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Chapter Twenty Nine
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Neal Patchett tossed a report on the desk. “Read it.” he said.
Dash hid his mounting fury as he crossed the room and then lifted the report to read. He did not sit down, but flipped through the pages while still standing. Outraged pride grew with each successive page and coalesced into lava like fury when he read the final page.
It was a recommendation by Neal Patchett to merge with Black Shipping’s number one competitor. If that were not bad enough, it was clear that while the other company would maintain their business identity, Black Shipping would cease to exist.
He tossed the report onto the gleaming surface of the walnut desk. “You are not trying to buy your daughter a husband, you are trying to blackmail one.” he said angrily.
Neal shrugged broad shoulders, not even slightly stooped by his more than Sixty three years. “Call it what you like, but
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“Not anymore you don’t. You’re out of here.” Lamar said.Savannah paled and stared at him as panic rolled through her chest. “You’re firing me?” she asked, dreading his reply.“You walked out yesterday during our busiest time. No word, no nothing. You didn’t come back. What the hell did you expect? And now you’re back here this morning and I have a diner full of pissed-off customers because you don’t have your head on right. You did the same thing two weeks ago and I decided to ignore that.” Lamar hissed.She took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves. “Please Lamar, I need this job. Yesterday… Yesterday I got sick, okay? It won’t happen again.” She said.“Damn right it won’t. I never should have hired you back in the first place.” He curled his lip
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Thirty One
Neither of them said a word as Matt drove to her apartment. Which was fine with Savannah. The last thing she wanted was to have any kind of conversation with him. The earlier she got away from him the better.She was glad she accepted the ride home though. She felt tired and emotionally drained, but she wasn't going to tell him that.As soon as he parked the car in front of her apartment she got out and slammed the door shut. Then she proceeded to go into the apartment."You are welcome" Matt said sarcastically as he got out too. Wondering how her getting fired was his fault. He hadn't even seen her for two weeks. He couldn't bring himself to leave though, so he followed her into the apartment.It annoyed him that her door wasn’t locked. Anyone could just walk in. He pushed it open to find her on her hands and knees, peering under the rickety recliner. She made a sound of frustration and then pushed hers
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Thirty Two
“If that’s what you want to call it. I really don’t care. You need a job. And a better place to live. To be honest I'm glad you don't work at that diner anymore. They don't pay you enough and I know you wanted to finish your classes back then. I don't know if you still do, but I want to help. I'm not sure why, but no matter what has happened between us, I still care about you and I want to help you”Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You just want to help? Just like that.”He nodded, not bothering to tell her that there wasn’t any opening at his firm and he planned on creating one just for her. After what she did to him, he knew he was the biggest idiot on the face of the earth for wanting to help her but he couldn't help it. Dash was right. He was an idiot.Savannah hesitated for a while. Working for him was not a good idea. She was sure of that. She could barely stand seein
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Thirty Three
Surprised by the aggressive tone in her friend’s voice, Tess said, “Yes. He’s a business associate of my father's.”“He looks more like a don in the Mafia to me.” David replied.“Well, he is not,” she teased, “he’s a tycoon, not a loan shark.”“Is there a difference?” David asked.She didn’t get a chance to reply because Dash had started walking toward them the moment David stopped and he arrived at her side just as David finished speaking.Regardless of her wish to never see the man again, her eyes hungrily took in every detail of his face, the strong squarish jaw, the enigmatic expression in his dark brown eyes and the straight line of his sensual lips.“I have come to take you to dinner,” he said without preamble or indeed even the semblance of having aske
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Thirty Four
David was too young to realize the long term impact on his future business dealings such an action might have. Though she was irritated by David’s behavior, she liked him too much to let him do something so stupid.Besides, if she went with Dash, she hoped David would get the message she wanted his friendship, but wasn’t interested in anything more. She couldn’t be. She might want to hate Dash Black, but he remained the only man she could think of in that way... At least for now.She had no experience with brushing off a man’s interest and this seemed the easiest way.“I’m sorry. Can we make it another night?” she asked David by way of atonement.“We won’t be here another night,” he reminded her.“I know.” She said.He would probably have said more, but the bus driver called the fin
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Thirty Five
