Consume Me (A Burning Desire Novel) (35 page)

They were very close; the three of them,
especially after Alicia, Jenna's mom had left. It was never something we talked
much about; we just tried to forget about it and moved as if it had never
happened.

It was a tough time for Jenna and Keith;
Alicia had left them for some rich man, got into drugs and it got harder and
harder. When she tried to contact her daughter, three years earlier, Jen had
refused to see her.

I had mixed feelings about the whole
situation, my mother marrying my father's best friend. I had to ask if it was
recent, or if it went back when we all lived at the compound.

She insisted it was relatively recent,
that neither she nor Keith would've betrayed my dad that way. He was always
around, a friend, and a shoulder to cry on.

It was everything I needed to hear, and
seeing an ecstatic Jenna, made it even easier.

The conversation, turned for a short time
around Landon and me, my mom bombarded us with questions and ignored every
attempt I made for her to wait for us to be alone and talk about it.

"Do you want to go for a walk with
me?"

Landon murmured softly. He felt different,
something was off about him, and he barely talked. I thought that my mother's blabbing
about his mom must've made him uncomfortable.

"Yes, of course."

I pushed to my feet and followed him,
leaving the others to their heated conversation about a Christmas wedding.

Once outside the building, Landon grasped
my hand and we walked silently for a moment. I was getting nervous. I couldn't
fathom his mood.

"I have to tell you something."

He said, turning blazing gray eyes to me.

"What is it?"

"First of all, I want you to
understand that I'm doing everything in my power to protect you from it."
Protect me from what?

"But in case, I don't succeed,
please, be patient with me."

I had a bad feeling.

"Okay."

I answered shakily.

"Do you know who Amelia Gold
is?"

I shook my head no.

"Who is she?"

"Amelia Gold is, or rather was my
client's campaign manager. We dated for a while several months ago, during
which I uncovered that she was bribing people and persons of interest on behalf
of Senator Anders.”

He paused.

“At first I confronted her about it and
she denied any accusations. We broke things off, and, because I had irrefutable
proofs that she did use bribery and tarnished the campaign, I fired her."

He stopped walking and glanced upward, his
expression wary.

When he spoke again, his voice was tight.

"As you can imagine, she didn't take it
very well and now..."

"Well, today, while I was in court, I
learnt that she filed a sexual harassment suit against me and Senator
Anders."

His voice dropped lower.

My brain went on shut sown, blank like a
computer crash. It kept ringing in my mind, sexual harassment...

"Please say something,
anything."

He pleaded, stripping me out of my trance.

“Did you… Did you spank her?”

I was so obsessed with the whole incident;
it was the only thought that crossed my mind.

"I'm sorry."

I muttered in a trembling voice; when I
saw his face fall.

"You don't have to be, I'm the one
who should be sorry. If I lose you right now, I have no idea how I would deal
with anything."

I thought very carefully about everything
I wanted to say next, I had it mapped in my mind, planned. I wanted answers, I
wanted the truth, but most of all, I wanted it to go away. But once I glanced
up into beautiful, intense gray eyes, I melted.

I thought that I should probably have some
faith; he did tell me about it before it exploded as he'd been expecting it.

"As long as you can promise that her
accusations are unfounded, you won't lose me."

He shook his head quickly.

"None whatsoever. It's simply a
desperate act of revenge, to get back at me for the break up and the firing. I
can promise you that. She masters the art of manipulation like no other can,
she thinks that suing me, or tainting me will push me into letting her work
with us again."

He explained everything thoroughly.

"Okay then, I believe you, but if I
discover there's more to it, or that you hid anything from me. It would mean
the end of our relationship."

I tried for compassion, but it came out as
a warning and I meant it. I’d suffered enough, and I swore I would never go
through it again.

Caden had scarred me enough as it was.

"I can live with that."

He finally said breathing out his relief.

"Is this why you came back
early?"

He shook his head no and took my hand to
walk back to my building.

"No; when I got your text I had my
crew prepare the flight back. I missed you too by the way."

He threw his arms around me.

"But it’s a good thing; at least I
won’t have to worry about you, learning about it from the press. Apparently
she’s going public."

"Two birds with a stone, then?"

I poked him swiftly; not caring about the
bitch.

I wasn’t going to allow anyone to ruin the
fact that he flew back because he missed me: although I worried about the press
exposure.

"I take it that you didn't really
miss me?"

He feigned disappointment.

"I guess you'll never know..."

He was amused; he knew damn well that I
missed him. He received a text attesting to it.

"Oh Miss Dane, how I love it when you
break the rules.”

His eyes filled with something dangerous;
something delicious.

"You do? Since when?"

He leaned and smoothly brushed my cheek up
my ear.

"Since we’ve established that
whenever you do it; I get to punish you for it."

My body suddenly tensed with lust and
need. His raspy voice, the way he’d said it. It was a wake-up call for my
senses.

  A welcomed call, that was.

"Well, we'll see about that."

