Hardwired (The Hardwired Series) (Volume 1) (20 page)

“Oh, I don’t know.” She shrugged, taking the water glass from me. “He’s got his life, I’ve got mine. We’ll see how it goes, I suppose.”

“I’m not hearing wedding bells.” I leaned back against the counter to face her. Marie had spent years on the dating circuit, and I was used to hearing about every new beau’s husband potential. She was a kind heart, but couldn’t ever seem to find Mr. Right. Heaven knew she was a hopeless romantic and deserved a good relationship more than anyone.

“Doubtful. We’re both used to having our freedom. I guess when you get older, it’s harder to change your life for someone.” She sighed a little and twisted her glass on the countertop. “Sometimes I miss the days when I could lose myself in someone completely, and he’d do the same.”

“That doesn’t exactly sound healthy.”

“Maybe not always, but it’s intoxicating. There’s nothing quite like it. You should try it sometime.” She winked at me.

“Unfortunately, I think I’m knee deep in it at the moment.”

“Mystery man?”

I blew out a breath, realizing she didn’t know half of my recent history with Blake. “Yeah. Mystery man. Blake is his name. He lives upstairs, actually.”

She frowned at me. “Did I miss something?”

“It’s complicated. Anyway, he seems to want to be with me. I want that too, I think.” I trailed off, not knowing how to put into words how I truly felt about Blake.

“So what’s the problem?”

I grabbed a mug, filled my cup before the pot brewed completely, and took a cautious sip. She had a point. Even I questioned why I’d fought so hard to temper my feelings for Blake.

“It’s...frightening,” I said. “First of all, he’s very intense, and secondly, I’ve never needed anyone, but the more we’re together... It’s like I can’t think about anything else. It’s so distracting.”

I closed my eyes, trying to clear my thoughts of him, an impossible task. He was everywhere, even when we weren’t together. And when we weren’t together, I yearned to be with him. Obviously the sex was unmatched, but when we weren’t ravaging each other, being with him always felt right. I had nothing to compare it to other than my string of lackluster flings with guys who were killing time with me until their parents forced them to marry a senator’s daughter or something. There was no comparison.

“You’re in deep, baby girl,” Marie said.

“Fuck, I know it. But I don’t want to lose myself, Marie. I’ve come this far, and this is who I am. I like my life and my independence, just like you. Why would I want to change all that and lose myself for someone I barely know?”

“You lose yourself, Erica, because with the right person, who you become together is something so much greater, more than you could even realize right now.”

Her words rang through me, rattling me to the core. My lip trembled a little, and I blinked away the tears that stung my eyes.

“I think I love him,” I whispered. “And it’s scaring the hell out of me.”

Marie hopped off the stool and came around to hug me tight. I hugged her back, so thankful to have her in my life. How could I surrender my heart to someone like Blake though? He had so many secrets, not to mention serious control issues. I couldn’t imagine how we could make it in the long run with all these hurdles. If we didn’t make it, how could I survive it with everything else I’d been through?

“I have something for you.” Marie stepped away to retrieve her shopping bag from the floor.

She pulled out an old shoebox and handed it to me. I brought it over to the counter and opened it. Inside were stacks of photos of my mother from their college days, early on when Marie was just beginning to dabble with photography.

“I was going through some things and found them. You should have them, Erica.”

I sifted through the stacks and studied each photo. My mother’s face and her smile warmed me. At times like these, I missed her more than ever. I tried hard to remember what she sounded like, her voice and her laugh. So much time had gone by, but the memory of her love echoed through me, a wordless melody that held my heart through time and distance.

Marie leaned over my shoulder as if she were seeing the photos for the first time in a long time, making comments about where they were around campus in some of them. I stopped on one that showed a group of five friends with arms linked, dressed in light jackets for a cool fall day judging from the foliage behind them. Something about the photo gave me pause. My mother was laughing, her long blond hair whipping around her face. She was turned to the man next to her. Unlike the others, their expressions revealed more than the frivolity of the moment—a fleeting look of adoration that I only recently had come to know.

“Who is that?” I pointed to the man who had short sandy brown hair and blue eyes that I recognized.

