Slay (Storm MC #4) (24 page)

Eventually, she huffed out a breath and said, “I’m coming with you when you go to see him.”

I raked my hand through my hair.  “Fuck, Layla, you don’t understand what’s going on here.  Phil’s not a man to underestimate, and I won’t have you anywhere near him.”

She raised her eyebrows.  “You
won’t
?  What makes you think you can control me?”

“I don’t want to control you.  I just want to keep you safe, and the only way to do that is to keep you away from him.”

Her phone rang, cutting through the tension between us.  I watched her answer it and frown.  She turned and walked away from me, speaking in a hushed tone.  I left her to go to find Merrick.  He was in his office on the phone.  Looking up, he motioned for me to come in, and as he ended the call, he said, “Ben’s finding Phil, and then you and I are going to fix this fucking situation up.”

“Yeah, we are.  Once and for fucking all.”

“Thank fuck,” he murmured, relief clear in his voice.  He stood and made to say something, but his eyes shifted to something behind me.  “Layla,” he called out.

I spun around to find her walking towards the stairs to leave.  She didn’t respond to Merrick, so I stalked after her and called out, “Layla!”

She stopped and looked at us.  Fuck, anger still painted her face.  “What?” she snapped.

“Where are you going?” I asked, catching up to her.

“I’ve got stuff to do at work.”

There was a divide between us, slight, but there.  I didn’t like it, but neither of us had the time to discuss it at the moment, so I let her go.  Once she’d disappeared from my sight, I pulled my phone out and dialled Ben.

“What’s up?” he asked when he answered.

“Put some eyes on Layla until we deal with Phil.”

“Already organised.”

“Good.”

Thank fuck
.

***

Eight hours later, I parked my car outside Layla’s bar.  The afternoon had been futile in our search for Phil.  He’d disappeared, and no one on the street was talking.  I hadn’t managed to catch Layla on the phone, so I had to wonder if she was avoiding me on purpose.  Exiting the car, I searched the street for my boys and found them parked a little down the road.  The relief I felt at their presence was immense.  The thought of something happening to Layla almost paralysed me with fear.

I entered the bar, scanning for her as I walked.  Unable to see her, I headed toward Jess who was just finishing up serving.  Her gaze shifted to me as her customer walked away.  “Hi Donovan,” she greeted me.

“Layla in?”

“She’s upstairs.”

I lifted my chin at her.  “Thanks.” 

Without waiting for her to say anything else, I made my way upstairs.  I found Annie in the lounge room watching television, and she smiled at me.  “Layla’s in the shower.”

“Thanks,” I said, and headed towards the bathroom in Layla’s bedroom.  Annie was still guarded with me, and while I’d usually take some time to talk with her, tonight I just needed to find out what was running through Layla’s mind.

I couldn’t hear the water running, so I figured she must be finished in the shower.  The door to her bathroom was open, and I stood in the doorway and watched as she dried herself.  Her side was to me, and when she sensed my presence, she turned her head to look at me.

“Have you been here long?” she asked, as she wrapped the towel around her and turned to face me completely.

“No, just arrived.”

She didn’t say anything, just nodded and then turned back to face her mirror again, beginning to brush her teeth.

Fuck. 

What the hell was going on?

I walked to where she was and stood behind her.  We watched each other in the mirror, and I took in the closed-off look on her face.  “Why have you shut down on me?” I asked softly.

She stared at me for a few moments before spitting out her toothpaste and rinsing her mouth.  Finally, she lifted her head, and, still watching me in the mirror, she said, “I’m annoyed at you for trying to boss me around today.”

I nodded.  “I know that, but that’s not why you’ve shut down.”

“You pissed me off, Donovan.  I won’t ever be the type of woman you can control like that, so if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s best to walk away now.”

What the fuck?

I slid one hand around her waist, and the other around her neck.  Gripping both hands tightly around her, I bent my face to her ear and growled, “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart, so you need to tell me what the fuck has gotten into you over the last few days.  You’ve pulled away from me, and we need to fix that.  Tonight.”

