Playing in Shadow (17 page)

Bryce coughed to attract her attention. “I brought you coffee.” She held the cup out and hoped her nervousness wasn’t noticeable. She’d cried in front of her, had been seen at her weakest. She was nervous as to how to approach Scarlet in the daylight after what had been seen in the dark.

Scarlet rose and took the proffered cup gratefully. “Good morning again.”

Her smile made Bryce’s breath release in one long sigh. “Good morning.” She held up her bag of doughnuts. “I brought breakfast too seeing as I had to cut our ‘morning after’ short.”

Scarlet took the bag from her, opened it, and grinned. “You can sleep/not sleep in my bed anytime you want if you are going to bring me powdered doughnuts afterward.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Bryce leaned in to brush her lips over Scarlet’s. “Thank you for last night. Next time I’ll try to be less of a basket case on what was just our second date.”

“Never apologize, Bryce. I’m just glad I could be there for you. I need to be that necessary.”

Her eyes made Bryce’s chest tighten with a want she hadn’t felt before. “You’re more than necessary,” she said. Scarlet’s eyes darkened a shade, and Bryce was captivated by the emotions she could read in them. In Scarlet’s hazel eyes, her deepest feelings were on show, all revealed, naked and unashamed. It was a responsibility Bryce had never expected. This was the boss’s daughter, a work colleague, someone she was still just getting to know.

I don’t care. I feel like I’ve been dying little by little every day since the accident. But not when I’m with Scarlet. She makes me not afraid to live. Whether I deserve it or not she makes me feel glad to be alive again.
The feeling shook Bryce to her very core.

Scarlet’s soft hand cupped Bryce’s cheek and drew her out of her introspection.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Like I am the biggest fool on the planet for not staying under the covers with you today,” Bryce replied honestly.

Scarlet’s answering grin was all at once seductive. “I’d have liked that.” She set her cup down and used her free hand to tug Bryce closer by her belt buckle. “I liked waking up with you beside me.”

“You’re quite the snuggler,” Bryce said, remembering how Scarlet had wrapped her long limbs around her and clung to her all night.

“I’d gotten you in my arms. I had no intention of letting you go.” She tugged Bryce’s head down purposefully. Their warm breath mingled and their lips were just a breath away from a kiss.

“Scarlet?”

Victor Tweedy’s voice called from somewhere downstairs. It was like a dash of cold water. Bryce stiffened in Scarlet’s hold. Scarlet didn’t let her grip loosen on Bryce’s buckle.

“Don’t even think about being caught by the boss,” Scarlet said. “I’m all grown up now, and he can’t ground me for kissing you.”

“I should get going to my job, while I still have one.”

“He can’t fire you. He needs your skills too much. The fact you want to fuck his daughter and his daughter wants to fuck you is strictly between you and me.”

Bryce’s simmering arousal skyrocketed at Scarlet’s honeyed words. All she wanted to do was slam the door shut and take Scarlet where she stood. “I definitely shouldn’t have left your bed this morning if that is what you were thinking.” She stole a swift hard kiss from Scarlet’s lips. It wasn’t enough to satisfy her.

“I think about it a lot.” Scarlet’s hold on Bryce’s buckle got tighter.

At the sound of someone coming up the stairs, Bryce let out a groan. She tried not to fall further into Scarlet’s seductive aura. She could read promises in Scarlet’s eyes that she knew she would definitely keep. “Work, I have to work,” Bryce muttered and pulled further away, finally breaking Scarlet’s hold on her.

“Thanks for breakfast.” Scarlet pulled a doughnut out and took a healthy bite. Her lips were instantly covered in the soft powdered sugar. It made Bryce sorely tempted to lick and kiss it all off. Bryce backed out of the room before temptation drove her to do the things her imagination was begging her to try. She almost collided with Victor as he reached the landing.

“Morning, Bryce,” he said as he walked in on Scarlet. “Hey, you. You have doughnuts? What makes you so special? Have you got one in there for your old man?”

Bryce escaped while she could, hoping that Victor couldn’t tell how flustered she was. All these sensations were new to Bryce; she’d spent a long time cut off from feelings while trapped in a loveless relationship. After the crash, everything had revolved around her healing and the nightmarish dreams that even colored her waking hours. Scarlet was flame personified. She burned through Bryce’s erected walls of misery, setting her alight with a passion she had never felt before.

