Stoking the Embers (New Adult Romantic Suspense): The Complete Series (38 page)

I look into his chocolate eyes and smooth away the furrow in his brow with my fingers. “How’d you get so smart?” I ask.

“I watch Oprah on my days off.”

I laugh and push my hands under his shirt, touching his warm skin.

He looks around. “Wish list. Public sex. Up for it?”

“Sorry, we’ve already done that several times,” I say, making light of what’s actually been a nightmare. “Thought we were going to break the internet—twelve million views last I looked. Ha! Big asses aren’t the only thing that can do it.”

He looks at me like I’m crazy.

I sigh. “Since you’re an ass man, I’ll have to show you sometime.”

He grabs mine. “It can’t be more perfect than this one.”

About then, people scream from a distance. Ken whirls and pushes me against the truck, pinning me behind him. Then he looks up and relaxes.

“NY-NY rollercoaster,” he says and points to the carts of people still screaming their way through the ride. “One of my favorites.” He turns back around to face me and asks, “What’s your favorite coaster?”

I look at him. “Well, um, I don’t know. I’ve…”

His eyes grow big. “You’ve never ridden a coaster?”

I shake my head and he looks at me with disbelief. “Why not? Are you scared of heights?”

I lift a shoulder. “Growing up, I was always taking care of my dad, working, going to school.” I blush. “Money was always tight. So…” I trail off.

“Ride it with me.” It’s not a question. It’s not a demand. It’s an offer, with a hint of playful expectation. I look up at the coaster wrapped around the building and fear battles with excitement.

I look at him and nod. “Yes.”

We come out of the darkness of the tunnel and, for the first time today, I really notice the sky. It’s twilight, and the sun has kissed the horizon, leaving a dazzling display of reds streaking across the sky. It’s breathtaking. Glorious. I remind myself that I need to look up more often.

Below me, the city tries to compete with nature’s beauty, its artificial lights twinkling as far as the eye can see. It’s beautiful in its own right, accompanied by the heavy beat that is this city.

From the tunnel, we turn the first curve and are then faced with a mountain of a climb. The cart engages with the pull chains and we clank, clank, clank our way to the pinnacle.

I look over at Ken and he raises his hands as we near the top. My hands have a death grip on my harness. He looks at me and says, “Let go.” He raises his arms even higher.

Tentatively, my fingers uncurl and slowly lift toward the sky as we reach the peak and inch toward the descent. Seconds pass as we sit on top of Las Vegas, moving closer to its edge and the bottomless pit of nothingness looms before us.

Whoosh! I scream as we drop and are whipped to the left only to ascend again. We drop to nearly street level, riding alongside the cars on the strip. We’re in the sky again and then suddenly in the loop, the world revolving upside down around me.

Out of the loop, we slow for no reason and I worry something is broken; we’re hanging out over the street. Then we curve and curve and plummet again before we’re tossed this way and then that, my hands still in the air, my body shifting in the harness left and right.

We pass so close to Lady Liberty, her torch proudly up in the air. Then we spin and spin and it’s over, we’re back inside the hotel, looking down at the people walking the ‘city’ streets.

My screams have turned to laughter and I pull my fingers through my knotted hair, my heart still racing from the experience.

Ken looks at me, a little boy inside a grown man’s body. “Fun?”

I laugh and say, “Let’s do it again.”

We do ride it again and then he takes to me the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower where we spend a couple hours on even scarier rides. The adrenaline rush is addicting and we ride the X-Scream, Big Shot and Insanity several times. Then we stand gazing out at the city in the tower. I can’t believe I live in such a beautiful place.

Ken stands behind me and leans down, whispering in my ear. “Can you imagine making… sex up here?”

I laugh and turn in his arms. “Making sex, huh? That’s a new one.”

He looks embarrassed. “You know what I mean.”

“Making love?”

He nods and kisses my throat.

“This whole love thing really is new to you, isn’t it?”

“Ken!”

We both turn and there’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen beaming at my man. She has on the shortest jean shorts I’ve ever seen on a human and a plaid shirt twisted into a knot just under her amazingly large breasts. Her long brown hair is in pigtails and her lips are glossy pink. She even has freckles to complete the entire get-up.

“Uh, hi.” Interesting, Ken is stammering. He barely turns in time before Daisy Duke incarnate flings herself in his arms.

“I’ve missed you. Why haven’t you called me?” Her exceedingly plump lower lip sinks between her gleaming white teeth.

“Well, I. Uh. I’ve been…”

“A hero,” Miss Short-Shorts completes the sentence for him, her light brown eyes beaming up at him. “I saw it in the news.” Her hands wrap around the muscles of his upper arms. “That must have been really stressful. You should have called me. You know how good I am at stress relief.”

“Oh, are you are massage therapist?” I join the conversation, being obtuse on purpose.

She laughs and her eyes flicker down me, sizing me up. I apparently come up short because she ignores me and keeps talking to Ken. “How about Friday night?” She bats her eyes. Damn, I feel like I should be taking notes on how to flirt with a man.

