His Unbearable Desire 2

His Unbearable Desire

His Desires Series

Book 2

Elena Stone

Copyright © 2015 Elena Stone

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher

Chapter 1

The customers in the store all looked at this gorgeous man that had just stormed in. Colton’s smoldering eyes glared at Ana as he gripped her arm. The shock was so striking that she almost dropped the clothes she was holding, and the customers weren’t sure whether this was a harmless situation or whether it was something more sinister. Ana gulped as her throat ran dry. The last thing she had expected was to see him turn up. She’d all but given up on seeing either him or Glenn since she had overheard their argument after spending the day and night with Glenn.

“I’m done with you and your cousin,” she said in a low voice, hoping to not disrupt any of the customers, “you think you own me and he just used me. You’re both as bad as each other and I want nothing to do with you.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. I am nothing like my cousin,” he snarled. His hand squeezed Ana’s arm as his frustration built and pain started to seep through. She wrestled her arm away and as she did so the clothes she was holding flew everywhere. The metal hook of the coat hanger clattered and scraped across the floor.

Being around him was unsettling and his appearance had shaken her. Despite all that had happened she still found him irresistible. His mere presence was enough to startle her and kindle a vibrant spark of arousal in her soul. His piercing eyes were enough to make her heart-shaped face flush, and she had to use all of her willpower to not give into his charisma. He smelled earthy and masculine, and his stubble gave his face a shadow that alluded to mystery.

Whenever she looked at him she thought of the way he had made her shudder and tremble in the rowing boat along the stream, but she had to push those thoughts out of her mind. She also had to remember how he had made no effort to call her, and then how he had barged in on her and Glenn, ruining her perfect weekend.

Her memories were halting. As she relived all of the powerful emotions, they began to overwhelm her and tears stung at the back of her eyes.

“I don’t care anymore. Both of you can go to hell. You’ve played with me enough. How did you even find me? How did you know I was here?”

Colton was breathing heavily and the customers were feeling more and more threatened. All their attention was on Colton now, and he looked around at them, bearing his sharp, white teeth.

“Glenn told me about this place. He told me you’d set up shop here. I had to see you. You don’t know what it’s been like. What I’ve been going through.”

His voice was heavy with anguish and the pain seemed genuine but Ana couldn’t let herself be taken in by his soulful eyes. She closed her own eyes and turned her face away, hating the fact that Glenn had known she had been here all this time and still he hadn’t even bothered to call. Part of her wished that she had never met the Huntington cousins. Her life would have been much simpler had they never entered the picture.

“I don’t give a damn about what you’re going through. You haven’t bothered to talk to me about it before. Whatever happened between us was a mistake and it should be left in the past. Why did you even come here? I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to know you. Stop stalking me and go live your own life. I’m living mine. And go tell Glenn the same thing. Now get out of my store before I make you leave.”

Colton snarled again. By now Ana’s voice was loud and the whole store started to move towards the two of them.

“I think you’d better go,” one of the men said to Colton, putting an arm on his shoulder.

As soon as his hand came down Colton twisted around and glared. The man’s skin turned pale as Colton terrified him. He strode menacingly around the floor and glared at them all. He turned to Ana again and said, “I
have
to see you. But fine. If you want it to be this way then this is the way it’s going to be,” he declared, and with that he marched out of the room with a sullen, brooding look on his face. When he left Ana breathed a sigh of relief. The customers came to check on her, and all of them stared at the doorway in a mixture of fright and disbelief. Ana was the only one to look with regret.

“Who was that?” they asked her.

“Oh, just someone I had a fling with,” she replied calmly, brushing it off as though it meant nothing. But deep inside she was filled with a strange feeling. Whatever she had with Colton it wasn’t a mere fling. There was definitely something between them, a powerful, indescribable energy that was apparent whenever they were together, and even now she felt its absence after having had him touch her.

She hated the idea that Glenn had been spying on her as well, and sending Colton to see her was a low move, even for him. If he wanted to check on her then he was quite capable of doing so himself. The whole thing was such a mess, and yet there was a genuine sadness in Colton’s voice that tugged at her good-natured soul. Not many people in the store would have understood Colton’s plea that he had to see her, but Ana understood because she had to see him as well, even though she hated herself for it.

There were still so many questions that plagued her about the cousins. The only way for her to uncover the mystery was to see them again and get them to reveal the truth, but could she trust herself to resist their charms for that long and stay in control? Both of them had a certain hold over her, although since Glenn’s behavior Colton was the one she had to worry about, and now that she had seen him she wanted to see him again.

The smart thing to do would have been to leave it alone and let the Huntington boys live their own lives, but she felt like she had unfinished business with them. She was tired of being the one that was the puppet in their games. She wanted to be the puppet master, and she was going to get what she thought she deserved.

She apologized to her customers and asked them to wait a few moments while she ran out of the shop. It wasn’t difficult to follow Colton’s trail for he had left a string of disgruntled people in his wake. She skipped along and increased her pace to catch up with him.

