Fierce Encounters Series (Contemporary Romance) Complete Collection Read online

  She sat down between two single co-workers who were laughing about something to do with the waiter. They called the waiter back so that Emma could have a good look at him. She agreed that he was worth a good laugh. Emma thought they were being a bit mean. He wasn’t much to look at, but certainly he deserved better than ridicule. She hoped it was the alcohol talking.

  She gladly moved when a few of her other friends showed up. They all hugged and talked too quickly about office politics and who was dating whom. Emma brushed over her own situation, unsure of how to present her BDSM-loving boyfriend with a much too involved ex-wife. She sighed and shrugged, and they moved on to discuss other relationships.

  Emma wondered as Jamie and Marie stood up and waved at a tall, thin man with dark hair and a wide grin. They practically started their own breeze with the waving. Emma smelled a rat, and it wasn’t the citrusy cologne that Gage, as he was introduced, was wearing. Perhaps her lack of enthusiasm over Daniel had been apparent enough for these friends to try an alternative.

  Gage was nice enough looking. He was wearing khakis and a polo shirt, just like almost every other man in the bar. He apparently worked with Jamie as a temp, which Emma saw as strike one. She wasn’t sure why a thirty year old man was working as a temp. She had visions of him living at home. Still her friends had seen something in him, so she felt that she should at least take a few minutes to find out more about him for herself. After all, she and Daniel had never spoken about being exclusive.

  “So how do you know Jamie?” Gage asked across the table.

  “College. We were in the same dorm our sophomore year. How long have you been working with Jamie?”

  He smiled at her. Emma was surprised that this was going so easily. She had thought of Daniel as one of the rare men she was truly attracted to and now Gage was making her question that belief. “About three months. Being a temp is not my ideal. I just needed a way to make ends meet. I had to move here because of my parents.”

  Emma looked a bit surprised. “Is everything okay?”

  Gage sighed. “My family is getting ready to put them into assisted living. My mother has Alzheimer’s and she needs more help than my dad can give her. My sisters, who are all married, thought that someone should be around to help, and since I was the single one, I got picked to help.”

  Emma nodded. She got chosen for a number of family chores due to her singleness as well. She could easily relate. “Well, at least it’s good that they have someone to help – at least that’s what I’m always told every time I get stuck doing one of those chores.”

  Gage stood back up. “Since I’m a man who is able to help others, how about I help you to another round of drinks?”

  Emma gave him an order, and he set off to the bar. Jamie poked her and said, “So what do you think?”

  Emma smiled at her friend. “He’s nice. I’m just not sure what I want right now.”

  “Wow.”

  Emma’s eyebrows went up. “Wow what?”

  “If I didn’t work with him, I’d be asking him out myself and you’re not sure. Is everything okay with you? You’ve been quieter than normal lately.” Jamie leaned a little closer so that she could talk without the others hearing her.

  Emma decided to share just a tad. It was Jamie, who could be trusted for the most part. “I met someone. It doesn’t seem to be working out, so I’m just off my game. That’s all.”

  “And what has this man done for it to not work out? Lie, cheat, date other women, date other men?”

  Emma’s face must have betrayed her, because Jamie squeaked. “A cheater, eh? You need to get rid of him now. It will only get worse.”

  Emma nodded. “I’m not sure that he’s cheating, but –“

  She stopped dead in her sentence for across the street, Emma saw Daniel get out of his car, walk around and open the passenger door for a tall, blonde woman. This had to be the ex-wife, the one who was causing drama. She was laughing and touching his arm as he helped her out. It didn’t look like much drama to her. They looked like they were having a good time.

  Emma blinked twice. The woman was gorgeous, the type of body that models possessed. Tall, lithe, sophisticated. Emma was in shock. Daniel’s words had made this woman seem undesirable, when she was anything but that. Her hair was worn braided and wrapped around in the back. She wore an outfit that probably cost more than Emma’s house payment. Emma slumped down in her seat. She felt very small at that moment. There was no way that she could compete with a woman like that, a woman with all the grace, looks and style that Emma lacked. She felt every bit the bookworm and despaired of ever finding someone who would appreciate her, as she was.

  Daniel was in the restaurant before Gage got back with drinks. Emma thought of going home with Gage out of spite, but she wasn’t that far gone. She knew that wasn’t fair to either Gage or herself. Still she could engage in some flirting. No harm, no foul there.

  Gage set the drinks down and picked his up for a toast. “To getting to know new people. I think it was your turn to tell me about yourself. Why is a beautiful woman like yourself still single?”

  Emma blushed. She felt her cheeks grow warm. No one ever thought that she was beautiful, much less articulated it. Daniel had acted like he felt that way, but Emma never had heard the words from him. She wondered if he said those words to his ex-wife. “Just getting over a bad relationship,” Emma said somewhat evasively. “I seem to pick them all wrong.”

  Gage nodded. “I think we’ve all been there. I was in a pretty serious relationship before I came here, but she didn’t really understand why I had to do this. So we broke up just before I left. It’s hard to get back into the dating pool after that.”

