Carved in Stone (The Stone Series)

CARVED

IN

STONE

By

Noree Kahika

Carved in Stone.

Copyright © 2014 Noree Kahika

All rights reserved.

Carved in Stone is the second book in the Stone Series by Noree Kahika.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, historical events, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, persons living or deceased is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part and in any form.

Cover Design by Melody Simmons of
eBookindiecovers

Dedication.

I lovingly dedicate this book to my amazing sister, Brigette, who not only inspires me each and every single day with her unshakable love, enduring strength & unwavering passion for life
, but for pushing me persistently to keep on writing daily with such phone calls as …

“So Si
s, how many words have you written today?”

and
…

“Well, I think you better
go write some more.”

I love you Sis…to the moon & beyond!

Prologue

              Aidan Stone sat alone in his multi-million dollar Malibu house staring out at his multi-million dollar Malibu view of the Pacific Ocean as the sun rose gradually over the horizon.

             
He brought the house brand new straight from the plans eighteen months ago. He had his Executive PA Katrina Fairchild hire an expensive, renowned interior designer to decorate the house with luxurious furnishings and high-end appliances. No expense was spared – even the stereo was so sophisticated it came with a three-inch thick manual to explain how to use the fucking thing.

             
Pouring himself another scotch he reached for the pack of Marlboro cigarettes from the patio table where he sat, taking one out and lighting it up. He gave up smoking several years back but his housekeeper Margot was a heavy smoker and she often left a pack or two in one of the bottom drawers in his kitchen along with some of her other personal shit.

             
He had nabbed the packet of smokes along with a gold lighter and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label around three in the morning and headed for his back patio. He’d been sitting, drinking, smoking and reflecting as the ominous dark waves broke along the shore line of the Pacific Ocean, priming himself up to end it with her for the past two and half hours. And yet, when she wandered out from his bed dressed in nothing but his cashmere sweater and a pair of black satin panties – her thick long auburn hair framing that beautiful innocent face of hers, and cascading down her slender pale shoulders – his resolved waivered, as his cock hardened.

             
The instant Aidan saw her at Paul’s house just over a month ago he knew she was special. Paul Tanner, Aidan’s VP of Operations pestered him in attending a party for the Stone Corporation’s newest acquisition, Morris Advertising. Aidan normally detested events such as these but at the last minute decided to drop in, spending a few minutes shaking hands, making small talk with various management personal then his intent was to split and head home early for some much needed rest.

             
Aidan’s work schedule on a good week was brutally grueling at best with an average of ninety hours plus, he was bordering of being a workaholic – hell, by normal definitions, he already was one, so superfluous work functions like this one, was not high on his list of priorities.

             
Upon entering Paul’s house, he immediately spotted the stunningly petite redhead hiding under the foyer’s grand staircase.               Barefooted and sprawled over a cream chaise, the exquisite creature was admiring her toenails and completely oblivious to her surroundings. She was uniquely expressive, quirky and unbelievably fucking gorgeous. Her indigo blue eyes were almost too large for her heart shaped face. Her complexion was flawless, soft and smooth. She was tiny, at his estimation around five-three compared to his six foot two-inch height but she had curves in all the right places. Seven tiny little freckles dotted the bridge of her cute button nose (he knew this for a fact, as he counted each and every one of them numerous times over the last month) and she had full sensual lips that were just made for kissing, among other things.

             
Christ
, and after last night he also now knew how those fucking beautiful lips felt wrapped around his dick. Just the thought made him shift uncomfortably in his chair, adjusting himself.

Nothing about Gabriella Stevens was remotely ordinary.

              But he had let the past several weeks get way out of hand. This is why he never did relationships; he never dated a woman more than once. Twice, on the rare occasion, if the woman was exceptional in bed and he always made sure they knew his ‘no relationship rule’ beforehand.

             
Love, commitment, relationships were not apart of his DNA. From a very early age Aidan witnessed first hand how people who professed their love to one another could than destroy that so called love, totally annihilating each other until there was nothing left but an empty hollow shell of a human being.

             
After several years of shredding his mother, his soulless father deserted them for greener pastures leaving his mother so irrevocably broken that she in turn gave no thought for the child she birthed, but took her own life by slitting her wrists with the broken jagged glass from her ornately framed wedding picture.

             
To this day, in his head, he could still see the blood oozing all over the white Italian marbled floor of the ostentatious entrance to his childhood family home. So much blood, Christ he’d never seen anything like it and the smell –
fuck
! No adult let alone a child at five should find his mother like that. He could still feel the bloody thick liquid seeping between his fingers as he desperately tried shaking her awake.

             
His voice was hoarse from screaming over and over for someone to help her – for mommy to wake up. But nobody came; nobody heard his pleas so he sat crying, sobbing helplessly, begging her to wake up for hours until he was shrouded in the darkness of night. He swallowed back the rising bile in his throat from recalling those hideous haunting memories.