It had only been a few moments since he had left her store, and amongst the undulating mass of people she saw him striding along the sidewalk, barreling through people as though he were on a mission. She hesitated for a moment but then ran up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, scowling as usual, although when he saw it was Ana she swore that he almost smiled. Almost.

“I may have been a little harsh in there. Are you okay?” she said, trying to be kind. Colton softened a little and his scowl turned into what was his equivalent of a smile.

“I admit it must have been a shock to see me turn up. I don’t know…sometimes I get urges and I find it hard to control them.”

He hadn’t meant it in a sexual way but Ana’s mind instantly went to the time when they had met each other in the forest and he had kissed her passionately; briefly, giving her a great deal of pleasure in the fleetest of moments before he had run away. The whole thing had felt magical, as if the two of them had felt compelled to kiss by some unseen force. Yet she knew that she would have chosen that outcome again and again, no matter what cosmic forces were playing with the direction of her life.

Even though she didn’t put much stock in what Glenn said about anything anymore she did agree with him about his philosophy on life; that situations happened and people came into your life, but it was up to you how you reacted to those situations and people. That was the one thing he had said to her that she had taken to heart, and she was looking forward to forging her own destiny.

“I can imagine,” she replied.

“I didn’t mean to startle you in there but all those people and the way they looked at me, like I was some kind of monster…” he clenched his fists and looked away. Shame dripped from his words and despite her insistence that she was going to be strong, Ana felt her heart go out to him and strings of sympathy tugged at her soul.

“You’re not a monster,” she replied, stroking his arm, before taking it away as she realized what was happening. The allure of him was far too strong to resist and it was going to take an inhuman effort for her to keep to her personal vow.

“Look, don’t ever do that again, okay? I don’t appreciate being snuck up on like that. But if you want to talk we can. Meet me in the park at about one. That’s when I take lunch. I’ll have about an hour. Whatever you have to say to me you can tell me then. But you have to promise not to waste my time. I’m not going to tolerate that again. Do we have a deal?”

Colton looked at her and brushed an errant look away from his forehead. He looked almost cute in the way he was sheepish, and for the first time she felt as though he was seeing how he truly was rather than the almost mystical, brooding presence of the night. The way he had reacted gave her an idea of what issues he was dealing with and a better sense of him as a person instead of being some mysterious figure.

The mystery had of course attracted her to him at first but now that she was seeing him as a real person she noticed that the image of the loner must have been his way of coping. Suddenly she was seeing him in a new light and it wasn’t entirely unattractive.

“We have a deal,” he said, and this time he smiled, genuinely.

It was such a rare sight that Ana made sure to capture it in a mental image and to hold onto it tightly, for she was not sure when she was going to see it again. She was still agitated from the way he had burst into her store but now that she had formulated her new plan and had actually had a proper conversation with him rather than a burst of an argument…or a burst of passion, she was feeling much calmer about things, and that familiar sense of attraction remained between them, although she pushed it to one side in an effort to maintain her self-control.

Another reason that she chose to meet up with Colton is that she knew Glenn would be upset if he found out, and perhaps it was slightly vindictive of her but she wanted to punish him for the way he had treated her. This seemed a good way to go about it since the truth would eventually come out. She needed to know why Glenn had led her on like that, and what they had meant by running together.

She ran back to the store and the customers once again expressed concern for her, but she assured them that she was feeling alright. She continued to do business and hoped that they wouldn’t have been put off by the events of the morning. Time ticked by and she watched the hands of the clock move slowly. There wasn’t much time until lunch but it felt like it dragged, and she had to call Angelica to get some advice.

“I’d steer clear if I were you,” her friend said.

“But I have a plan! I’m going to find out what this was all about then I can know about everything!”

“I think this is going to blow up in your face.”

“Well, I’m going to meet him over lunch to see what he wanted to see me about. It better be a good reason or else I’m done. For now I figure it’s a good chance to see what’s going on his head. And it’s Colton, I mean, there’s always been something between us.”

“You were just crying over Glenn a few weeks ago and now you’re ready to jump back to his cousin?” Angelica asked incredulously.

“I’m not jumping back to anything. I’m just going to meet up with him and see what he has to say, and I’m going to use that to try and find out what’s the deal with them.”

“Hmm, well, if you think you can keep your distance then go for it. I’m just worried that you’re going to get caught up in things again. Does this mean you’re going to be late coming home tonight?”

“No, it should be okay. I’m going to come back straight from work and then I’ll tell you all about it.”

“I await that with anticipation,” Angelica said dryly.

“You know you like listening to my little troubles. Could you grab some chocolate spread by the way? I’ve got a craving for it.”

“Sure, anything else I can pick up for you roomie?”

“I do love that you’re living with me. How are your parents taking it?”

“I think my plan is working. They seem to be weaning off me. They’re not calling me every day, so that’s a good start, so it shouldn’t be too long before we can move to Newtown.”

“Good, because this commute every day is killing me. Alright, well I’m going to head out now so I’ll catch you later.”

“Good luck, and don’t let anything stupid happen.”