Shady Business by Silver MoonAngel

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                    STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLIES

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Darien paced back and forth outside Serena's door.  He would be 
surprised if she ever decided to speak to him ever again.  That 
afternoon had changed everything for him.  The quiet knowledge had 
rested on the edge of his heart for some time now, but he still 
didn't want to acknowledge it.  Darien quietly cursed himself for 
not taking things more slowly.

On the other side of the door, Serena heard Darien pacing and 
swearing.  This was no longer simply a business deal; it had turned 
into something far more than that.  She had slept with the man for 
goodness' sake!  On his study floor to make matters worse.


Darien couldn't take it anymore.  Softly knocking, he asked, "Is it 
okay for me to come in, Serena?"

Serena sighed.  He sounded like a six-year-old who had broken a toy 
and was trying to make up for it.  He had broken something alright; 
the lower half of her body felt achy and sore, evidence of her no-
longer-existent virginity.  "Come in Darien."

Darien walked into the room, keeping his gaze riveted on Serena.  
She was wearing a navy blue Empire-waist dress that fell to the 
floor.  Her hair was a mass of golden ringlets piled upon her head.  
Darien was tempted to pull the hairpins out of her hair and make 
sweet love to her right there, but thought better of it.  "Are you 
ready to go down?"

Serena stood up and tucked her arm into his.  "Lead the way."  
Serena's insides were in turmoil.  She had forgotten to take her 
birth control pill that morning and she was ovulating.  Why on this 
morning, of all mornings, did she have to forget to take that stupid 
little pill.  She wouldn't mind having a baby, just not right now.

Darien felt her tense after they had left the room.  Darien felt 
tense himself.  But his tension was of a different nature.  He felt 
like he was twenty again, looking at her clad in her blue bikini 
through the window.  Having her once didn't satiate his hunger for 
her, it made him want her more.  "Serena?"

Serena looked up at him.  Seeing him dressed in a tuxedo certainly 
changed her debate in her mind.  "Yes?"

Darien turned to face her.  He leaned down and kissed her softly on 
the lips, "Would you stay with me tonight?"

Serena turned her face away from him.  Twice in one day when she 
forgot her pill?  As much as she enjoyed it, she didn't want to take 
that chance.  Softly, she answered, "Not tonight, Darien.  I'm a 
little sore at the moment."

Darien stopped in his tracks.  He hadn't thought...  "Serena?  Did I 
hurt you badly?"

Wildly blushing, Serena fixated her gaze on the floor.  She hadn't 
thought that he'd berate himself.  Sneaking a peak at him from the 
corner of her eye, she could see the concern written all over his 
face.  Raye had said that he used to be warm and tender, until he 
let business warp his mind.  "No, you were as gentle as you could 
be, given the circumstances."

Darien let out a sigh of relief.  He never had wanted to hurt her, 
even when she had hurt him in the worst way possible.

		*		*		*

Dinner had passed in anything but silence.  Darien prodded Serena to 
tell him all about the business he had just acquired.

"We're a pretty small company in our area, especially compared to 
Zfresh Incorporated,"  Serena said, "But we have a lot of hard 
honest workers."

Waiving a piece of asparagus in the air, Darien said, "Basically, 
you were a jack-of-all-trades company.  Whatever technology you 
could get your hands on, you'd market and mass produce for the 
public."

"Essentially, yes.  Unlike Zfresh Incorporated, we were prudent 
enough not to mass produce weapons of destruction.  Just think what 
would happen if it got in the wrong hands," Serena said sipping a 
glass of burgundy.

Looking at a proof sheet, Darien murmured, "It says that you 
inherited it from your father, a Mr. Arden Liam Blade."

Serena snorted, "The only reason I was left the company is that my 
older brother Michael decided to move to Hollywood and become a 
movie star."

"Mike Blade is your brother?"  Darien asked incredulously.

