Ignite Me (A Burning Desire Novel) (31 page)

I had no way to answer his
question.

“What you saw in those videos.”
He fell silent for a minute, “Fuck it.” He breathed out.
 

“Back in London.” Landon
started again, and he had my full attention.

“We stumbled upon a club on our
way to this party held out by Audrey’s agency. She always thought it was
boring, so we got together at this club for a drink.”

I heard him carefully, although
I’d rather he skipped the details about how they used to date.

“Once inside
the club, one of the waitresses got us the menu. To my surprise, there were no
cosmos and single malts, but a choice of rooms and accessories to entertain their
guests. Long story short, she convinced me to try it at least once.”

He continued
telling me how they had to go through a number of classes to learn the rules of
dominance and submission. I’ll admit he made a great effort not getting into
the details of what went on after that first night.

“After a while, I didn’t see
the thrill in it anymore, and my world started crumbling down with the suicide
and everything that transcended before Eve came and took me to rehab.”

He spoke lovingly when he
mentioned Evelyn; I could gauge how much he felt indebted to her for how she
always stood by him, despite how irritating she could be.

“Things changed when Audrey
came back the last time.” He paused and squeezed my hand, “It was after my
mother’s passing. She saw how defective and out of control I was during that
time, so one night, she suggested that we should try to get into it again.”

I nodded, carefully listening
to him, trying to understand his motives.

“Being a dominant means nothing
if you can’t control yourself, your cravings, and more importantly, your
instincts. I won’t lie, it was hard and helpful. It helped me overcome my pain
and focus on more important things.”

The sound of ‘I’m a pilot’
echoed inside the car, I turned it off and silently asked him to continue.

He acquiesced, clearly
reluctant to continue, but he did anyway, “I needed it, and it taught me a
great deal about control, it was useful in dealing with my mother’s death first,
but also in my line of work.”

When his phone started buzzing,
he snapped at whoever was calling him, “Yes… We’re in front of the club… we’ll
be in shortly.”

Pressing the screen to end the
call, he pulled my hand and stilled it on his lap, “Audrey didn’t understand
the stakes; she was too vain and resentful to do so. When I first learned about
the videos, I destroyed them and cut her out of my life.”

Confused by his confession, I
cut him off, “But you said…”

He pulled on my other hand and
squeezed them with his, “I know what I said. I couldn’t tell you that back
then. I couldn’t risk losing you. But that was the truth, I cut her off and she
didn’t like it.”

He pressed me to keep listening
to him, “Please don’t let this get between us…”

I stopped him, “It won’t… All I
hear is retribution.”

His smile lit up the dark
inside of the car, “So to answer your question, no I don’t miss it, because now
that I have you, I don’t need anything else.”

Overwhelmed by my love for him,
and by everything he just said, I fell out of words to say. He was opening up
to me. He loved me. I didn’t need anything else, I couldn’t ask for better. He
was who he was, with all the power he had, Landon Davis was a man. A beautiful
human being, capable of love.

I brought his palm against my
chest, “Feel this?” I asked.

“What?” He whispered with a
knowing smile.

“That is all you. You make my
heart beat faster. I am truly yours Landon Davis.”

Taking me by surprise, he
pulled me to straddle him and took possession of my mouth. His kiss was passionate,
eager, and somehow desperate. I was desperate too – desperate for him to
feel how much I loved him – how much he meant to me.

He took my pain away. He took
my shame away. He made me feel desired, loved, and sexy. My mind drifted back
to the time where I thought I would never be happy again, where my loneliness
seemed to be endless. He was my chance at happiness, and I could be his too.

I knew he still had secrets,
but at least I was beginning to scratch the surface. I didn’t know if it was
all my doing, but I took whatever I could get.