I teased him, well aware that my voice
failed me. I was filled with wanton, my inside clenched.

His mouth twisted ruefully and gave me one
of his sinful smiles.

"Oh, we will baby, we will."

Back at the apartment, my mom had settled
on a late dessert. It had been a birthday tradition in my family, just before
midnight, my mom would make her famous ‘Panna Cotta’; and in our family, that
would announce the sweetest birthday.

I always believed in the power of our
tradition, Helen Davis had a way of making birthdays very special. Even Jen and
Jude grew to love it and savor it.

She’d started including Jenna when she
celebrated her first one with my family, that's why she has been considered a
surrogate daughter and sister.

I topped my dessert with berries and
settled on one of the Barstools next to Landon. It tasted heavenly, I've always
had a soft spot for Italian treats.

"Happy birthday Darling.”

My mom gave me a hug and settled two boxes
on the counter top.

"Thank you Mom."

I returned her embrace and kissed her.

She took one of the boxes and gave it to
me.

"This is Nana's gift to you."

I put down my spoon and took the box. It
was beautifully wrapped, and once I uncovered it, I breathed in in disbelief.

I instantly knew what it was and couldn't
bring myself to open it.

"Is that...?”

Jude couldn't bring himself to finish the
question. He suspected the same thing.

"Yes, yes it's the Iris."

My mom announced.

"But, why?”

I asked incredulously.

"It has always been destined for you
baby, she thought that it was time for you to have it."

It was no coincidence that my second name
was Iris; I was named after the flower, my grandmother, and that jewel.

It was Nana's most precious possession,
the most beautiful piece of jewelry. It was a diamond bracelet. It held a heart
pendant in which there was a floating iris, a real one preserved inside
it. 

She never wore it.

She never told us the story behind it, and
we never pushed it too far. I used to admire it in her jewelry box, savoring
its uniqueness.

Nana left me a little note inside the box
in which she wished happy birthday and asked me to call her. It was too early
in France, so I decided to do it first thing in the morning.

My mom helped me put it and I decided I
would never take it off.

Everyone around me admired it and kissed
me.

"I wasn't aware we had to give you
your gift right now."

Landon murmured softly.

"Oh, don't worry about it; it's my
mother's thing."

I explained.

"I used to be so impatient about
opening gifts that she made a tradition of giving me hers first and I'd wait
for the next day to receive the others."

"Duly noted. From now on, Italian
dessert and gifts by midnight."

He promised.

I couldn't believe what he’d said, he
wanted to celebrate other birthdays with me, make a tradition of it.

I was completely astonished, and happy,
and irrevocably in love with him.

"Since you opened Nana's gift
tonight, I suggest you wait for mine tomorrow."

My mom proposed and I conceded.

"I agree."

“Yeah; try and trump that.”

Jenna snorted derisively.

"Okay Boo, tomorrow, noon."

Ryan said, referring to our plans.

"What's tomorrow noon?"

Landon turned to me with a questioning
expression.

"Pampering for our princess."

Jude said all too cheerily. I hadn’t had
the chance to enjoy the spa in Chicago; even though I wouldn’t have changed
that weekend for all the pennies in the world. But I really needed it.

"I like the sound of that, what do
you have in mind?"

Landon asked again.

"Spa day, what else?"

"Have you arranged it?"

My curious man insisted, and I knew where
he was heading.

"Drop it Davis!"

I warned.

He looked down at me blankly.

"Can I at least come and pick you
up?"

"Out of the question!"

Jenna admonished.

"We can learn to share her; it has
been challenging enough between the three of us. From now on; just wait for
your turn."

She crossed her arms and grinned widely.

"That would be tomorrow night!”

She announced teasingly.

 I just doubled over in laughter at
the situation, as did my mother.

"This isn't funny baby."

Landon sounded serious, but his laughing
eye roll betrayed him.

"Point taken Miss Seiter."

He turned to me with a sinful wink and I
knew he was up to no good.

What was even funnier is the way Jenna had
defied him.

If it were me, I'd probably be getting
punished.

Once
Landon and the boys had left, Jenna and I cleared everything in the kitchen,
and my mom went to bed. I was settled in my bed, alone for the first time in a
week. Jenna wanted to work so she won't worry about any deadlines during the
weekend, and decided to hog the couch.

I sat on my bed replaying the week and
everything that had happened since I’d met Landon.

I'd never been that happy, constantly
grinning. He made me feel alive.

I was so in love with him, and being in my
bed, alone, I felt empty.

I decided to call him and check if he’d
gotten home. It immediately went to voicemail. I didn't leave one, and opened
my music playlist.

It was late; he was probably tired and
fell asleep as soon as he got to the apartment. He was facing legal charges; I
didn't realize it was eating at me until I thought about it again.

I pulled my iPad and decided to find out
whether there was something about it on the Internet. I couldn't remember her full
surname, so I typed his and hers and it was a full explosion of images.

Nothing about a sexual harassment suit,
just a bunch of photos of what the press called the golden couple.