Burned Hearts (23 page)

Finally—
finally
—Dane's mouth whisked over my temple. He whispered, “This is all that matters to me right now. You and me. The way we used to be before all the danger. The way we will be after the verdicts come in and we're all in the clear and I don't have to fear for your life, or our son's.”

“Or yours,” I added.

“Never worry about that, baby.”

I didn't anymore. This was all different. He'd accomplished what he'd set out to do. Now all I wanted was for us both to reap the reward.

“So fuck me already,” I insisted.

With another sexy laugh, he said, “I'm getting there.”

A heartbeat later I felt the cold, wet edge of an ice cube whisk over my nipple.

“
Oh,
” I said on a long sigh. “You're going to play dirty.”

“It's an ice cube. I think that means I'm keeping it clean.”

“You never keep it clean.”

“You're right.” He grazed the cube over my other nipple, drawing small circles around it, as the droplets spilled over the mound and warmed against my flushed skin. Then his lips and tongue soaked up the moisture. My insides rioted in that crazy-wicked way that made me hot and bothered … and so close to pleading with him.

But I held on to the desire welling within me.

The tip of the cube traced the undersides of my breasts, then lightly traveled the groove between my rib cage, down to my belly. My flesh quivered.

I gasped. “Dane.”

“You like this.”

“What's not to like? I'm on fire and liquefying ice.”

He sucked up the pool in the indentation of my stomach. “Let's see what happens when I go lower.” The melting cube skimmed my nearly bare mound, then skated over my slick folds.

Exhilaration rippled through me. “Oh, God.”

Two of his fingers slipped inside me, along with the ice. The fiery sensation collided with the crisp one and I cried out.

My back arched and he caught my nipple in his mouth, sucking deep. A moan fell from my parted lips.

Dane murmured, “You're getting slippery. I could slide right in and—”

“Yes. God, yes. Please.”

He groaned. “But not yet.”

“Dane,” I begged. So soon. I couldn't help it.

My hips rose to meet his strokes. Hot and cold proved to be a dynamic combination, and I felt the tension build as I sought more of what he offered. I thrashed about, loving the anticipation and need that mounted because I was restrained, loving that he kept pumping into me.

“You're pushing me right to the edge, baby,” he said in his intimate tone.

“That can't be. Otherwise, you'd get rid of the rest of your clothes and be inside me when I come.”

“You're that close?”

“Closer.”

His fingers withdrew from me. I heard the rustling of pants and shoes. Then his arms hooked under my knees and he spread me wide. The anticipation I'd felt previously escalated to all-new heights as he held me open and I anxiously awaited the crown of his cock pressing into me, his thick shaft filling me.

“Dane,” I nearly wailed. “Oh, God. Please! Now!”

He thrust deep with no warning and I cried out. Electric currents snapped and hissed in the most delicious, sexually charged way.

His hands clasped my waist and he lifted my hips, angling me so that he could drive deep, fast.

My fingers gripped the satin sash and I held on tight.

“Yes,” I urged. “That's so perfect, Dane. Just like that.” He pumped into me and nothing registered but the incredible sensations he evoked, the pinnacle he took me to.

“Christ, Ari.” He bucked wildly, fucking me hard.

I clutched him firmly, deep inside. I needed him like never before. Couldn't get enough of him.

My heavy pants of air filled the quiet room, mingling with his. Echoing in time with each other.

He slid against my wet walls, gliding smoothly save for the prickle of friction created by his width in such a narrow space. It was an enticing sensation. One I reveled in, luxuriated in, as the intensity increased, the desire flamed, the pressure crested.

“I can't hold on,” I told him, complaining and exhilarating at the same time. If I could only keep this sensation brimming, I'd be so thrilled. Yet it was too overwhelming to not give in to it. A twisted fate.

Dane said, “Squeeze me tight,” at the exact moment I let go and called out his name.

My inner muscles contracted around him, pumping the same cadence.

He growled, his heat igniting an inferno so that I felt another orgasm piggyback the one I still savored.

