Only Yours (3 page)

What a bastard!

Without any hesitation, my right hand cocks back, and sweeps harshly across his cheek. The loud sound of flesh hitting flesh echoes through the room. I wince and immediately start cursing while shaking out my throbbing hand. I blink in surprise. I have never hit someone before. I wish I could say I enjoyed doing it, but I don’t. I hate that he’s pushed me this far. I hate even more that I allowed him to get under my skin, once again.

"You’re a stupid bastard," I seethe.

Taking a precarious step back, he stares back at me, a jarring look overtaking his perfect face. Score one for me. I’ve shocked the cunning, Daemon Scott. I watch as his jaw clench hard and his fingers lift, rubbing at his freshly reddened cheek. My moment of triumph is quickly diminished as his eyes darken and a predatory look replaces his shocked one.

I’m not backing down. This is my house and hell will freeze over before I bow down to Daemon again. Fuming, I ball up my fists, and tilt my head, meeting him eye to eye. “First of all," I spit out. "Tony is a friend. One of the best besides, Sasha. And second, you no longer have the right to question what I do or with whom I do it with. You lost that right the moment you chose to openly lie to my face."

His Jaw ticks with anger. "The hell I don't," he yells back. "You have every right to be pissed off at me right now, but make no mistake, you are still mine. Mine!" he barks, invading my space and pushing himself up against me.

"How very caveman of you, Daemon. Plan on pissing on my leg also?" I ask, venom dripping off my every word.

"Don't push me, Kelly," he warns. I can't stop my eyes from eating up the way his chest heaves with every excessive breath he takes. Even when he’s mad, he is beyond beautiful.

His close proximity is causing to me to lose sight of the whole reason I let him in my home to begin with. Shaking my head in resignation, I step around him. I need a chance to clear my head and get my priorities back in line.

I rub at my throbbing head, trying to ease my growing headache. "I’m too tired to argue with you right now, Daemon," I sigh. "I need to back to my friends. You obviously weren’t breaking down my door for the fun of it. My patience are thinning, just tell me what you came to say. "

Shoving his hands down into his pockets, he scorches me with his eyes. The silence quickly turns unbearable and I find myself fidgeting. It’s a habit I abhor, and yet I always find myself doing it in awkward and unnerving situations.

"Any day now, Daemon," I snap. I’ve never been the most patient person in the world, and as I stand here waiting for him to throw more at me, I can feel the threads of what is left of it, dwindling down even farther.

"I met Gary my last year in College through a buddy we mutually knew. We weren’t immediate friends, but he was a hell of a tutor, and helped me out a few times when I was having problems keeping my grades up in Physics. After college, we didn’t initially keep in touch, but on a few occasions we would run into each other.” His eyes cut to me nervously. “When Gary called me up asking for a favor, I knew very little about you, except that you were a girl he had been with since high school. He didn’t talk about you much.” He stops talking and gives me a moment to let everything he has said sink in. I’m not surprised Gary’s friends didn’t know about me, we hadn’t gone out and hung with friends together since high school. We weren’t that type of couple.

“I was actually shocked that he had never brought you around before. We all went out to unwind a lot back then, and not once did you ever show up.” His intense green eyes land on me. His gaze does not waiver, making me conscious of how close we are standing to each other. “If you had been my girl, I wouldn’t have let you leave my side. I would have made sure everyone knew that we were together. I wouldn’t have hid you. Everyone would have known that you were
mine
," he adds, with sad smile.

I roll my eyes. I don’t buy that for a minute. Knowing Daemon, he would have probably have me cuffed to his bed for eternity. He slowly begins pacing back and forth. I can’t hide my smile. Seeing him nervous is slightly amusing, but as he continues to wear a hole in my carpet, it slowly begins to grate on my nerves. The only reason he would be this nervous is if he is about to tell me something bad. Really bad.

I don't know how many more surprises I can take. There should be a limit on how many a person can spring on you within a 24hr period. I think my limit is reached!

