Cassadaga Moon Read online

  “If we’re over, Jordan, then why can’t you look at me? You broke up with me over the phone. Don’t you think I deserve more?” He said nothing else, just moved around her into the restroom.

  By the time Mia approached the bar, Cindi and Jamison had disappeared, so she took her drink and leaned against the wall, sipping and people watching. Why wouldn’t Jordan talk to her? How could a man who professed months ago that he loved her more than anything in the world treat her so badly? The kidnapping wasn’t his fault.

  Ennisbrooke was a psycho, whether or not Jordan had slept with his wife.

  While Mia was busy mentally beating herself up, Jordan and the woman returned to the bar. He glanced at Mia and grinned right before he grabbed the ass of the woman beside him. Pulling the woman into his arms, he started walking backward, pinning her to the wall next to Mia.

  Mia’s legs felt like rubber, and her heart like someone just shot an arrow through it. She needed to run from there, keep on running and never look back. Now.

  225

  “Excuse me,” she said, her voice low and raspy. She took a step forward and his hand shot out, and held her against the wall.

  “I don’t think so.” Then he crushed his lips to the other woman’s mouth. The slut wrapped her arms around his neck as he grinded his body against hers.

  Mia wanted to puke. And the tears, they fell freely now. “Please let me go.”

  “Let her go, Jordan!” Jamison’s voice sliced through the bar, and everyone turned to stare. Jordan released Mia, but her legs wouldn’t move, only kept her glued in place.

  Jordan narrowed a stormy-gray gaze at her. “Why are you still here? Can’t you see that I’m tired of you?” His voice was cold and distant, not the same voice that repeatedly vowed undying love for her.

  The woman in his arms stared at Mia, right before her lips edged up into a smile. A wicked smile. “Oh look, baby…you’ve made her cry,” she mocked. Taking Jordan’s bottom lip into her mouth, she moaned and rubbed her hands across his butt.

  “Mmmm….you are making me so hot, woman. I say let’s go to my place so I can fuck you all night long.” When he cupped the woman’s breasts, the entire bar turned eyes on them.

  “Please stop.” Mia slid to the floor, cupped her face in her hands.

  “I’ll tell you what, how about you come with us, Mia. When I’m done with her, I’ll give you a mercy fuck.” Jordan laughed, his last words ripping her soul from her body. It was over, and he didn’t love her. How could he after this atrocious display?

  It wasn’t until Jamison slid Mia into the car that she realized Jamison had her in his arms. Cindi continued cussing up one side and down the other, wanting to go give Jordan a piece of her mind.

  Actually, she wanted to kick the shit out of him, but Jamison forbade it.

  226

  “Regardless of what that asshole says, Mia, I know he still loves you. He is acting like a complete idiot because he feels responsible for you almost dying,” Cindi said, her voice cracking with anger.

  Jamison pulled out onto the strip. “What he did tonight was inexcusable. I’m sorry.” His tone held a steadiness.

  Mia sniffled. “I’m the idiot. I didn’t want to let him go, but tonight he made it easy for me.” She said the words, but deep down inside she still loved him. Given time, perhaps that would pass, too.

  “I still say you should have let me kick his ass,” Cindi mumbled, clasping Mia’s hand into hers. “He never deserved you. And trust me, he will pay for hurting you.”

  “Could we just go home? Please.” Mia wanted to be alone and possibly sleep forever.

  227

  Chapter Twenty-One

  One month after the Vegas fiasco.

  Getting ready for a Stiletto House party was like preparing for a wedding. Jamison had everything planned down to Mia and Cindi’s dresses. Of course, he had done the same when Mia married Jordan, something she was trying hard to forget. She really didn’t want to attend tonight, but she owed a lot to Jamison the past few weeks, especially after what happened in the club last month with Jordan.

  Jamison made every attempt humanly possible to lift her spirits, even attended chick flicks with her and Cindi, along with giving her the leave of absence from teaching, with pay.

  She slipped into the low-cut, form-fitting black dress, and then into the sandals. Cindi had dressed earlier and was already downstairs since she held a special role tonight as cohost of the Stiletto function.

