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  Aslan’s Desire

  Book Three in the Fantasies A-Z Series

  By Jennifer Kacey

  Aslan’s Desire

  Book Three in the Fantasies A-Z Series

  Copyright Never Settle Publishing 2016

  Discover more titles by Jennifer Kacey

  at www.JenniferKacey.com

  e-book - ISBN - 978-0-9970141-1-2

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Cover Graphics – Syneca Featherstone

  Formatted by IRONHORSE Formatting

  Dedication

  To You – Because I never have to ask…

  Aslan’s Desire

  By Jennifer Kacey

  A fantasy so important it has plagued Aslan for her entire married life. It’s the simplest thing she’s never had the courage to ask for…until now.

  Fantasies. Some are elaborate, taking months to research and plan. Others are so basic they somehow become unattainable.

  Marrying Zeke was one of the happiest days of Aslan’s life. She felt beautiful in her white dress and crystal heels. Then something perfect happened on the way to the honeymoon.

  In the limo, her husband tore off her dress to get to her. He was undeterred, animalistic in his need to possess her.

  That need is what she has fantasized about ever since but never again received. Not the same way. To be taken, simply because he couldn’t wait another moment to have her. But what if has always stopped her from asking for it again. What if she’s not his flavor anymore? What if she’s not as sexy to him anymore? What if…

  Now it’s her turn to ask for a fantasy. What she craves is a simple request away, but only if she’s brave enough to share one of her biggest desires along with her biggest fear.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  About Jennifer Kacey

  Other Titles by Jennifer Kacey

  Chapter One

  Zeke’s voice shook her out of her internal monologue. “Okay. Out with it.”

  Blinking rapidly didn’t help her replay the tape of what they’d been talking about before she zoned out. Again. “Out with what?”

  “Something is bothering you. A lot. And don’t try to deny it again. You’re distracted, anxious, lost in thought. Often. I thought maybe you were just stressed about the new ship we’re about to launch but now I really think it’s something else.” Holding a spreadsheet they had been discussing, he took a step closer to where she stood beside her desk.

  Work. He had to be talking about some work thing. Maybe.

  Racking her brain wasn’t getting her very far on the recall of what they’d been going over. She needed to say something. Anything

  He beat her to it and his deep voice grew quiet and serious. “Which, of course, makes me think our little trip to the pitstop a couple weeks ago may not have been a good idea.”

  “This has nothing to do with the pitstop.” Mostly.

  Her husband crossed his arms over his chest, pulling the dress shirt he wore tighter across his biceps. His large biceps.

  Staring at them made her slowly rub her thighs together.

  Hands down, he was the sexiest man she’d ever seen. By far. As in far far. He was hot and smart and gentle and sincere and… Glancing up at his eyes, she sucked in a quick breath. Intense. Very, very intense.

  “Would you like to try that again?” The muscles in his jaw tensed and she almost wanted to poke him to take action instead of talking. His hand on the curve of her rear, his tight grip on her waist as he took her. Aggressively. That’s what she craved. Talking about what was on her mind wasn’t what she wanted.

  But pushing him into something he didn’t really understand the importance of seemed under-handed and wrong. Almost like a lie. Very much like a lie.

  That wasn’t how they played. Ever.

  And it sure wasn’t what she wanted their tentative kink dynamic to morph into. She needed to be brave, but she just wasn’t certain if she was ready to own her next fantasy yet.

  Or her biggest fear.

  When she took a tiny step closer, she could feel the warmth coming off him as her breasts almost brushed against his forearms. Keeping a tiny bit of space between them seemed like a good move to make since they always tried to be professional at work.

  “It’s not about the pitstop.”

  One of his eyebrows lifted and she had to smile because he knew her so well.

  “Okay, it’s not really about the pitstop.”

  “But it does have something to do with our newfound…agreement?”

  Nodding seemed less scary. More safe. But she didn’t want to be a chickenshit about this. “It’s actually about my next fantasy.” Watching his lips as she spoke instead of his eyes made it easier to be honest. “I know what I want.” She swallowed, hard, and her words came out a mere whisper. “But I’m just not certain how to explain it to you yet. It’s been…” Glancing up to his eyes, she was snared by their intensity and focus. “A long time coming,” filtered past her lips with more movement than actual sound.

  The fortuitousness of her low tone proved quite helpful when one of the engineers, Jake, knocked on her door two seconds later without either her or Zeke knowing he was there. With Zeke’s back to the door, he stiffened when the other man spoke.

  “Hey, glad I caught both of you in the same place. My team has a few questions on the schematics of the lighting in the main pool on the Galileo deck. Do you have a minute to go over them?”