New York City secret parties were
one of a kind, especially at Pink. I remembered the first time I was in this
club. Jude had dragged me after one of his modeling shoots. It was very high
end, all the beautiful people gathered inside the hippest underground club in
the meatpacking district and you’d see what New York parties are really like,
lots of model-like built men and women in their twenties, bottle girls, hard
drugs, and older men spending their money on filthy expensive bottles.

The club was packed as usual,
more so because it was New Year’s Eve and a big shot celebrity DJ was mixing. The
temperature was high, people dancing on the dance floor and at their tables, flexing
and shouting to the grinding beat of the music.

Landon walked behind me, his
arms surrounding me and his back protecting me from any unwanted incident.
There was a lot to be said about the way he was guiding me through the crowd,
he looked sharp, women ogled him without shame, pushing their racks in his
face. The way he ignored them made me feel cocky and I gripped his arms around
me as we walked to our table.

When we reached the mezzanine,
two huge security guys stood in front of me, one of them stopped me by grabbing
my arm, “This is the VIP section.” He shouted over the music.

“Take your hands off of her.
This is my table.” Landon snapped at him.

The man just nodded as he
seemed to recognize Landon and moved to the side for us to walk past the velvet
rope separating the dance floor from the VIP section.

Our table was crowded with both
familiar and unfamiliar faces. I pulled Landon with me as I strode to kiss Jude
and Ryan smooching all over each other in the corner.

“Happy New Year.” I shouted after
removing a shot of tequila from the table and let it sank in, “May our year be
as smooth as this Patron.”

Landon leaned in and spoke in
the back of my neck, “Easy there princess. I want you awake and conscious when
we get to our apartment.”

The words reverberated through
me, and just like that, I was horny again.

Jude and Ryan grabbed me
between the two of them and showered me with kisses, “Happy New Year baby boo.”
Jude said to me, “This was the first time we weren’t together at midnight.”

My smile died, I loved that man
so much. He was my brother, my best friend, my person, and sometimes my father.

He hugged me, “Chill out, just
guilt-tripping you into never doing it again.” He said jokingly, “You were in
my heart and on my mind, and I knew you were happy and probably boning your man
in a closet space of S&B.”

I gasped at his comment; I
hadn’t seen a drunken Jude in a very long time.

Landon grabbed me suddenly and
yanked me against the wall, “Let’s dance, shall we?”

I eyeballed him as he moved his
body slowly against mine. He’d taken off his jacket but kept the vest over his
shirt. I looked around us; Ryan was wide eyed and amused by the whole scene. He
signaled two thumbs up and got back to flirting with Jude.

Moving my hands up his back,
Landon stopped me and stilled them over my head. He moved smoothly, pushing his
hips against me, sending a powerful sexual current through me. His eyes
connected with mine, his pupils dilated in the darkness, I moaned loudly at one
hard push between my thighs.

“You’re so damn hot.” I purred
in his ear and licked his lobe with a little bite.

“Fuck me.” He grumbled as he
let go of my hands and grabbed my thigh.

I bit my lip, “No. You fuck
me.” I murmured back.

His eyes sparkled dangerously,
“You’re so, so bad, baby-girl.” He said burying his head in my neck.

Landon Davis had some mad
moves, playing with my hormones, my head twirled and I could feel the blood
pounding through every inch of veins under my flushed skin. His hands traveled
leisurely all over me, his body moving gracefully. He was in sweat and perfect.

Moving my arms around his neck,
I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. Shameless and breathless, I
rocked myself against him, rounding my hips and ass in a circular movement
until I heard him growl his desire.

Guiding him to my mouth, I took
his with hungry lushes. He bit me, hard. I was a ball of pure wanton and fired
up with the music. Everything inside the club screamed sex; the way people
clung on each other, the way they moved, the shift between unbearable heat and
freezing cold. The man alone had an incomparable impact on my hormones, the
atmosphere made things worse.

“Happy new year rabbits.” Jenna
appeared from behind Landon and poked my leg.

Landon refused to let go and
kept me yanked against the wall. He turned to Jenna and surprised her by
leaning back and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

He beamed at her, “Happy new
year petite Chipie.”

