Forgotten Awakenings (Awakenings #2) Read online

  “Movers will be here tomorrow with our stuff,” Claudia added, cradling Flora against her chest as she stood up. She walked over and placed the baby in Helina’s arms. “We’ve rented an apartment not too far from here, but we were hoping that you’d design us a new house, Elle.”

  “Wait, the four of you are going to be living together?” Sadie cringed. “That’s gross!”

  “Not together — together,” Bruce laughed. “And you’re the last person we thought would object if we were together like that.”

  “Yeah, I believe love is love, but you’re old,” Sadie teased.

  “Not too old where it counts.” Bruce winked at her.

  “Ew, Dad!” Sadie made a gagging sound while Derek, Callum, Claudia, Helina, and James laughed.

  “You want me to build you a house?” Elle asked, cutting through the laughter.

  All eyes were on her as Helina smiled and said, “Yes. We’ve been looking at some property in Sausalito. Maybe Alameda.”

  “But why didn’t you say anything?” Elle whimpered, tears flooding her eyes. “You just show up one day and say you’ve left everything behind you? I don’t understand.”

  Helina frowned and turned away, the hurt from Elle’s words slicing her heart apart.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to hurt you,” Elle insisted. “I just … I just don’t understand.”

  James cleared his throat. “We’ve missed so much of your life over the last nine years. Moments we’ll never get back. We don’t want to miss anymore. We want to be here for Flora and the new baby, for you and Sadie, for Ivy. Please don’t ask us not to be here, Elle.”

  “I’m not,” she murmured, bringing her hand up to her chest. “I’m just surprised. Didn’t think anything would get you out of Texas.”

  “Well, it wasn’t easy,” Bruce admitted. “We’ve spent our entire lives there. After spending Christmas with you, the four of us realized how much we were missing, but we still struggled with the idea of leaving Texas behind.”

  “So what changed your mind?” Sadie asked.

  “Well, Flora, to be honest,” Claudia said. “Missing her birth, not being here when you needed me, just … I don’t know … made the decision for us, I guess. We put our houses on the market. Between our retirement funds and the sale of the house, we’ll be able to live comfortably enough. Especially since we’re going to build a house with Helina and James.”

  “But you’re not like…” Sadie tangled her fingers together in a lewd manner, silently asking if their parents were more than friends.

  “No!” Helina, James, Claudia, and Bruce exclaimed.

  “Of course not,” Helina insisted with a quick glance at Elle. “Not that there is anything wrong with it.”

  Elle smiled. “But don’t you think it’s going to be a little … odd to live together?”

  Helina shrugged her shoulders, jostling Flora, who started fussing. With a look of panic, she quickly shifted the baby into Elle’s arms. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Elle cooed, walking over to the couch and sitting on the couch. Shifting her eyes up to her mother, she smiled. “You’re moving here, so you can be closer to us.”

  Helina nodded. “I want to be a part of your life, Elle, and I can’t do that in Texas.”

  “And you really want me to build your house?” Elle asked.

  “After what you did with Alvarez Park, we wouldn’t pick anyone else. Will you do it?” James asked, his words full of hope.

  Elle bit the inside of her lip as she glanced down at her daughter. “On one condition.”

  “And that would be?” Claudia pressed.

  Elle grinned. “You give me the basics of what you want, but then you let me have free reign as far as the design.”

  “Okay, that sounds fair,” Claudia agreed.

  James and Bruce eagerly nodded, while Helina said, “We have a deal.”

  Elle turned her attention back to Flora, who was gazing at her with a look of wonderment. Though Elle wasn’t one-hundred percent confident living in the same city with her parents was a good idea, the hope of strengthening their relationship was appealing enough to make her try.

  Twenty-five

  “Do my boys like my milk?” Sadie asked, drawing Elle’s attention to her, Derek, and Callum. The three lovers were sitting on the floor of their living room, butt-ass naked, Sadie in the middle with Derek and Callum on either side. She had her fingers tangled in their hair as they suckled on her breasts.

