Chapter 42
Serenity
I had sympathy for Cinderella.
No pumpkins, wicked stepsisters or midnight curfews were involved, but my dream evening had been turned upside down all the same. The fairytale was a flop.
For a while there, I’d been crazy enough to think I could put my past in my rearview without leaving New Nebraska.
That I could dance the night away with the four men who had all begun to write their names on my heart.
That we could be a big, happy family who didn’t have to worry about tomorrow or about the demons of my past or about the fact that I’d ignored the unspoken, fragile compromise they’d all smoothed over their differences like a varnish for my sake.
Tonight’s emergency had exposed the glossed-over cracks, and I wasn’t sure if things would ever truly be right. Especially between Hunter and Dagger.
I sighed inside.
They’d been getting along better and better too.
Now, all of us but Dagger were in the penthouse suite of the Corn Exchange Plaza and Spa, with the party still going on, twenty-five floors below.
Bryce estimated the last stragglers would be down there until three or four in the morning, but even with the deceitful Alexander Winterborn being banned from Bryce’s hotel, escorted out with the icy reporter in tow, I had no more desire to mix with strangers for now.
Bryce had let his security team in for a gangster vamp sniff and search, then I’d asked if the grizzly squad could be stationed outside, my paranoia running rampant after having my trust taken advantage of so callously.
You never knew who a Temple fanatic might be or who might have been bribed by Conrad or Winterborn, elite bodyguards or not.
Life in New Nebraska came with zero safety guarantees.
Conrad had come for me tonight. I felt certain—proof or no proof. Xander, Ceci’s vamp lover, had been so right: Conrad was the sort who had no limits to what he’d do. And he’d keep coming until I put a border between us. Or maybe even that was wishful thinking.
A terrifying image from all those years in the feeding den flashed through my mind. Conrad’s fangs at full length, ready to sink into my flesh. The attack had left a lifelong reminder on my neck. One of the scars that would never leave my skin. Or psyche.
I might never be free of him. And I’d dragged all my guys into the dangerous mix.
Of course, none of them had complained. Even after tonight.
They were too loving and gracious for that.
But much as I wanted more and more to let them in, to say “fuck it,” cast aside my plans to head for new horizons, and see where these relationships might lead, trying my damndest to love them all as well as they deserved…
it sounded too moronically optimistic. My life never went according to plan.
Peeling off my gloves, I slumped onto one of the living room’s ornate purple couches. My body gave a sigh of ease, but my nerves would need more consoling. I plucked my heels off and placed them underneath, lying back, sliding my bare soles across the velvet.
How spoiled was I these days? Lounging in the most luxuriant hotel room in the state, romantic partner to one of the richest men in the world.
Feeling sorry for myself.
Bryce walked over to stand beside me, his smile kind as always. “May I sit beside you?”
I rubbed my palm in a circle across the upholstery and patted the spot next to me.
He perched on the edge and opened his arms. I curled into the embrace, sobbing lightly. “I ruined the whole evening, didn’t I? Following that fraud outside.”
Bryce kissed my forehead and raised my chin with his finger. “You ruined nothing. That slime Winterborn tried to ruin it. But you’re unharmed, he’s gone, and I’m here with you. I wouldn’t count it a loss.”
“But now Dagger and Hunter are fighting again.” I wiped away tear.
He cupped my cheek with a bare palm and dried another with his soft thumb. “They just had the scare of their life, thinking you were in danger. They’re reactive right now, but they’ll calm down.”
I wound my arms around Bryce’s middle, holding on tightly. “Why can’t the twins be like you? You’re always reasonable, mature.”
He laughed, and I frowned.
“I’m not laughing at you, angel.”
“Then what?”
“If you only knew how many times I wished to change places with them before I met you,” he mused with a pensive head shake, “to have human touch, to roam like a king, towering and fierce, the creature in me fearless, free.”
“I can understand that.” I gripped his shirt and snuggled my face into his chest to hide how hard I had to fight back a sob as I said, “At the den, I would wish for claws, for wings, for the strength to fight my way out instead of just enduring it.” I dabbed at my eyes with the back of my satin glove as I sat up, then straightened his bowtie.
