Take What You Want (2 page)

“
This
will blow over, Mia,” Alex said. “Give it a couple of
weeks and everything will be back to normal.”

“
What's
your idea of normal?” Mia asked.

“
I'm
not sure I remember what that is,” Alex said.

“
Exactly,”
Mia said. “I enjoyed taking part in your lifestyle, Alex, but
I can't do it anymore; with my private life front page news. I won't
do it to my family and I deserve better.”

“
Mia,
please. I'll be home in a few weeks and we'll see how things are
then.”

“
I
won't be here, Alex,” she said.

“
Then,
I'll fly out to see you at your Paris shoot,” Alex said.

“
You're
not listening to me, Alex!” she said. “I won't be around
when you get back to the States. I'm done.”

“
Where
the hell are you going?” he asked.

There
was a pause on the other end of the line and Alex could hear
sniffles. Mia was crying and the realization their relationship was
really over began to settle into Alex – all the way to his
bones.

“
I'm
going back to New York for a while,” Mia said. “I'll
decide then where I'll go from there.”

“
Don't
go, Mia, please,” he said. “Give me a chance to make
this right.”

“
You
can't fix this, Alex. Your lifestyle will never allow us to live a
normal life and I want more. It's as simple as that.”

“
I
love you, and there's nothing simplistic about that,” he said,
watching in his minds-eye as the last strand of thread spun off the
metaphoric spool that had become his life.

It
was over. Mia was gone. Once again, a woman he thought fully
understood who he was and didn't make judgments about how he chose to
live, was leaving him – for a
normal
life. Who the fuck was she to decide what normal was? Normal hadn't
known him since puberty hit. Normal was overrated.

Normal was boring.

One month later …

Danni
Martin heard the soft moans as she entered the guest house. She
kicked off her flip-flops by the front door and set down her gym bag
filled with her Pilates mat and work-out clothes. She was an
athletic beauty; lean and toned from daily work-outs teaching Pilates
classes. She had long, dark walnut-colored hair, pulled back in a
ponytail and deep brown eyes that prompted many compliments on their
richness.

Barefoot,
she followed the muted sounds. She padded her way across the
hardwood flooring through her cozy kitchen and over the plush living
room carpet toward the large master bedroom suite in the back corner
of the house.

The
two bedroom guest cottage Danni shared with her fiancé, Chase
Middleton, was situated in one corner of several lush acres of
property directly across the street from a south-facing beach on the
idyllic island of Martha's Vineyard. The main house was a sprawling
six thousand square foot contemporary home owned by a man who made
his vast wealth as a hedge fund investor. This property was one of
many the man owned around the globe and it was often rented to other
people, rather than occupying it himself.

Rent
for the cottage was low, but it came with the agreement Chase would
do the job of managing the estate property, which included both
buildings and the grounds of the estate, too. He did this as his
regular job and had about a dozen other properties to care for around
the island on a full time basis throughout the year. Chase's
knowledge in construction enabled him to maintain his properties
almost by himself. On the larger-scaled tasks, he called in plumbers
or electricians to help and he also had a landscaping company at his
disposal to keep the lawns and gardens meticulously manicured.

Danni
loved that Chase worked so well with his hands, loved the corded
muscles the job gave his six foot, two inch frame and the natural
bronze tone working outside gave to his skin. He was all alpha male
and she was crazy in love with him, couldn't wait to be his wife and
begin the happily-ever-after they had been planning for the last four
years.

She turned the last corner
in the hallway heading toward their bedroom. The soft indistinct
sounds were becoming louder with each step she took. Two more steps
and she was standing in the doorway. Chase was sitting across the
room at the desk with his back facing her, his laptop open, the
screen displaying some sort of movie.

Danni inched closer and the
images on the screen became clear; as did the pumping action of
Chase's fist working in his lap on his over-sized cock. It wasn't
the jerking motion that startled her. She'd seen Chase do that a
number of times, often as part of their foreplay. It was the video
Chase was watching that had her attention; two men in the throes of
passion; one man with his cock thrusting deeply into the other man's
throat.

Chase thrust his hips up in
the air as he ejaculated over his bare chest and stomach, just as
Danni stifled her gasp by covering her mouth with her hand. Chase
heard the high-pitched squeal and jumped up from the chair, tipping
it backward in the process.

“
Jesus,
Danni!” he screamed. “Are you trying to give me a heart
attack?”

She
watched him slam the lid closed on his laptop, then stand up to zip
his pants. She stood there in a daze, unsure of what had just
happened. Chase moved past her and walked into the bathroom to clean
himself up. She waited quietly beside the bed, tears stinging in her
downcast eyes. When he finally reappeared her eyes met his.

“
I'm
sorry,” she said. “I didn't mean to walk in on you like
that.”