  “Yes,” Derek muttered around her boob, while Callum simply nodded.

  Sadie smiled as she shifted her eyes over to Elle, who was perched on the sofa, three fingers pushed deep into her pussy while sucking a strawberry milkshake through a straw. “How’s your shake, baby?”

  “Mmm,” Elle hummed, licking her lips. “So fucking good. Best I’ve ever had.”

  Sadie laughed, but before they could say anything, someone knocked on the front door. Seeing as nobody else made an effort to move, Elle sighed and stood up. She pulled the door open, surprised to find herself face to face with two men.

  Both were wearing suits that had seen better days, the sleeves were too long and they were tighter around the middle of the older man. He had thin, dark hair that had been coated in gel so that it was plastered against his head. His eyes were a dark grey and wrinkles bit into his ashy skin.

  The younger man looked barely old enough to be out of high school. His hair was long, almost down to the middle of his back, and his face was covered with a thin beard. In between them was an old vacuum cleaner.

  “Hello,” the older man said, his eyes darting down Elle’s nude body. “We, erm, we’d like just a moment of your time.”

  Elle opened her mouth to reply, but her attention was pulled to her lovers. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw Sadie on all fours, Derek plowing her from behind while he sucked Callum’s cock.

  “Oh, fuck, oh, yeah, baby!” Sadie crowed. “Fuck his dirty, whore mouth!”

  “I am, honey, I am,” Callum cooed, his fingers tangled tight in Derek’s hair as he fucked his face.

  The men at the door cleared their throat, causing Elle to turn back to them. “Oh, sorry, what’d you say?”

  The younger man huffed, shifting from one foot to the other. “We’d like to talk to you about this new, state-of-the-art vacuum from Hebchi.”

  “I’m really not —” But before she could finish her statement, loud groaning drew her attention away from their visitors once again. This time, Sadie was straddling Derek’s back, while Callum fucked his ass. Only now, Derek was wearing a black collar with a leather leash attached. He had a red ball gag in his mouth. Callum was wearing a pair of black and red boots and a black Stetson.

  “Ride ‘em, Cowboy!” Sadie cawed, throwing her hand up on the air as she pulled on the leash. “How’s that ass feel, lover?”

  “So good, darlin,” Callum drawled, his Californian accent sounding more southern than normal. “Hold on. He’s going to buck you off!”

  As Callum started drilling Derek’s ass, Elle sucked more of her milkshake through her straw and turned her attention back to the salesmen.

  “What were you saying?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

  “We’d like to talk to you about the model 345XL from Hebchi. Are you tired of your floors never being clean enough?” the older man asked, his eyes flickering behind her as he tried to adjust himself. “We’re offering a one-time special. For only $499, the 345XL can be yours. We’ll even vacuum an entire room of your choice to prove how powerful this model is.”

  Elle wrapped her lips around the straw once more, sucking the last of her milkshake. “Yeah, I don’t think so, dude.”

  And slamming the door shut, Elle walked back over to the couch and shoved her fingers back into her pussy.

  Elle sprang up in bed, her chest heaving heavily. It wasn’t until she heard the muffled laughter that she realized she wasn’t alone. Derek and Sadie were leaning up on their elbows, with smi
les showing their amusement. Callum had shifted on the bed so that he was facing her, clearly just as entertained by her dream as their lovers had been.

  “Are you okay?” Sadie snickered.

  “Um,” Elle paused, “I’m not sure. I had the strangest dream.”

  “Oh, we know,” Derek scoffed, and when Elle looked at him with wide eyes, he added, “You were extraordinarily vocal this morning.”

  Elle groaned and bent her legs up in front of her, burying her face in her knees.

  “Don’t be like that, honey. It was cute as fuck,” Callum laughed, grabbing her ankles and pulling her legs down.

  Elle sighed as she looked up at him. “I hate that I talk in my sleep. It’s humiliating.”

  “It wasn’t so much what you said,” Derek clarified. “More of the sounds you were making.”

