Blaze Page 3

  6

  Tammy

  I’m in my office at work when someone knocks on the door. Before I have a chance to call out, the door swings open. In marches George Hunter in all his formidable glory. I go to stand but he waves me back. He takes a seat opposite me on the other side of the desk. There’s not a single hair out of place on his head.

  “Since you so often drop in on me unexpectedly, I thought I would return the favour,” he says. My whole body is alert. I can only think of sinister reasons why he’d be here. My first instinct is to reach for my phone and call Nate, but I grit my teeth and force myself to smile.

  “To what do I owe this visit?”

  “I know you’ve been seeing my son.”

  “That’s not really any of your business.”

  “No it’s not. Unless it begins to affect my company.”

  “Maybe your company should have a long, hard think about its business practices.” He smiles then. It’s the complete opposite of the warm grin that lights up Nate’s face. George’s smile is frightening.

  “How old are you, Miss Baker?”

  I don’t know where he’s going but I can’t see how it would hurt to respond. “Twenty-four.”

  He nods. “And you’ve lived so long that you know all about the world. Is that the case?”

  “I never claimed to know anything.”

  “Except environmental science. And what’s best for my company.”

  Before I can respond, he puts the folder he’s been holding on to down in front of me. When he flips it open and I see the photo at the top, my stomach lurches. It’s of a woman in a car crash. Her legs are twisted in an unnatural angle.

  “Why are you showing me this?” I try to turn the folder away but he continues to hold it open.

  “Did Nathaniel tell you about his mother?” he asks. I nod, but it’s clear there’s something else he wants to say. “Did he also say she’s in a world class facility that costs an arm and a leg? What would happen to her if he’s suddenly unable to pay for her treatment?”

  Fury flares in my gut. “You’d do that to him over a block of apartments?”

  He steeples his fingers on the table. “I wouldn’t do anything to him. But I’m not solely in charge of the board of directors. There’s only so much I can protect him from and this isn’t the first time he’s defied them.”

  I can’t help the sense of pride that rushes through me. It’s clear George Hunter doesn’t feel the same. “You could support him instead of stabbing him in the back,” I snap.

  “He’s a big boy,” he says. “So he keeps telling me. I can’t catch him every time he falls. I’ll leave this here for your reading pleasure. You’re young and impulsive, Miss Baker. Everything is so black and white to you at this age. One day, when you’re older, you’ll understand.”

  After he leaves, I tell myself I won’t be taken in by his manipulation. But my fingers inch towards the folder and soon I’m reading through it with earnest. Jared has always given me so much grief for being an obsessive book nerd, but I can’t help it. I’m reading and researching. By the end of it, I feel like someone has ripped my insides apart. Because George Hunter is right. The cost of the machinery that keeps his ex-wife comfortable is exorbitant. She’d have to go overseas for comparable medical treatment.

  If Nate loses his job he might not be able to afford her care. I blink back tears when my phone rings and I see his name flash across the screen. We’re supposed to be going to a movie tonight. But as I glance from my phone to the folder, I don’t know what to do anymore. So I cancel the call and pretend it never happened.

  I haven’t picked up or returned his call or texts by the time I leave work. On the way out, I finally text to let him know I haven’t been feeling well. I ask if we can reschedule. Of course he rings me right back.

  I ignore it until I’m in my driveway. He’s practically yelling when I finally answer. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?” he snaps in my ear.

  “Sorry. Stuff just came up at work and I’m so tired and I’ve got a major headache.”

  “I’m coming over.”

  “Please don’t. I’ll be fine. I just need to sleep it off.” I take in a big breath. “Also, I was having a think again about the proposal and maybe it’s not as great as I made it out to be.”

  A long pause. “What did he say to you?” I’ve never heard is voice so cold. It sends shivers up my spine.

  “Who?”

  “I’m coming over.”

  “Nate, wait!” But he’s already hung up. I consider turning the car back on and driving away but I don’t want to be the jerk that ghosts him. He deserves better than that. At the same time, I’m not prepared for this at all.

  When he arrives, I’m pacing around the kitchen in my Disney princess pyjama bottoms and a singlet. He comes crashing through the front door like a tornado. I begin to regret giving him a key.

  “Tam,” he says, “What the hell happened?”

  I take one look at his concerned expression and think about his mum. The flood gates open and all of the tears I’ve been suppressing come bursting out.

  7

  Nate

  I’ve never been able to stand it when women cry. Every time mum does it, I turn into a five-year-old who doesn’t know how to make it stop. When Tammy starts crying, I want to get in my car, drive to my old man’s place and choke the life out of him.

  I move forward to hold her and she retreats. “Jesus, Tammy!”

  She’s half blind from crying so the next time I reach out she’s not fast enough to evade me. I force her knees bent and sit down on the couch with her in my lap. The side of her tit presses up against my chest. She’s not made to go braless. I can’t help the way my cock stirs.

