DevilsBoudoirSeriesSecretLove (5 page)

Dearest Myles,

Words cannot express how grateful I am for the pleasure and the joy you have given me the last six months. The memories you have given me I will carry with me always. I have come to realize, though, that I can never be fully content or happy with you the way things are. I have fallen for you, Mr.
D’Kent
. My love you will have forever, but something changed, something big, and I can no longer pretend that what we have is enough. I want more, but it would be unfair for me to ask more of you. Please, know that I will love you always. Goodbye, Sir.

Always, Annie

Marred by tearstains, it would have to be enough.
She’d done what
she needed tonight and made memories that would carry her through the rest of her life; had told him how she felt. Only one thing left to do. After calling a cab, she whispered one last goodbye to Myles and stepped out into the chill of the night. Hopefully, the chaos of a fire at the club would keep anyone from noticing her coming back for her car. One last look at the man she w
as leaving her heart with wouldn’t hurt either
.

Chapter Eight

Skid marks scarred the pavement where he slid the large black SUV to a stop before jumping out. Blocked from entering the premises by a dozen firefighters, Myles could hardly believe what he was seeing, and he believed less what he was hearing. His club, The Iron Cuff, was completely consumed by flames, engulfed in a cloud of black smoke and soot. Debris rained around the club, and firemen scrambled around like army of ants, but the effort was having little to no impact.

“Sir, please stay calm
.
We’ll need to ask you a few questions soon,
but for right now, all we can tell is that it looks like arson.
A fire doesn’t
burn like this without deliberate use of an accelerant.
We’ll know more once
we get the fire contained, but right now, we need you to stay back.
”
The man was shouting over the din, but Myles was only picking up every few words. Searching the crowd, he tried to mentally account for everyone that would have been in the club after he
’d left unannounced.

“Molly! Where is Molly?! She’s short, brown
hair, kind of spunky. S
he’s the one who called me! Is she still inside?!” Panic rose in his voice,
and he barreled toward the firefighter, knocking him down. Fuck procedure, if she was still in there, he was getting her out. He had to. Myles tucked his face into the crook of his elbow to avoid the smoke, but it was no use. The heat from the flames knocked him on his ass as the smoke choked him before he even made it into the door. On his knees, he crawled toward the entrance that once opened into his opulent club but was now just blackened, charred rubble.

“Molly! Molly, answer me!” All he heard was a strangled moan
before instinct and adrenaline took over. Scrambling on hands and knees, he moved toward the sound. Chunks of plaster and sheetrock from the walls and ceiling lined the soot-covered flooring that once was the grand entrance. Choking, he called out for Molly and waited to hear her. Pulling the top of his shirt up over his nose and mouth to try and keep the ash and debris out of his airway, he squinted and kept moving further into the room. The bar, or what was left of it, was in the middle of the main room; far enough away from the safety of the outside that he knew common sense said was too far. Moving slowly, dodging falling bits of what he could only assume was the second floor, he barely noticed the pain as sharp splinters tore at his flesh.
Finally reaching the muted sound of Molly’s voice, he squinted harder
through the dark, thick smoke trying to see her. Prohibitively dense, the smoke made it impossible for him to find her visually, so he closed his eyes to block out the sting and felt around with his bare hands. Reading the scene like braille, he found what used to be the bar
—
the scalding metal of a knocked over bar stool, broken glass bottles of booze fueling the flames that seemed
to burst out of thin air…a shoe
. A shoe!
“Molly!!
!
I’m here, Molly!
Are you still with me? Come on, Molly, give me something.
”
He moved closer to her and heaved a chunk of what used to be the bar off of a soot-covered form. Dark brown hair and a familiar face greeted him through the intensifying smoke.

“That’s twice now that you’ve saved me, Myles
.
I’m starting to think I really do have a guardian angel.” Just like Molly to try and have a full
conversation when neither of them could breathe let alone talk. Her words came out strangled between chokes, and as much as he wanted her to stop talking to save her breath, her talking meant she was okay, and that was enough to make him let her keep chattering. Shoving the debris off the rest of her body, he found her more shaken up than injured and called for help. Two firemen slid a backboard under her and stabilized her, shouting at him to get out now. Myles crawled back out the way he came in, thankful to have found her. Ducking and flattening out to cover his head, he narrowly avoided catastrophic injury when the CO2 tanks behind the bar caught fire and exploded; fire and destruction consuming every last inch of his club, his livelihood. Coughing and sputtering, he finally climbed to his feet and met Molly at the ambulance.

“We’ll take her to Memorial, you can visit her there
. You should see one of the other paramedics; get on an oxygen mask after that much smoke exposure.
”
The doors closed and sirens sounded as the ambulance took Molly away, leaving him feeling very alone in the midst of such chaos.

Minutes turned into hours, and the sun came up long before the time the fire marshal finished his investigation.

“I’m ruling this criminal arson
.
I’ll send you a formal copy of my
report within twenty-four hours, and you can begin dealing with the insurance company. If you think of anything that might help us find out who
is responsible, please don’t hesitate to call.”
The burly man turned and climbed into the truck, leaving Myles devastated and alone in the middle of the smoking rubble that used to be his club. Shaking his head, he ducked under the police tape, and with his head down, headed back to his SUV and toward home. He needed a shower, but he wanted to see Annie more, and both were waiting for him at home.