She allowed his tongue inside her mouth after the first gentle pressure applied to the seam of her lips. He tasted like she remembered. Hot. Spicy. Masculine.When he pulled away, she was too lost in her own sensual reaction to his kiss to even notice he was leading her anywhere. It wasn’t until he stopped at the waiting limo and rapped out instructions to the ever-present security team, that she once again became aware of her surroundings.Mary, mother of Joseph, it was just like at the party.He could have done anything to her and she would have let him. She was also aware that while she’d been completely lost to reality, he had been in absolute control.She tried to tell herself she was letting him hand her into the car because she didn’t relish riding public transport alone at night. But she knew the truth.If she didn’t sit down soon, she’d fall
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Thirty Six
“It is not ridiculous for me to think this. He looks at you with the eyes of a man who has claim to you.” Dash said.“There is such thing as the claim of friendship.” Tess replied.“And friendship requires late night visits to his hotel room?” he asked, making Tess even more angry.“I’ve never been to his hotel room late at night, for goodness’ sake. I’m hardly the type to carry on a brief affair, or did you miss the hopeless-in-bed description?” she said. As the words left her mouth, she realized with chagrin she’d given Dash what he wanted—a definite answer to whether or not she was sleeping with David.He didn’t look smug, however. He was too busy glaring at her. “Stop repeating that bitch’s words as if they are gospel. She knows nothing of you or your passions. You will be a consuming
SILENT DESIRES Chapter Thirty Seven
That she did not yet realize she belonged to him now was the only reason he had not flattened that David, but soon both she and he would know it. And then let the blond man touch her at his peril.Her father obviously hadn't told her about this, so it was better to keep it that way. The elevator stopped and Tess looked up for the first time. “Where are we?” she asked.The doors slid open and he stood back for her exit first. “This is my headquarters.”he replied.They stepped through one of the two doors on the landing.She looked around them. “It looks more like a home to me, or are you trying to tell me that a tycoon does his business in the living room rather than the boardroom?”He felt his lips quirk at her sassiness. This unexpected side to her nature was not altogether unpleasing. A wife without spirit would not suit him
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His hold was almost bruising now. “I know you have stopped loving me. I deserve it, but I love you, baby. You are the air that I breathe. The only music my heart wants to hear. The other half of my soul. I will make you love me again. I can do it. You still want me,” he said as one hand cupped her breast with its already tight peak.She turned her head and cupped his face between her palms so she could see into his eyes. “You love me?” she asked.“For a long time. Since before that party I think, but to admit it would have been to admit the end of my independence. Fool that I was, I thought that mattered. Without you all the freedom in the world would be a tiny cell in a prison of loneliness.”Her jaw dropped open. She couldn’t help it. Not only had he said he loved her, but he’d gotten positively poetic about it. “Those are pretty mushy sentiments.” She said.He shrugged, his nature showing stronger in that m
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Neal Patchett didn’t even sound sorry.“Because he doesn’t love me,” she fairly shouted into the phone.“No reason to yell, missy. I may be getting old, but I hear just fine. The man wants you and for him, that’s probably as close to love as any woman will ever get.”She curled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. Could her father be right?“You should not have done it.” She said.“Tess, you wouldn’t take anything else from me.”“I didn’t want anything, just your love.” That was all she’d ever wanted from the two most important men in her life and the one thing she was destined not to get. “I’ve got to go.”“No, wait, child.”“What?” she asked with a lackluster voice.“I do love you.” he said.Four words she’d longed to hear since she was a child. They touched her now, healed some thin
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Seven
The rejection she felt was shattering.“I thought you cared about me. I knew it wasn’t love, but this thing between you and my father—it’s so demeaning. The knowledge that our marriage was the result of an arrangement between you and my father so you could get your company back…” Words failed her for several seconds as she struggled to keep the tears at bay.Finally, she swallowed. “I never would have suspected anything like that, but it explains so much.”He stepped toward her, his hand extended, “Tess, please, we can make this marriage of ours work.”She reared back, almost falling off the sofa. “Don’t come near me. I don’t want you touching me.” When she remembered how he had blackmailed her into marriage, using his body as the bait, she shuddered.His expression was that of a jaguar thwarted of its prey.“I want some time to think. Alone.” She said.He shook his head in sharp n
