April Embers_A Second Chance Single Daddy Firefighter Romance Read online

  “Your Pepsi, Madame.”

  “You’re relentless, you know that?” I asked.

  “I didn’t even do anything.”

  “Sometimes you don’t have to. Sometimes all you have to do is say a word or do something.”

  “Do something, huh? Well, what about this?”

  He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek.

  “Hayden.”

  “Or this?” he asked.

  He placed a kiss against my bare shoulder and I sighed at the warmth of his lips.

  “Hayden,” I said breathlessly.

  “Or this,” he said.

  I felt his hand creep across my thigh and slide underneath my dress. He cupped my clothed pussy and I blushed at the heat pouring from my body. He stroked his fingers along the damp fabric as I laid back into the plush pillows of his bed, the pizza already forgotten about as I set my drink unsteadily onto the bedside table.

  “Hayden,” I said with a whisper.

  “Yes?” he asked against my ear.

  “I… I want…”

  “What is it, Grace? What is it you want?” he whispered into my ear

  He nipped at my earlobe and it almost sent me through the roof.

  “Say it,” he said hotly. “Tell me what your body needs.”

  Then, I decided to get even. I slowly turned my head to face him and our noses nuzzled together. I danced my lips on top of his, feeling how much he wanted me. How eager he was to rip this dress away from my body. My hand came up and cupped his cheek and I tried to block out how wonderful his hand felt pressed against my pussy folds.

  I grinned as our eyes connected once more, then I pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose.

  “Pizza,” I said breathlessly. “My body needs pizza.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Grace

  “You’re right. This pizza’s amazing.”

  “I told you,” I said.

  “I’ve had pizza in a lot of places, too. Italy. France. Australia. Germany. I wonder what kind of sauce they use,” Hayden said.

  “It’s all homemade and locally sourced. It makes all the difference.”

  “There’s something they put in their sauce though. It’s incredible. They should patent it before someone tries to steal it.”

  “I can see those wheels already turning behind your eyes.”

  “There are many things I can cook, Grace, but pizza is not one of them.”

  “And here I thought you were perfect,” I said with a sigh.

  “This pizza’s so good I can almost see why you turned me down earlier. Almost.”

  “Awww. Are we still pouting?” I asked.

  “Possibly.”

  “Don’t worry. You’ll get your chance.”

  “Chance?” he asked. “What chance. We blew ‘chance’ out of the water two days ago.”

  “And if you recall my statement earlier, my body still hurts.”

  “That only means we have to build up your tolerance.”

  “Uh huh. Which means more exposure over an extended period of time, of course.”

  “Oh, of course. We wouldn’t want to rush you into anything too hard too fast.”

  “But I thought that was your specialty,” I said.

  I took the last bite of my pizza as his eyes panned over to me.

  “I’m completely stuffed. Now all I’m going to be is a bump on a log.”

  “I can work with that,” Hayden said.

  I giggled and swatted at his thigh before I slid from bed.

  “Can I borrow your bathroom?”

  “Only if you bring it back. I’ll need it tomorrow morning.”

  “Hardy har har. I’ll be back in a second,” I said.

  I slipped into the bathroom and the decadence shouldn’t have shocked me. But, it did. His bathroom had a double-sink vanity with marble countertops and the same jetted tub from downstairs. But, there was also a stone walk-in shower that lined the far wall. I washed my hands at the sink and dried them off on the softest towels I’d ever used in my life, but my curiosity got the better of me.

  I slowly made my way into the shower and began looking around.

  The thing was massive. And it could easily hold six or seven people in it. There was a waterfall shower head hanging from the ceiling and mist jets burrowed into the rocks. The shower could turn itself into a steam sauna with the click of a button, and again… I shouldn't have been shocked. With Hayden’s love for luxury goods and his prestige and monetary success, nothing about his place should have shocked me.

  And yet, it always did.

  I ran my fingertips along the stone and closed my eyes. I bet this shower felt wonderful with hot water running. I pressed my cheek into it and felt the cool temperature of the stones cascade along my body. The darkness of the shower lended it an intimate atmosphere, and soon I was whisked away into my own little world.

  Until hot water rained down on my shoulder.

  “What the-?”

  I felt hands come down onto my hips and rip me around. My hands flew up to cover my face, but before I could catch my breath they were pinned above my head. Hayden’s fiery eyes came into view and I saw he was naked. Removed of all his clothing as water beat down against his chiseled muscles. It rolled over his shoulders and soaked his hair. It made his skin glisten as the water droplets found the pathways of his sculpted abs.

  “I was wondering where you’d gone off to,” he said darkly.

  Then his lips crashed against mine.

  I rolled my hips into him and felt his cock throbbing against my body. His hands released mine, then wrapped around me and pulled me from the wall. He whipped me around and placed me underneath the hot water and I gasped. I felt him strip my dress away and tear at my underwear, desperate to get me naked. To feel his hands run along the softness of my skin.

  I could feel my makeup trickling down my face.