  When Mia came off the last step, Jamison was waiting for her. His black tuxedo fit him perfectly. He’d even cut his hair. The short, brown locks glistened in the soft lighting. “You look beautiful, Mia.” He extended his hand, and she took it. Tonight he was to be her date.

  He’d insisted, since Jordan would be attending. Being the second in command, Jordan was expected to be there. She could handle this.

  Now, stopping Cindi from kicking his ass, that was something entirely different.

  She was actually having a good time mingling with the guests, discussing proper sanguine etiquette with the crew that arrived from Pittsburgh, and talking about teaching drama with a few of the vampires from the university faculty. She was just getting into a 228

  heavy discussion with Jamison’s donor when the hair on the back of her neck jutted forward.

  It had to be Jordan.

  She turned just in time to see Cindi flying across the floor, her face as red as a beet. Before she reached Mia, David, one of the Pittsburgh vamps, intercepted, grabbing Cindi around the waist.

  Then Mia’s gaze rested on Jordan. Hold your cool, Mia, he can’t hurt you.

  “You get away from her, Jordan,” Cindi yelled, squirming against David.

  Jordan didn’t move, only stood staring at Mia. “I need to talk to my wife.”

  Wife? What does he mean “wife”?

  “We’re divorced…remember?” Mia rebutted.

  “Technically we’re not divorced yet. You are still mine.” Incredulous, she glared at him. Like hell. Her fists balled up at her sides. Perhaps she should’ve been more worried about punching Jordan out, instead of Cindi doing the deed. “We are not married.

  How dare you. You fuck everything on this side of the Mississippi and you think we’re still married.” Something snapped. She felt the coil in her chest, and then the spring burst. “Get away from me.

  You…you ass!”

  “Jordan, you need to back off,” Jamison demanded, gently cupping Mia’s elbow. “This isn’t the time or the place.”

  “Fuck you. You want my wife for yourself. You can’t have her.” Somehow, Cindi managed to slip out from under David’s hold, because the slap she delivered to Jordan’s face stopped everyone in the room who wasn’t already gawking at them. “I should take my blade and cut your dick off for what you did to my best friend. She loved you, and you crushed her heart.” She went for a second slap but wasn’t fast enough. Jordan cupped her wrists, held her at arm’s length, and she kept yelling. “How could you hurt her like you did?

  You never deserved her.” Then she spat at him.

  229

  “Someone better restrain her before I do it,” Jordan said, his voice cool, calm, and still even tempered. David, still holding Cindi, moved her a few steps farther away from Jordan, and for the first time, Mia saw Cindi turn around and break down. Not once in all the months Mia came apart from Jordan’s denial of his love for her did Cindi once show any weakness, only compassion and strength for her best friend.

  The pain, the hurt, the heartache, it was coming back. Mia touched her hand to her abdomen as her breath hitched. Jamison pulled her against him, motioned for security. “Please escort Jordan from this house,” he said.

  “No, wait…I want to speak to him,” Mia whispered.

  “Are you sure?” Concern edged Jamison’s features. She nodded, so he stepped back, turning her over to Jordan.

  Jordan touched her arm, and her heartbeat accelerated. “Not here, darlin’.” />
  “Fine.” She glanced back at Jamison as Jordan led her from the room. Jamison winked, and a ghost of a smile crossed his face. “It’s okay,” she mouthed back to him.

  When they reached the hallway, her feet left the ground. “Put me down.”

  “No.”

  He carried her up three flights of stairs without saying a word, and she refused to look at him, even when she felt his gaze boring into her cheek. Damn him.

  Once inside his room, he plopped her onto the center of the bed and took a seat on the chair opposite her. “Are you sleeping with Jamison?”

  “What?” She was still trying to fix her dress that happened to ride up her legs when he tossed her to the mattress. “What if I am?”

  “Just answer the question, Mia.”

  “You have no right to question me, Jordan. You lost the right to care about me when you decided our marriage was over.” Damn 230

  dress. She shimmied her body back and forth, trying to get the darned thing fixed.