Bryce had a feeling that when they finally made love she would be helpless in the conflagration. Scarlet had a way of burning a path through all the shadows that shrouded Bryce. For the first time in a long time, Bryce was seeing the light as something more than that which chased the dark away.

With a happy sigh to be home early for dinner for a change, Trent pushed open her front door. She was surprised to be met by silence.

“Juliet?” she called out but was met with no response. Trent closed the door behind her, irritation making her frown. “You’d better not have gone to that fucking worksite for something,” she grumbled as she toed out of her shoes and walked silently in her socked feet. She poked her head around the door to Juliet’s home office. It was empty. She walked through the kitchen into the living room, but again the room was unoccupied. Trent padded upstairs quietly just in case Juliet was sleeping. The door to their bedroom was pulled to so Trent carefully edged it open, expecting to find Juliet resting there. The bed was undisturbed. The nursery was also empty, making Trent reach for her phone. Fear made her fingers fumble over the screen to unlock it.

Where the hell are you?

She checked to see if she had missed any calls, but there were none. She brought up Juliet’s phone number and was just about to press the call button when she noticed the door to her game room was ajar. She was concerned primarily because that room was always securely locked. Filled with trepidation at what she was going to see, Trent pushed the door open. Inside she found Juliet fast asleep in her usual position on the sofa. Trent attempted to calm her heart down. She hadn’t known what to expect. Juliet had been exhausted all night and had been easy to persuade into staying home for the day to rest. The fact she had given in without any complaining had given Trent cause for concern. She’d lost count of the number of arguments they had had concerning Juliet’s need to slow down now.

Trent knelt in front of Juliet and examined her closely. Juliet’s breathing was slow and measured with sleep. She didn’t look as pale as she had the night previous, and Trent was pleased to see an empty plate and cup on the floor. Not wanting to disturb Juliet, she eased back on her heels to stand. At the last minute, she gently repositioned the blanket that was slipping off Juliet’s shoulder.

“Trent?”

Trent shook her head ruefully. Juliet could sleep in the room with guns a-blazing and her shouting out directions, but one blanket shifted back into place and she was instantly awake. She tried not to roll her eyes in amusement.

“You home already?”

“Looks like you’ve been asleep a while, sweetheart.” Trent got back down and brushed at the unruly hair that had fallen over Juliet’s brow. “How are you feeling now?”

Juliet rubbed at her eyes. “Much better than I did. But I want to just eat and then spend the night cuddling with you.” She tugged at Trent’s shirt. “Can we?”

“I’ll go order us something in and we’ll watch TV in bed. I think I can happily spend the evening just you, me, and Newt chilling out. Scarlet’s coming by later, but she can look after herself.” She tipped forward under Juliet’s gentle tug and planted a tender kiss on her forehead. “Are you going to tell me why you are camped out in my game room? You gave me a heart attack. I thought we were being robbed.”

Juliet pouted softly, looking abashed. “I missed you. I looked for something of yours to wear, but I can’t fit into anything because of my bump and you being so damn tall and slim.” She slapped at Trent’s hand that she had reached out for payment at her slip. “I couldn’t get comfy sleeping in our bed on my own, not even with me lying on your pillow. So I came in here. This room is all you. I couldn’t sleep at first, I’m so used to the sound of you playing and being lulled to sleep by that.”

Trent noticed what Juliet had her head resting on. “You’re sleeping on my new Atari sweatshirt?”

“It smells like you and I needed you. I was pretty much out like a light after snuggling into it.”

Trent had to smile. She’d worry about the creases in her clothing later. She was all for placating Juliet’s moods while the pregnancy hormones did their worst. She helped Juliet sit up and then onto her feet.

“Your baby is draining my energy today,” Juliet complained half-heartedly.

“If we’re having a girl maybe she’s a little succubus.” Trent studiously ignored the look she could feel directed her way. “And again with it being my kid when it’s not being good.” She pressed a light kiss to Juliet’s hair.

“Your baby made me break and enter into your gaming room because we both missed you desperately.”

Her not so innocent look made Trent chuckle. “God help me, I don’t stand a chance against two of you.”

“We’ll try not to gang up on you too much,” Juliet promised.

Trent looked down at her snuggled tightly under her arm. “Now why don’t I believe that for one minute?”