  “Shhhh, baby. Please don’t cry. What the fuck did he say to you?”

  It comes out in a flood of hiccups. By the time she’s finished talking, my blood is boiling. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Was it a lie?” she asks. I cringe.

  “No.”

  She buries her face in my chest. I rub circles around her back.

  “I’m sorry,” she says. “You should do what’s best for your mum.”

  “What about the beach?”

  She shakes her head. My heart breaks for her. I know in that moment I’m never going to let her go. She’s been fighting so hard to keep the Lodge alive but she’d give it up in a second for me. Nobody besides my mum has ever put me first.

  “But there’s something he doesn’t know,” I say as I tip her chin up and kiss both her tear streaked cheeks. “I’m not as dumb as I look. I’ve been investing my money since he forced me to start working for him. It’s in an account he doesn’t know about. I could quit tomorrow and never have to worry about money again.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. I don’t know why everyone finds that so hard to believe.”

  Alistair asked me the same thing right at the beginning when I’d first met him. The same meeting in which I’d gotten him to sign his property over to my company and not the one Dad owns. So my old man is going to get a rude fucking awakening when he looks back at the contract and realises all of this will fall apart without me. That’s what happens when you get cocky and treat people like shit.

  “So your mum’s going to be okay?” she asks.

  I squeeze her tight. “She’ll be fine.”

  She wraps her arms around my neck and holds on tight. It’s agony to know that she’s been so scared but ecstasy to feel the soft warmth of her against me. “Don’t worry,” I soothe, my hand running up and down her back. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  She lifts her head up and smiles. She might have helped me find my conscience but I’m not a fucking saint. The sight of her heavy tits pushed up against my chest is too much to bear. My cock is rock hard and straining in my pants. She blinks and her lashes feather against my chin. The whisper of sensation pulses through my blood. When I lean down and take
her mouth, she opens for me, her tongue inviting.

  The way her hips rock against my erection makes the blood rush tight to my balls. If she keeps going, I’m going to come in my pants. I’ve been dreaming about this too long to let it be over so quickly. She whimpers where my hands come down on her hips to stop her gyrating.

  “Don’t,” she begs, her voice low.

  I lower my mouth and graze my teeth along the line of her throat, kissing and sucking until she’s thrashing against me to allow her to move. When I cover one of her tits with my hand and squeeze, she drops her hand to my crotch and retaliates.

  “You’re going to pay for that,” I hiss.

  She gasps as I tear her singlet from her body. When I turn my attention to her pyjama bottoms, she leaps off me and backs up. “No way!” she says. “These are my favourite pair.”

  I growl at her. “Then get them off before I lose my mind.”

  Wide-eyed, she does a slow strip tease as she hooks her fingers into the waist band and wriggles out of her clothes. “Nate?”

  I have to shake myself. My mind has gone blank from the sight of her all plump and gorgeous. My cock is so hard it’s going to burst. “Come here.”

  She crossed her arms over her ample chest. “Not fair,” she says. Her lips draw into a sexy pout. “I want to see skin too.”

  Before she has a chance to protest, I leap off the couch, grab hold of her around the waist and fall back down. “Hey!” She struggles against me. I keep my hold firm, positioning her straddling me.

  “I’ve warned you since the moment I saw you,” I say against her ear, “If I don’t do this slow, I’m going to come in a second.”

  She doesn’t seem to care. And dammit she’s so hot and lush on my lap that restraint isn’t working anyway. She hooks her finger between the buttons of my shirt and rips it open. I shrug the shirt off as I take her mouth again, no longer able to think logically. It’s the reason why she’s able to unzip my pants and release my cock without me even batting an eyelid. When she runs the tip of her finger over my engorged head, my hips lift automatically. As they do so, she tugs until my pants slip from my hips. And then she wraps her fingers around the length of me and smiles.

  I’ve died and gone to heaven.

  8

  Tammy

  He wants to take control. I know it when her latches his fingers around my wrist and tugs. But at the same time, my hand is working up and down his shaft. His head falls back on the couch and he lets out a groan. I love seeing him lose control. I love it better knowing I’m the one who does it to him.

  His whole body goes rigid when I slide off his lap and onto the couch beside him.

  “Wha–” I get on my knees and take him in my mouth. “Jesus Christ, Tammy!”

  If possible, his cock becomes stiffer as I run my tongue up and down its length. I follow one of the pulsing dark veins that stand out in stark contrast to the pink head. He shudders underneath me. I’ve never willingly taken a man’s cock into my mouth but with Nate, it’s the most erotic thing in the world. It makes me feel powerful. I love the musky, salty taste of him. I love that it makes him fist his hand in my hair and moan.

