Fixation (Magnetic Desires Book 3) (4 page)

Leo

I set my camera bag down on the edge of the deck and watched my brother’s guests mingle around the backyard. Taking a swig of my beer, I wished it were Jack, or Jimmy, or even vodka. Right now, anything would be better than this charade of an alcoholic beverage that seemed to be the one constant amongst the guests.

I sat the bottle down beside me and scanned the yard. Birdie’s brother’s house sprawled across the middle of a two-acre lot, and the man had gone all out on this shindig. Fairy lights hung amongst the trees, creating sharp pinpoints of light and soft ambience in the clear spring night. The smell of roasting meat coaxed my stomach into a grumble, and I licked my lips as I stood up and drained my beer. We’d done engagement shots earlier, before the crowd had arrived in full force, but I still needed to mingle and get photos of the guests. Picking up my camera, I scrolled through the pictures I’d taken. Birdie was amazingly photogenic. She seemed to bring an atmosphere of her own to each shot, and Drake couldn’t keep his gaze off her. I lifted it to my eye and played with the lens to get a random shot of the crowd.

In the middle of the yard, a group of people had gathered around Drake and his fiancée. I rolled the word around in my mouth. It wasn’t something I was used to, but then I’d have to get used to having my brother back in my life before I got over the fact he’d finally found the girl who made him whole again.

I made my way over to them, in no hurry to be a part of the crowd, or to join the lovebirds at all. Love in general twisted the knife in my gut more than anything else. Seeing it was a reminder of how stupid I'd been to let it cloud my judgment. Shaking it off, I once again wondered if my imagination was to blame for the vision of her I’d encountered yesterday. For a moment, it had seemed all too real. And the way I’d stepped onto the road as she held me captive to her gaze pissed me off more than anything. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d planned to wrap my hands around that pretty little neck of hers, but in that moment I couldn’t be sure that’s what I had in mind. Instead, it had felt an awful lot like I would have fallen at her feet and begged her to come back to me.

Scratching at my beard, I considered it. No, I would have strangled her, because no matter how good she looked, no matter how my body responded to her, when she opened her mouth, I would have been able to see the lies she weaved. That fool who fell for her when we'd first met was no longer a part of me. I pulled my attention back to my brother, who wrapped his arm around Birdie. She tilted her head to smile up at him, and he leaned down to whisper in her ear. Cringing, I halted in my tracks, wanting no part of this love-in. What I wanted was a bottle of something strong and a body underneath me. Neither of which I could get here. Drake had given me fair warning and for once I'd obliged him. Some damn good photos and support for my brother were the only reason I was here.

Besides, none of these women mattered. Natalie was on speed dial, and she’d be more than willing to accommodate me. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I banged the call button as I turned around and smacked into someone.

"Sorry about that." I glanced up from my phone and nearly dropped the damn thing. The vision was back, and I juggled my phone as I tried to regain my grip on it, while she stared at me with friendly hazel eyes and a twitch to her lips. My blood simmered as it raced through my veins and threatened to rip me apart. My fist clenched around my phone, and the crack as the casing bent out of shape and broke was surprisingly loud. Easing my hold, I tried to keep my voice low and even but it came out a snarl. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Two little lines creased between her eyes and brow. "I was invited. And you are?"

I stumbled back a step, though I managed to make it look like a swagger. The heat sparking in my veins turned to ice. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t put her behind me, and she didn’t remember me at all? Or was she playing a game, like the last time?

A homicidal tic began under my left eye as I ground my teeth together. "You really are a—"

"Hey, Mellie, do you know where Mike is?" Birdie interrupted the insult that was about to fly from my lips. Staggering back, my brow furrowed, I stared at this woman she'd called Mellie.

"I don't know. I’m sure he’ll be around." Mellie said to Birdie, before she turned her attention back to me, resting a hand on her hip.

Birdie stepped beside me and gave my arm a squeeze. "Leo, this is Mellie. Mellie, this is Leo." Then Birdie was gone, flitting between the guests on her search to find some guy named Mike.

Mellie stuck out her hand, and I stared at it for several long seconds before I took it. There were no sparks, no heat, between me and this girl who looked so much like the one I tried to forget.

"So you’re Drake’s brother. It’s nice to meet you."