  Aslan opened her mouth to respond but Zeke beat her to it.

  “We’ll be up there in just a minute. We need to finish something else first.”

  “Awesome. We’ll meet you there in five.”

  Jake wandered away and Zeke’s eyes never left hers. “Saved by the bell,” he whispered and then relaxed his arms.

  She shivered again as he brushed the backs of his knuckles over the pulse point at her throat.

  “Your heart’s beating so fast. Like the wings of a butterfly.” Closing his fist around her throat, he didn’t clamp his fingers down, didn’t tighten his grip at all. He simply reminded her of his strength. Their fledgling dynamic. “I wonder what has you so preoccupied?” Tipping up her chin, he gave her a chaste kiss on the mouth.

  Before it had even begun, it was over and Aslan wanted to sigh and scream at the same time.

  Swallowing both, she stepped around her desk, giving him her back, and opened one of the drawers on her main filing cabinet. “I’
ll meet you up there in a second. I need to grab something first.”

  His chuckle danced along her rear and she closed her eyes, remembering the last time her flesh had worn his delicious handprint. “Trying to get rid of me, wife? To get your composure back? Interesting. It’s rare that you’d keep something from me. And I know this fantasy is important. Very important, from the looks of it.”

  Opening her eyes as he turned to go, she tried to focus on the files she haphazardly rifled through.

  But he spoke again, capturing her complete attention. “Don’t expect to sleep tonight until I know what’s bothering you. It’s gone on long enough.” He paused at the door and she held her breath. “We don’t keep things from each other, do we?”

  Taking a fortifying breath, she pivoted around and faced him. “No, we don’t. I’m just worried that…”

  He waited but she lost her voice. “Worried that what?”

  Worried you don’t find me as attractive as you did when we got married. Worried that you’ll find someone else. Worried that I’m not getting any younger.

  Yes, she was only in her thirties but—

  But.

  She wanted to tell him more than anything, but worrying about his answer had kept her silent for years.

  Saying the words in her head had happened countless times before.

  Am I still beautiful to you?

  But it was her turn to pick another fantasy. Her chance to ask for something, anything. Nothing was a no between them and yet she just couldn’t seem to get the words out of her mouth.

  “Worried that what?” Zeke prompted again.

  Aslan blinked again, realizing she’d zoned out again. “Tonight,” she promised him as well as herself. “I don’t want to talk about it here. Don’t want to be interrupted. Sure as hell don’t want to risk the chance of getting emotional in front of any of the employees.”

  He smiled and thankfully his features relaxed a tad. “As if getting emotional were a cardinal sin.”

  She stuck her tongue out and rounded off the physical gesture with a roll of her eyes. ’Cause that’s exactly what she thought about getting emotional, even with Zeke. “Might as well be. It’s awful.”

  “Only for you, my love. Contrary to popular belief, we actually do all realize you’re a woman and human. I know, I know.” He held his arms up. “Shocking. But it is common knowledge.”

  Feeling the ease in which they’d always existed together settle along her flesh, she turned back and was finally able to pull the right lighting folder from the open drawer. She closed the drawer and grabbed a pen off her desk before walking up to her husband. Up on her tip-toes, she lifted her chin to get a kiss, which he immediately provided.

  Damn his lips felt good.

  “Not trying to ditch me now?”

  “Nope. I pulled on my big girl panties and remembered we have a job to do.”

  As they walked along a corridor he inconspicuously brushed across her ass. “Big girl panties? I was pretty certain you were going commando today.”

  Aslan smiled and brushed against his crotch as he held the door open for her. “Just a figure of speech, I assure you.”

  “Might just have to find out for myself after our little meeting on Galileo.”

  She smiled and clutched the folder tighter to her chest. If only you would, she thought to herself as they walked past several more employees finishing the deck enclosure on the spa.

  Zeke flirted with her all the time. Every day. But there wasn’t any follow through. Even after their now months of discussion about what she wanted and knew he could provide, he would only slip his self-imposed chain for very short periods of time. Maintaining his impervious control had become something of a religion to him.

  Twice now, he had given more of himself to her than she ever expected to receive.

  Once, when she propositioned him as if he were a stranger, and once in a pitstop not too many miles from their home in Florida.

  And once before that.

  More than a decade before.

  On their honeymoon.

  She’d felt like a princess the day of their wedding. Gorgeous white dress with crystal shoes.

  But in the limo on the way to the honeymoon?