She eyeballed him and then
returned a little peck before addressing me. She shifted from one leg to the
other, drunk, and unsettled, “Umm… I’m leaving, see you tomorrow?”

I frowned, “But we just got
here.”

She offered a shrug, “You just
got here.”

“Are Jude and Ryan leaving
too?”

She shook her head, “No, just
me… and Alec.” She said hesitantly.

Landon’s lips quirked up in a
discreet smile.

“Alec huh?” I teased her.

“Screw you little rabbit.
Brunch tomorrow?”

“I don’t think so. Make it
dinner at our apartment.” Landon offered.

She gave a nod and blew us one
last kiss before she turned to walk out with Alec.

“I need another drink.” I said.

Landon pushed his hips between
my legs one more time, “Are you sure?”

I nodded, “I need you more, but
a drink would feel good.”

He put me down and bowed, “What
would my princess like to drink?”

“You.” I teased.

His eyes gleamed, “Is that so?”

“Yep.”

“Well then, what are we waiting
for? Let’s leave.”

I could hear the silent beg in
his tone, “A vodka tonic, then we leave.”

“Alright.”

Landon disappeared in the
middle of the crowded dance floor and I was taken by a sudden urge to use the
restroom.

I’d lost track of time while
waiting in front of the restroom and texting with my brother. The few days we
spent together were exactly what our relationship needed. We had the chance to
reconnect and talk as we used to before he left France.

“Vodka tonic.” A waitress came
in behind me and handed me a glass.

I shook my head, “No thank
you.”

“It was sent to you by that
gorgeous piece of manhood.” She signaled to the bar where Landon was standing
with Ryan and Simon.

I gave a slight nod and a smile,
“You don’t know the half of it.” I mumbled and took the drink.

I sipped my drink swiftly and
put the glass on the restroom counter.

I woke up in a dazed state with
an agonizing headache. My eyes rolled and the pressure was unbearable. I did it
again, seeking relief after pain. It wasn’t a hangover; it felt as if I was
waking up from anesthesia. I was spinning in my head.
 
I was spinning in the dark. No, I was blindfolded.

Breathing raggedly and startled
by the car bump, I realized two things. I wasn’t in my bed and I was definitely
not waking up from a hangover. I was unable to move, not because my whole body
felt heavy, but because of the restraints around my ankles and hands.

Pushing the tears back, I tried
to focus. I had been trained for this. My head twirled with the details. It was
protocol, daughter of an ambassador. I concentrated on my breathing, in and
out.

Why was this happening to me?

Where was I?

The tears relieved the pressure
under my eyelids and I lost all ability to stay calm. My heart raced and I
whimpered. I wriggled restlessly. I forgot how long it took before I could feel
my legs again. I pushed them, trying to determine where I was. The sound of my
naked feet hitting a metallic wall told me that I was in a trunk. But why?

I started moving all at once,
rolling around from one end to the other, ignoring the pain it caused to my
tied hands and feet.

The car came to a stop. My
breath rushed out hastily and my heart stopped. After a long minute, it took a
turn to the left and the road got bumpy.

I replayed Donnie’s words, “It
is very important for you to keep breathing normally, do not create an
unnecessary blood rush in your brain. It will help you focus and determine
where you are.”

It was easier said than done.
Even during training, I had never been under any kind of overwhelming stress.

Again, I tried to calm myself
and focus on my surroundings. The blindfold disabled me from doing it. My mind
trying to recollect what happened last.

I was at Pink Elephant with
Landon. We were dancing and he went to get me a drink. What happened after
that?

“Focus Clea.”

The waitress, the drink, and
that woman outside the restroom – yes, I was approached by a woman –
she said something to me. What did she say?

Focusing harder, I swallowed
the lump in my throat. It was her. It was Audrey. I didn’t recognize her at
first glance. It was a masquerade party.

“You should never take drinks
from strangers.”