Tearing Down Walls (Love Under Construction Series Book 2) (78 page)

“Already forgotten.” Laura leaned into Vic, listened to his heartbeat, and waited while hers synced to his. For the first time, she knew her life would be better than ever.

“Look at them,” Nikki whispered to Tony. “Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?”

Tony’s eyes got misty. “Yes, I have.”

“What?”

“You. Us. There’s nothing in the whole world more beautiful than us.” Tony kissed her cheek.

“Okay, but can we agree that they’re a close second?” Nikki grinned and kissed him back.

“Okay. I’ll agree with you. This time. But I don’t want to make it a habit!” he laughed. “Now join me on the dance floor and get me all fired up for when we get home.”

“I thought you stayed that way, Mr. Walters.”

“I do. But humor me, please, Mrs. Walters!” He stood and took Nikki’s hand. “Right now I want to dance with the most beautiful girl here.” As he wrapped his arms around her waist on the dance floor, he whispered, “And I want to fuck the living daylights out of her when I get her home.”

“Ooooo! Is it time to go home yet?” she laughed.

“Almost. Dream about it until we get there.”

“Trust me, Mr. Walters, I won’t be thinking about anything else!”

“Dinner was spectacular, sweetie. You’ve turned out to be a very good cook.” Vic sat down on the sofa in the den and tried to pull Laura onto his lap, but she broke away.

“I’ll be right back. I’ve got a surprise for you.” When she reappeared, she had a plastic storage container in her hands, and she pried the lid off. “I made these for you. Remember my white chocolate macadamia nut cookies? From New Years?”

Vic pulled her onto his lap, took a cookie, and smiled sweetly. “Of course I remember those cookies. I ate one and I asked Nikki where she got them. She said you made them,” he said, breaking off a piece and slipping it into Laura’s mouth before he took a bite.

“And you yelled at Tony for taking more. And he said that if they were all gone, I’d just have to make more,” she reminded him around cookie.

“Yep.” He stopped. “I’ll never forget that day. I’ll never forget when she told me you’d made them and I turned and saw you in the doorway. And I said, ‘Hi, Laura.’ Remember that?”

“Uh-huh.” She chewed another bite he’d given her. “You really do remember, don’t you?” she asked, curious.

Vic looked at the container and was quiet. When he looked up into Laura’s face, he nodded. “Of course. That was the very moment.”

“What moment?”

“That was the very moment I knew I was in love with you.” His eyes welled, but his smile was a mile wide.

“I felt it,” she replied, her eyes filling up too. “I didn’t know what it was that I felt, but I felt something, and I know that was it. I was in love with you too. That’s why I was so nasty to you for so long. I’m glad you hung in there with me.”

“You didn’t make it easy!” Vic laughed. “It was worth every dagger to the heart, every lonely night, every snide remark and hateful tirade. I knew you loved me. I was just waiting for you to say it.”

“Don’t wait anymore. I love you, Vittorio Vincenzo Cabrizzi. I’ll always love you.”

“And I love you too, Laura Elaine Butler. And I love your cookies,” he grinned, his eyebrows lifting as he winked at her.

“Hey, Super Dom, your cookies are pretty fine too!” she laughed, wiggled her eyebrows, and stuffed a cookie in his mouth.

“Yeah, but I’m
your
Super Dom!” he laughed as he choked down the cookie and smacked her ass.

“Oh yeah? What exactly are your super powers?” she grinned.

“I’ll give you a head start, but if I catch you, you’ll find out
exactly
what they are!” Laura jumped up and ran. When Vic did the same, he almost ran over her when she stopped in the doorway. “Hey, why’d you stop?”

“You know what they say . . . a man chases a woman until she catches him!” She threw her head back and laughed as he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

Vic carried her toward the bedroom. “Future Mrs. Cabrizzi, consider yourself caught!”

Laura smiled as she looked up at the love of her life. “Lucky me!”

This book,
Tearing Down Walls
, is the second novel in the Love Under Construction Series. It was preceded by the introductory volume,
The Groundbreaking
, and the first novel,
Laying a Foundation
. You’ll learn the backgrounds of the characters by reading the introductory volume, and then see them continue on in the remaining books. These books can be stand-alone stories, but the reader will enjoy them more by reading them in order.

Introductory volume: The Groundbreaking – OUT NOW!

Book 1: Laying a Foundation – OUT NOW!

Book 3: Renovating a Heart – Spring 2014

Book 4: Planning an Addition – Fall 2014

Deanndra Hall lives in far western Kentucky with her life partner and three crazy little dogs. She spent years writing advertising copy, marketing materials, educational texts, and business correspondence, and designing business forms. After reading a popular erotic romance book, her partner said, “You can write better than this!” She decided to try her hand at it. In the process she fell in love with her funny, smart, loving characters and the things they got into, and the novel became a series.

Deanndra enjoys all kinds of music, kayaking, working out at the local gym, reading, and spending time with friends and family, as well as working in the fiber and textile arts. And chocolate’s always high on her list of favorite things!