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She glared at him, anger and resentment boiling in a cauldron inside her that was ready to explode all over him. She jumped up and faced him, fury making her body rigid. “I don’t have to convince you of anything.” He was the one who’d been caught taking a shower while his former girlfriend lounged around answering his phone. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll call my father and ask him.”She turned to do just that, but his words stopped her.“Do not go. I will tell you.” Dash's complexion had gone gray. “You thought your father tried to get us together, but you did not realize the methods he used?”The methods had been pretty obvious, or at least she had thought so at the time. “He sent you to check on me in Athens.”“He sent me, yes, but not to check on you. I was under duress to convince you of marriage.” Dash said.That explained so much. Dash looked sick and she could imagine why. A proud m
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She leaned forward and kissed him, still holding his face in her hands. She stroked her hands through his hair and then over his cheeks again, smiling a tender smile all the while.“We make quite a pair, don’t we? We’ve made mistakes. But I like to think that we haven’t given up. And that maybe we’re stronger for it all. It makes me hurt that you’ve given up so much for me. Your family. The place you grew up in. And you gave it up, bought a beautiful house you knew I’d love all because you loved me. If I don’t forgive you then I’m denying myself that love and I don’t want to live without you, Matt. Or your love. Not anymore. The last months have been the worst of my life. I don’t ever want to relive that kind of agony again.”He pulled her into his arms, leaning forward so they didn’t tumble into the sand. He held her so tightly she couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t care. They were together. Finally. Without all the hurt and pain of the past. Without
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Four
The flight and subsequent transportation to the villa on the beach was seamless. Matt had changed his mind about going back to the paradise villa as he didn't want his mom or Enzo showing up again and upsetting Savannah so they had gone to moon island instead,the place where David and Emily had gotten married.Matt had ensured that Savannah was given every consideration. She was endlessly pampered and waited on and when they arrived on the island, they were greeted not only by the physician who would be monitoring her care, but a personal nurse who would reside at the villa with her and Matt.When Savannah got her first look at the sprawling villa, it took her breath away. They drove through a gate and down a winding driveway that was lined with lush, gorgeous flowers. Just for a moment the driveway paralleled the beach before it ended in front of the main house.The house couldn’t be more than a few steps fr
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The tacit agreement to her fears made Tess's knees give way and she sank onto the side of the bed. “Are you saying you spent the night with my husband?” she asked. Her voice trembled, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to die.“Are you sure you want me to answer that question?” Olivia asked.“No,” Tess whispered, her vocal cords too constricted for normal conversation, “but I need you to.”Olivia hesitated. When she spoke, her voice had changed, become more tentative. “Perhaps you had better discuss this with Dash.”Tess didn’t answer. She just held the phone to her ear and stared at the far wall of the room she shared with Dash. Was this what death felt like? Your whole body going numb and your emotions imploding until there was nothing left?Another voice intruded on her blanked out mental state. “Tess? Is that you, honey?”And she realized she wasn’t numb. “Don’t call me
SILENT DESIRES Chapter One Hundred and Two
Dash called again at dinner that evening from Rome. She picked the call, feeling subdued and just plain not up to arguing with his mother or sister about taking the call. Then she stood up and left the table.“Hello, Dash. Was there something you wanted?” she asked in a voice that sounded dead to her own ears.“Yes, Tess, I want many things, but I called to apologize for my behavior when you told me about the baby.” He sounded tired. “I want our baby, honey. I am sorry I was less than enthusiastic when you told me.”She dismissed the apology as too little, too late. Perhaps if he hadn’t been treating her so hurtfully for days beforehand, it would have been enough. “Don’t call me honey. You don’t love me and I don't see any reason why you should. I don’t ever want you to use that word with me again.”“Tess, I…” He hesitated.Strange to hear her super-confident husband hesitant.
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Stepping out into the sunshine from the air-conditioned building, Tess asked herself where she could go. Looking up and down the busy street, she knew she wanted only to get away from the crush of people. An image of the grounds surrounding the Black villa rose in her mind like Valhalla to her ravaged state. She would take a taxi to the grounds and then when she was ready, she could walk home.Having a plan of action helped calm her churning emotions enough to wipe her tears away and wave down a cab.She had the driver drop her on the outskirts of the Black estate. Luckily, she remembered the code for the small gate in the far wall. She and Elena had used it once before on an afternoon walk.Once inside the estate’s walls, she walked only far enough to hide herself in the trees, then sank to the ground. Her back resting against the trunk of one of them, she let the tears fall freely. It hurt so much.