He ran his warm palms up and down my bare shoulders and arms, teasing a finger along my collar bone slowly. “The strength to endure is far more powerful than any supernatural ability, Serenity,” he murmured as his touch sent tingles up my neck and all the way down my spine.
I took his face in my hands and pulled his mouth to mine with a watery gasp.
His arms enveloped me, bringing me flush against him, practically in his lap, as his mouth moved with mine like a matching set.
When he pulled away an inch, he brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear, watching the simple movement with wonder.
“For all of my life, I’ve told myself I didn’t deserve this.
The unremarkable ability to just reach out and touch another person.
I felt cursed from birth. In my darker hours, I began to wonder if perhaps I deserved it, that something about me was unsuited for the world, that people had to be protected from me.
And then you walked into my life and broke the hex, and I feel like I’m truly living for the first time, thanks to you.
You can never truly understand how special you are to me, Serenity. ”
Bryce had all the money in the world, but the simple touch of my skin was more valuable to him than all of that.
Could I really keep pondering leaving if it meant denying him that?
And then it hit me. Why did I find it so easy to deny myself the pleasure Bryce and the others brought me, when the thought of denying Bryce the same thing horrified me?
I’d learned to be as cruel to myself as those monsters in the den had been to me. It had to stop.
I took off my gloves.
“You’re special to me, too, Bryce,” I murmured, pushing back his hair with my bare fingers, relishing the flutter of his lids at the sensation.
“You’ve opened doors for me I thought I’d never unlock.
Thanks to you and Hunter, I’m free to choose the life I want for myself, and I’m starting to realize that whatever future I reach for, I want you in it.
If I have my way, you’ll never be deprived of touch again.
” I looked away as I trembled out the words.
“And you can touch me anywhere you like.”
His eyes darkened as he closed the short distance between us kissing me deeply again.
When I massaged his thigh, he groaned against my mouth, palms sliding down my curves to take handfuls of my ass. I threw back my head with a soft moan, and he kissed my jaw.
“My neck. Kiss my neck,” I whispered.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes,” I rasped. “I want you to rewrite the marks.”
He spoke my name between kisses trailing down my throat, and my blood ran hot.
I slid my hand inside the spaces between his shirt buttons, stroking his firm muscles and soft skin. Then I felt him go hard in his pants beneath me.
“Please, I want you to kiss me everywhere,” I sighed in a sultry whisper.
He let out a low, breathy sound—half pleasure, half frustration—that made me want to tear open his shirt.
But he removed my hands by gently taking my wrists in a trembling grip.
“It’s taking every ounce of self-control to say this, but…
” He kissed my finger between words. “I think we should tease a smile from Hunter and have him mend things with Seb first. Who knows? Maybe we can all do something nice for each other…?”
Hunter was in the next room over, in the suite’s private bar and dining room, sipping strong liquor.
Seb was standing out on the wrap-around balcony, staring off into the stars.
Dagger was down at his precinct, writing a full report on what happened, determined to get an investigation opened into the affairs of Alexander Winterborn, preparing to plead a new case to his lieutenant, come Monday morning.
I wanted to encourage some healing but… “I’m not sure what to do?”
Bryce stood and took off his tuxedo jacket, folding it over the couch’s arm. “Let me talk to Hunter first,” he said, still breathing hard, “then I’ll go out and speak to Seb. It’ll all work out, I promise.”
“And Dagger?”
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow. He and Hunter always act like they’re nothing alike, but if I can show them both they want the same things when it comes to your best interests, that all of this is because they’re equally protective of you, they’ll come around.”
I smiled. “You’ll work your magic, I’m sure.”
“And so will you. I heard about Cecilia soothing the most savage beast ever seen.” He adjusted the front of his pants with an embarrassed grin. “I’ll talk to the big, bad jaguar next door. Then send him through for you to practice your own technique. Sound good?”
“I do have my charms,” I teased. “I’m still learning, but they’re getting better.”
“Better than you realize. Now, would you like some room service? A drink or snack from next door?”
I nudged my toes into the couch’s velvety folds, cuddling a soft cushion. “I just want everyone to be friends.”
“You’ll have it, I promise. Hunter’ll be through here soon. And I’m sure he’ll be putty in your hands.”
Bryce went next door, closing the beautifully carved double doors behind him.
I took a chance to speak to Seb in silence.