggestions. When he started to put his words into action she
fought the urge to cry out, instead she bit her lip at the enjoyment he was
inciting in her. He pushed her from one peak to another, never letting her
catch her breath. She felt like screaming by the time he moved his body back
over hers.

He could feel Alex straining to keep from
crying out at the pleasure consuming her. Ty hadn’t expected things to be so
intense. He was finding it difficult not to voice his own gratification in
making love to her. He studied her as he finally gave them both what they
needed, slowly lowering himself until he was filling her completely.

Taking all of him into her, she felt herself
clamping down around him like a hot vise and threw her head back at the pure
pleasure griping her.

“Bite my shoulder if you need to cry out
honey,” he said breathlessly, sliding out of her slowly, not wanting the
pleasure to end too quickly. He set the pace, lowering himself repeatedly into
her, the pleasure building as they moved as one. When Alex’s muscles finally
began to convulse around him, he surged forward as he felt her take her
release. He felt her bite his shoulder as the piercing pleasure of her released
gripped her. Ty himself lost control as her muscles tightened around him
dragging him to his own release. The world spun away, leaving just the two of
them in the storm they had created, content in each other’s arms.

Alex began to come back to herself as she felt
Ty lift off of her. He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, as his
heartbeat finally slowed. She ran her hands over his chest, memorizing every
inch, not willing to stop touching him as she fought to catch her breath.

She started thinking about the coming hours and
what she would have to do. She was torn, not wanting to ever leave him, but
knowing she had to. She wanted this night to never end.

Seeing the heart wrenching expression creep
onto her face, Ty puzzled, questioned, “Why the sad face?” Turning away from
him, she sat up pulling a blanket from the foot of the bed with her. Shaking it
out, she spread it over herself holding one end tightly against her chest. He
had the nagging suspicion that she was trying to block him out. Studying her he
could tell she was still upset from their earlier argument during dinner.