He nodded and looked toward
the open bedroom door, like he wanted to bolt. “You're home
early,” he said.

“
My
last class was canceled,” she said in a shaky voice.

Chase saw her tears and his
heart shattered. He moved forward and pulled her against his bare
chest. “Baby, please don't cry,” he whispered beside her
ear. “So, you caught me jerking off. It's not that big a
deal. I'm embarrassed. You're embarrassed. Let's forget about it.”

Danni
pressed her hand to the center of his muscled chest. Her eyes slowly
lifted to his. “It doesn't bother me you were masturbating,
Chase,” she said. “It was the video you were watching
while you did it.”

“
It
was the first thing I stumbled upon,” he shrugged.

Danni
shook her head. “I don't think so, Chase. Typically stuff
like that you need to specifically select from a menu bar.”

“
How
would you know that?” he asked, and started walking from the
room.

“
Show
me the website,” she said.

“
What's
the point in that?” he asked. He took the white t-shirt from
the end of their kind-sized bed and pulled it over his head, then
started out of the room.

“
Chase,
don't leave,” she said. “We need to talk about this.”

He spun to face her.
“What's to discuss?” he asked. “You caught me
beating off. End of story.”

“
I
disagree,” she said, trying to keep the quiver out of her
voice. “I think that's just the beginning of the story.”

“
How
do you figure that?” he asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

“
You
were watching
gay
porn.”

“
That's
irrelevant, Danni,” he said. “Porn is porn. Would you
be less annoyed if I were watching a different type of porn –
like bondage or girl on girl?”

“
You
know where I'm going with this, Chase,” she said. “Don't
make me feel like shit for asking about it.”

Chase looked at the floor.
He did know where she was going with this and he in no way felt like
dealing with it now. “I have to run into town,” he said.
“Don't wait up.”

“
Chase!”
Danni shouted his name, but it fell silent in the room, like dust
motes settling on the oak furniture around her. A few moments later,
she heard Chase's truck start up and watched it disappear down the
long driveway.

-0-

Danni was sleeping when
Chase slid naked beneath the sheets behind her. She could smell the
beer on him long before he rolled against her. His muscled arm
draped over her hip, as his mouth nuzzled into the soft hair at her
nape.

“
I'm
sorry, baby,” he whispered.

Danni turned to him. The
moonlight streaming in through the open window cast wonderful shadows
over his masculine features and made her heart clench. Her fingers
ran the length of his whiskered jaw line.

“
You
know you can talk to me about anything, right?” she asked.

“
Of
course,” he said. He nudged her nose with his and caught her
lips in a soft kiss.

“
We've
known each other forever, Chase,” she said. “I
know
you – better than you give me credit for.”

“
I
know, babe.” He drew her against him, making sure she felt the
long length of his arousal pressing against the small strip of hair
between her legs.

Her
female parts flushed and the sweet ache associated with Chase's touch
and a delicious pulse began to tap at her center. She pushed a
length of his bangs off his forehead.

He took her mouth again,
slipping his tongue inside to rub hers.

“
Do
you have a fantasy of being with a man?” she asked when the
kiss ended.

Chase bristled and tried to
pull away from her, but Danni held on to him. “It's okay if
you do, Chase. We all have fantasies,” she said. “It's
normal and healthy.”

“
I'm
not into dudes,” he said, and rolled onto his back and dropped
a forearm over his eyes.

“
Do
you want to hear one of mine?” she asked. She shifted closer
and stroked his chest with the tips of her fingers.

“
I
already know them all,” he said.

“
No,
you don't,” she said. “It's a fantasy because it is
doubtful it will ever happen and that also makes it safe to think
about.”

His head turned to her on
the pillow, eyes holding hers. She knew he was listening and
swallowed hard. “I sometimes think about being with two guys,”
she said in a soft voice.

“
You
mean a three-way?” he asked.

“
Yes,
both men touching me at the same time,” she said. “Me
touching them.”

Chase rolled onto his side
facing her. “And, you think of this while you're touching
yourself?”

Danni nodded. “Sometimes.”
She could see his grin in the dim lighting.

“
Kinky,”
he said.

“
How
about you, Chase?” she asked. “Tell me one of yours.”

“
A
threesome with two girls sounds like fun.”

“
We've
already done that, Chase, so it doesn't count as a fantasy,”
she said. “I'm talking about situations that turn you on that
likely would never happen.”

“
Oh,
then I got nothing,” he said.

Danni's hand inched down his
muscled stomach and circled the thick base of his shaft. “What
about you and another guy?” she asked. “Maybe he's on
his knees sucking on your cock, taking it deep.” Her fingers
gripped tighter and pulled off one slow stroke and Chase moaned. Her
face dropped into the bend of his neck and her tongue stole a taste
of his skin. “Do you like that?”