I felt her suck in a breath, and watched in the mirror as her eyes widened.  When she didn’t say anything, I spoke again, “
Feel
it, Layla.  Stop thinking so hard, and just tell me what you feel.”

As we stared at each other in the mirror, the only sound in the room was our uneven breathing.  We were both feeling this, I was sure of it.

“I feel like I’m falling so deep into this with you, Donovan, and I think you feel the same way, but then I don’t want to believe it...” Her voice trailed off.

“Why?”  I held my breath, waiting for her answer.

She hesitated for a moment.  “Because if it’s not true, it will kill me when you walk away,” she whispered. 

The brokenness in her voice hit me in the chest, and I pulled her into me, my arms wrapping tight around her.  “I’m in deep, baby, with no intention of walking away.  I told you I’ve never felt it like this before, and I meant that.  I fucking
need
you, Layla, like I’ve never needed anyone.”

She stared at me, and I knew her brain had kicked in again.  When she didn’t speak, I squeezed her, and demanded, “
Say it
.  Whatever it is, say it.”

Her eyes shut for a couple of moments, and when she opened them, I could see the change.  “I worry you’re not over Ashley, that one day you’ll realise I can never be her . . . ”

I cut her off, “I don’t want you to be her.”  I let her go and spun her around.  “I want
you
.  You accept me in ways she never could, and you’ve never once tried to change me.  I fucking needed that because I was buried so far down in my own self-hatred it was suffocating me.  For the first time in years, I feel like I can breathe again, and that’s because of you.”

Her eyes searched mine, and she brought her hand up to my face, gently resting it on my cheek.  “I’ll never want you to change,” she whispered.  “I want you, flaws and all, Donovan, because you’ve been there for me in ways no one in my life ever has.  And you might not want to hear this so soon, but I’m fairly sure I’m falling in love with you.”

Fuck. 

I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.  This woman fucking owned me, and she had no idea.  I used my mouth and my body to show her just how much I wanted to hear what she’d just said to me.  And I knew she felt it when her arms wrapped around me, and she sunk into my embrace.  It was like the barrier she’d erected between us four days ago came crashing down, and she let me back in. 

Reaching my hands down to cup her ass, I lifted her into my arms and carried her to the bed.  After I deposited her there, I stripped out of my clothes, and enjoyed the feeling of her eyes on my body.  Layla never hid her hunger for me, and that turned me on more than anything.  I watched as she removed her towel and revealed her body to me.  Fuck, she was beautiful. 

I moved to position myself over her and bent my face to kiss her again.  She opened her mouth to me, and our tongues danced as we lost ourselves to the kiss.  Her hands were urgent on me, pulling me closer.  I didn’t need encouraging, though.  I fucking wanted her as much as she wanted me, and when her legs wrapped tightly around me, I knew this wouldn’t last long.  Our needs demanded to be satisfied quickly.

As she rocked herself against me, I thrust inside her.  Hard enough that she cried out and clawed my back.  I pulled out and thrust in again.

“Fuck,” she yelled out as her head arched back against the pillow.

I worked us up into a relentless pace, and as I felt my orgasm hit, I thrust hard one last time before burying my face in her neck, marking her.  I’d never wanted to sink my teeth into a woman as much as I did with Layla.  It was as if some primitive desire came over me that I was helpless to control.

Her pussy squeezed around my dick, and she gripped me tighter as she let her orgasm take over.

She eventually let me go, unwrapping her arms and legs so I could shift to lie next to her on the bed.  I put my arm out and pulled her against me so her head rested on my shoulder.  She entwined her leg with mine and whispered, “Maybe I should tell you I’m falling in love with you more often.”

I squeezed her against me.  “Maybe you should.”

I could hear the smile in her voice when she said, “I like it when your voice goes like that.”

“Like what, sweetheart?”

She shifted so she was looking up at me.  “All growly and hot.  You should talk to me like that more often, cause you’d get laid more.”

“Fuck, Layla, I get laid plenty.  You’ve got demands on my dick morning and night as it is.”

She grinned.  “Stop your grumbling.  Any man would love to have that problem.  I’m thinking of adding in a lunch time session, too.”

Fuck me.