"It's amazing that two absolutely different people could come from 
the same family tree, isn't it?"  Serena dabbed her mouth with a 
napkin.  "Family secrets have a funny way of coming out of the 
closet at weird moments."

Darien raised his glass to her, "I second that notion."

"That nosey reporter found my dad's mistress and daughter, then 
proceeded to ask my mom what she thought.  That reporter was a damn 
ditz."  Serena took a breath and continued, "She had to have had 
some brains though, to be able to track her all the way to 
Michigan."

"That's neither here or there, tell me more about yourself."  Darien 
said, motioning the staff to leave the room.

"Not before you tell me why you changed your name," Serena said with 
a smirk.

Darien nervously ran a hand through his hair.  He had thought she 
wouldn't have remembered him at all, let alone his name.  "I had a 
falling out with my father, so I changed it to my mother's maiden 
name."

Serena practically spit out her wine.  This man was telling her that 
he changed his name because of his father?  "Raye told me something 
different when I called her this afternoon."

Darien started tapping his fingers on the polished wood of the 
tabletop.  His plans had just gone straight to hell.  If Raye had 
said anything remotely close to his plans he was going to kill her, 
pure and simple.  "What did she say?"

Serena looked at him.  If she didn't know better, she'd think he was 
sweating bullets.  "She just said that you changed it so a girl who 
had been haunting you wouldn't figure out who you were," Serena 
chuckled, "Imagine this, the great Darien afraid of a woman!"

Turning his thoughts carnal, Darien said, "I'm not afraid of you.  
In fact I say we go to the library."  Darien scooted back his chair  
and went to help Serena out of hers.

Serena looked at him warily.  The last time he had that gleam in his 
eyes they had...  "No!"  She shouted at him, "You stay right where 
you are!"  She swallowed the lump in her throat as he helped her out 
of her chair.

Wiggling his eyebrows at her, Darien asked, "What makes you think 
we're going to be doing anything in there but reading books?"

Serena glared at him, "Because I'm starting to think that you have a 
naturally dirty mind."  Glancing down, she added, "Better tell your 
buddy that nothing is going on tonight."

Darien grabbed a hold of her and pinned her to the nearest wall.  He 
caught her lips as she bucked against his hold, silencing her 
protests with a simple, possessive act.  "Are you sure you don't 
want to?"

Serena, her eyes liquid with desire, just stared at him.  She didn't 
know how he could have her tied up in knots just by looking at her.  
Serena looked up at him and whispered, "Don't stop."

"I don't plan to," he said as he deepened the kiss.  He kept kissing 
her as he edged her into the nearest room and sprawled her on a rug.  
He gave her a repetition of the pleasure she received that 
afternoon.

		*		*		*

"Am I hurting you?"

Serena propped herself up on an elbow.  They were still clothed, 
Serena mused to herself.  "No," Serena said as she snuggled closer 
to him, "you feel delicious."  She leaned up and kissed him, coaxing 
him in how much she enjoyed this.

Darien sighed as she kissed him.  The fact that she gave herself to 
him so willingly was humbling and gave him a sense of balance in the 
world; like this was how it was supposed to be.  He rolled off of 
her and held her close to his chest for a moment.  This month was 
going to go by far to quickly.

Serena pulled out of his arms and stood up.  She needed to tell him 
how this was not going to work out anytime soon.  "Darien, we can do 
this anymore."

He looked up at her from his position on the floor.  Something must 
really be troubling her if she would say something like that.  "Why 
not?  I thought you enjoyed it."

That was the problem, she enjoyed it too much.  "Nothing against 
you, Darien, it's just I want a little time to myself."  Enough time 
to make sure that she wasn't pregnant.

Darien stood and clasped her hand in his.  Come hell or high water, 
she was going to be his, she just didn't know it yet.  "Fine, the 
moment you're ready again, you're going to move into my room with 
me."

Serena pulled away from him.  He was going too fast too soon.  "I'll 
see how I feel."  She dashed up the stairs and into her set of 
rooms, locking the door behind her; more afraid of herself than him.