BurnforMe Read online

  He just couldn’t believe she’d gone so far as to get engaged to Rick Smart’s brother. He’d known she was determined to get their son’s killer behind bars, he just hadn’t known she could go to such lengths. Just thinking about David sent shivers shooting through him and with the shivers came the mixed emotions of frustration and anger and grieving and everything that came along with it. But before those emotions grabbed a hold of him, he forced them back down inside himself. He didn’t have time to grieve anymore. He’d done a whole lot of it over the past few years and he was tired of it. Besides, right now Avery was top priority. He hadn’t missed that gun falling out of her bouquet and if he’d seen it, someone else probably had too. He definitely needed to get her to safety.

  The Smart brothers would figure everything out sooner or later. Hopefully by then, Mason would have talked sense into his ex-wife and he could get her into some sort of counseling and protection until they lost interest in her. As if any man could lose interest in a sweet babe like Avery, Mason thought as he resisted the urge to bury his face into her soft-looking shoulder-length blonde hair. He’d fallen in love with her the instant she’d batted her baby blue eyes at him all those years ago. But he didn’t have time to go down memory lane.

  Mason twisted the key in the ignition and the car roared to life. He held his breath as Avery shifted against him. When he whispered into her ear that he was here and everything was going to be all right, she melted deeper against him and stayed asleep.

  After he veered away from the parking lot and back onto the unlit rural road, he allowed himself to hope that maybe, just maybe, he could get Avery back into his life again. He’d figured four years of being apart would have killed off any desires he may still harbor for her.

  It hadn’t. Feeling her warm body pressed against his side, hearing those soft moans and seeing that fire in her eyes today after he’d kidnapped her, had awakened all those long dormant emotions.

  He realized he was still in love with Avery. Had never stopped loving her and he wanted so badly to make up with his ex-wife and make out with her. But he knew once she fully woke up, he’d have a hell of a fight on his hands. He could only hope Avery stayed asleep long enough so he could get her to the tiny cabin he’d rented.

  Chapter Two

  Avery knew she was dreaming. Knew the way it would end, but this time she couldn’t pull herself out of it. Couldn’t stop the memories from coming…

  She still remembered the night they met. It was as clear as if it were yesterday. Waitressing. It was her life since she’d graduated high school back in her hometown of Oshawa and she loved it. It was a hot summer evening in the tourist town of Gold River in Northern Ontario and she’d only been working at this Irish pub down the street from the police station for a week when Mason Daniels walked in. Something inside her burst into flames of lust and she’d known instinctively he was the man she was going to marry. Didn’t know how she knew it, she just did.

  He wasn’t the best-looking man in the place. Nor was he the funniest. Usually she fell for guys who were really good-looking, cheerful and fun, but Mason was anything but. He was quiet and cool and looked a wee bit like the actor Richard Gere. Oh how sexy he appeared in the confident way he walked, his lean hips clad in blue jeans and nice wide shoulders hidden beneath a black leather jacket. He walked in and paused at the door looking around, checking his surroundings. The moment he saw two of the bachelor cops who frequented the pub nightly for dinner at a table in the far corner, he seemed relieved. She watched him as he strolled over to their table and pulled out a chair, set it in an area around the table where his back was to the wall and he could get a full scope of the bar. Then he sat down and she watched how he smiled when the two men he’d joined clapped him on the back in excitement at his showing up.

  It wasn’t until later in their relationship that she learned he never went to bars and never drank because of his dad being an alcoholic. She’d also learned that he’d shown up that night due to the urging of his two closest buddies. They’d bragged to him all week at work that there was a really cute new blonde waitress he had to see at Irish Pete’s Pub. They’d told him she was as quiet as him and seemed perfect for him. So he’d decided to finally drop in to take a look.

  While Avery picked up the menus for them behind the counter, she’d watched his two buddies nod her way and when Mason turned to look at her with his dark brown eyes, she flew straight into heaven. She had no idea how she’d managed to walk over to the table, because the entire time he looked at her, he made her so nervous, and so aware of herself as a woman, that she swore she’d never felt so feminine before in her entire life. She’d been twenty-three years old and ready to settle down with him and have his kids that instant.

  “What time do you get off?” he’d asked. She could tell his friends were stunned at how fast he moved.

  “Midnight.” Gosh, was that her voice sounding so breathy and sexy?

  “I’d like to take you to dinner. Any objections?”

  Hell, no. Jerkily she shook her head. Goodness, his eyes were just so gorgeous, they actually twinkled as he looked at her. And blazed with so much warmth she swore she could see the flames in his brown depths.

  “I’ll have a root beer, please.”

  “Root beer?” One of his friends, Tim, laughed at Mason’s request. The other friend, Trey, merely grinned, quite happy that Mason had shown up at all.

  Mason ignored them.

  And I want you, his eyes said boldly as he kept studying her.

  Oh boy.

  Avery fought for breath as she took their orders. He continued to watch her work that night and she ached to have his arms around her and her vagina throbbed with a potent need to be filled by him. And he had filled her. That night. After dinner. At her place. And every night after.