  “Moaning and groaning,” Sadie added. “And once, you tried to stick your fingers in my pussy.”

  “No, I didn’t!” Elle exclaimed, horrified.

  “You did.” Sadie laughed. “If I hadn’t needed to pee, I would have let you touch me.”

  “Oh, my God. I tried to molest you in my sleep. I’m a horrible person!” Elle fell back on the bed and pulled the pillow over her face. It was ripped away almost immediately and she found herself face to face with Sadie. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to molest you.”

  “When have I ever complained about you touching me?” she asked, placing her hand on Elle’s hip and shifting so that she was hovering over her. “Soon, we’re going to spend all night touching and tasting each other. I’m going to fuck you with my tongue, with my fingers, with my vibrator. I’ll take your pussy, your mouth, your ass, everything. You’ll be mine in every fucking way.”

  Elle bit the inside of her lip as she tried to wrap her arms around Sadie. Tried because before she could get a hold on her, her lover pulled herself away and climbed off the bed.

  “Flora will be up soon, and you two need to get to work. Today is your first day without Callum, and you don’t want to be late for all those titillating interviews.”

  Elle gasped as she leaned up on her elbows and watched as Sadie strolled out of the room, her hips swinging with every step. “She’s a goddamn tease.”

  “Yes, she is.” Callum looked back down at Elle. “But she’s right. It’s already a quarter till seven.”

  Elle’s eyes flew open as she looked at the clock. “Why didn’t you get me up sooner?”

  “Because you were tired,” he laughed, moving as Elle scrambled to the side of the bed and grabbed her cane. “Hey, slow down before you hurt yourself.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, but followed Derek into the bathroom. Running late on the morning when you’re supposed to be interviewing your husband’s replacement was not how she wanted to start her day.

  —FA—

  Elle’s tempter had already gotten the better of her by the time she stumbled off the elevator, nearly half an hour late for work. She and Derek had rushed to get ready and out of the house in time to avoid rush hour traffic, or so they thought. A three car pileup had stalled traffic long enough to ensure their tardiness.

  There were half a dozen men and women sitting outside of Derek and Elle’s office. Within two days of announcing the job openings, they’d had almost a hundred applicants. They’d weeded through all the applicants and invited the six they most qualified to come in for an interview. Though, as she shifted her attention to each of them, she had started to self-doubt her judgement. They looked too green around the gills.

  “We’re going to be another twenty minutes or so,” Elle said as Derek unlocked the door to their office. “There’s coffee down the hall, first door to the left.”

  “Elle,” Samuel called, drawing her attention away from the eager applicants. He rushed down the hallway, stopping in front of her. “Think you can push this back half an hour?”

  “We’re already running late,” she told him. “Is it important?”

  Samuel’s smile grew as he nodded. “The Brothers are on their way in.”

  Elle’s shoulders tensed as she looked over at Derek, who smiled and said, “Go. I’ll keep the potentials occupied.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked, hating the first impression they were making, but they’d been waiting two weeks to hear back from the Asciari Brothers about their offer, and now they were on their way to give them a yes, or a no.

  “Yes,” he insisted. “Go.”

  Elle nodded and followed Samuel down the hallway to the conference room, settling in her usual chair. As each day passed, she found herself examining every word she said, scrutinizing every detail, and wondering if she had come on too strong.

  “Do I need to get the trashcan?”

  Elle looked at Samuel. “What?”

  “I don’t really do well with puke, so if you’re going to toss your cookies, I will get you the trashcan,” he explained, casually.

  “I’m fine, but thanks for being so concerned,” she scoffed.

  “I’m being serious!” he insisted, laughing. “When Callum was five, Lydia left the two of us alone for the weekend. Her mother was in the hospital and needed someone to watch over her father. Anyway, Callum got scared and crawled into bed with me around three in the morning. I bet he hadn’t been in bed with me for more than a few minutes when I heard him start gagging. I rolled onto my back just as he puked.” Samuel looked at Elle. “All over me. My stomach, my legs, my face. I thought I was going to puke!”