  Hayden gathered me in his arms and held me close to his body. The water was pouring down around us as I opened my eyes and felt his breath pulsing against my lips. I was on my tiptoes. My arms were locked around his neck. Our noses were barely touching and his hands were gripping my ass, hoisting me closer into his pulsing groin.

  “You ruined my dress,” I said breathlessly.

  “Well you ruined my expectations of women, so we’re even,” he said.

  His lips crashed to mine and I jumped to wrap my legs around him. The hot water dripping down our bodies sent my mind into a frenzy. His hands rushed up my back as I locked my body around his, feeling his muscles twitching as our tongues battled for dominance. He walked me backwards, pinning me against the stone wall as it heated with the water.

  Then, with the flick of his wrist, the mist jets turned on and blanketed us in the most relaxing steam I’d ever experienced.

  His cock slid into me as his body pinned me to the wall. His hands planted against my head as I raked my teeth along his bottom lip. He groaned into my mouth, his tongue touching every part of me he could. He rolled his hips deeply into me, his trimmed curls caressing my clit as his lips kissed down my neck.

  “Hayden. Yes. Oh, right there. Yes. Oh…”

  My body shivered as Hayden’s teeth raked over that sensitive spot behind my ear.

  “Mmm, that felt good. Will you do it again for me, beautiful?”

  He nibbled with his lips and I fell into him, weak against his body. His lips. His warmth. But it didn’t matter. Not to Hayden. Not to his strength or his dominance or his confidence. He continued to nibble and I continued to shiver, and the more I moaned the harder he fucked me into the wall. My juices were dripping down his cock and the steam was gathering around us. My hands rushed to his hair and fisted it as tightly as I could, then pulled him deeper into my neck.

  The growl he released shot electricity through my veins, and soon my pussy was clamping down around him as hard as it could.

  “Hayden! Yes! Please!”

  “Fuck, Grace. I can’t get enough of your body. You’
ll be… you’ll be…”

  His hips were already stuttering and I felt his curls raking into my clit. My toes flexed and my legs tightening and my entire body pulled taut. My head fell back into the stonework as his muscles pressed deeper into my soft curves. I felt myself filling his edges as his body covered me from the world.

  His cock pressed against my walls, throbbing as I pulled him deeper. I shook with my orgasm as my body popped, sending me into a spiraling frenzy. Goosebumps appeared everywhere and my jaw was unhinged with pleasure. Hayden was sucking at my neck, pulling welts and bruises to the surface as he pounded into me. My nails raked down his back and clung to him as he slammed into me, my pussy pulling him as deep as I could have him.

  Then our lips crashed together and his hips stilled against mine.

  Hot threads of cum filled my body before pouring out from between my thighs. The steam around us was thick and the hot water pouring from the ceiling was washing away the evidence of our love. We slid to the floor as his dick continued to fill me, his legs no longer capable of holding his massive body up.

  His face fell into the crook of my neck as my fingertips ran along the back of his neck.

  Over and over, we kissed one another. Shoulders. Lips. Cheeks. Anywhere we could touch felt the press of our lips against the other. Hayden laid us down on the shower floor as the water continued to beat down upon us and the steam relaxed the rest of my aching muscles.

  He pulled his cock from between my legs and I shivered, causing a grin to tug at his cheeks.

  “Oh Grace,” he said as he cupped my cheek.

  My eyes fluttered open and all I could do was lay there.

  “Yes?” I asked breathlessly.

  He rose up and pressed his lips to mine one last time before he gathered me in his arms.

  “You’ll be the death of me,” he said into my ear.

  And I smiled as I nuzzled my body deeper into his.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Hayden

  “The project in the Caribbean is going well,” Alicia said. “We’re on track to open our doors by the end of the year, and booking options will open up a month before that date. We’re looking at filling all the rooms within the first five weeks of offering our latest packages.”

  “Perfect,” Mike said. “What about the return for the investors?”

  “They should be seeing some sort of return come March of next year, but it’ll all depend on how quickly the rooms fill up, what packages they choose, and whether or not they begin to add things on. At the latest, they’ll see a return next summer.”

  “I know we were talking about the idea of building another few sets of bungalows and villas in Hawaii. Where are we with that?” Mike asked.

  “It hasn’t been brought up to the investors, but I can put it on the agenda for the next meeting,” Alicia said.

  “Sounds good. Anything to add, Hayden?”

  I sat there, staring out the window as my newest Senior Project Manager and my COO went back and forth about things I needed to be caring about. I should’ve been caring about them. I really needed to keep my head in the game. But I was unfocused. Distracted. None of it seemed to matter any longer. The hotels. The luxuriousness of it all. Not even the view from my penthouse office could rip me back to reality.

  My return to work was less pomp and more circumstance. It was time for me to go back. People were expecting me to return. But it wasn’t something I was necessarily overjoyed about. Investors were dragging me into almost daily meetings because their nerves were getting the best of them and usually? I was okay with talking them down. In fact, it was one of the things I was skilled at. But lately, I was looking at them in an entirely new light. A bunch of old, crotchety men who smoked cigars they didn’t care for and drank Scotch that was way too expensive in an attempt to portray some type of strong facade before running to me, scared, with their tail between their legs.