  They were married within six months and their son came nine months later. A sweet beautiful boy with Mason’s brown eyes and her blonde hair. David wanted to be a doctor from as early as she could remember. They’d decided on no more kids because David was their world. When he went off to pre-med, the house was empty, but their sex life blossomed as they explored each other again.

  “Are you sure about this?” Mason breathed one night.

  She stopped lathering the flesh around his huge swollen balls and picked up the throwaway razor, wiggling her eyebrows as she looked up at him splayed out on their bed. “What? Don’t you trust me with your family jewels, babe?”

  “I trust you, but I don’t trust a blade down there.”

  “Get used to it because your ass is going to be next.”

  She creamed as he swore gently and pulled against the restraints.

  She’d tied him to the bed with some silk ribbons she’d picked up at the fabric store that morning. Now after all these years of being at his mercy, and loving it she might add, she decided it was time for her to take charge for a change. And she cherished this change. Enjoyed the way his lean muscular body tensed every time she ran the razor over his flesh as she cut away the hair around his balls and near his engorged cock.

  “Who knew a razor would arouse you so much?” She quirked an eyebrow at him and licked her lips as she eyed the swollen length of his flushed cock. She’d never taken his cock into her mouth. Not once in the twenty years they’d been married. On their honeymoon it had been close, but she’d been unable to go through with it because he’d been too impatient, taking her, making love to her so many times. He’d always been like that. Taking her. Loving her. She’d never wanted more. Never needed more.

  But since David was out of the house, she was feeling so adventurous. She wanted to try everything with Mason. Oral, anal, bondage and who knew what else.

  “Just take it easy down there,” he growled as she caressed away the remainder of the lather with a wet cloth. She smiled back at him and then suddenly realized he’d freed himself from his silk bonds.

  “Mason.” Disappointment ripped through her. It didn’t last long because
within seconds he reached up and tugged her down, wrapping her in his arms. His skin seared her naked flesh as he maneuvered her on top of him. His hands were like brands as they latched onto her hips and he lifted her.

  “Mason,” she cried out again. This time not in disappointment but in wide-eyed wonder, as he gently lowered her onto his solid erection.

  She could feel herself creaming harder and she trembled as he slowly stretched into her. Erotic sensations lashed her senses as he brought her down so exquisitely gently on top of him. She moaned her satisfaction as he impaled her and anchored her on him.

  “Don’t move. Not yet,” he whispered. Once again he was in charge of their sex and Avery smiled. He always had to be in charge. She’d need to work on that. But another time. Right now, she liked sitting on top of him. Liked his solid swollen flesh buried deep inside her vagina.

  Letting go of her hips, he smoothed his hands along her sides and cupped her breasts, thumbing her pink nipples with his roughened fingers. His intimate touches had her gasping and breathing roughly.

  Mason grinned in appreciation and her heart smiled.

  He hadn’t aged after all this time. Not much anyway. If anything, he looked even better the older he got. A few wisps of gray at the sides made him look sophisticated. And his brown eyes still twinkled with love for her.

  “Whoever said the empty nest syndrome was the pits was crazy. Now that the kid is out of the house we don’t have to be quiet anymore. So let’s be free, baby. Let’s be free.”

  Blood pounded through her veins as he sat up with her sitting on him. Nestling her legs around his waist, she realized this angle was a good one. It buried him even deeper inside her and his pubic bone ground quite nicely against her clit.

  His eyes sparkled as she writhed against him. Gyrating their hips, they stayed within a small circular motion that seemed most beneficial to both of them. He kept his hands on her breasts, massaging her flesh and pinching and twisting her nipples. She, in turn, did the same to him. Squeezing and plumping his nipples until he was gasping and breathing hoarsely.

  Leaning in, he trapped their hands between their bodies and kissed her tenderly, a direct contrast to the roughness she now craved. As his lips melted featherlight over hers, she swore she saw fireworks as she closed her eyes. His firm mouth destroyed her self-control and overloaded her senses.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, his voice sounded so deep and strangled as he broke the kiss to say those words, before taking her mouth again. Harder this time. Rougher. Their gyrations grew faster and frantic and soon she was spiraling toward the pleasure she loved. As an orgasm exploded, she shuddered and convulsed and he stopped kissing her and ground harder against her.

  “C’mon, baby, I want to hear you,” he urged.

  Excitement lashed her and Avery allowed herself to fly free. Keening and whimpering, she rode the climax and realized the sounds she made were hoarse and sensual. She blinked in surprise. She hadn’t made much noise with their son in the house. Even since David had left home to attend pre-med, she hadn’t loosened up. Hadn’t realized it until Mason mentioned it tonight.

  Ah yes, freedom. A most wonderful thing. She moved faster against him, digging her fingers deep into his muscular shoulders and a new tight knot of arousal slammed through her. Her whimpers intensified as shards of pleasure shattered through her. It wasn’t until the second climax ebbed that she noticed Mason once again tightening his hold on her hips. Lifting her, he then brought her down again, impaling his shaft inside her and then he brought her up again. Up and down she went, the slurping sounds of their flesh slapping against each other joined his guttural groans and her loud moans.