  That was her first glimpse into the delicious monster she wanted to know. He’d ripped her dress to get at her. Torn the tiny white panties from around her hips and taken her with a single-minded, animalistic possession she hadn’t seen since. Not until he was her “stranger.” And even then it was different. It was calculated, a constant tug of war within himself on taking what she truly hoped he wanted.

  Her.

  The night of their honeymoon, she had to wear his tuxedo jacket into the hotel lobby so they could check in. She’d loved it and Zeke had been mortified.

  She’d laughed it off and he’d made slow love to her that night. Several times. Making love to him fulfilled her in ways she never thought she’d be lucky enough to have. Sex really was…more…with an emotional connection.

  Making love.

  She’d only ever done that with Zeke.

  Growing to rely on the physical, mental and emotional connection she shared with him when he made deep, sensual love to her had taken years for her to trust. To need. It made her feel raw and exposed on such a visceral level, and somehow she’d come to depend on it.

  But the other kind?

  The raw, dirty sex like they had in that limo?

  She needed that too. And somehow she had to be brave enough to tell him all of it. Her desire for it and her fear that maybe he wasn’t as attracted to her as she was to him.

  Maybe he just wasn’t that into her.

  Fuck.

  Blowing out a pent up breath, she put her shoulders back. Pasting on a somewhat fake smile rubbed her the wrong way as they stepped closer to their electrical engineers beside the pool. Talk about being the embodiment of “fake it ’til you make it.”

  She had to figure out a way to be brave enough to tell him tonight. Worrying about it anymore wasn’t going to get her anywhere, especially if she expected him to be brave enough to let his monster out to play more often. She had to be brave enough to reveal the little girl inside who wondered the scariest question of all.

  Am I good enough?

  Chapter Two

  Hours later, sitting alone on the couch at home where the sun had long since faded to black, Aslan took a deep breath. Then another one. With her back against the end of the couch, she hugged her knees to her chest.

  Her chin rested on the tops, which were covered in fuzzy pink pajama pants adorned with sleeping lambs and colorful stars.

  She’d gotten home a few minutes before her husband and had jumped in the shower to wash the very long day away. Nearing the end of the final stages of their newest vessel, the hours were long and the days took their toll.

  They were worth it.

  The hours, the stress, the headaches. All of it. Seeing their business flourish as they continued to make a name for themselves in the cruise ship industry gave her more satisfaction than she could describe.

  Knowing that Zeke and she had built the business from the ground up, hand-in-hand—first with investors and then all on their own—staggered her on a daily basis.

  It also gave her something to bury her nose in, AKA something to hide behind instead of dealing with the needs and fears coursing through her every morning and every night.

  But her time of being a coward was at an end.

  She owed it to the man of her dreams to trust him with something that involved him. Something that revolved around him. Them.

  Their future.

  Her spine automatically straightened when Zeke entered the living room from the kitchen. She released her knees and tucked her legs beneath her. A glass of what smelled like her favorite white wine appeared in front of her nose.

  “Liquid courage,” he joked as she took the glass from him.

  With her eyes closed, the sweet liquid coated her tongue and sli
d down her throat. It immediately sent a buzz to her head and made her think of another sweet liquid she craved.

  She opened her eyes as the couch dipped beside her. Zeke sat next to her and placed a hand on her thigh. He took a drink from a short, square glass that was half-filled with amber liquid. Bourbon, if she wanted to hazard a guess. After he took another drink he rested his head on the back of the couch with a long sigh.

  “For me or you?” she asked. “The courage, I mean.”

  Turning his head to the side, she nodded to his glass and then raised hers.

  His smile. Damn. It could stop traffic he was so hot.

  “Maybe a little for each of us.” He smiled again and raised his glass toward her. Clinking their glasses together, he took another sip.

  Hers?

  Not so small.

  “Should I pound mine down, too? Damn. If I was the nervous type, I’d be pacing the room right now.”

  “No. One of us needs to have their wits about them and I’m nominating you for that job.” Aslan downed the rest of her wine before setting the glass on the coffee table.

  Regardless of her suggestion, he downed the rest of his bourbon and followed her lead by putting it on a coaster beside them. “I need to ask a question first or I’m not going to be able to breathe for the rest of this conversation. Okay, that’s a lie. I’ve got two.”

  One more deep breath and she nodded. “Fair enough. You gave me ’til tonight before talking about it and that couldn’t have been easy. So go ahead and ask your questions.”

  He pulled at his bottom lip with one hand as he turned to face her. Placing an arm on the couch beside her, he leaned into her just a bit. “You said it’s something you’ve been thinking about for a while. How long’s a while?”

  Nibbling her lip wasn’t gonna get her anywhere, so she grew a pair and responded. “More or less since our honeymoon.”