  They’d talked for nearly two hours with Jamie throwing in a casual word or two when the conversation started to dim. Emma laughed and chatted with Gage, and a few of the other women at Jamie’s office, all of whom listened closely to his every word. He certainly seemed to be the center of interest.

  It had been almost 9:30pm when Daniel and the blonde left the restaurant. Emma hadn’t been staying purposely to spy on him, but she’d been having a good time and had noticed on a couple of occasions that his car was still in the lot. They got in the car together and drove off. Emma was tempted to text him and see what story he’d come up with for the evening. Would he lie outright or would he skirt the issue to avoid answering?

  In the end, she’d opted to do nothing about it. She couldn’t change the situation or Daniel. She could only be responsible for her own behavior. She was trying to be the mature one in the situation. She wanted to be able to walk away from this with her head held high, knowing that she’d done what she could.

  Before leaving for the evening, Emma decided to visit the women’s room. She wasn’t one of those who had to visit the loo with two or three others. She was independent enough to find her own way. She started to return to the table to say good-bye, when Gage stepped out of the shadows. “I figured you were getting ready to leave. I just wanted to give you a more personal good-bye.” He handed her a sheet of paper with what Emma assumed was his phone number.

  She smiled. “Thanks. I had a nice time talking to you tonight. Good luck with everything with your parents and all.”

  Gage started to extend a hand, stopped and awkwardly leaned in for a kiss.

  Fierce Encounters Book 3

  Emma inserted a hand quickly between them, completing the handshake and keeping him at a distance beyond the reach of her lips. The awkward encounter with Gage made her miss Daniel all the more, but she also knew that he was likely to be off somewhere with his blonde ex-wife.

  She took a step back and made eye contact with her would-be suitor. “Gage, you’re a nice guy, but I’m just not in the right place to start anything at the moment. Maybe if things don’t work out, I’d be ready in a few months, but I can’t promise you anything. I don’t know what will happen in the future. I just know that at this moment, nothing can happen.”

  He nodded, s
miling with a sheepish grin that made Emma think about her choices. She bet that Gage enjoyed regular sex and didn’t have wildly neurotic women chasing after him.

  They walked back to the table in silence, though Jamie had an eyebrow raised when she spied them. Emma gave her the slightest shake of the head to let her friend know.

  Perhaps because she’d had a few drinks or because of the aborted encounter, Emma picked up her phone and texted Daniel. “Friends and I are at Benny’s. Saw you with a blonde at dinner. What’s going on?”

  She put the phone down on the table and tried not to focus on the amount of time it was taking for Daniel to respond. She didn’t want to think that he was still occupied with that woman, doing the same sorts of things he’d done to Emma over the weekend. The thought made her vaguely ill.

  The phone still had not buzzed by the time she left, so Emma slid behind the wheel, sober and disappointed. Sometime during the drive home the phone buzzed on her lap, but she was too focused on the road. Plus she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of a quick response. He’d received the text approximately an hour after he’d left the restaurant, so urgency was not the name of the game here.

  She pulled into her garage, careful to close the door, so Daniel couldn’t just walk over. She went into the house with the lights still off and moved stealthily to the bedroom. Damn, this was definitely the downside of dating a neighbor, when you didn’t want him to know when you were coming home. She shucked her clothes into the corner and slid into bed. She’d deal with her teeth and hair tomorrow along with whatever hangover lingered.

  The message back was simple. “We can talk soon.” Emma’s heart sank. It was a close approximation to the old “We need to talk” line. Daniel had decided to go back with his wife and leave Emma alone. Maybe she should have just kissed Gage, but it wouldn’t have felt right. She would see this through to the end and then date new people after this had healed. She didn’t want to be one of the serial monogamists who began on their next partner before the current partner was completely gone.

  Like a fool, Emma had not bothered to charge her phone after that disturbing message, so she woke late without an alarm. She had only minutes to shower and dress before leaving for the day. She’d left her phone on the nightstand charging. Several times during the day she fought the urge to ask to leave or to sneak home during a break. Even with the text message she’d received, she still held out a small hope that things could be retrieved. She had just felt such a connection. Had she been wrong about that?

  The day dragged, and Emma finally was able to leave work a few minutes after her normal quitting time. She kept her speed under the limit. No use in rushing, only to get a ticket. Finally at home, she bustled into the bedroom as fast as she could and checked the text log. Nothing.

  She sighed and took a deep breath. Daniel’s idea of soon was not the same as hers. After all the worrying and endless speculation of the day, she made herself a salad and sat down with a copy of Jane Eyre. She was in the mood to read about an ex-wife getting the treatment she deserved.

  It was nearly 8:30 when the landline rang. Emma had lost track of the time, enjoying her time with the book and forgetting the world’s problems. She reached over and picked it up. “Hello.”

  “Emma, it’s Daniel. Do you have some time to talk tonight?”

  Emma looked at the clock again. This would not be an easy conversation, and she knew that she was already running nearly empty, since she’d been out last night. She paused before Daniel said, “Emma. Are you there?”

  She sighed. “Yes. Come over and we can talk. I just have to get up early, so we can’t talk too long tonight.”

  “Understood. I’ll be right there.”