  “Oh, my God, that’s gross!” She chortled. “Poor Callum.”

  “Poor Callum?” Samuel snorted. “I was the one with regurgitated spaghetti O’s all over me!”

  “Eww!” Elle grimaced as the door to the conference room opened and Greta led Tank, Duke, and Gunner Asciari into the room. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and smiled. “It’s nice to see you again.”

  “You, too,” Tank said as the three pulled chairs out and sat down.

  “Coffee anyone?” Greta asked.

  “No, this shouldn’t take long,” Duke stated and Elle tried to keep the disappointment off her face as she settled back in her seat.

  Greta tilted her head toward them before walking out of the room and closed the door. The Brothers turned their attention back to her.

  “Well, let’s skip all the pleasantries and get right to business, shall we?” Duke asked, clamping his hands together.

  “Yes,” Elle said. “I’m sure we both have busy days ahead of us.”

  The Brothers smiled, but it was Gunner who said, “Busy is a bit of an understatement.”

  “Which is why, after a lot of discussion and research,” Tank added, “we’ve decided to accept your offer.”

  Elle smiled. “You have?”

  “Yes, but we have a couple conditions,” Duke said.

  “Such as?” Samuel asked.

  “We have half a dozen projects going on at the moment — projects that we’ve spent months working on. All of them are scheduled to be completed over the next four weeks. We ask that the sale is made official after the last of the projects is done.”

  Samuel pressed his lips together and shifted his eyes to Elle. “Sounds reasonable to me.”

  “I agree,” she said. “What’s your other condition?”

  Tank smiled. “We’d like to hire an additional crew.”

  “Another crew?” Elle asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “We’ve done our research, too, and in the last year, you’ve increased productivity by twelve percent.” Gunner placed his hand on the table. “Now, you don’t have to be a genius to see why. Alvarez Park has brought your company a lot of new business, right?”

  “It has,” Samuel admitted. “Though, I think it has more to do with Elle and Sadie’s designs than anything else.”

  “That’s exactly our point,” Gunner said before shifting his attention to Elle. “The city is buzzing with talk of your work. You’re making quite the name for yourself, and we want to be a part of it, but in order t
o uphold the same standard we’ve prided ourselves since our grandfather started our company, we’re going to need another crew.”

  Elle leaned back in her chair and placed her hands in her lap as she shifted her attention from Duke to Tank and then Gunner. They were right about the influx of business, though she doubted it had anything to do with her or Sadie.

  Swiveling her chair toward Samuel, she asked, “What do you thing?”

  “You tell me,” he said, calmly.

  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she spun her chair back toward the Brothers. “Okay.”

  “Okay?” Tank asked, his brow lifting. “You agree to our terms?”

  “Yes.” Elle smiled and leaned forward. “To be honest, expanding your team was a consideration I’d already been planning. With the amount of projects coming your way in the next year, we’re going to keep you and your crews very busy.”

  Pushing her chair away from the table, Elle wrapped her fingers around her cane and stood up. “We’ll get the contracts drawn up. One month from today, we’ll meet back here to get all the t’s crossed and i’s dotted.”

  “We look forward to it,” Duke said, gesturing for his brothers to stand. “And thank you. As unexpected as this offer was, we’re glad to have the opportunity to join your company.”

  “Well, we’re glad to have you,” Elle said, calmly. “But if you’ll excuse me, I have a long morning filled with interviews.”

  Samuel and Elle walked the Brothers to the elevator, before heading for her office to start the long day of interviews.

  A smile spread on her face when she walked in and found Derek perched on the stool in front of his drawing table, a set of plans in front of him as he explained his designs. She’d be lying if she said the site of him talking about his work didn’t excite her. He was damn sexy.

  As if he knew she was thinking about him, Derek shifted his eyes to the doorway, his lips curving into a delicious smile. Elle bit the inside of her lip to keep from moaning; the man had her aching with need.

  “Guess it’s about time to get started,” he said, a hint of laughter filling each word.