When Marie fell silent, I turned to find her shaking her head.

“An old friend, I guess. I can’t remember.”

“It looks like my mother knew him though.”

“Patty had a lot of friends. She was very charismatic. Half the campus was in love with her, I swear.”

“Marie—”

“Erica, I don’t know who that man is. I wish I could tell you.” She collected her purse and touched up her makeup in her compact mirror.

Marie was carefree and energetic, even a little immature at times, but she wasn’t much of a liar. She wasn’t telling me something.
 
I had a niggling suspicion as to why, but I didn’t push her.

“Sweetie, I’m off. Keep me posted on Mystery Blake, okay?” She smiled as if the past five minutes hadn’t happened.

“I will. Good luck with Richard too.”

She responded with a weak laugh that didn’t give me much hope for Richard. She opened the door and shrieked when Blake met her at the entrance. He looked as surprised as she did.

I laughed and joined them at the threshold. “Marie, this is Blake. Blake, this is my friend, Marie.”

“It’s a pleasure, Marie,” he said, greeting her with a heart-stopping smile.

She mumbled something unintelligible before leaving, waving me off with a knowing grin.

Blake leaned on the doorway, freshly showered and barefoot, his hands tucked into a pair of board shorts paired with a plain white T-shirt. Only he could make something so casual look so impossibly sexy.

“Can I interest you in take out?” he asked.

“Actually that sounds perfect. I’m still feeling pretty wiped out.”

“Me too. Thai?”

“Sure. I’ll meet you upstairs. I need to change.” I gestured to my pajamas.

“You don’t need to. Clothes are optional, you know.”

He smirked, and I rolled my eyes and smacked his shoulder, trying to hide my smile before heading back to my room.

* * *

“Oh my God,” I moaned. “I don’t think I’ll ever cook again.”

“I can’t allow that,” Blake said between his bites, eating noodles out of a tin container.

He thought I was joking but this had to be the best Thai food I’d ever had. We settled back into the couch, exhausted and full.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” he asked.

“You mean, go out?”

“No, we can stay in, unless you want to go out?”

“What about your no electronics rule?”

“It’s more like a guideline.”

He opened a drawer in the coffee table in front of us and reached for one of several remotes. Whatever he pressed pulled a large flat panel television out of a hidden pocket of the mantle.

“Sounds good to me. Pick something out and I’ll go clean up.” I collected our mess and took it to the kitchen. My eyes lighted on a square black velvet box, if only because it was solitary in its place on the counter. I tried to ignore it and focused on putting away the leftovers.

“That’s for you,” Blake said, leaning his hip against the counter on the other end of the kitchen.

My eyes widened in surprise. “That?” I pointed to the box.

“I wanted to give it to you in New York, but we rushed out of there before I had a chance.”

Oh.

“Open it,” he said, his voice low with that sexy rasp that made me forget myself.

I tentatively reached for the box as he crossed the space between us. I held it in my hands, unable to open it. After a few awkward seconds, he popped the lid open for me, revealing two diamond bangle bracelets, each with a tiny charm hanging from the clasp. I lifted one out and identified its charm as a miniature roulette wheel in solid matching platinum.

“For being my good luck charm,” he murmured.

I smiled at the memory. That was pretty lucky, I had to agree.

I lifted the second out. On it hung a delicate woven heart. My own heart started to beat wildly, my nerves suddenly on edge.

“Every charm has a meaning,” he said quietly, setting the box to the side and clasping both bracelets dexterously around my left wrist before pressing a soft kiss into my palm.

“Thank you.” My voice wavered. I admired the bracelets, which were simple and elegant. Knowing Blake, they had no doubt cost a small fortune, but the meaning behind the gift was what took my breath away. I had been running his words from this morning over in my head all afternoon, wondering if he’d said he loved me on a whim, or just to make his point in the heat of the argument. But the gift solidified the sentiment. He’d known it before he said it.

My voice caught in my throat. I wanted to say more. I loved Blake too. Trying to convince myself that I didn’t was beyond ridiculous. The words, and everything they meant, were tearing me up inside. I wanted him to know, but something kept me silent.