"When Gary called, he told me that you were recently graduated and were looking for a job as an interior designer. I don’t know if he ever told you or not, but he believed in you. He thought you were very talented. He actually said, that you deserved a job that would help you grow in your field, he was afraid you would cave and take a position that would squelch your creativity. At that time, my business was just beginning to take flight, and I already had a few good connections under by belt, so I agreed to help him. The next day, I called Cherie and made the deal."

He glances up at me expectantly like he wants me to reassure him that I am fine. Not happening, Bucko!

"Keep going," I say, keeping my voice flat and devoid of emotion. “I know there has to be more to it than just that. If this deal was a secret, than why did I get assigned to your account?”

Nodding he continues. "I swear my meeting you was a complete accident. I had no inclination to know anything about you. After I made the deal with Cherie, I easily wiped you from my mind. You would of stayed that way too if you hadn’t strolled into our conference that day and knocked me in the face with the door.”

I smile as he absently touches his nose. The same nose I made bleed like a son of a gun. My face heats at the memory.

"That rates as one of my most embarrassing moments," I sheepishly admit. "You didn’t make it easy on me either,” I huff, remembering how rude he was towards me that day. “After the meeting, I was headed back to my office, pretty sure that I’d just lost a large account for the company. I was afraid they were going to force me out of my new office, and back into that small cubicle with no view, that I had before."

“I was furious when I realized who you were. Like I said before, meeting you was not on my agenda. Cherie set us up. For whatever reason, she thought we should meet.”

My brows dip in confusion. “Why?” I ask throwing my hands on my hips, “It was her secret to hide as well. She had nothing to gain by us meeting and you had no reason to me mad at me. Besides giving you a free nose job, I didn’t do anything to you. If anyone should be mad, it’s me,” I yell. “You and Gary had no right to play God with my career and make decisions for me regarding my life.”

“That wasn’t my intention,” he counters loudly.

Running a hand over his face in frustration, we stand facing each other, both mad, and breathing hard. I feel unhinged as I contemplate thoughts ranging between slapping him again to climbing up his body like a monkey after a banana.

These thoughts can’t be healthy.

Still locked in our silent, stare down, Sasha silently steps into the room. Wedging herself in between us, she faces me. I sigh, knowing it isn’t fair to put Sasha in the middle of our problems. She’s dating his brother for crying out loud. The last thing she needs to be doing is taking sides on our stupid fights.

“You okay, babe?” Her voice is hard as glass as she glances between the two of us.

“I’m fine.” I answer, waving her off.

“We’re good,” he confirms, not taking his eyes off me.

My face heats. “Sorry if we bothered you. Were we that loud?”

She smirks, giving me a wicked wink. “No, baby girl. I forgot my phone and needed to return some calls.” Reaching down, she plucks her phone off the charger near the couch before strutting back to the kitchen.

The moment she is gone, Daemon grabs me and pulls me against him. My voice and breath lodge in my throat, as his body temperature warms and encases me.

“I wanted you,” he whispers softly.

“What?” I ask, confused and reeling from being so near to him.

“From the moment your cheeks turned variable shades of pink, and you started spewing stupid apologies, I wanted nothing else, than to throw you up again a wall, and fuck you until the only thing babbling from your lips, was my name. The fact that you were Gary's girlfriend made it worse. Gary is a good guy, but he didn’t deserved to have you. He’s weak. Even if he tried for the rest of his days, he would never be good enough for you," he deadpans.

His words make my head spin.
Did he think I was still with Gary when we met?

I blink. "And you think you’re good enough?"

"No," he admits bowing his head. He studies his hands as if they hold some infinite answer. If they do, I wish they would share it with me. Answers are something I am very low on at the moment.

"I will work every damn day to be the man you deserve. I will make sure you have everything you could have ever need or want. You deserve it all and then some," he says with such force that I don't doubt him for one minute.

My head jerks back and I glare at him. He really does not understand the gravity of what he has done. "You already gave me everything, except the one thing I asked for," I reply bitterly. "I asked you to never lie to me, which you did it right from the start. Everything we shared is tainted. I can’t trust you.”

Daemon closes his eyes. He looks pained and I even after everything that has happened between us, I hate knowing I made him feel that way. It takes everything in me not to retract my words.