I lost myself on one long, “
Ohhhh!
”

Dane thrust once more. Then his cock surged inside me as his body convulsed. “Yes, just like that,” he ground out as his hot seed filled me, sending more wicked zings through my veins.

“Oh, God,” I whimpered as every inch of me continued to blaze.

I'd been right all along. Angry sex rocked.

 

chapter 12

“Are you really home for good?” I asked Dane when the passion-induced haze in my brain subsided. At least partially.

“Yes,” he said before kissing my forehead. “I can't stay away another day, Ari. Not another minute. And I don't need to.”

We lay sprawled across the California king we shared while I still tried to grasp the fact that this was over. The threats against us, the witness protection he'd sort of succumbed to—though on his own terms—the trials, everything.

Really, the only thing I could fully latch on to was the fact that we could finally be a family. Not a typical one. I wasn't delusional or anything. Especially not after the
come to Jesus
meeting we'd had earlier in the great room. But we could finally live together under the same roof.

I could fall asleep in his arms every night. Wake in them every morning.

Emotion swept through me. It seemed as though I'd waited forever for this moment. Truly, my life had begun when I'd met this man. And despite the fact that I'd found more inner strength and certainly gained a greater worldview because of the danger we'd faced, it now hit me incredibly hard that being safe in his embrace, with our son, was all I wanted.

Not the bottom dropping out of my stomach and the heart palpitations Dane had given me when he'd started down the path of our relationship and marriage not being right.

I had to make it right.

We
had to make it right.

The downside was that neither of us had ever been in love before, had ever done the romance thing, had never been seriously involved with anyone. Until that day our eyes had locked.

I wasn't one-hundred percent sure how to smooth the waters. But I began with the basics.

“I love you,” I said as I snuggled close to him, my eyes misting.

“I love you, too.” He held me tight. “I'm sorry about all of this, baby.” Apparently, that conversation still festered in his mind, too.

“Dane, we've had plenty of perfect moments. We've just had to deal with a lot of other stuff along the way that isn't even your doing, but that of the society.”

“I don't want to talk about the society,” he said, his tone terse. “Honestly, Ari, if I never have to think again about all that went wrong—”

“Don't think about it, then.” I shifted out of his arms and climbed on top of him, straddling his waist. “No more secret society, no more danger. Put it all out of your mind and make love to me again.”

He did. Yet I could tell he stewed over all that had happened and remained just tense enough that I didn't let my guard down.

*   *   *

I wasn't a fan of having Amsel out of my sight for more than a short span of time when he was off with Rosa, but for the first few days Dane was home with us I didn't mind so much that she liked tending to Amsel and using him as a human mannequin for her latest creations. Kyle also apparently found it safer and wiser to whisk my son off when Dane and I wanted time together—that meant Kyle wasn't visible and Dane was too preoccupied to consider Kyle was the one looking after Amsel.

That didn't last long, though. After a few days of really hot sex—our own version of the honeymoon we'd never had—Dane was less inclined to let Kyle have his fair share of Amsel time. And clearly felt the need to stake his claim. Focus on familial obligations.

He came into our bedroom one morning and said, “We ought to consider a baptismal ceremony.”

“Oh?” This took me by surprise. I'd been baptized but had no idea if Dane had. In fact, I didn't even know what religion he was. So I asked, “How'd Lara raise you?”

“Methodist.”

I smiled. “Crazy. My dad did the same.”

“Warrants a baptism.”

With a nod, I said, “Sure. We can do it here. I wonder if Tamera can officiate that sort of thing.” I didn't know enough about it to say for sure, but she'd been the one to marry us, so she was the best candidate. As for our guests, I asked, “The usual suspects?”

He chuckled, and it was music to my ears. Though he maintained that natural edginess to him, a few moments of levity here and there made me feel as if we were finally coming to terms with everything we'd been through and seeing at least a small light at the end of the tunnel.

Dane said, “Ethan, Jackson, Eleanor, Amano, your dad, Kyle, Tamera, Rosa. Yes. The usual suspects.”