I toyed with the bracelets—the cool metal on my skin and the faint clinking of the charms that would always remind me of him, even when we were apart. Before I could say anything, he cupped my cheek and bent to kiss me. I ran my fingers through his hair and kissed him back with every ounce of passion I felt, telling him the only way I knew how. He met my intensity, holding me tight and lifting me to him with his strong arms.

“Erica—”

“Shh.” I pressed my fingertips to his lips before he could say more. I couldn’t bear hearing the words again, knowing I couldn’t say them back right now. Instead I kissed him gently, closing my eyes to avoid his.

He stepped back before we could go further, holding my hand and leading me back to the living room. Relieved, I got comfortable in the nook of his arm as the movie started. We settled in and I relished the moment. I couldn’t remember feeling so completely content with anyone else. No words, no expectations—we spent the next two hours unwinding together, forgetting the drama that had surrounded us the past few days until I fell asleep in his arms.

The apartment was quiet and dark when I woke. Blake carried me into the bedroom as if I weighed nothing. He sat me down on the bed and helped me out of my clothes. Feeling rested from my recent slumber, a quiet energy stirred in me. My skin came alive under his touch.

“I thought you’d be tired.”

“I’m not anymore,” I murmured. I started undressing where he’d stopped. Naked, I shimmied back onto the bed where I waited for him. In the soft light of the room, he undressed slowly, revealing his thick arousal. I bit my lip hard at the sight of him.

He crawled onto the bed and went right for the tender flesh between my legs, licking me with expert finesse. He moaned, vibrating the sensitive tissues as he teased them lightly with his tongue.

“I love it down here, baby,” he said, his breath gusting on my wet flesh. “I could lick your sweet little cunt all day long.”

His words set my nerves on edge. I quickened, the promise of release brewing like a storm inside me. He dug his fingers into my hips to keep me still as I bucked against him. I held on, gripping the sheets beneath me, as the orgasm crept closer. I cried out, my body reacting beyond my control, but before I could ride out the last of the aftershocks, he’d nestled his hips between my legs and pushed into me, angling my hips to hit the deepest part of me on his first thrust.

My breath caught as I stretched to accommodate him, my body exquisitely tight.

“It’s so good,” I breathed.

He moved slowly, easing into a rhythm that I eagerly met. Intense. Nothing felt so right. Like coming home. This was where I wanted to be every night, in his arms where I could savor the pressure of his body over me, around me, inside me, filling me completely and fucking me tirelessly until we disappeared into each other—until we felt that magic that Marie missed so much.

“God, Erica. You’re so tight,” he murmured into my neck. “Perfect.”

I pulled in a sharp breath and a blinding love rushed in with it. Chills erupted on my skin. I was crazy to think I could go on without him, without this. I was his, in every conceivable way. I’d never wanted him so badly, and I never wanted this moment to end. Today had been intense, and I wanted to end it lost in him.

We made slow love, though it was no less profound for its lack of kink. Wrapped in his smell and his lingering caresses, I clung to the rigid curves of his muscle bound body and to the promise that he would sate the burning hunger that consumed me every time our bodies met. He held me tight as another orgasm built inside me, slow and steady, pleasure taking me over. Overwhelmed by the emotions ripping through me, I closed my eyes, but Blake stilled.

“Look at me,” he whispered.

My body responded to the smallest of his commands. I opened my eyes into his, and the passion and love I found within them made my chest ache. There was no denying that I loved this man.

When I woke, the sun was up and Blake had gone, but he left a note.

Morning, boss,

Made you fruit salad for breakfast, in the fridge.

Love, B

My tummy did a little flip, like the bottom had dropped out on one of those theme park rides. I shuffled into the kitchen and found a single serving of fruit salad in the fridge. I smiled and brought it downstairs with me, along with the note, which I stuck on the corkboard in my bedroom. I showered and dressed, trying to focus on the mountain of work I had to do.

A few hours went by, and I was finally beginning to make some progress, when Sid walked into the apartment unexpectedly. He stopped when he saw me.