On the Web:

www.deanndrahall.com

Email:

[email protected]

Facebook:

facebook.com/deanndra.hall

Twitter:

twitter.com/DeanndraHall

Blog:

deanndrahall.blogspot.com

Substance B:

substance-b.com/DeanndraHall.html

Mailing address:

P.O. Box 3722, Paducah, KY 42002-3722

1-1/3 cups margarine, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed (I use light, not dark)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

1 cup chopped macadamia nuts (large chunks, not small)

1 package white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the margarine, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about two inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 8-10 minutes until they’re the degree of doneness that you like. I like them baked the full 10 minutes, sometimes more, so they’re kind of chewy.

This is a real good base cookie recipe; I got it from my mom. You can put all kinds of things in it, like chocolate chips instead of white chocolate, pecans or walnuts instead of macadamias, things like that. Nikki keeps saying she wants me to try butterscotch chips and broken pretzels. I might have to do that!

“How did it go yesterday?” Angela asked Steve when he came in Tuesday morning.

“It was spectacular. Anybody who’s anybody was there, the governor and lieutenant governor, the mayors of Louisville, Lexington, and Shelbyville, all of the elected legislators and officials, everybody. It was amazing – the facility is amazing. They’ve got three horse car loads of clients coming tomorrow. They anticipate the first barn being at capacity by the end of the month.”

“That’s fabulous! I’m so happy for them,” Angela said as Steve retreated to his office.

Fifteen minutes later, his phone buzzed. “Steve, your nine thirty appointment is here.”

“Yeah, okay, it’s . . .”

“Miss Markham?”

Steve wracked his brain – he didn’t know a woman named Markham. “Send her on in.” He put his jacket and his professional face on.

The door opened and Angela ushered the woman in. Steve’s eyes went wide and a huge smile spread across his face. “Kelly!”

“Hi Steve! Wow, nice office!”

“Thanks! I didn’t recognize your last name. Glad to see you. Want something to drink?” She shook her head. “So what can I do for you?” he asked, motioning for her to sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

She looked slightly flustered and embarrassed as she pulled a document out of her purse. “I talked to Nikki. She said you were the person I needed to talk to; she said you’d understand.” She handed the document to Steve and he opened it.

It was a submissive’s contract. He blinked a couple of times to make sure he was seeing it correctly. Sure enough, the submissive’s name was plain on the top of the document: Kelly Markham. Now he understood why Nikki had sent her to him. “This was very well done. Did he break the contract with you?”

“Sort of.” Kelly looked at her hands in her lap. “He passed.”

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry! How long ago was this?”

“Almost nine years.” She sniffed. “I still miss him every day.”

Steve came around from his desk chair and sat down in the armchair next to Kelly. “So how can I help?”

“He made this out thinking it would protect me. Then when he died and we weren’t married, his kids took everything, even some of the gifts he’d given me over the years. I’m about the same age as they are, but they saw me as a gold-digger who just wanted him for his money. I would’ve married him if he’d ever asked, but he never did. But he loved me, he really did, and I loved him. Even though I could’ve used the money, I just gave up – it wasn’t about money to start with. All of that was bad enough, but last week I lost my job. They closed the branch of the insurance company where I worked, and they just laid me off. I’ll draw unemployment, but it’s not much. I know Dom/sub contracts aren’t legally binding, but I was wondering if . . .”

“No, they’re not. But this one clearly shows intent. He genuinely thought he’d protected you by making this contract. I wish it had worked.” Steve thought for a minute. “You know, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but let me see if I can find something, a case precedent or a loophole, that could help. Can I make a copy of this?”

“Sure! Please! How much will you charge me? Because I don’t have any . . .”

“You’re Nikki’s friend, and you took Laura in when she needed a place to hide. Just consider this my way of repaying you.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t . . .”

“Oh yes, you can and you will.” Steve took the contract out to Angela and asked her to make him a copy. When he came back, he asked Kelly, “Did Nikki by any chance tell you . . .”

“That you’re in the lifestyle? Yeah. That’s why she told me to come and talk to you.”

“Did she tell you that I have a fetish club in Lexington?”
Boy, I’d love to see her in nothing but a smile!
, he thought.

“No! She didn’t! I’d love to visit sometime.” Kelly’s eyes were sparkling now.

“I’d love for you to visit. We’ll be open tomorrow night. If you’d like to come by, I’ll show you around.”

“I’ll do that. And thanks, Steve. I really appreciate this.”

“No problem.” As she left, he handed her a card for the club with his signature on the back. He was glad she’d come in, and he hoped she liked the club enough to stick around, because he was itching to see those tits bare. He knew they were fake, but they were real enough for him.

José Flores couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked up from the monitor on Wednesday night – it was Kelly Markham walking through the door!

“Hey lady! How are you?” he grinned at her.

“I’m good! It’s good to see you, José. You work here too?”

“Yeah, in the evenings. Gotta make a few extra bucks. You coming to visit tonight?”

“Steve invited me. Is he here?” Kelly looked around nervously. The entry looked kind of plain and uninteresting. She wondered what the inside of the club would look like.