I look at Ken, who’s stepped away from her grasp and glances over to me. I blink my eyes at him and he grimaces. “Stephanie. Meet Daisy.” I almost laugh at the name—called it. “Daisy’s a member of the Ho Down Show Down show on the strip.” I smile at the other woman and see Ken visibly swallow. “Daisy, this is my friend, Stephanie.”

Friend?

It’s my turn to swallow… my pride and my hurt. I stick out a hand to shake the other one’s perfectly manicured one. Good grief, her nails are painted like the American flag.

After the briefest of touches, Daisy pulls away, her hands firmly gripping Ken’s arm again. “What do you say? Friday night special?”

Ken looks like a man caught in the headlights of a train while strapped to the tracks. This could either go two ways. I could be a bitch and run, screaming and crying. Or I can stand by his side, calm and secure in the love he feels for me. I have to remember he’s a guy and doesn’t do conflict like this.

I go for Plan B and reach out and touch his chest, laying my hand over his heart. It’s beating wildly. I can even see the pulse in his throat. “Wish list?” I say and wiggle my eyebrows.

He laughs and the sharp bark of sound seems to break his paralysis. He pulls me into his side and looks at Daisy again. “Sorry, Daisy. I’m busy this Friday and the next one and the next.” He strokes my hair. “Looks like I’m booked up for the rest of my life.”

I can’t breathe and all the world disappears except him and me and the feelings we have for each other. The moment is broken when Daisy says, “I’m happy for you.” I glance at her and she winks, the first genuine smile I’ve seen on her face. “You’ve got you a good one here, honey.”

She gives a little wave and then turns around, her ass cheeks hanging below her shorts. I look at Ken to see if he’s looking at her. He’s not. He’s looking down at me.

“Thank you.”

I smile. “Why?”

“For not being one of those girls.”

“Oh, you mean the jealous kickers and screamers who make every situation about themselves?”

“That’s the one.”

I smile again. “I have to admit, the kicking and screaming part came kinda close. Did you see the tits on that woman?”

He blanches. I take that as a yes. He’s seen them up close and personal.

He kisses the top of my head. “You can kick and scream all you want later tonight when I’m making you come so hard you almost lose consciousness.”

I pull back and look up at him. “Has Daisy gotten you all horned up?”

“No way. There’s nothing sexier than the woman standing in front of me.”

I know he’s lying, but I appreciate the effort. “She’s really beautiful. How long were the two of you together?”

He doesn’t answer so I prod. “Or should I say, how many Friday Night Specials have the two of you enjoyed?”

He lifts a shoulder, looking extremely uncomfortable.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed. I already know you weren’t a virgin when we met. But seriously, was there anything special between you two?”

He shakes his head, emphatic. “No, we just hooked up on occasion.”

“So you were fuck buddies?” I ask.

He blows out a breath. “Yep.”

“Why does this make you so uncomfortable? I’d never judge you on your choices.”

He kisses my forehead. “It’s not that. It’s hard to explain. Fucking has always been fucking, you know. Get in, get off, leave. That was fine because that’s all the girl wanted too. I made sure I was only with those types of girls. Nobody clingy or expecting anything more. There were only a few women I’d see more than once, and that was only because they got it, no clinginess.”

“Daisy was one of them?”

“Yeah. It’s hard to talk about because it makes me sound like a man-whore. Nobody likes questioning their decisions or judging themselves. You know?”

I think about my choices with Jerome and how harshly I’ve judged myself, especially lately. “If you ever decide you want that type of lifestyle back, will you tell me? Just up front and honest tell me? So I don’t have to find out some other way?”

His eyebrows draw together, but he gives my question serious consideration. “That’s the thing. I don’t miss it. I thought I would. And I thought I would feel claustrophobic having someone in my personal space so much. I don’t.”

“If that changes, will you…”

He puts a finger to my lips. “In the moment, remember? Right here. Right now.”

“Yes. Right here. Right now.” I lift onto my tiptoes to kiss him.

“You want to go make sex?” I ask and the dimple in his left cheek flashes for a moment.

“Mmm… I’m going to make sex with you. Then I’m going to fuck you. And after that, I might even make love to you before this night is over.”

We do make sex later that night. Then we fuck. Then we make love sometime in the wee hours of the morning. I wake early and make him waffles while he sleeps in. I cut up fresh fruit and put everything on a tray.

I wave a piece of pineapple under his nose, laughing as he sniffs in his sleep. One eye opens and then another.

“I made you breakfast, Sir Ken.” I spread a napkin across his lap, then proceed to feed him, bite after bite after bite.

When syrup drips onto his chest, I lean forward and lick it off. I spill syrup on his abs on purpose.

Somehow syrup makes its way past his napkin and is drizzled down his cock and onto his balls. I settle between his legs and lick the sweetness from him. I get onto my knees and take him into my mouth.

He moans and presses my head down harder, lifting his hips faster. I move beside him, never taking my mouth from him. He moves down the bed until he’s flat on his back, then he swings my hips around and I’m straddling his face.