“Because you know you’ll be wrapped around this baby’s finger as much as you are wrapped around mine.”

Truer words had never been spoken, Trent admitted to herself. “I like the sound of that.”

“The baby wants pizza.”

Trent groaned. “Really?
Again
? I swear this kid must have some of me in it. Though it can get through more pizza than even I can stomach lately.”

“Extra cheese, some olives, and tell them not to hold back on the sauce this time.”

“Yes,
Newt
, the only fetus food connoisseur I know.” She winced as Juliet poked her in her side. “Extra sauce for Mommy, got it!”

*

“I saved you a doughnut seeing as I skipped out on our lunch date. Which I apologize for.”

At the sound of Scarlet’s voice, Bryce lowered her trowel. She was grateful for the excuse to stop for a moment. She rubbed at her shoulder, wincing as the muscles ached from her holding up her hawk for too long.

“Put that down and come take a quick break with me before it’s time to go home for the night.” Scarlet shook the bag in her hand. “Otherwise I’m eating this last treat and you can go without.”

Bryce smiled at Scarlet’s tone. “Listen to you. You’re already sounding like the boss.” She climbed down her stepladder and only when she was at the bottom did she catch Scarlet’s disgruntled face. “I was teasing.”

Scarlet slumped against the wall. Her pout made her look like a petulant little child. Bryce found it adorable. She tugged Scarlet into her arms and held her close. She ran her hands across Scarlet’s tense shoulders, smoothing and soothing her. Scarlet snuggled in closer.

“For the second day running I had to tell Dad I didn’t come back to step right into a management position. I told him his pressuring me wasn’t going to make me take up the reins any quicker or make me change my mind. And buying me lunch doesn’t sweeten the deal any further either.”

Bryce kept silent. She let Scarlet vent.

“He’s got this grand vision in his head of me just taking everything on now that I’m home. I told him I wasn’t ready, would probably never be ready, and that I have dreams of my own I want to follow.”

“Your photography.”

“Yes. Why can you see that and he can’t?” Scarlet shifted in Bryce’s arms to look at her.

Even in her low-heeled work boots, Scarlet was still taller than Bryce. Bryce loved how Scarlet curled into her arms. She made Bryce feel ten feet tall how she adjusted to fit so well.

“He’s going to end up pushing me away.”

Bryce felt a chill run through her frame.
No, not when I’ve just found you
. “Then you need to explain that to him. Tell him when and only when you are ready will you take over the business. If you ever do at all. Until then you have your own life to lead. He has to realize that.”

“I have photographs to take, pictures to paint, plasterers to plunder.” Scarlet tipped Bryce’s chin up for a kiss. Her tongue slipped past Bryce’s lips to deepen it.

Bryce groaned at the torturous teasing Scarlet subjected her to. When Scarlet pulled back for air, Bryce grinned lazily at her.

“Christ, you’re good at that,” she said, pulling Scarlet back down to take the initiative and kiss the satisfied smug look from Scarlet’s beautiful face. She slipped a leg between Scarlet’s, felt the surprised gasp that was breathed into her mouth. Scarlet began to rock against Bryce’s thigh, riding her in a steady rhythm. In answer to Scarlet’s sensuous movements, the warmth Bryce could feel against her jeans caused her own need to flare. Each press of Scarlet’s thigh against Bryce’s crotch made arousal pool between her legs. The short sting of teeth nipping at her questing tongue made Bryce pull Scarlet tighter on her leg in retaliation. The shudder that ran through Scarlet’s body was payment enough. Scarlet’s hands drifted beneath Bryce’s T-shirt, clutching at her back. She held on tightly as their rocking began to grow desperate. Bryce’s hands were stuffed firmly in the back pockets of Scarlet’s jeans, cupping her buttocks and holding her in place.

“Hey, Scarlet? You still in here? Have you asked—Oh!” Monica’s sudden entrance skidded to a halt as she barged in on them.

Bryce pulled back, her face flaming at being caught. Scarlet wouldn’t let her escape her hold, but she did step back with a barely disguised look of frustration coloring her own features.

Monica shook her head at them both. “It’s a good thing I wasn’t your dad. You’d have been taking over the business sooner than you expected. The way you two were entwined you’d have given him a heart attack on the spot.”