  Emma put down the book and walked to the front door to wait. She could see Daniel coming and she waited there quietly until he arrived. The air had a nip in it tonight, a cool reminder of the rapidly approaching autumn.

  Daniel kissed her at the door, a quick chaste peck. “How are you doing?”

  “Good, but work is crazy.” Emma stood back and let him pass. He walked to the area where Emma had been reading and took a seat near her reading chair.

  “Same here. I had thought this new job would be a little easier on my schedule, but so far it hasn’t been that way. It’s worse than ever.”

  Emma sat down in her chair and curled her feet back under her. She wanted to wait and let him make the first move. That decision reminded her of their encounter last week, the passion they’d shared. Now she wondered if they would ever share something like that again or if he was here to break things off permanently.

  “Last night was not what it looked like at all. My ex-wife insisted that we meet. She’d kept the dog after we split up, and she uses him to get what she wants from me. So last night she wanted to talk about ‘custody’ of the dog.”

  “What happened? Do you have a new pet at home?”

  Daniel shook his head. “No, it was all a game to her. We got there, and she just wanted to reminisce about old times. She had no intention of giving me the dog for a day much less to share custody.”

  Emma gave him a wan smile. While she felt sorry for anyone who lost a pet, she still felt uncertain of her own role in Daniel’s life. “Sorry to hear that. Why does she want to jerk you around like that?”

  “Long story.”

  “Is that what you came over here to tell me – this long story?”

  Daniel sighed loudly. “I can. – if you want me to.”

  Emma laughed. “I’ve wanted nothing but that for quite some time. I’d like to understand better.”

  Daniel looked like he was blushing from where Emma sat. His ears had a reddish tinge, and his cheeks appeared ruddy, even against the remains of his tan. “It’s just awkward and embarrassing.”

  “Everything in life is that way. So tell all.” Emma sat back and let him tell the story at his own pace. She’d waited this long for it.

  “Renee, that’s my ex-wife, and I separated about a year ago. I wanted to try out domination. She tried it a few times with me, but she obviously had no intention of doing this for any other reason than to have something to use against me.”

  “What do you mean?” Emma sat up on the edge of her seat.

  “It was always a case of I tried what you liked, so now you have to do this or buy me that. It got old fast. She just looked at my kink as a way to get her way on everything else. After a few months I just gave up and left.”

  “Well that should have been better. She didn’t have to do anything in the bedroom that she didn’t like.” Emma wondered if she sounded like she didn’t want to do that either. It wasn’t her intent, but the words hung in the air for a second before Daniel went on.

  “For a long time after I left, I just thought that guys with kinks wouldn’t be able to find a relationship or love. They’d only be able to have one-night stands or advertise on Craigslist or websites that accepted that sort of thing. It wasn’t an appealing thought to me.”

  “Aren’t there any – I don’t know, support groups for people who like BDSM?” Emma knew that there were because she’d seen some on-line when she’d been researching what might happen to her before their first session. She wondered at why people did not Google more often. It was a lifesaver for her.

  “There might be, but I didn’t know of them. I was just out there on my own thinking I was the only one who wanted the best of both worlds. It was a pretty lonely time in my life.”

  Emma looked at him and saw the sadness in his eyes. She felt sorry for him. “So then what happened?”

  “After a while, I tried to date, but usually when I told a woman what I enjoyed in the bedroom, it was the last date for us. She’d make it sound like she was still interested but it was always a string of cancelled dates or unanswered calls after that. I just thought the two were incompatible.”

  “So how does all of this affect your ex-wife?” Emma asked.

  “It doesn’t really. I mean, the divorce was
finalized by then, and we rarely talked. One time about three months after the divorce, she came over with some domination paraphernalia and we messed around, but she thought that was going to get me back. When it didn’t, she stopped pretending to be interested again.”

  Emma wondered how long ago that had been, but hesitated to ask. She knew that the marriage had not been over all that long, and so that last hurrah can’t have been too many months in the past. She could feel a little for the ex-wife, knowing that men didn’t always express what they were feeling, even if they felt it.

  “So what’s changed? Why is she back all of a sudden?” Emma crossed her arms, feeling somewhat defensive. She knew there was more to this than what Daniel was telling her, but he was reticent to tell her more.

  He blushed again. “It’s complicated.”

  Emma gave him a small smile. “I’m a smart woman. I can figure it out.”

  “She’s mad.”

  Emma, who had been reading Jane Eyre until Daniel’s visit, thought for a moment that he was meaning she was insane, but she realized better as she looked at him. “Why is she so angry all of a sudden?”

  “At first, she thought that I left her because I was into BDSM. She didn’t like it, but she made it sound like I couldn’t be happy in a ‘normal’ relationship. She passed it off to herself as much as to others that I had a problem and that only by leaving the marriage and getting this itch scratched would I be happy.”

  Emma couldn’t really see where this was going. She followed along, wondering what would happen next.

  “She was fine when I was single. As long as I was unattached and pursuing BDSM, she was fine. My life fit her storyline. It was only when things changed that suddenly she had to face the fact that I’d left her because of her – not because of any kink or desire to pursue that.”