             
No, Aidan Stone did not do relationships. Something severed in his psyche that fateful day and that was just the beginning of his nightmarish childhood purgatory. So for his entire adult existence Aidan has single-mindedly controlled his emotions and created a life, his world where he had all the power, where his authority was absolute.               To allow emotional entanglements into one’s life was a weakness that would ultimately lead to destruction and Aidan swore to himself he would never be powerless or helpless again. He spent his entire childhood like that and he fought too hard and too long to become the man he was now. Yes, Aidan Stone was a man in control of his fortune, his life – influential, formidable and respected. He refused to taste the bitter vile of weakness, powerlessness that plagued his childhood ever again.               And, he sure as fuck didn’t need to fall in love. As far as Aidan was concerned, love was a useless redundant emotion that blinded a person, incapacitating them, a weakness which ultimately leads to ones’ failure. Now power, control, ambition; these were all productive traits and emotions – completely acceptable and productive.

             
But from their first meeting there was something different about Gabriella. He was intensely intrigued and utterly obsessed by her.

             
For the first time in his thirty-two years, Aidan unexpectedly, shockingly coveted an exclusive intimate connection with a woman. So like everything in Aidan’s life, if he wanted something, he simply went out and acquired it. He pursued Gabriella with the sincere intentions of attempting the whole ‘relationship thing’ with her. Surely, how hard could it be? He was a goddamn, self-made, successful multi millionaire for fuck sakes! He could do this.

             
As two consenting adults, they could enjoy companionship, monogamy, mutual respect and reciprocal affection for each other without the insidious complication of love.

             
And surprisingly it all came so natural to Aidan; he immensely enjoyed Gabriella’s company. She made him laugh. She not only yielded to him in the way he craved and demanded sexually, but she was quick witted, her company stimulating and she challenged him intellectually. Gabriella sated him in a way he thought wasn’t even possible for him.

             
He felt a rare kind of solace, a satisfaction when she was within his arms. At the end of the day he actually looked forward to seeing her which surprised the hell out of him, for the first time in his adult life, his consuming work, his company wasn’t his solitary focus.

             
And the sex, the passion between them was fucking dynamic. She was so goddamn beautiful and she acquiesced to him in bed. Usually after a night with a woman he was done – not interested in dipping into that pool twice but Gabriella – he couldn’t get enough of her amazing body and the physical connection they had. Another totally unexpected revelation for Aidan was that he had actually
liked
Gabriella moving around in his home, sleeping in his bed – simply just being in his personal domain. An idea that was abhorrent to him with any previous woman.

             
He’d never met a woman so down to earth, authentic and real. She didn’t have any hidden agendas, Gabriella wasn’t after his money, and she didn’t play games; whatever she thought she said. At that thought, Aidan chuckled to himself. The girl really didn’t have any filter on that gorgeous mouth of hers.

             
But he knew from the very moment that those five insidious fucking words left her mouth last night as she drifted off to sleep –
“I love you Aidan Stone”
– he had to end it immediately. He had allowed this to go too far. He could give her companionship and affection, even monogamy, shit he could worship that beautiful body of hers for days on end but he could never love her.

             
Not only was love an emotion he despised fervently but it was an emotion he was physically and emotionally incapable of. His whole fucked-up parental role models made sure of that. Christ, even with both his biological parents in the ground he was still dealing with their sordid legacy in the guise of his stepmother or more accurately his gold digging vindictive aunt.

             
Aidan drained the remains of his glass in one swallow, pouring himself another.
Christ,
what the
hell
was he thinking getting involved with a woman like Gabriella Stevens!

             
She was the type of woman who wanted, needed,
hell
, demanded the whole fairytale by just being simply who she was. Although Gabriella hadn’t hinted about a future together, Aidan could see it a mile off - she was all about the white picket fences and the happy ever-after’s. She was Pollyanna, Mary-fucking-Poppins and Gidget all rolled into one hot unbelievably sexy package. Gabriella
was
the exact type of woman that deserved the storybook ending.

             
Fuck him!
– He should have seen this coming. The last thing he wanted was to use her or break her heart. She was too innocent, too pure, and too goddamn sweet. He had already been a selfish bastard by letting it go too far already, but God help him – he couldn’t keep away from her. Gabriella Stevens was the most enchanting woman he had ever laid eyes on.

             
But the second she breathed those five repugnant words, ice filled his veins and he knew it was time to rectify this fucking messed up situation and cut her loose for both their sakes.

             
So when she cautiously approached him on the patio before dawn, her long glorious hair ruffled from sleep and her sexy body barley covered, he definitely, callously told her he couldn’t do this with her anymore.

             
At first she was confused, dazed, repeating absently the words he so callously communicated to her, reminding him of a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding truck. Then as realization dawned, her body froze as a self-protective emotionless shutter slammed closed over her normally warm expressive face. Instantly he loathed the numbingly detached expression she now bore in her beautiful blue eyes, knowing full well he had been the coldhearted bastard to put it there.