  I had a bunch of toddlers I was babysitting. Not men investing wisely with me in my company.

  “What if we found new investors?” I asked.

  I slowly turned my seat around and found dumbfounded looks on both Mike and Alicia.

  “Wanna run that by me again?” Mike asked.

  “Come on. I’m staring at an email from two of our fifteen investors and they want to schedule another private meeting. I’ve seen all of them at least four times in the two weeks I’ve been back. We need investors with balls, and we don’t have that,” I said.

  “They have reason to be concerned,” Alicia said. “This project was falling through just before you were in your car accident. It would make sense that they would be nervous about embarking on anything else.”

  “Then listen to this email,” I said as I pulled it up. “Mr. Lowell. It’s wonderful that you’re back. I hope you’re feeling well. I was wondering if myself and Mr. Rashaw could have the chance to sit down with you face-to-face and plot out, in its entirety, when we expect to see our returns from this project. Also, is there any chance we could talk about how the company is advertising itself on television? It’s rubbing me the wrong way.”

  “Rubbing him the wrong way?” Mike asked.

  “That’s what it says. In my absence, how much did you lean on the investors?” I asked.

  Mike and Alicia fell silent and I drew in a deep breath.

  “Our board needs to be reminded of what their role is in this company. They also need to understand what they do and do not control. Now, it’s flattering that you guys couldn’t seem to hold down the fort for the past three and a half months, but I’m back. And my investors are still bouncing between cowardice and holding their tail between their legs. It shouldn’t be my mess to clean up.”

  “Yes sir,” Alicia said.

  “Hayden, they did have more say in things,” Mike said. “But it isn’t out of the ordinary for them to want to know projections for their investment.”

  “A file I’ve given them three times over the last two weeks. A file that has not changed as of…”

  I looked at the clock and counted down the minutes.

  “Two hours ago. Which was when our last meeting occurred,” I said.

  “Okay, so the investors are being a little overbearing,” Alicia said.

  “If I get another email in my inbo-”

  But before I could get the damn word out of my mouth, my email flashed with another message from an investor. Yet another poor, lost little soul wondering about projections, money, and this time? The company’s image.

  Something my Public Relations department had been on top of and excelling at for an entire month.

  “Alicia.”

  “Yes?”

  “Call another meeting with all the investors. Inform them that this will be the last official meeting for the rest of the year, so come prepared,” I said.

  “What?” Mike asked. “There’s still two more quarters to go.”

  “And we’ve already had double those meetings since I’ve been back,” I said. “Alicia, inform the investors that this is their last chance to air any concerns they have and ask questions. Tell them the projections haven’t, and won’t, change. Also tell them that if they’re really this worried about a company that they feel they have the right to control, poke, and prod about every aspect of it, then I will find an investor to replace them.”

  “Mr. Lowell, I don’t think that’s-”

  “Do it,” I said curtly.

  I dismissed Mike and Alicia with a wave of my hand and turned my chair back towards the window. I knew why I was distracted and I knew why I was upset. The more time I spent fielding a bunch of whiny men, the less time I got to spend with Grace. I was working until six every night and then getting on my computer and writing emails back and forth until almost nine. I hadn’t seen her since my return to work and I was getting anxious. Upset.

  I missed her.

  I picked up the phone and dialed my mother’s number. I had it memorized after the past three and a half months. I leaned
back into my leather chair as the phone rang in my ear, and I closed my eyes to take in the quiet of my office.

  Because I knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long. The beeping of my email computer would soon take the place of the restful silence I was experiencing.

  Tough shit for my investors if they didn’t like it.

  “Hayden? Is that you?”

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “What number are you calling from?” she asked.

  “It’s the office number,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Wow. I haven’t received a call from this number in… many, many years.”

  “We all miss him, Mom.”

  “Some days more than others, but we all get through somehow,” she said with a sigh. “Is everything okay at work?”

  “It’s… going.”

  “You sound distracted.”

  “I am, but that’s not why I’m calling. I want to take you and Cara out to dinner as a ‘thank you’ for all your help during my recuperation.”

  “Hayden, that isn’t-”

  “I didn’t ask, Mom.”

  “You sound like your father,” she said coyly.

  “I get all my worst traits from him,” I said with a grin.

  “When were you thinking? Tonight?”

  “If that’s not too soon. I’ve been at this office until nine or ten o’clock every night since I’ve been back. If I don’t have something to do tonight, the office will chain me here until I starve.”

  “I remember those nights with your father. He would always come home so tired,” she said.

  “I’m going to make us reservations at Daniel.”

  “Oh, that French place? Hayden, don’t do that. It’s so expensive and I’ll have to dress up and-”

  “You deserve a night out, Mom. You and Cara both. Let me do this for you guys. Please?”