Chapter Nine

He wasn’t sure what he expected to find when he got home, but as he
pushed open the door and was greeted by deafening silence, he knew something was off. Sprinting down the hall to his room, he threw open the door, expecting to find Arianna sleeping peacefully in his bed, but the rumpled sheets and empty bed dashed his hopes and twisted his heart.

“Arianna? Are you here? Annie?” He checked the bathroom and
the kitchen but found himself right back in his room next to the empty bed.
Sheets already cold, he knew she’d been gone for a while
. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he pulled off his shirt then kicked off his blackened shoes, making a mental note to have the white carpets cleaned. As he stood to head into the bathroom, he caught a glimpse of pale pink paper on the desk. Sinking into the supple leather of the desk chair, he fingered the edges of the note before opening it. His heart ached as he read her goodbye, and he cursed himself a thousand names for not telling her how he felt. She loved him? How could he not have seen it? Her slightly sad demeanor from the night before replayed in his head as pain tore across his chest anew.
She’d
been planning to tell him goodbye all along,
and he’d been too selfish to
notice. H
e’d cried only once in his life before that moment, but his misty
eyes began to water, and he squeezed his eyes closed, letting one tear trickle down his cheek. He loved her. She loved him.
And they’d both been too
proud or stubborn to say it. Now, the
y’d both lost what could have been the
best thing to ever happen to them. For the second time in the same night, the ringing of his phone broke through the silence, tearing him away from his emotions and thoughts.
Looking down, he saw Rissa’s number and couldn’t
answer it fast enough.

“Hey honey, I saw your place on the news
. I was so worried, I
…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Myles cut her off.

“She’s left, Rissa
. I let the best thing in my life walk away because I
couldn’t tell her I broke my own rule and fell in love with her. She loved
me,
and I didn’t even know because I was so wrapped up in myself
. I love
her, Rissa, and now she’s gone.”
Not one word about his club or the fire, none of that mattered or hurt nearly as much as losing Arianna.

“Who left
? Arianna?
Oh Myles…” Silence on the other end of the line for a moment, Myles heard shuffling on the other end and a man’s voice
picked up. One of his best friends, Evan, took over.

“Suck it up, butter cup
. If you love her, go after her. Tell her. Rejection is a hundred times better than a lifetime of regret and not knowing. If you love her, go get her.
”
The phone clicked, and Myles sat dumbfounded for a moment. Evan was right. He would never be able to live with himself
if he didn’t tell her how he felt, even if she chose to walk away anyway
. But where to start? Punching in her number, the call went straight to voice mail. He dialed the number for her building, and the doorman could only confirm
that she’d come home and left a few hours later with luggage
.

Racking his brain, he tried to think of where she might go. If she was really as hurt and sad as the tear stains on her letter indicated, she would go home. Houston. He
grabbed the phone and dialed Rissa’s number
.

“I need your help Reeses
.
I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet she’s
gone to Houston; that was the only home she ever knew before she moved here. You have that friend at the airline; can you see what flight
she’s on, if
she is on one? Pay someone, beg
…
hell, bribe someone if you have to. I have to find her.
I’ve lost everything tonight, I can’t lose her too
.
I can’t
lose my heart.
Not now.”

“Ok
ay, Myles.
I’ll make a call
.
We’ll get her back, I promise.” He
knew Rissa would help him find her if she could. If anyone could make it happen, Rissa and Evan could. Those two together could make anything happen.

Tossing his phone to the side, he jumped up out of the chair and bounded across the bed toward the shower. Washing quickly, his heart raced, and he tried to stay focused despite the myriad of things running through his head and his heart.
He didn’t know what he was going to tell
her, or how he was going to convince her to stay, but he had to try. He needed her to know that she was his perfect match in every way, and he
didn’t want to go another night without her in his bed or wake another
morning without her in his arms. Losing everything else
he’d ever worked for in one night made him realize how much he didn’t want to lose her too
. Buildings could be replaced. The one love made just for him never could. Climbing out of the shower, he practically jumped into a pair of tight jeans and a t-shirt. Shrugging on a leather jacket, he stomped into his boots then paced by the door until Rissa called back.

“She’s on the next flight out
. We have half an hour before takeoff. We have tickets on that flight courtesy of my soon-to-
be husband and you’d
better get your ass outside if you expect to get there in time.
” He knew she’d
come through. Reeses always did. Throwing open the door, he found Rissa and Evan in a large Hummer by the curb.
He didn’t bother to lock the door
, just ran down the steps, lunging into the car as Evan sped away from the curb.

“So…we can put her down as your plus one, right
? And will she be having the Chicken Florentine, Steak Diane, or the Crab Stuffed Atlantic Salmon?
” He should have known she’d try to mix wedding planning into
saving his heart, but that was her way of reassuring him that they would get to her before that plane took off. Since finding Evan, Rissa had brought her ex-boyfriend, Deacon,
and Evan’s sister
, Eve, together. She seemed determined to see to it that everyone she cared about found a love like hers
—
even if it meant bribing a flight attendant with expensive French treats and a blind date with one of the Doms from what used to be The Iron Cuff.

“Just help me get her back
,
and then we’ll talk about a plus one.” He
tapped his fingers on his knees and tried to calm his nerves as Evan tore through the streets of town, skidding to a stop just outside of the airport.
Passenger drop off was packed, but he couldn’t wait for the other cars to
move.