  He grabbed hold of the dress and pulled it loose, smoothing it down over her thighs, immediately sending sparks the size of lightning bolts through her body. No way was she falling for him, not again.

  “The dress is fixed. Now talk. Are you sleeping with him?”

  “Yes,” she blurted, lying like a dog. “Yes, we sleep together every night, and I love it. He is the best lover I’ve ever had.”

  “Really?”

  She could feel the flush in her cheeks long before he commented on it. “You’re lying,” was his cold reply.

  Defensiveness driving her, she countered, “No, I’m not.”

  “Then prove it to me.” By now he’d taken a seat on the bed next to her, too close for lying comfort. “Kiss me.”

  “Screw you. I’m not kissing you. Why don’t you go find the woman you were sucking face with at the bar that night in Vegas. I’m sure she’d love to kiss you.”

  Mia jumped from the bed before he had a chance to grab her wrists, and ran toward the door. Halfway across the room, he stepped on the hem of her gown, stopping her in place, along with ripping the dress down her back. Now she was pissed, cold, and ready to punch his teeth down his throat. But she didn’t have a chance to react before she was in his arms.

  “Let me go, Jordan. Right now.”

  “Fine,” he said, then pulled her against him and crushed his lips to hers. And the kiss was magical, making her all the more devastated.

  She twisted and turned in his grasp until finally he let go.

  “I hate you,” she yelled, slamming her fists against his chest. “I hate your fucking guts,” she yelled louder, hitting him harder.

  Desperation made her try and stop tears from falling, but the pressure behind her eyelids was too intense, and she failed. Tears the size of snowflakes fell.

  231

  “I love you, Mia. I always have. But I made a promise to your God to walk out of your life, taking all of my baggage with me, if you lived.”

  She let out an enraged snort, sucking all the snot back up into her nose. “I still hate you! Prick.”

  He didn’t retreat, but held her tighter, planting his mouth all over her face, lips, and eyes. “The only way I could get you to hate my guts was to hurt you with infidelity. But, darlin’, I never slept with that woman, or anyone else for that matter. You’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted. And I won’t keep my promise to your God. The only way I can stay away from you is if he comes to earth and strikes me dead. Or you put a knife through my chest, straight into my heart.”

  “I hope he does strike you dead.” She didn’t really mean it, but the shock of his revelation that he still loved her made her desire for him bubble back and forth between happiness and anger.

  She touched her lips to his, bit him once, then twice, before he threw her to the ground and planted his body over hers. “I’ve missed you so much it hurts. You can bite me until you draw blood, but it will never change my feelings for you,” he admitted.

  The pain from months of agonizing over his rejection started to simmer, calming her enough to wrangle in her tears. She touched her lips to his cheek and kissed him once, then twice. “I do still love you, Jordan.” Her voice cracked. “Even though you ripped my heart apart.”

  “I’d hoped you did. I will take the rest of my life proving to you how much I love you, I promise.” He inched up his handsome lips into a wry smile. ”Now take this dress off before I rip it the rest of the way off your body.”

  She sat up, proceeding to unzip the dress, when he cupped her wrist. “Where did you get this dress?”

  From the look on her face, he must have known the purchasing culprit, because moments later he tore the material from her body and threw it to the floor. “He will never dress you again.” 232

  Mia could feel her face lighting up in surprise as his gaze settled on her lace lingerie. He cocked his head to the side, ran a finger over the black lace, and instantly she was wet between her legs with need and desire for him.

  “I like this,” he whispered, his voice raspy, sexy, inviting.

  “Cindi bought it for me. It was a cheer-Mia-up present.”

  “Right. Remind me to thank her for it after I scold her for spitting on me.” He smiled and touched the chemise. “Come here.” Sitting on his lap, she waited for him to touch her body, marveling in the thought of his hands bringing her desires to life again. As if he heard her thoughts, he slowly removed her undergarments, then held her at arm’s length, his passion-laced gaze surveying. “God, you’re so beautiful.”