Amsel started to squirm, and Dane read the sign that he needed to be changed. As Dane fixed up the baby, I asked, “What about Mikaela?”

Dane finished and delivered Kid to me before he cleaned up in the bathroom. I remained deep in thought when he returned to the sitting area of our master suite and went into full-on pacing mode. I didn't interrupt. He had plenty to deliberate over.

Eventually, he came to an abrupt halt and admitted, “I feel like the biggest asshole on the planet for keeping her in the dark about what happened at the Lux—that I survived.”

“Dane.” I gave him an empathetic look. Much milder than what went on inside my body. My heart hurt for the pain he still endured over everything related to the society. “Please don't put this all on your shoulders.”

“I've wanted to tell her, Ari. Of course, I wouldn't want someone upset over my presumed death. When I think of you believing I was dead—”

“Dane,” I repeated, my chest constricting. I couldn't even bring myself to revisit that horrific time of our lives. “You never intentionally deceived anyone. You've had to keep so many secrets. To save us all. Nothing is your fault. Mikaela will understand that. All I'm saying is that if someone—like my dad—cared so deeply for me that my absence would cause them great pain and I could ease it a little by letting them know I was okay I'd want to take that step. I'm sure you want to do that as well. There are risks, yes. But at the end of the day—”

I gazed at Amsel, nestled in my arms, completely, contently zonked out. Trusting me to keep him safe.

Tears suddenly burned my eyes, the emotional impact of the past year intensifying now that Dane had returned to us. And the fact that we now had to confront how everything that had happened had changed our relationship.

I said, “You don't have to shout, ‘I'm alive!' from the rooftops. The media will spill soon, anyway. Mikaela should know. She's been in your life since you were both children. This isn't something you should keep from her any longer. Or let her find out from someone else.” I gave this further thought and added, “She doesn't even know we're married. I never told her. Nor does she know we have a child together.”

“I'm not happy about all of the secrecy, but I'm still trying to play this hand to the best of our advantage. Mikaela is one more innocent bystander.” He took a few additional seconds to consider the situation, then said, “All right. We'll include her. We'll just have to find some sensible way to break the news to her that I didn't incinerate with the lobby of the Lux.”

*   *   *

Later, I caught up with Kyle in the kitchen, making dinner, while Dane and our son were busy working on a new dangling mobile. That entailed Dane crafting and Amsel cooing. I didn't bother explaining to my husband that the baby cooed over everything. Dane would figure it out on his own soon enough. And that would turn into an amusing tale I looked forward to hearing.

“What can I do to help?” I asked Kyle as he set out veggies.

“The salad should be mixed greens and romaine, asparagus tips, avocado, broccoli, cherub tomatoes, onion, and mushrooms. There's green goddess dressing already whipped up and in the fridge.”

“I think I can handle this.”

Meanwhile, he prepped a pork tenderloin that looked to die for before he'd even popped it into the oven. As it cooked, he sliced apples and baked them. The aroma in the kitchen had me salivating. Unfortunately, my good mood came to a grinding standstill when Dane appeared in the kitchen.

Not that he was gritchy. In fact, he looked taken aback—and I didn't get the sense it had anything to do with Kyle and me cooking together. Especially as Dane handed over the baby to Kyle, who sat at the island, sipping a beer as the food baked.

“Something wrong?” I asked. I read Dane that well, which became the source of my instant consternation.

Dane looked as though he couldn't quite compose himself. That was odd unto itself.

Had he reconsidered the baptism? Or letting Mikaela in on our secrets—
all
of them?

“Dane?”

“Let's take a walk, shall we?”

I exchanged a look with Kyle, cuddling the baby, as my nerves suddenly jumped. More Wayne drama?
What?

I pulled in a long breath. On a slow exhale to prepare myself for
anything,
a deeply disturbing thought flitted through my mind.

Had Dane learned of my mother's latest extortion effort? The New York agent, the ghostwriter, the book?