I moved fast so I had her on her back, and I was on top of her again.  Possessed by desire I growled, “If that’s what you want, it can be arranged.  You just say the word, baby, and my dick is all yours.”

A soft smile spread across her face.  “Is that your way of telling me you’re falling in love with me, too?”

I heard the hesitation in her voice, the vulnerability behind her words.  Bending my face closer to hers, I whispered, “No, this is: I’m falling in love with you, sweetheart, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to keep me away.”

I didn’t miss the slight intake of breath or the rapid rise and fall of her chest as her breathing picked up.  And I sure as hell didn’t miss the way her body pressed up into mine as she murmured, “Fucking hell, Donovan, why did we waste all that time?”

My thoughts exactly, but fuck, life was a mysterious bitch and worked her shit out in her own good time.  Thank fuck we got here in the end.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Layla

I stood in the morning sunshine and looked up into Donovan’s eyes as he murmured his goodbye.  Wrapping my arms around him, I grumbled, “I don’t know why you can’t take the day off and spend it with me?”  Last night had been amazing, and I just wanted to spend the day in bed with him.  I didn’t want to let him go.

Trying to extricate himself from me, he said, “Baby, we’ve been over this.  You’re not safe until I deal with Phil, and I need to do that today.”

I pouted.  So unlike me, but he brought all kinds of weird behaviour out in me.  Fuck, was that what they meant when they said women did crazy shit when they were in love?  I’d never really loved a man before, but I knew what I felt for Donovan was off the charts crazy.  “Send him to me and I’ll deal with him, and then you and I can get back to what we do best.”

His heated gaze shot more desire through me.  God, this man was too much.  When his hand slid around me a second later and yanked me to him, I wanted to climb up into his arms and force him to change his plans. 

With his hand planted firmly on my ass, he growled into my ear, “Get ready, sweetheart, ‘cause once I’ve sorted this shit out, I’m coming back here to fuck you until you can’t walk properly.”

My legs swayed under me at his promise.  I grasped his face and said, “You don’t play fair.”

“You wanna tease me like you just did, you’ll have to learn to play my way,” he growled again.

Oh fuck, I wanted more than anything to learn to play his way.

With one last long stare, he let me go and walked to his car.  He opened the door, looked back at me, slid his aviators on and then got in.  As he drove off, I decided today would suck while I waited for him to return.

***

Four hours later, Sharon and I were knee-deep in shit while we dealt with crappy customers, missing stock deliveries, and an air conditioner that had decided to pack it in.  I’d just finished a phone call with one of our suppliers when she turned to me and said, “Jesus, some of these customers need a swift kick up the ass.”

I totally felt her.  I sagged against the bar and wiped the sweat from my forehead.  It was a miserably hot day today, and with one air conditioner down, the heat had filled the room to the point of irritation.  Nodding at her, I said, “Some of them need more than that.”

She grinned at me and poured us both a glass of water.  Passing it to me, she said, “Regardless of shitty customers, I’m so thankful to you for giving me this job.”

I gulped some of the water down and considered what she’d said.  “Donovan hasn’t told me much about you, but he has told me a lot about his father.  I got the impression he thinks you might leave him.”

She stared at me, and I wasn’t sure if I’d overstepped a boundary or not.  Sharon was a hard woman to read and held her cards close to her chest, but I’d sensed a vulnerability in her that led me to think she might need someone to talk to.  “I am going to leave him.  I told him this morning I was done.”

“Good for you, babe.”  I’d really grown to like Sharon while she’d been working here, and this piece of news pleased me to no end.  Marcus Cole didn’t deserve the love of a woman like Sharon.

She blew out a long breath.  “God, that was a hard decision to finally make.  After all these years together, it’s hard to walk away from someone you love even though you know you shouldn’t.”

“Why do we do that?”

She frowned.  “Do what?”

“Love men who don’t deserve it? I watch women do it all the time, and it baffles me.”

“I think, for me, Marcus was my first love.  I’ve never known anyone else, never had anything to compare him to.  And then you add in two kids, a lifetime of memories and everything in my life connected to him . . . that’s hard to walk away from.  Especially at my age, where you wonder if you’re too old to find someone else.”