  Taking off his underwear took mere seconds. For Mia it felt like an eternity. The term “on fire” didn’t begin to describe her present state. Perhaps “inferno” was a better picture. A conflagration of raw sexual need whipped through her as his erection pressed against her thigh and he pinned her to the ground. With his knees, he nudged open her legs. Then he seductively sucked his two fingers into his mouth before sliding them inside her pussy. Gently, he pushed open her thighs until her knees touched the floor.

  Mia grinded against his fingers, kissing his face all over, not once closing her eyes. This time she wanted to watch his expression when he loved her. They even left every light in his room on, and probably the door unlocked, but it didn’t matter if the entire party downstairs barged in, she wasn’t leaving this moment. When his mouth sucked in her nipple, she moaned. It felt damn good. “The other one…please touch it.”

  He pinched the hard bud, twirling it between his forefinger and thumb, occasionally squeezing it, sending a jolt of electricity through her body. He finger fucked her, carefully alternating between sucking her tits, and squeezing and biting them.

  233

  Then he flipped his body until his erect cock hovered above over her face. At the same time he lowered his body, she opened her mouth, taking in his cock as he spread her nether lips with his fingers and filled her with his tongue.

  She sucked and sucked.

  “Mmmm…that feels good,” he moaned, his breath tickling her between her legs. “Suck me harder, darlin’. Show me how much you’ve missed me.”

  And she did it, taking turns caressing his buttocks, then squeezing and pushing down on it. Even when he started pumping against her mouth she kept on track, because he tasted so good this time around.

  He was the only man who’d ever released the sexual inhibitions she felt all her life, and he would remain the only man who could. So this time, when his cock stiffened and the juice flowed, she swallowed it with pleasure, but most of all with love.

  Jordan released, and she came minutes later, his mouth still glued to her nether lips, sucking them in, licking them until her orgasm crippled her body. When he mounted her, she pulled him close, embarrassment about sex no longer a factor for her, only enjoyment brought to fruition by love.

  After their fifth time at making love, he finally grabbed pillows and a blanket from the bed, but then got right back to the job at hand once the pillows were under Mia’s head. With hi
m buried deep inside her, he flipped Mia over so she was on top of him. He held her around the waist, gliding his cock back into her opening. She glanced toward the window, catching the slither of sunlight poking through the curtains, the only thing in the room still closed before they entered.

  “It’s getting light.”

  He smiled, contentment seeming to ease from his pores, and then he pulled her to him and kissed her nose. “Looks like we’ve made love the entire night. Let’s go a few more rounds, then crawl into bed.

  What kind of husband would I be if I didn’t put you to bed?”

  “A few more rounds, and then take me to bed, Jordan.” 234

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Mia and Jordan made a superior attempt at fighting Jamison when he insisted on rethrowing the blood gathering party, but, like always, he refused to listen, so they caved and let him plan the entire event.

  His reasoning was that he still felt guilty about the abrupt ending to their wedding celebration. Finally, after he and Jamison hashed out Jamison’s feelings for Mia, something Jamison assured Mia and Jordan he needed to do to clear his conscience, things seemed back to normal. Or as normal as they could be from all the drama. The wondering about what they discussed still interested Mia, but Jordan wouldn’t talk about it, only said in his Jordan-owned-sexy-way that Jamison backed down, which Mia found suspicious, especially when Jordan grinned with devilish satisfaction.

  “You look good enough to eat in that dress.” Jordan stood by the window with an eyebrow cocked. “Remind me to buy you a few more dresses in that shade of red.”

  Yes, he’d insisted on purchasing Mia’s dress for this function, refusing to take no for an answer when she insisted she could buy her own. Mia was still reeling about what she donned underneath the dress, her bloodplay outfit for the evening.

  After canvassing the room a few times, Jordan pulled Mia’s hand into his and moved them across the foyer and into the elevator. Once the door closed, Jordan caged Mia between himself and the brass railing. “Are you sure you want to do this tonight?” Physically she was ready. Mentally, not so much. She thought about what lay under her dress. The two black leather triangles attached to her breasts with lace, her red thong panties, and the mini