"Yeah. You, too." I managed to get the words out without sounding like a psychopath. "Sorry about that. You remind me—"

Rooted to the spot, still holding her hand, I was unable to get the rest of the sentence out, because across the yard, strolling arm in arm with some guy, was
the
girl. The one girl whose face I had never planned on seeing again and hadn't wanted to. Too bad her damn face stayed with me always. Shaking my head to bring myself back to the present situation, I let go of Mellie. She followed my gaze, glancing behind her before breaking into a grin and striding away. "Hey, Mike, Lola. You took your bloody time."

I couldn’t drag my gaze away from Lola. They were twins, which explained why I’d been confused. Lola stood close to Mike, her hands tucked under her arms. He had his arm over her shoulders and I had the urge to rip it off, not just from around her but right off his body. Steeling my jaw, I glared at him, but he was too busy talking with Mellie and feeling up a woman he had no right to touch, to notice me. I wanted to march right over to him and relieve him of any notions he had in regards to the deceitful cow he was shacking up with. She glanced up as I took a step forward, glanced up and held my gaze with those ever-shifting eyes. My heart stuttered as the air was sucked out of my lungs. Slinking out from under his arm, she crossed the yard to stand in front of me.

"Hello, Leo."

So many years and she hadn’t aged a bit. Her face bore not one line more than it had the last time I’d seen her, and the sensual curves that had held me captive still as high and as tight as they had been back then. And I was sure if I reached out to pull her to me, I’d find she still felt as perfect, as satiny smooth as she had the last time we’d been together. She was still as beautiful and sexy as she’d been the last night we’d spent together.

Where have you been? What happened to you? What are you doing here now when I finally decided it was time to move on?
My throat closed up, my questions going unvoiced even while I ached to reach out for her, but she wasn’t who I’d thought she was. The woman had no heart, and no concept of the damage she left in her wake. Lola hadn’t given a fuck about me. She’d run away without even a goodbye. I cursed myself for still wanting her. My hands clenched by my side, I glared down at her as I made up my mind. I was putting her behind me and letting go of my anger. There was nothing I needed to say to her. Turning on my heel, I stalked over to Drake and snapped a couple of random shots to check my settings.  

Working lent me a focus I wouldn’t have had otherwise, but over the course of the next hour, I found myself scoping her out through the lens. She stayed beside that guy the entire time, and I wondered if he was a poor schmuck like me. Lola was nothing but trouble; sexy, euphoric trouble.

Earlier, I’d had myself convinced I was ready to let her go, to let the past lie and the emotions she brought up with it. Now she was here, in my face, and I wanted her as much as I had when we’d been on the goddamn cruise liner. By the end of the night, I would have to confront her again. I had no idea when she’d moved to Reverence and shacked up with him, but there was no way I could let it go without asking her why she was here, and why the hell she’d gone so far to destroy me, when I would have handed her the money without a second thought.

Lola

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Mike leaned down to whisper in my ear. "Are you okay?"

In some ways, seeing Leo again was a lot like seeing a ghost. Six years hadn't erased him from my memory, but seeing him up close now flooded me with details of what had been. He was older, more chiseled, and sharper than I remembered. He’d added to his ink, the artwork now stretching down past his elbows and over the backs of his hands. But it was his face, the deep etched darkness under his eyes, and the coldness with which he regarded me all evening that hollowed me out.

"I'm fine. I just need to leave. Can I borrow your truck?"

Mike rifled through his pocket for his keys and handed them to me. "Where are you going to go?"

"Back to Mellie's. I'll relieve the babysitter."

Grasping my arm, he gazed into my eyes. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No." I slipped out of his grip. Mike knew more than most about what had happened with Brady, but only what I had volunteered. He’d chosen not to ask about Tia’s father, perhaps because he thought it might be Brady, and I was grateful he didn’t pry. Until I told Leo, it wasn't a secret I was willing to share. "I need some time alone. You enjoy the party and call me if you need me to come back and get you."

"I'll be fine. I'll drive Mellie's car back after I drop her home."

Slipping away, I stole around the side of the house and up the drive. I glanced at the moon, not quite full, as I caught my breath. The first free breath since I’d seen Leo. So many times, I'd imagined that first meeting between us. I’d fantasized about him taking me into his arms, and the understanding in his eyes as I told him why I hadn’t followed him to Carlton. Had even gone so far as to believe he would grab onto me and never let me go again. I hadn’t been prepared for him to turn his back on me without a word. I hadn’t expected the coldness. A chill stole over me, and I rubbed my hands over my arms in an effort to shake it off as I strode toward the truck.