  Beneath her fingertips she could feel his muscles tightening. Could feel his body tensing as he neared his release. As her second climax ebbed, she could feel the stirrings of a third.

  Oh wow! She hadn’t had three orgasms so close together in one heck of a long time!

  As if knowing she was about to climax again, he moved her faster, his thick, long cock coming in and out of her like a swollen hot piston. His pelvic bone pressing just perfectly against her clit, creating more spectacular sensations. Writhing wildly she came and drowned in the agonizing pleasure. From somewhere far away she heard Mason shout his own release.

  Afterward, lying in his strong arms, their breaths rasping and rough, she listened to the fast beat of his heart beneath his hairy chest where she’d lain her head, and she swore she’d never felt so happy or sexually satisfied in her life. Everything was right with the world. Everything was so blessedly right.

  The shrieking jingle of the phone ringing ripped her out of her newfound mood. As Mason had grabbed at the receiver, something evil and hard had slivered inside of her. Even before he answered it. Even before he said hello. She knew. She didn’t know how. She just did.

  In the dim light of their bedroom she saw Mason’s eyes widen in disbelief. Watched him shake his head in denial.

  “Are you sure? I mean David? Our David?” he’d said into the phone, his face going so pale she swore he looked as if he would pass out. And then someone was knocking at the door. And she was begging Mason not to answer.

  But he did. Their friend, Trey and his new girlfriend stood there. Tears were in their eyes. They’d been crying. They were saying how sorry they were. Saying something about bad drugs and David and a party and someone dropping drugs in his drink…

  But this time the dream was different. In reality, Mason had been cold with shock. Quiet and despondent. So distant. He hadn’t held her. Hadn’t comforted her while she’d cried and screamed. But this time, in her dream, Mason was taking her into his arms and he was holding her, comforting her, telling her he loved her so much and nothing would pull them apart.

  Ever…

  Avery smiled to herself and tugged the warm blankets tighter over her shoulders and nestled deeper into the pillows.

  Oh if only it had been that way. But it hadn’t. After David’s death their lives spiraled out of control to the point where she’d become so desperate for revenge she finally went looking for the man the kids at the party said had supplied them with the drugs. First she’d thought of shooting him. But she realized he was still out on the streets because he had a knack for staying out of the crosshairs of the cops. So she plotted an easier way to gain access to him. Through researching newspaper articles on him, as well as asking Mason’s cop friends to do some snooping, she gained information that Rick Smart had a twin brother, who just happened to be a cop and he was single.

  And so her plan had transpired into getting a new ID with a little help from Trey’s girlfriend who knew shady characters through her work as a social worker. Once Avery had her new ID firmly in place she’d pursued Ron with a vengeance. Getting a job at a bar that he attended on a frequent basis and modestly flirting with him until he’d asked her out.

  All the stress of planning her revenge on Ron’s brother must have really screwed with her brains though for her to be dreaming about Mason coming to her rescue like some knight in shining armor. He hadn’t come into the church on a motorcycle and whisked her off. No way, it had been just a silly dream. The wedding hadn’t taken place yet and she still had her gun ready to tuck into her bouquet of roses.

  And yet she could smell the leather of Mason’s jacket so vividly. Tinges of the gasoline exhaust from his motorcycle wafted off her skin and hints of that manly soap she always loved Mason to shower with. She could even feel his warm large hand intimately cupping her bare breast, as if he really were here. His hard body spooning her from behind. He hadn’t done that after David died. Emotionally and physically they’d retreated from each other, opting to fight at every chance. And yet here she was, snug as a bug and safe in his arms, feeling pretty good. Heck, she was feeling very good.

  She could even hear him snoring softly. Could feel his warm breath rustling her hair. If this was a dream, it sure was a good one. He held her as if she belonged to him exclusively. She’d alwa
ys liked that. The way he held her as if she were the only woman in the world for him.

  Avery found her smile widening. Yes, they’d been really good together. But that had all changed. So why was she here in his arms?

  In one flash, her tummy hollowed out in distress. Oh no. This wasn’t a dream, was it?

  Alarm zapped and her eyes snapped open. In a shocked breath she came face to face with a familiar rustic, stone fireplace, which took up the entire wall of the room she was sleeping in. She suddenly remembered a fluffy black bear skin rug adorning the choice spot directly in front of the hearth. It wasn’t there now, but that rug had been there on their honeymoon. Mason had made exquisite love to her so many times on that rug she’d gotten rug burns on parts of her body. Back then a cheerful crackling fire had blazed in the fireplace their entire stay. No fire greeted her now. The hearth was dead and cold. Just like their marriage. Just like her heart.

  The searing hand cupping her breast moved slightly and she inhaled as a finger and thumb found her nipple and he rubbed her. Raw arousal, dead for what seemed like an eternity, suddenly flickered to life and hummed through her. She dared not move. Dared not let him know she was awake and reacting to his searing touch.

  She tried to remember coming into this cabin. Tried to remember undressing and getting into this bed. Nothing but a complete blank entered her mind. The last thing she did remember, however, was a familiar hard bulge pressing against her backside as well as a strong pair of thighs straddling her hips as she sat for endless hours on the motorcycle.