“He caused this
,” I silently remind myself. The truth can be a mean bitch sometimes, but at the end of the day, the facts remain the same.

"Damn it," Daemon growls, punching a fist against the wall behind me. I quickly turn my head and check the wall, making sure no real damage was done. In a blink of an eye, Daemon turns and starts up his pacing once again. My poor floor. At this rate my chenille rug will be in pieces before our conversation is over.

I need to end this!

Maybe, if I do it fast, like when you rip off a Band-Aid, it won’t hurt either of us as bad.
Yeah right.
It’s going to hurt like no other, but it has to be done...
Right?

“Yes,” I silently confirm
. It’s now or never.

Wringing my hands together, I firm up my shoulders, and do my best to meet his eyes. I huff in defeat. I can’t do it.
I’m pathetic!
Lifting my eyes again, I settle for looking over his shoulder, keeping my gaze on a hung picture of Sasha and my dad dancing together at my college graduation party.

“Daemon, after everything that has happened,” I pause, taking a deep breath. “Daemon, I think we need..," he cuts me off, not giving me a chance to finish telling him that we need to take a break from each other. It’s what I need, and if he would stop being pig headed, he might realize he needs it too. We both need time alone to think and figure out what we go from here.

"Don't you even say it, Kelly," he warns, giving me a look that halts my world. The words die on my lips and my mouth shuts instantly. It takes a lot to rattle Daemon, and taking in the lines of strain around his eyes, my little speech did just that.

"You are not ending us. We will work through our problems together and I will show you how serious I am about making this work. There is no way in hell, I am going to let you throw away what we have."

I’m tongue tied. Every time I open my mouth to say something, nothing comes out. Out of frustration, I keep it shut. I have to compose myself. Before I have a chance to do so, Daemon is gripping my arms and pulling me against him. I’m too dumbfounded to stop him, not that I really want to.

His mouth descends upon mine. The kiss is anything but sweet. It is raw and desperate. Our tongues intertwine as we consume each other. I clutch him to me as I bury my head in his neck, inhaling his familiar scent, and placing feathery light kisses behind his ear.

"You’re killing me Tulip," he groans, pulling me tight against him.

I can feel the evidence of his lust rubbing against me through the material of his slacks, causing my pussy to tingle, and become moist. My mind is screaming at me to stop, but my body is running on auto pilot. It has no intention of listening to a damn thing my mind says.

He breaks the kiss, but does not release me. Running his hands down the contours of my body, I shiver. He smiles and kisses the corner of my mouth. “I love you Tulip,” he says holding my gaze.

I freeze, like a deer caught in headlights. I can’t move. He has no idea the magnitude of those words. My heart rate spikes as I blink back tears. I’m feel like I’m drowning in my own messed up thoughts. I so fucking want to believe him, but how can I? I have been falling in love with him since the very beginning.
Will I admit that out loud?
Hell no! I don’t think love can fix our problems. There is so much mistrust and apprehension between us that I’m not sure if anything can.

Hurt momentarily clouds his features. Resting a finger against my lips he gives me a slow smile.

“You don’t have to say it right now, babe. I didn’t mean to tell you like this, but I want you to know. You need to know how I feel about you. Hell, I want to scream it from the rooftops and let everyone know.” He kisses my lips lightly, running his tongue along the seam. “Tell me when you are ready. I know you feel the same way about me, even if you are too scared right now, to admit it.”

I take a step back, breaking our closeness, and causing his hand to fall. I swipe at the few tears tracking down my cheeks. It is taking everything within me to stay strong and not give in to him. I ache, already missing his warmth and the feeling of being wrapped in his embrace.

“
And who made me that way Daemon?” I hiss, letting anger overtake the sadness filling me.

He pushes forward and I stumble back a few steps in surprise. Bracing his arms on either side of me, he pins me between him and the wall. The weight of his body against mine feels deliciously comfortable. I turn my head away, refusing to look at him. It might seem futile, but I will try anything, not to fall into the same bottomless pit of lust and hormones, that always befall me when he is near.