The heavy tread behind me alerted me to his presence, but I didn’t glance back as he stalked me past the other cars. I was sure it was him, but I kept going, not knowing what he wanted to say to me but certain it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. My eyes burned, and I blinked to keep them from welling up, refusing to let him see me fall apart.

He snagged my elbow as we reached the truck, his fingers biting into the sensitive inner flesh. I winced and the burning increased, but he didn’t ease up, his grip tightening more. There would be bruises come morning. His beard scratched at my skin as he pressed my belly against the hood of the truck and growled into my ear. "You need to leave, Lola."

Straightening as much as I could, his body covering mine made it hard to appear nonchalant. My heart slammed, the heat of him seeping into my back, his sweet spicy scent mixed with cigarette smoke, familiar but new. My lungs gasped for him, my lips tingled with want. I clamped them together and then pushed out the words.  "I am leaving."

"No." His lips caressed the shell of my ear, but his words cut into me. "Leave this town. Leave this state. Go back to wherever the hell you came from."

Wrenching my arm free, I spun around. He glared at me. A nerve in his temple jumped. It stung that he didn’t want me, but I wasn’t going to let him scare me away. I crossed my arms and scowled. "No."

"Have you got your claws into that guy? Is that why you're here? Always trying to find some poor loser to screw over." His gaze was brutal and the curve of his lip vicious.  

"I don't have to listen to this," I snapped, and tried to sidestep him, but whatever room he’d given me he snatched back, crowding me up against the hood. Glaring down at me, his face barely inches from mine, he pinned me to the truck. "Then leave. Get your ass in the truck and don't look back."

There was anger in his voice, but the thick hoarseness underlying it betrayed the chink in his coldness toward me.  "No," I whispered. "I'm not going anywhere."

"The fuck you aren’t. You’re not welcome here, Lola." He spat his words, which were full of grit, sand blasting me with his desire to get rid of me. But he thrust his arm around my waist, and spun me so that I had to throw out my hands to brace myself against the truck. The heat of him scorched me through my dress. His erection pressed into the curve of my ass as he gripped a handful of my hair in his fist and tugged my head to the side. Even while I winced from the sharp pain of him pulling my hair, my insides flamed with desire. My breath snagged in my throat as his mouth consumed mine, bruising my lips. The roughness of his stubble scratched at me while he pushed his tongue into my mouth and took what he wanted. Tilting my head more, I surrendered to his possession. When he pulled back, he ran his lips down the side of my throat, nipping at me before he captured my skin between his teeth and bit down hard enough to draw blood, leaving the mark of his teeth in my fragile flesh.

Straining against him, I ached to feel him inside me. "I want you."

"You want me? You sure about that, sweetheart?" Bitterness twisted his words, and I realized I'd voiced my desire out loud, but I didn’t care. I wanted him however I could get him.

My voice trembled over the word. “Yes.”

His hand slipped underneath my dress, grasping my ass, squeezing it before he ripped my thong from me. "Spread your legs for me."

His words speared my core, and I planted my feet wide, allowing him access to the slick heat he conjured. Quickly fumbling with the zipper on his jeans, he sheathed himself in a condom before he yanked the back of my dress, pulling it up so he could plunge into me. Fingers digging into my hips, he dragged me back against him over and over again. I panted, struggling to keep from collapsing against the truck while he hammered into me, his breath coming in audible grunts. God, I’d missed him. Missed the way his body made me feel. My insides quivered as the heat burned into an ache that filled me until I burst with it. He growled behind me, his muscles bunching. Squeezing my hips he came hard, harsh hot breaths tickling the nape of my neck. Then he jerked away from me, doing up his pants while I quietly adjusted my dress.

I wanted to reach out and touch him, to reassure myself that he was real, that I wasn’t dreaming, but his words stopped me in my tracks. "You’re leaving, Lola, because when he sees my mark on your neck, that guy isn’t going to want anything to do with you."

My heart dipped at his cruelty, and I twisted around to push my palms into his chest. "Get the hell away from me."

He staggered back and for a second pain crossed his features before he steeled his expression and sneered. "I’m going to be on your ass every minute of every day until you work out you’re not wanted here." A shoulder strap tore from my shirt as he yanked the front of it and slammed his mouth against mine in a kiss that left me shaking all over. "So you may as well leave now."

Then he turned his back on me and strode down the driveway. I climbed into the truck and started it up. Tears formed and trembled in my eyelashes, and I swiped at them as I backed out of the drive. God help me, I still wanted the bastard.