  At the same time, I know he won’t allow this for long. He’s too much of a control freak to let me take the reins. So when I take the whole head of his cock in my mouth and suck hard, he slips his fingers over my ass and squeezes. I swirl my tongue over his tip, lapping at the beads of pre-cum that spill out. His fingers slide between my ass. I jerk when they close over my pussy. I’m so wet I can feel the juices sliding down my stomach and thighs. The next time I suck, Nate pushes two fingers inside me.

  I cry out. It only makes him pump harder. His cock slaps against my cheek. I use my teeth oh so softly to circle the tip. “Fuck this,” Nate grunts.

  One hand comes up to close around my throat. The other takes hold of my hips. He flips me onto my back on the couch and settles himself in between my legs. The pressure on my throat isn’t hard but the position makes it impossible to move. Nate looms over me, his face a landscape of sharp lines.

  “Tammy,” he breathes. The head of his cock pushes against the opening of my pussy.

  “Yes,” I cry out. I want him so bad it hurts.

  He shoves into me in one fluid movement. I hiss as his huge cock stretches me but I’m so wet it doesn’t hurt. I’ve never felt so full up and taken. And then he starts to move. There is nothing gentle or careful about it. We’re past the point of slow. He takes me in long, powerful thrusts that have me panting in seconds.

  He dips his head and kisses me. At the same time he grabs hold of my ankle and bends it towards my head. It spreads me wider. He sinks deeper with each thrust. The movement of his hips sends waves of friction against my throbbing clit. I can feel the pressure start to build. It becomes too much.

  I scratch at his back and hold on to his ass as I push up to meet him. He releases my lips, shoves his face beside my ear and growls. “Come for me, baby.” He thrusts so deep and holds. When I feel him shudder, my body explodes into an orgasm that almost rips me in two. And then I feel his cum shooting into me and I almost sob with happiness.

  Nate, however, is not pleased. “Too quick,” he says. When the waves of pleasure subside, he lift me and carries me to the bedroom where he proceeds to love me long and slow until I can barely think or move.

  9

  Nate

  As I expected, my old man tries to sue me. We’re tied up in court for months but in the end, there’s nothing he can do. Alistair signed the ownership of the Lodge over to me and I make a deal with Jared and Liam for the development of the site. I’m done with long hours and shady business deals.

  These days I get to spend more time with my mum who is doing much better with regular visits. She and Tammy get along like a house on fire. Even better I become good friends with her cousins. Although my relationship with Anna is tested to the limits when we go ring shopping and she proceeds to look at every single thing in the store. I think my eyes are going to bleed.

  “Maybe you should concentrate on your own ring,” I tell her, pointing to the rock on her finger.

  “Shut up,” she says with a smile.

  When I get home however, my good mood dissipates. Tammy moved into my place because it’s bigger and closer to the beach she loves. Today I find her in the bathroom, her head in the toilet bowl, her eyes teary.

  “Tam? What’s wrong?”

  I crouch down beside her, gathering her pretty hair over one shoulder. She swats my hand away and sniffs.

  “Where have you been?” she asks, her eyes accusatory.

  “I was at work,” I say, feeling the weight of the ring box in my pocket.

  “Don’t lie! I went to see you and they said you hadn’t turned up on the site.” She retches again and tears fall down her cheeks. It hits me suddenly.

  “Holy shit! Are you pregnant?”

  She begins to cry in earnest. I’m hoping it’s just from the hormones because I’m ecstatic. She narrows her eyes and I realise I’m grinning like an idiot. When I go to gather her up in my arms, she pushes me away. This time I frown.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “Who is she? I can smell her on you.”

  “Wah?”

  “You’ve been secretive for weeks and you’ve been lying to me. I want to know the truth.”

  This is so not how I wanted this to go down. But she’s tired and stressed and I can’t bear to see her unhappy. I enclose her in a hug. “I’m not cheating on you, baby.”

  “Then what have you been doing?”

  I’m already on my knees so I can’t really get any lower. When I pull the ring box out of my pocket her whole body tenses.

  “I love you so much, Tammy. And even though you’re crazy right now, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  Her fingers are shaking when I slip the ring on her. Now she’s crying for a different reason. “I’m scared,” she says, placing her hand on her belly.

>   “Don’t be. I’m here. I’ll catch you.”

  And just to prove my point, I lift her up and strip her naked and take her under the shower with me. Whatever happens, as long as I have her, everything will be perfect.

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  About Willa

  I hail from the sunlit shores of Melbourne, Australia. As a result, many of my stories are set Down Under.

  I write smexy short stories that feature growling alphas and the feisty heroines who make them come over all possessive. Most of my stories can be gobbled up in one sitting. Occasionally, when the mood strikes me, I’ll write a longer story to indulge in.

  I adore writing stories in contemporary settings. As a reader, I also love reading books in the paranormal, science fiction and urban fantasy genres. So you can look forward to stories that branch out a little.